7am

Smut Clyde spends several hours every day, scouring online science journals for suspicious-looking research.

He’s part of a growing team of online ‘science sleuths’, combating the rising number of fake research papers being published.

These papers are typically generated, with the help of AI, by ‘paper mills’: a cottage industry relying on overworked and desperate researchers to fuel their profit. 

Today, 7am producer and journalist Cheyne Anderson on how this epidemic of fraudulent research is infecting the scientific record and the self-appointed ‘sleuths’ who are fighting it.

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Guest: Producer for 7am, Cheyne Anderson.

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When people think of the CFMEU, Australia’s powerful and fearsome construction union, they picture its top dog, John Setka.

But as he prepares to step down from the union’s Victorian branch, Setka’s legacy is overshadowed by his brutality. Many current and former colleagues think his leadership was poisonous to the union, and that he may have even destroyed it.

Today, associate editor of The Saturday Paper Martin Mckenzie-Murray on the power and legacy of CFMEU boss, John Setka, and what comes next for the union.

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Guest: Associate editor of The Saturday Paper, Martin Mckenzie-Murray.

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Sebastien Lai woke up one morning in 2020 to find dozens of missed phone calls – his father, the Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, had just been arrested.

Sebastien is in Australia now, trying to convince our political leaders to advocate for his dad’s release from a Hong Kong prison.

Today on the show, Sebastien Lai tells the story of how his father Jimmy went from media mogul to political prisoner and what this means for journalistic freedom in Hong Kong.

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Guest: Sebastien Lai

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In high-security labs, from Silicon Valley to mainland China, researchers are racing to be the first to achieve what has been dubbed ‘Q-day’.

On that day, all encryption and security could be laid bare – the deepest plans of militaries around the world, our medical records and private encrypted conversations could all be exposed. The internet could essentially break.

Q-day, after all, is the day the most powerful machine yet comes online: the first fault-free quantum computer.

Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis on why Australia wants to join the race, and why one American company got the billion-dollar deal to do it.

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Guest: Special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis

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By the end of this week, the United Kingdom will almost certainly have a new prime minister and closure on 14 years of Tory leadership.

One man in particular is working very hard to prevent that, and it’s not the current Tory leader. Since it kicked off with a bizarre, rain-soaked announcement, Rishi Sunak’s election campaign has been marked by ineptitude, misstep and ignorance.

Today, veteran UK correspondent and contributor to The Saturday Paper Paola Totaro on the stratospheric rise of the young strategist from regional New South Wales, whose dark arts of electioneering have pulled off a series of “miracle” victories. 

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Guest: Veteran UK correspondent and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Paola Totaro

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Over the past few months, there’s been a lot of focus on universities’ relationships with weapons manufacturers.

Students set up encampments and occupied buildings, arguing that their unis are complicit in the assault on Gaza and demanding more transparency from their universities’ administrators.

But, as writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Anna Krien started investigating the defence money flowing into education, she was shocked to find weapons companies are also tied to schools, shaping key parts of the curriculum.

So where did this link between defence and education begin? And is this a price we’re willing to pay for a skilled defence industry?

Today, Anna Krien on how the student protests revealed deep divisions and even deeper ties in our education sector.

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Guest: Writer and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Anna Krien

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Julian Assange has finally landed in Australia, a free man.

Today, his brother Gabriel Shipton on how the deal to release the long-incarcerated WikiLeaks founder came together. National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe explains what comes next.

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Guest: Julian Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton; national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe.

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Meredith Whittaker turned her back on Google after raising concerns about the mass surveillance fueling AI, but she didn’t leave tech entirely.

The former AI whistleblower is now the President of Signal, a messaging app that keeps conversations encrypted – used by journalists, whistleblowers, drug dealers, militants and others who want to keep communications secure.

So why did she blow the whistle on Google? Is privacy the answer to AI? Or does privacy cause just as much harm as surveillance?

Today, President of the Signal Foundation Meredith Whittaker, ahead of her public appearance at The Wheeler Centre in Melbourne, on the tech giants who hold our future in their hands.

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Guest: President of the Signal Foundation, Meredith Whittaker

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Back in 2016, when Donald Trump was elected President, the Australian government was caught off guard. The then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull called golfing legend Greg Norman just to get Trump’s phone number.

This time around, the government is taking the prospect of a second Trump presidency seriously and has begun making preparations for it.

Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis on what the government thinks Trump 2.0 could mean for Australia and the safety measures that are already underway. 

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Guest: Special correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Jason Koutsoukis

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Once upon a time, Australians were told Pine Gap was a space base. Then we were told it was a weather station. But now, of course, we know the installation deep in the Northern Territory outback is a US spy base.

Which isn’t to say it’s any less secretive – we still don’t know a huge amount about what goes on there.

We do know it’s likely America’s biggest offshore spy base and that it gathers critical intelligence about current conflicts.Now, we also know that it’s undergone a rapid expansion.

Today, editor of Declassified Australia and contributor to The Saturday Paper Peter Cronau, on how he discovered the base’s new technology and what it means for Australia’s safety.

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Guest: Editor of Declassified Australia and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Peter Cronau

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