Tag: 7am podcast
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The mum fighting Queensland’s puberty blocker ban
Last week, trans teenagers in Queensland and their families had a short moment of joy – the supreme court overturned the state government’s ban on gender affirming care. The judge found the decision to stop children from accessing puberty blockers was done without proper consultation. He found that the ban had been rushed through without…
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The woman who exposed the childcare industry
Some childcare centres in Australia are so understaffed that children are left alone for hours. Others spend less than a dollar a day on feeding them. Yet the industry receives billions in public subsidies and dodgy centres are allowed to keep operating even after serious breaches. What’s emerging is a picture of a broken childcare…
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When Donald Trump met Xi Jinping
US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have met face-to-face for the first time in six years. Thursday’s meeting, on the sidelines of the APEC summit, came at a time of deep tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Tariffs are soaring, critical minerals are being weaponised and the battle over tech dominance…
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The real cost of Trump’s critical minerals ‘deal’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s $13-billion critical minerals deal with Donald Trump has been touted as a huge win – one that strengthens our relationship with our most powerful ally – and delivers massive US investment in our national interest. But while Australia and the US talk it up as a blow to China’s stranglehold on…
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Why the consumer watchdog is suing Microsoft
Tech giants have invested billions into AI – and are looking for ways to get a return. So when Microsoft offered its customers its new AI function Copilot recently, it told them they’d need to pay a higher price for their subscription – or cancel. AI was now part of the deal, whether they wanted…
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How profit beats safety in childcare
When Joshua Brown was arrested for allegedly abusing children at childcare centres across Melbourne, it exposed a horrifying reality – patchwork regulation and an understaffed, profit-driven industry is failing children. Months on, as state and federal governments try to deal with the fallout – and as the Albanese government pumps record investment into the early…
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Australia’s National Anti-Corruption Commission has a trust problem
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has more tha 200 employees, an annual budget of $60 million, and has received more than 5000 referrals. It also hasn’t made a single major corruption finding in the two years it’s been operating. And, adding to questions around performance and credibility, it was recently revealed that NACC chief commissioner Paul…
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Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein and the emails
“We are in this together… we’ll play some more soon.” That’s what Prince Andrew reportedly wrote to Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 – the day after a photo of Andrew with accuser Virginia Giuffre hit the papers. The email undercuts the prince’s claim that the pair had cut ties in 2010, and is part of a…
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The ‘playbook’ lobbyists use to delay climate action
When Professor Christian Downie appeared before a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation, he warned that Australia faces coordinated campaigns designed not to debate climate solutions, but to stall them. Downie has spent years inside boardrooms and the lobbying world studying how these campaigns are built – tracing the billions spent on messaging by…
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Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese’s new friendship
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was so chuffed with his meeting with US President Donald Trump that he joked he’d use Trump’s endorsement in his next campaign ads. While Trump is used to a procession of world leaders coming through his door, there was more at stake for Albanese, who is trying to manage an increasingly…