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Rhys Cauzzo was one of hundreds of thousands of Australians who received unlawful and false debt notices under robodebt.

The 28 year old died by suicide in January of 2017, as debt collectors pursued him for $17,000 dollars.

After his death, his mother Jenny began to unravel just how many debt notices Rhys had received, and she decided to go public – speaking to The Saturday Paper about what happened to her son.

Now, she’s given evidence to the royal commission into robo-debt – and the hearings have exposed more details about how senior government figures reacted to reports of her son’s death.

Today, Jenny Miller, on her son Rhys and her search for the truth. 

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Guest: Mother of Rhys Cauzzo and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Jenny Miller.

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Zaki Haidari is one of 19,000 people who Australia has kept in limbo, but will now get the certainty of a permanent place in Australia.

Temporary protection visas allowed people who arrived by boat to come to Australia, but denied them the rights of other visa holders, and hanging over them was the threat that they could be sent back to where they came from.

The Labor party promised to put an end to the visas, and now, nine months after the election they’ve finally delivered. For many, it’s a life changing relief – but the change is uneven and over a thousand remain trapped in temporary status.

Today, former refugee and advocate Zaki Haidari, on his journey to Australia, life as a temporarily protected person and why the fight continues for refugees in Australia.

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Guest: Former refugee and advocate, Zaki Haidari

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As housing becomes less affordable and the search for adequate accommodation more desperate, Erin O’Dwyer investigates how we can escape from the urban sprawl.

Erin looks at how the best intentions can go awry, as we try to build better homes.

She makes the case that designing our homes doesn’t have to be a luxury and that as we build more and more of them to address the housing shortage, happiness for the people living in them shouldn’t be an afterthought.

Listen to Erin read her piece, ‘Tree Change’, from The Saturday Paper.

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Guest: Journalist and writer, Erin O’Dwyer

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For the last 30 years, Australian retirements have been tied to superannuation. It’s the nest egg that most of us spend decades building up.

While it might not be a perfect system, any changes to it have usually become stuck in controversy; whether that’s increasing compulsory contributions, or allowing people to raid their super to buy property.

This week, the treasurer said he wants to start a national conversation about super – but will it lead to reform, or will this conversation end up in the political graveyard?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno on the future of super.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno.

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Once the United States military started looking for them, they couldn’t stop finding them. Unidentified balloons were everywhere.

The military and President Joe Biden decided the best course of action was simple: to shoot these unknown objects out of the sky.

But weeks later, we’re finally learning that only the first of these balloons to be shot down has anything to do with China – the others, likely belong to scientists and hobby clubs. 

Today, former director of war studies at the Australian Army Research Centre and adjunct professor at UNSW Canberra Albert Palazzo, on how balloons became a threat.

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Guest: Former director of war studies at the Australian Army Research Centre and adjunct professor at UNSW Canberra, Albert Palazzo.

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In recent years, Labor governments have swept into power in most states across the country… with the exceptions of NSW and Tasmania.

But that might be about to change.

Chris Minns, the leader of the opposition in NSW, looks likely to lead the Labor party to its first victory in the state since 2007 – but many voters still don’t know much about him.

Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe, on who Chris Minns really is…and why he ditched brashness for caution.

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Guest: National correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe.

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Violence and vandalism in Alice Springs became a national fascination this year.

First Peter Dutton, then Anthony Albanese flew into town, after rates of alcohol-related assault rose by 68 per cent in 2022.

One community meeting, held by a group calling itself ‘Save Alice Springs’, became a focal point of the media’s coverage.

But another meeting took place as well. On the edge of town, hundreds of Indigenous leaders and community members came together to discuss the crisis.

Today, Gunaikurnai/Wotjobaluk writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper Ben Abbatangelo on the real issues facing Alice Springs. 

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Guest: Contributor to The Saturday Paper, Ben Abbatangelo.

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Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, has already had to apologise for his forecast that interest rates were unlikely to rise until 2024.

He now acknowledges that people may have taken his prediction as an assurance, and as a result they might have bought homes and saddled themselves with debt that’s more expensive than they thought.

So, the pressure was on Lowe as he made his way to Canberra last week to answer questions about his decision making.

Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Middleton on what Philip Lowe said in Canberra, and whether his job is on the line.

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Guest: Chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Karen Middleton.

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The announcement that former Liberal minister Alan Tudge will resign from the parliament marks the end of a controversial political career, but it's also throwing open new challenges for the party, and opposition leader Peter Dutton.

Speculation is swirling about who will be selected to run for Tudge’s seat in Melbourne at the upcoming by-election, and while the pressure is on for the Liberal party to pick a woman, factional infighting means nothing is guaranteed.

So, can the Liberals retain the seat of Aston, which it barely clung on to at the last election? Or is the seat within Labor’s grasp?

Today, Columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno, on the political test looming in Aston. 

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno.

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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation is cutting 5% of its jobs around the world, with over a thousand employees in the newspaper business about to be let go.

But it’s not the only upheaval within the Murdoch media empire. Plans to merge Fox Corporation with the newspaper side of the business have recently been shelved.

So what does that mean for Rupert’s successor, eldest son Lachlan?

Today, contributor to The Saturday Paper and author of the biography of Lachlan Murdoch The Successor – Paddy Manning, on the merger that could define Rupert Murdoch’s legacy and whether he’s really abandoned it for good.

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Guest: Contributor to The Saturday Paper and author of the biography of Lachlan Murdoch The Successor, Paddy Manning

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