This week, we unpack ASIO's new secret detention powers that let them jail you without a warrant, without telling anyone, and without you being able to say a word about it. Both major parties waved it through while punters were distracted by $3 diesel. We break down how the Attorney General can now rubber stamp interrogations, why kids as young as 14 can be nabbed off the street, and how Albo went from quoting Nazi speeches against these laws in 2003 to passing even worse versions today.

Japan Demands Free Gas & The Gas Bludger War Escalates

The Japanese ambassador rocked up to Canberra demanding we keep handing over gas royalties for free because they hate surprises. We've got a surprise for them. The gas lobby is now running full page newspaper ads trying to convince punters that beer tax is higher than gas tax by stacking multiple tax categories into one number. We fight back with punter propaganda, break down their dodgy maths, and explain why every punter needs to be all hands on deck as the May budget approaches and Labor considers a windfall profits tax.

Nanny State Alert: E-Bike Crackdown Explained

We sound the nanny state alarm as Queensland and New South Wales introduce roadside dyno testing for e-bikes, lower legal power limits to 200 watts, introduce licensing requirements, crush powers for illegal bikes, and footpath speed limits of 10 kilometres an hour. We sit down with Patrick from Streets and Scars of City Past to break down why this is classic Karen overreach, how Europe handles e-bikes with tiered licensing that actually works, and why Australian politicians would rather ban alternatives than build cycling infrastructure.

Pauline Hanson's Private Jet Defense & The Sticky Bandits Strike Again

Pauline Hanson gets grilled over undeclared flights on Gina Rinehart's private jet and pulls off a solid pub crawl defense, stumbling from no cost to the taxpayer to name dropping Anika Wells while Barnaby Joyce swoops in for the alley oop. We score the maneuver, break down the propaganda tactics, and celebrate the return of the sticky bandits who've been slapping punter stickers on Liberal and Labor MP signs across the country.

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This week, we unpack Labor's quiet move to model a windfall profits tax on gas and coal, the propaganda war already kicking off from the gas lobby, and why this could be the biggest policy shift we've seen in years. We break down what a windfall tax actually is, why the EU and UK already have one, and how Australia's been letting gas companies pocket billions in war-driven profits while taxpayers bail out the rest of the economy.

The Petrol Crisis Blame Game: Who's Actually Responsible?

Konrad plays the blame game with Australia's petrol panic, breaking down who's pointing fingers at who. Labor blames panic buyers, the Liberals blame Labor, the ACCC blames price gouging retailers, and the media is absolutely fanning the flames. We dig into Australia's structural fuel vulnerability, the refinery closures under the Coalition, Morrison's bizarre decision to store our reserves in the US, and why corporate media might be making this worse than it needs to be.

The Punters Lobbyist Is Locked In

After raising over $80,000 and filtering through 37 applications, Punter Melissa has locked in the Punters Lobbyist. We break down the hiring process, the vetting, the reference checks, and what comes next as we prepare to take on the gas lobby with our own Canberra insider. Plus, the free sauce campaign is officially launching with stickers, bottles, and a guerrilla marketing plan to remind Aussies that gas companies get free gas while punters pay for tomato sauce.

South Australia's Election, Slay or Nay, and The Internet Reviewed

We cover South Australia's election results where Labor dominates again, play a new game called Slay or Nay featuring Supreme Leader Malinauskas roasting One Nation's housing policy, and sit down with Kirsten Drysdale from The Internet Reviewed to spotlight Carrick Ryan, a former AFP agent and geopolitics expert worth following if you want nuanced takes on conflicts, politics, and Australian policy.

Watch more from Kirsten Drysdale's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@UCQFXq97bgp86MMny1f-oYFA

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This week, we dive into the gas tax drama - who voted for the punters, who sided with the gas lobby, and One Nation’s backflip. We unpack multiple political manoeuvres and pageant politics, from Albo’s tussle with Karl Stefanovic, Victorian Premier Jacinda Allen turning the CFMEU corruption saga into a personal spat, and Penny Wong’s semantic gymnastics when asked if Australia is at war.

