Back to Back Barries: Is the media giving Pauline Hanson a free pass?
Barrie Cassidy and Tony Barry dissect Pauline Hanson’s National Press Club appearance this week and ask: is the leader of One Nation treated differently to other political leaders by the media? They also give their take on Hanson’s attacks on minorities, her pledge to dismantle public broadcasting and they meditate on whether appealing to people’s prejudices will backfire. And also: will the government’s backdown on tax be enough to silence Anthony Albanese’s critics?
19 June 2026, 3:00 pm
23 minutes 8 seconds
Newsroom Edition: Pauline Hanson’s Trumpian attack on the press
Pauline Hanson’s ascendancy in Australian politics was underscored this week by her first address to the National Press Club. In a lengthy speech, the leader of the rightwing party railed against multiculturalism and Islam in particular, pledged to slash public broadcasting and asserted the so-called ‘hoax’ of global warming was the driving factor behind poverty in Australia. Josephine Tovey speaks with Mike Ticher and political editor Tom Mcllroy about Hanson’s ‘ugly’ vision for Australia
18 June 2026, 3:00 pm
23 minutes 59 seconds
Broken Trust: how police are failing to protect children from domestic violence
Mason Jet Lee died at 22 months old after his stepfather punched him so hard his bowel ruptured. An exclusive Guardian Australia investigation has found that repeated warnings about his killer were ignored. Could an unpublished submission to the inquest of his death hold evidence of police failings? Nour Haydar and Queensland correspondent Ben Smee discuss what the violent death of Mason Jet Lee reveals about a broken system
17 June 2026, 3:00 pm
27 minutes 17 seconds
‘Grandpa in a bunker’: is Putin losing control?
Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer on Vladimir Putin’s increasing isolation – and seeming paranoia – as ordinary Russians become more restive over the toll of the war in Ukraine and a struggling economy at home
16 June 2026, 3:00 pm
18 minutes 3 seconds
Trump celebrates with a peace deal and cage fight
More than four months since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, Donald Trump and Iranian officials have announced an end to the war. News of the deal came as the president celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting a UFC match. Nour Haydar speaks to Washington DC bureau chief David Smith about whether the agreement can hold, when the strait of Hormuz is expected to reopen and how the the oldest elected US president went from announcing a geopolitical deal to hosting a cage-fighting match on the White House lawn
15 June 2026, 3:00 pm
24 minutes 27 seconds
Is Australian music at risk of extinction?
The Australian music industry is in crisis, but it wasn’t always that way. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a healthy number of Aussie artists were making it to the charts. Now, local musicians are struggling to get air time and to earn a living making music. Nour Haydar speaks to culture editor Steph Harmon and data journalist Josh Nicholas about why Australian music is disappearing from the charts and what needs to be done to revive the industry
14 June 2026, 3:00 pm
6 minutes 24 seconds
The Sunday read: I face sexist abuse every day as a female MP – Full Story podcast
A truck-mounted billboard featuring AI-generated images of Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, which has been travelling around Melbourne for several weeks now, has attracted a lot of scrutiny. It shows Allan wearing a black pointed hat alongside the phrase ‘ditch the witch’. Victorian upper house MP for the Animal Justice party Georgie Purcell, who faces sexist abuse every day as a female MP, argues misogyny isn’t a legitimate expression of political dissatisfaction
13 June 2026, 8:00 pm
32 minutes 50 seconds
Back to Back Barries: Who is donating to One Nation?
Tony Barry and Barrie Cassidy discuss One Nation’s successful fundraising drive which raised nearly $3m this week. They look at how the major parties are handling the rise of the rightwing party and where they agree the prime minister made a missstep. Also in this episode: the return of the ‘Ditch the Witch’ slogan in politics and the likelihood of a Liberal win in the upcoming Victorian election
12 June 2026, 3:00 pm
27 minutes 27 seconds
On the ground in the Belfast riots
Guardian reporter Hannah Al-Othman on the anti-immigrant rioting in Northern Ireland and the residents afraid for their lives
12 June 2026, 5:30 am
24 minutes 24 seconds
Newsroom edition: Are the Liberals already surrendering to One Nation?
One Nation’s predicted primary vote is ahead of both the Labor government and Coalition opposition for the first time, marking a new level of popularity for a party that has sat at the fringe of Australian politics for decades and sparking a flurry of questions about whether Pauline Hanson could actually become prime minister. Josephine Tovey speaks with Mike Ticher, Patrick Keneally and Dan Jervis-Bardy about whether One Nation’s policies will stand up to further scrutiny
11 June 2026, 3:00 pm
22 minutes 48 seconds
The politics and profit of a World Cup in Trump’s America
Kick-off is just hours away in what is already shaping up to be one of the most controversial and complex Fifa World Cups as geopolitical disputes and allegations of corporate greed cast a shadow over the tournament. Football journalist Samantha Lewis speaks to Nour Haydar about why she is more nervous than ever on the eve of the cup about the impact the many problems could have on the world’s most-watched sporting event