7am

From his diagnosis with oesophageal cancer in 2024 to openly wrestling with end-of-life decisions, beloved ABC broadcaster James Valentine took his listeners along with him as he stared down his own death.

Now, after his passing, that openness continues – with James’ decision to share the fact that he ended his life through voluntary assisted dying, or VAD.

Today, Go Gentle Australia founder Andrew Denton on James’ decision, and why some Australians still have trouble accessing VAD, despite it being legal in all but one Australian territory.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Go Gentle Australia founder, Andrew Denton

Photo: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

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Donald Trump has compared himself to Abraham Lincoln and JFK after an alleged shooter, dubbed in his reported-manifesto as the “friendly federal assassin”, charged a security point armed with guns and knives.

For a moment, the White House Correspondents dinner continued, the president and his guests unaware until the secret service pulled him from the stage, forming a human shield.

This marks the third alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump in two years. As political violence targeting both sides of the aisle grows to unprecedented levels.

Today, SMH columnist and former assistant managing editor of NPR in Washington, Bill Wyman on America’s surge in political violence and Trump’s role as both target and provocateur.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: SMH columnist Bill Wyman

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In October 2022, Dan Duggan was arrested at a Woolworths in Orange, regional New South Wales, after dropping his kids off at school.

American prosecutors claim the former US Marine pilot helped train Chinese military pilots in South Africa more than a decade ago, in breach of US arms trafficking laws. Duggan denies that, and says he believed he was involved in lawful civilian flight training.

He’s now facing extradition to the United States.

But before the arrest, the charges, and before the extradition fight, Duggan was living as an Australian citizen, running a flight business in Tasmania, and building a life with his wife Saffrine and their children.

Today, Dan Duggan’s wife, Saffrine Duggan on her husband’s fight for freedom from jail, and journalist and member of the Free Dan Duggan Campaign, Michael Sainsbury, on how an Australian pilot became the target of US prosecution.

This is part one of a two-part episode.

 

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Guest: Saffrine Duggan and journalist and member of the Free Dan Duggan campaign Michael Sainsbury.

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Dan Duggan’s case is now an extradition battle.

Former attorney-general Mark Dreyfus approved the Australian citizen’s extradition to the United States and the Federal Court has rejected the latest attempt to stop it.

Duggan’s supporters say this is no longer just a legal case – they believe it’s also shaped by geopolitics and the growing rivalry between the United States and China, and by Australia’s willingness to go along with Washington.

Today, journalist Michael Sainsbury, and Saffrine Duggan, on why the Australian government signed off on Duggan’s extradition, what he could face in the United States, and why his supporters say he has become caught in something much bigger than one man.

This is part two of a two-part episode.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Saffrine Duggan and journalist and member of the Free Dan Duggan campaign Michael Sainsbury.

Photo: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan introduced the state's treaty bill into parliament, she said it would pave the way for a formal apology, the introduction of Aboriginal truth-telling into the school curriculum, and a better future for Indigenous Australians in the state.

The treaty is the culmination of almost a decade of work that established the First Peoples’ Assembly – which led the negotiations – and delivers on ‘Voice, Treaty and Truth’, making Victoria the first state in the country to do so.

Now, that treaty is in its next phase. This week, we'll have the election results of who will sit on the next First Peoples’ Assembly – and tomorrow, the process of setting up the delegation that will actually decide what the treaty will look like begins.

Today, the co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, on what they hope Victoria’s treaty will deliver – and how its success will be measured.

This is part one of a two-part episode that first aired in September 2025.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Co-Chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg.

Photo: AAP Image/Pool, Justin McManus

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Indigenous leaders across the country welcomed Victoria’s treaty.

The legislation enshrines a democratically elected body for First Peoples, called Gellung Warl, that will be consulted on laws and policies affecting Indigenous communities.

Now there are calls for other states and territories to use the Victorian example as a model to establish their own treaties.

But there’s also pushback – with critics calling it costly and divisive in claims that echo The Voice debate – and with state and territory leaders across the country abandoning previous promises and commitments.

Today, writer and 7am co-host Daniel James on whether Victoria’s treaty marks a turning point or an anomaly.

This is part two of a two-part episode that first aired in September 2025.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Writer and 7am co-host, Daniel James.

Photo: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

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This week, the Albanese government moved to rein in the NDIS, making a hard political argument that one of the most impactful reforms in recent memory now has to be smaller to survive. In Canberra, a Senate hearing pressed on another pressure point: whether, at a time of global instability and rising costs, Australia should be getting more from its gas exports.

And in the first electoral test for the reshaped right, there may be signs that One Nation’s surge in the polls has reached its limit. 

Today, contributing editor at The New Daily, Amy Remeikis, on what this week reveals about Labor, the right and the pressure on both.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Contributing editor at The New Daily, Amy Remeikis

Photo: AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

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The government says the NDIS has drifted too far from its original purpose, has grown too fast and too loosely, and that it now needs a major reset.

Health Minister Mark Butler says the changes, which will see eligibility tightened, participants reassessed and 160,000 people booted from the NDIS are about making the scheme sustainable and pulling it back to the people it was originally designed to support.

But for people with a disability, families and carers, the language has done little to calm anxiety – because this is just not a crackdown on fraud and dodgy providers. It's a change to who gets support, how that support is judged and what happens to people who no longer meet the new test.

Today, Australian Autism Alliance co-chair Jenny Karavolos on the government's NDIS overhaul and why it's causing so much apprehension across the community. 

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Australian Autism Alliance Co-Chair Jenny Karavolos

Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

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It’s not often politicians are taken to task by regular Australians on the issues that fill them with rage.

But that’s exactly what happened at this week’s senate inquiry into taxing Australia’s gas companies for their windfall war profits. 

Konrad Benjamin, a former high school teacher, gave evidence at the hearing – and he didn’t hold back

The self proclaimed “citizen’s lobbyist” is making headlines around the country.

Today in a special bonus episode, founder of Punter’s Politics Konrad Benjamin on why he thinks gas companies are ripping off Australia – and the government is letting them get away with it.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Punter’s Politics founder Konrad Benjamin

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This week, accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith, who is out on bail for five charges of murdering unarmed Afghan civilians and prisoners in 2009 and 2012, came out swinging.

The highly decorated soldier categorically denied the allegations against him, saying he will never give up the fight. Roberts-Smith insists he’s proud of his service in Afghanistan, and of the men and women who served alongside him.

Men like Glenn Kolomeitz – a defence force lawyer deployed with Ben Roberts-Smith’s squadron in Afghanistan – whose take on the charges, the investigation and the impending trial may not be what you’d expect.

Today, war veteran and defence lawyer Glenn Kolo meitz, on how the defence community feels about Ben Roberts-Smith, and what comes next.

 

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

 

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Guest: Veteran and lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz

Photo: AAP Image/Jason O’Brien

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.