Plus: the latest on the punters’ e-bikes, Konrad loses his shirt live on air, and a new side quest unlocked - free sauce at every pie shop in Australia.

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Konrad flies solo this week to unpack the Epstein files and what they reveal about how rich wankers actually run your country. This isn't conspiracy theory territory, it's a leaked blueprint of power, influence, and how billionaires casually interfere with elections, rig policy debates, and help each other escape consequences while ordinary punters play by completely different rules.

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Konrad sits down in person with Gary Stevenson, former Citibank trader turned inequality economist, for a deep dive into why Australia's housing crisis isn't actually about housing at all, why billionaire-funded far-right parties are the biggest con in politics, and why anger alone won't fix the system rigged against you.

Australia's Secret Housing Advantage (And Why We're Pissing It Away)

Gary breaks down why Australia has everything it needs to protect living standards and prevent inequality from spiraling, including a fair go culture, natural resources under the ground, and wealth locked up in property instead of offshore tax havens. The problem? We're not using any of it. Instead, we're giving away gas royalties for free, handing tax breaks to property investors through negative gearing and the capital gains discount, and watching house prices become inheritance lotteries instead of things you buy by working.

The Real Reason House Prices Are Unaffordable Everywhere

This isn't a housing crisis, it's an asset price crisis. Gary explains why housing becoming unaffordable is happening in every major city across the world, why all long term assets like stocks, gold, and land are skyrocketing at the same time, and how rich people don't directly buy your house, they own the credit on your mortgage and outcompete you through the debt system. Plus, the Bible story that perfectly explains why older Australians sitting on million dollar houses aren't actually winning.

Why The Far Right Is A Billionaire Con Job

Gary lays out his theory that far right parties like Reform UK and One Nation are billionaire funded political vehicles designed to stop wealth taxes from rising by distracting punters with racism and grievance politics. He explains why the political center is dead, why the future is a fight between tax the rich and the far right, and why billionaires would rather collapse society than agree to fair taxation.

Also: why anger won't convince your grandparents their house wealth is destroying your future, how Margaret Thatcher turned workers into asset owners who vote against themselves, the widow's mites parable as a guide for surviving the next 20 years, and why staying calm is the only way punters can fight back.

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This week, we expose how a billionaire US mining cartel got slapped with a pathetic $55 million fine for illegally destroying endangered WA forests — then immediately received government permission to keep doing it. We break down the Minister's discretion loophole that lets politicians approve environmental destruction under "national security" exemptions, supposedly for renewable energy, while endangered black cockatoos lose their habitat.

The $250 Billion Housing Scam Nobody Wants You To Understand

Konrad breaks down the Capital Gains Tax discount — the 1999 policy that's cost Australia $250 billion over the next decade and handed 82% of the benefits to the top 10% of earners (and 60% to the top 1%). We expose why investors get half-price tax on property profits while you pay full tax on your wages, why the media machine is absolutely losing it over potential reforms, and how Domain, REA, and Murdoch's new mortgage company are all incentivized to keep house prices sky-high.

Plus: the Punters Lobbyist hunt continues with applications rolling in, Konrad confesses to accepting a free e-bike and puts his fate in the hands of Patreon punters, we clarify Tanya Plibersek's trust situation, and Spotify pulls down last week's episode over four seconds of a Madonna song.

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Konrad sits down with Tanya Plibersek for our longest conversation with a senior Labor figure - discussing media clipping culture, online abuse, gas royalties, Wealth inequality, money in politics, transparency laws, and whether Labor is genuinely different or just operating the same system with better branding.

We also break down David Pocock’s viral Senate Estimates moment exposing how Australia collects more tax from beer than offshore gas — and why that clip exploded. Plus, we run a social media audit on Kat Theophanous to unpack what politicians are finally learning about cut-through online.

Note

Tanya quickly offered a correction to one of the claims made in our chat. Wages have gone up 9k a year since they took government not* 14k. A citation was provided. Cheers for the self fact check Tanya.

https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/national-minimum-wage-rise-35-cent-following-annual-wage

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This week, we unpack why Australia's rushed hate speech laws won't actually stop violence, break down the anatomy of an Instagram pile-on when Konrad copped it from the bot army for not posting fast enough, and celebrate the return of the sticky bandits who've been absolutely relentless during our government-mandated break.

