Inside Politics

After the attack on Independent MP Helen Haines, it's been a real horror week in Australian politics. Last week SMH and The Age columnist Waleed Aly wrote a column titled, "More Australians believe in political violence than go to church each week. This won't end well".

Given the chilling prescience of that column and its title, Aly joins Jacqueline Maley on Inside Politics this week to discuss the issue of political violence.

Fur...

This week – again – is all about the economy, which includes a visit from a ghost of the past in the form of former treasurer Josh Frydenberg.

But the big topic for today is current treasurerJim Chalmers and a speech he gave this week, in which he warned progressives not to mock One Nation voters.

The far-right strategy to divide people was working, he said, and although facts could push back on sensationalism and misin...

It’s been a year since Liberal MP Andrew Hastie quit Sussan Ley’s frontbench to speak his mind on migration.

His decision fractured the Coalition and Ley’s ambition to woo back multicultural communities with a more moderate stance. How things change in a year.

But through it all, migration has become a more heated political issue. On Tuesday, Angus Taylor announced the Coalition’s long-awaited policy, promis...

Anthony Albanese is back from the United Nations in New York to a slump in his approval rating and more economic pain.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank raised interest rates to a 15-year-high due to continued inflation pressure. So what's driving inflation? How much is government spending contributing to this issue?

Also this week, the Greens elected a new leader. NSW senator David Shoebridge is far more confrontational than former lea...

Today we’re going international to talk about Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s trip to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

It’s been an eventful few days for the PM who has, among other things, spoken about Australia’s attempts to crack down on social media, met with US President Donald Trump and given a speech in which he declared the world orde...

Today we’re hot off the press, to use an old newsroom cliche, to talk about the federal government’s new plan for migration. Immigration Minister Tony Burke gave a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday where he announced significant changes.

These changes included curtailing visa hopping, targeting international students, implementing a ballot system for backpackers, and ramping up the depo...

This week we’re joining the dots between two different stories: the fight over superannuation, and the colourful past of One Nation’s leader in Victoria, Warren Pickering.

On Monday, Pauline Hanson told voters her party would allow renters and prospective home buyers to withdraw their superannuation early. The policy was scant on details, but it had the desired effect of controlling the national debate.

The same th...

In this week’s episode, we dissect Labor’s brutal loss to One Nation in a supposedly safe seat in Western Australia.

Does this byelection really signify, as victor Luke Herdegen put it, that no MP is safe from the “orange tsunami”?

One Liberal MP who is worried is Andrew Hastie. Liberal strategists have been telling us his stance against accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith may cause voters in his electora...

This week we reported on some interesting polling that grappled with what makes One Nation voters tick, and one issue stood out.

There’s also been an argy-bargy in the party this week over immigration numbers, the net result of which being, perhaps, that One Nation is not totally against migration. 

Meanwhile, the Labor government is yet to announce its migration plan and which visa classes it may cut, but the early talk...

Today we have something special and a little bit different because Tony Wright, one of the stalwarts of Australian political writing, is stepping back from daily newsroom duties after 50 years in journalism.
For about 30 of these years, Tony reported on federal politics. Bob Hawke was the first prime minister he covered, while Paul Keating often rang Tony at home in the mornings to, at first, berate, and then ...

We’re back to talking about melons and the podcast interview that continues to cause dramas for the prime minister.

Six weeks ago, Anthony Albanese appeared on a podcast called ‘Bush Deep’ and was asked about the worst gift he received. Melons, he replied, gifted to him by Japanese prime minister.

What was said, and not said, has become the focus of attacks from the media, the Coalition and One Nation this week.

S...

This week on Inside Politics, we take a look at some of the major policy challenges facing the Albanese government – from migration numbers, to gambling-advertising reform and the news media bargaining code between Australian media and big tech companies.

Joining host Jacqueline Maley are chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to...

It’s been another roller coaster this week for mortgage holders. Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock issued a stern warning about inflation, before the clouds parted a little when there was a welcome dip in the numbers.

We check in with the state of the economy with senior economics correspondent Shane Wright, before crossing to state political editor Chip Le Grand after quite a momentous week in Victoria.

This week, Jacint...

It has been quite the week in federal politics, and our attention has been sucked by two One Nation clangers.

First, Barnaby Joyce yelled at his dog on national television, then Pauline Hanson made some incredibly controversial remarks about domestic violence.

Meanwhile, our guests for today, chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos, are tuning in under the fluorescent light...

We switch to sunnier climes this week, to a posh hotel in Sicily. It’s where the TV series White Lotus was filmed, and it’s also where our colleagues at The Australian Financial Review spotted One Nation leader Pauline Hanson poolside with billionaire Gina Rinehart.

So what’s Hanson doing in Europe?

In today’s episode, host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal talk about who Hanson ...

This week, we’re talking about a visit from Narendra Modi to Australia and why Anthony Albanese wants to bask in the Indian prime minister’s limelight, despite questions around Modi’s human rights record.

And in an environment where One Nation and the Coalition want to go hard on migration, Albanese’s friendship with Modi looks like it stands in stark contrast.

But that’s not what piqued everyone&rsquo...

The government's capital gains tax and negative gearing changes are now legislated, and this week there has been some early data on how these changes are hitting the property market.

Plus, Labor's compromise on gambling advertising reforms and Angus Taylor's leadership of the Liberal Party.

Senior economics correspondent Shane Wright and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos join Jacqueline Maley to discuss.

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This week independent MPs Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender announced they would form a new political party, Community Strong Australia.

Steggall was successful as the first teal candidate, winning the prize seat of Warringah on Sydney’s north shore from former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.

Spender took Sydney’s blue-ribbon electorate of Wentworth from Liberal David Sharma in 2022.
But the le...

The hottest ticket in Australian politics this week was Pauline Hanson's first address to the National Press Club, which happened on Wednesday.

The Press Club, set up in the early 1960s, has become a rite of passage for any aspiring political leader. But Hanson has been an outsider, and the Press Club represents the type of institution she rejects, so until now the One Nation leader has never made an appearance there.

Her speech, a...