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John Bolton has spent years arguing that bombing Iran isn’t just justified but necessary. 

For decades he has argued that American military force can solve the problem of hostile regimes in the Middle East. He backed the Invasion of Iraq, championed some of the most disastrous American interventions of the modern era, and despite that, he is still arguing more force, more intervention and more regime change will bring stability to the Middle East.

Now, as the US escalates again, Bolton’s worldview is back at the centre of the debate. A worldview, that when it comes to Iran, our government shares. 

Today, former Trump national security adviser John Bolton, on the strikes on Iran, and on why a man who backed the invasion of Iraq still sees bombing as the answer. 

 

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Guest: Ambassador John Bolton, Former Trump National Security Advisor

Photo: PA/Alamy

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This week Iran announced a new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But who’s really running the country now? We look into the heavily armed elite forces pulling the strings – the Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.

Today, Iranian journalist and author Arash Azizi on what direction Iran’s elite armed forces could take the country.

 

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Guest: Iranian journalist and author, Arash Azizi

Photo: EPA

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On Sunday night, after Iran’s final game of the Women’s Asian Cup on the Gold Coast, protesters surrounded the team bus, banging on the windows and shouting “let them go”.

Later, five members of the Iranian squad broke away from their minders. By Tuesday, the federal government had confirmed they had been granted humanitarian visas.

The move followed days of concern about what the players might face if they returned to Iran, after several were denounced on Iranian state television for refusing to sing the national anthem at the start of the tournament.

The government says the same option remains open to the rest of the team, but for now they look set to return to a war zone.

Today, former Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster on what this moment says about football’s failure to protect women players when they needed them most.

 

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Guest: Former Socceroos captain and human rights advocate, Craig Foster

Photo: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

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Independent MP Monique Ryan can remember a time in Australian politics when small breaches could cost a career. 

Now she says we’ve been gradually conditioned to tolerate corruption and the loss of transparency in parliament.

Over recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of lobbyists with access to Parliament House. Literally thousands move through the building, meeting politicians and staffers; often leaving little public trace of who they’ve spoken to and why. 

Today, Independent MP, Monique Ryan on the thousands of lobbyists roaming the halls of Parliament House and the system she says allows them to influence, behind closed doors, the decisions that affect us all.

 

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Guest: Dr Monique Ryan, Independent MP

Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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Who should hold the power to decide how AI is used on our battlefields? That’s the question being debated after a face-off between the Pentagon and one of the world’s biggest AI companies.

Anthropic ultimately lost its contract with the US military after refusing to let its Claude program be used for mass surveillance of American citizens, or for fully automated weapons capable of killing with no human oversight.

But now that its rival, OpenAI, has stepped into the ring and cut its own deal with the government, what does that mean for how AI is used in our current wars – and the wars of the future?

Today, David Wroe from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on tech titans, robodogs and whether AI should be used to kill.

 

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Guest: David Wroe, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Photo: Xinhua/Sipa USA

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It’s been revealed this week that Monash IVF has paid millions of dollars in secret settlements, after two nightmare mixups saw women implanted with the wrong embryos – one of them giving birth to a stranger’s baby.

At least three families have now received compensation for the bungle, which was caused by human error.

But these mistakes – at one of the oldest and most reputable clinics in the country – have had devastating consequences that reach far beyond the affected families, damaging the confidence of anyone relying on fertility treatment in Australia.

In this episode, which first aired in June 2025, Ruby Jones speaks with writer and public health campaigner Hannah Bambra on why the IVF industry is so vulnerable to human error.

 

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Guest: Hannah Bambra, writer and public health campaigner

Photo: AAP Image/Dean Lewins

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When the United States launched strikes on Iran, Australia was quick to back the move. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s about defending global security. But critics say that argument sounds familiar. More than two decades ago, another Australian prime minister used almost identical arguments to justify joining America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Back then, Albanese himself warned those decisions would redefine Australia as a willing backer of US militarism no matter whether it is in the national interest. 

Today, political editor at Crikey, Bernard Keane, on why he believes the Prime Minister has undergone a remarkable transformation, and what it means for Australia as the conflict grows.

 

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Guest: Bernard Keane, political editor at Crikey

Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

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An effort by Congress to rein in President Trump’s war in Iran has failed.

Democrats and a few Republicans tried to use the War Powers Resolution to force Trump to get approval from Congress to keep fighting – but it didn’t pass.

Now the war is dragging in more countries, fuelling a global crisis and dividing nations.

Today Jasmine El-Gamal, former Pentagon adviser and founder of Averos Strategies, on Trump’s war – is it ego, blind ambition or part of a plan to reshape the world? 

 

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Guest: Jasmine El-Gamal, founder and CEO of Averos Strategies

Photo: Abbas Hassan/TASS/Sipa USA

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When the High Court handed down its Mabo decision, it cracked open the legal fiction at the heart of the nation. Terra Nullius was gone.

For John Howard, then in opposition, it provided  an opportunity. He framed the moment not as correction, but as a threat. A story was spun to suburban and regional Australia: your backyard, your lease, your livelihood were suddenly, all under threat.

For John Howard, the real battle was over the nation’s conscience. He dismissed what he called the “black armband” view of history and described the violence and dispossession of the past as mere “blemishes” on an otherwise proud national story. He refused to apologise to the Stolen Generations, rejecting the idea that the nation owed a moral debt. In its place, he chose pride over reckoning — and ideology over truth.

Author and political commentator Amy Remeikis has spent months tracing the threads of Howard’s legacy,  not just the policies, but the narratives that made them possible.

This is the Howard Effect, a three part series from 7am marking 30 years since John Howard's ascent to power. Episode Three - Who Belongs

 

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Guest:  Author of Where It All Went Wrong: The case against John Howard, Amy Remeikis

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It’s just over two years into his first term and John Howard is taking the country to another election. In that short time he has seized the mantle of economic credibility away from Labor and rewritten the argument about who could be trusted to manage the economy. 

The memory of Labor's reforms while in government were suddenly distant, and the constant reminder of the devastating recession of the 90s were kept fresh in the mind of voters by Howard and his treasurer Peter Costello.

Economic Management became the major selling point for Howard in every election from there on in.

This is The Howard Effect, a three-part series marking 30 years since John Howard’s emphatic election victory. Today, author Amy Remeikis on the economic revolution that defined his government — the tax reforms, the housing settings, and the policy choices that helped create the Australia we are all still living in. 

This is episode 2 - In the Shadows of the Australian Dream. 

 

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Guest: Author of Where It All Went Wrong: The case against John Howard, Amy Remeikis

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.