Why Hate Speech Laws Miss the Point (And Make Things Worse)

Konrad sits down with Tim Roberts from the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties to expose why the federal government's vague, minister-empowered hate speech laws won't prevent another Bondi & why suppressing speech doesn't eliminate hate

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This week, we break down Albo's defensive masterclass on Sunrise where he pulls off the classic "I'm not the finance minister" dodge, name-drops Sussan Ley, and attempts the slowest political pivot in history — all while journalists actually hold his feet to the fire about ministerial spending.

Beauty Pageant Politics: The Million Dollar Distraction

While the Murdoch media machine goes into overdrive about Annika Wells' travel expenses, we expose the cherry-picked outrage for what it really is: beauty pageant politics designed to distract you from the real scams. Sure, politicians waste a million bucks on flights — but while you're focused on that, Labor's taking $600,000 from gambling companies and refusing to ban gambling ads that cost Aussies $31 billion a year.

We do the bad maths: if banning gambling ads reduced losses by just 3%, that's a billion dollars back in punters' pockets — or a thousand times more than all the ministerial travel rorts combined.

Transurban's Toll Scam: The Junk Fee Heist Nobody's Talking About

Konrad gets absolutely fleeced by Transurban's toll fee scam — $40 in tolls, $50 in junk fees — and breaks down every single predatory charge this legal monopoly hits you with: $10 admin fees, $0.75 "video matching" fees, $15 non-return tag fees, and a dozen other made-up charges that would make a Nigerian prince blush.

Plus, we float the idea of a digital toll protest: what if 100,000 punters just stopped paying until Transurban pays their fair share of tax? It's a toll hostage situation — you want your money? Start acting like a legitimate business.

Also: Konrad rates his own political redirect performance, we answer Spotify comments about whether One Nation is taking over the Libs, and we're officially on a government-mandated break until February (probably).

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In the aftermath of violence, everyone asks the same question: why?
But what if the way we ask it — and the stories we tell next — decide whether it happens again?

Why Australia Once Refused to Name Killers (And Why That’s Changing)

In this episode, Konrad is joined by Dr Glynn Greensmith, senior lecturer in journalism at Curtin University, to unpack the uncomfortable truth about mass attacks, media coverage, and the hidden incentives shaping what we see, share, and believe. Drawing on decades of research into mass violence, journalism, and copycat behaviour, we explore why attention is often the real reward attackers seek — and how Australia once reduced harm by refusing to give it to them.

We examine how 24-hour news, social media algorithms, and profit-driven media structures collide with public safety, why speculation masquerading as news makes us less informed, and what responsibility journalists, platforms, politicians — and ordinary people — actually carry in moments of crisis.

Dr Glynn Greensmith https://www.smh.com.au/by/glynn-greensmith-p5369d

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This week, we expose the jobs-for-mates scandal the government tried to bury, watch David Pocock absolutely demolish ministers in Senate estimates with straight facts about Japan reselling our gas, and deliver a comprehensive punters audit on Cosplay Canavan that reveals exactly why you should never trust a word he says.

The independent review Labor didn't want released just dropped, confirming the appointment system "looks like nepotism" and isn't fit for purpose—but instead of fixing it with actual laws, they're going with a vibes-based framework and rejecting cooling-off periods so they can keep hiring their mates immediately. Minister Katie Gallagher pulls the classic resume pad when grilled about giving away 50% of our gas exports royalty-free, while Tim Ayres dismisses Japan's billion-dollar gas resale scam as just "dinner party discussion."

Plus, we break down why Matt Canavan deliberately confuses total investment with government spending to mislead punters on net zero costs, reveal his brother's 7% stake in a coal mine and executive role at Peabody Energy, and discuss how a Bachelor of Economics honours graduate who worked at KPMG somehow pretends he doesn’t understand basic economic concepts he's pushing.

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