One of the big stories of the 2025 election campaign was the wipeout of the Australian Greens. 

In a stunning defeat, they lost three out of their four lower house MPs, including their leader Adam Bandt.

It left the party with big questions, about why they weren’t growing at a time when young people are more progressive than ever.

Now, more than six months out from the election, and under the leadership of Larissa Waters, they are beginning to show some signs of where the party wants to go next. 

Today, Crikey columnist Rachel Withers, on whether the Greens can claw back support, or if they’ve taken the wrong message from their defeat.

 

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Guest: Crikey columnist Rachel Withers 

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This year, Anthony Albanese promised to make big changes — on childcare, on Medicare, on the cost of living.

But while the government delivered some wins, it also quietly stepped back from the fights it didn’t want to have — on gambling, housing, and corporate power.

Today, contributing editor of The New Daily, Amy Remeikis, looks back on yet another huge year in politics, on the deals Labor made, the reforms it shelved, and what it reveals about how this government really works.

 

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Guest: Contributing editor of The New Daily Amy Remeikis

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It’s been a huge year for video games. Small developers are leading a renaissance of original ideas breaking through into the mainstream. They are going up against blockbuster franchises like Call of Duty – and winning.

The 7am team debated adding “games” to our ‘best of’ features this year – but the numbers don’t lie. More than four out of five Australians game and the industry is at least three times the size of the film industry.

Games can be so many things: high art, pop art – and pure dopamine. Sometimes all at once.

Today, video games critic and tech journalist at the ABC, Rad Yeo, on her top five favourite games of the year.


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Guest: Video games critic and tech journalist at the ABC, Rad Yeo

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Ruby Jones listens to a lot of podcasts. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they all circle the same theme: journalism. 

Today, she’s bringing you her favourite journalistic podcasts of the year – recommending everything from immersive narrative series to friends with chat shows.

 

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Guest: 7am host Ruby Jones

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Kate Jinx watches hundreds of films every year – for her job programming feature films at the Melbourne International Film Festival, and, because she loves them.

Today, she’s bringing you her five favourites from 2025.

There’s Leonardo Dicaprio, of course. There’s also heists, collaborative theatre as film, PTSD but funny, and, there’s porridge.

 

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Guest: Programmer of feature films at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Kate Jinx 

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It’s been a heavy year in many ways. And when you work in news, there’s no shying away from that. But music can be a respite – something to help process the heaviness, and something that brings escape and joy.

When we asked Head of Music at SXSW, Claire Collins, to pick her favourite albums of the year, both the heaviness and the joy were reflected back at us. She’s picked five albums for you to blast this summer, as you prepare for the year ahead.

 

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Guest: Claire Collins, head of music at SXSW

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Marieke Hardy is a writer, broadcaster and former panelist on the ABC’s First Tuesday Book Club.

Marieke’s passion and enthusiasm for the books she loves is contagious. But she’s also direct and unapologetic when a book isn’t for her, so you always know that when she recommends something, it’s going to be worth your time.

Her list of favourite books starts with a sprawling novel about friendship and love – and winds its way through so many other huge themes: grief, violence, war, and how the internet has ruined us.

Today, Marieke Hardy with her five favourite books of 2025.

 

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Guest: Writer and literary critic Marieke Hardy

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Sarah Krasnostein has had a huge year. She’s teamed up with Helen Garner and Chloe Hooper to write The Mushroom Tapes – a true-crime book about Erin Patterson’s triple murder trial that asks what our fascination with the case says about us.

She’s also continued her work as a television critic, watching a hell of a lot of TV.

In her list of the best TV of 2025, Sarah Krasnostein is drawn to shows that feel uncomfortably close to real life – from teenage boys pulled into the manosphere to post-apocalyptic worlds shaped by AI. And for her, even the bleakest series this year are ultimately hopeful: they’re less about what’s been destroyed than about what could be rebuilt, and the chances that still exist to step in before things go wrong.

Today, she’s picked her top 5 shows for you to binge over the summer.

 

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Guest: Author and critic, Sarah Krasnostein

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In the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack, the country is grieving. It's a moment that calls for unity and for leadership.

But what we’ve seen is something else. Within days, political lines hardened. A former prime minister stepped in. The opposition shifted its message. And international leaders joined the chorus.

With political venom so close to the surface, the moment has revealed something deeper about how crisis is now handled in Australian politics.

Today, press gallery veteran Paul Bongiorno, on the gap between who we want to be – and who we are.

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Guest: Press gallery veteran Paul Bongiorno

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Two months ago, Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of a ceasefire plan for Gaza.

But since the truce began on October 10, Gaza authorities say Israel has carried out nearly 800 attacks, killing almost 400 people – including in a recent strike targeting a senior Hamas commander.

Israel, meanwhile, says militants have repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least three Israeli soldiers.

And as Hamas refuses to disarm, Washington seems to have gone silent.

Today, Middle East correspondent for The Economist, Gregg Carlstrom, on why plans for peace have stalled – and who may end up running Gaza.

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Guest: Middle East correspondent for The Economist, Gregg Carlstrom

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