Australian law is far from perfect.

Not only can it be unjust, it’s sometimes simply no longer fit to do what it was intended to.

The person responsible for maintaining our federal laws is the attorney-general. And, since the last election, that’s Mark Dreyfus.

Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe – on Mark Dreyfus, what drives him, and why he says Australia’s treatment of refugees has been “deliberately cruel”.

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Guest: National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe.

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Tony Windsor was a politician and, as an independent, he helped hand minority government and the prime ministership to Julia Gillard.

He says that at the end of the day, politicians are, by their nature, weak.

And if there’s any example that’s taught him that, it’s the decades-long fight over our water and how we protect it.

Today, former Independent MP Tony Windsor on our water, how gas developments can threaten it and how grassroots campaigns can force politicians to back down.

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Guest: Former independent MP Tony Windsor.

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A crime wave in Alice Springs grew into a national crisis this week, with politicians jumping on planes in a last-ditch effort to listen to a community whose concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

But how did the crime rate in Alice Springs become an issue for Anthony Albanese? And how could the situation have deteriorated so far?

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on how giving communities a voice could force politicians to face complex challenges.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace.

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It’s been over 30 years since the high court acknowledged that terra nullius was a lie, that this country was not empty – that Indigenous Australians had an ongoing claim to the land beneath our feet.

But still today, officially, large swathes of Australia are held as what’s called ‘crown land’.

What is it? And what do the assumptions about crown land say about the attitude to land ownership in modern Australia?

Today, author and Noongar woman, Claire G. Coleman on the case for returning crown land.

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Guest: Author and Noongar woman, Claire G. Coleman.

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Jacinda Ardern’s decision to resign as the Prime Minister of New Zealand shocked her country and the world. 

She had seemed almost universally beloved. And the young, empathetic and energetic politician was the most world-renowned prime minister New Zealand has ever had.

So what made Ardern unwilling to continue? And does she leave her country with the kind of meaningful change she set out to make?

Today, freelance correspondent Charlotte Graham-McLay, who is writing a book about the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack.

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Guest: Freelance correspondent, Charlotte Graham-McLay

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The Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia has been a battleground for months – and now, it’s the target of Russia’s newest offensive. Fighting there could be about to get a lot worse. 

Ukrainian forces are readying a defense, but the war effort in this part of southeastern Ukraine involves more than fighting back on the frontlines.

Dr Natalya Mosol is a psychologist, and for the past year, she’s been working with people who have seen the worst of the war.

Today, Dr Natalya Mosol, who features in Jane Caro’s article in the latest edition of The Saturday Paper, ‘Treating trauma in Ukraine’s children’.

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Guest: Psychologist at the National University of Zaporizhzhia, Dr Natalya Mosol.

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The premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.

Since the revelations, Jewish groups in NSW have told journalists that they have fielded calls, particularly from elderly members of the community, in tears after hearing about the incident.

But why did Perrottet come out and admit the scandal? Does it have anything to do with the looming election? And who was circulating the rumours about the premier’s 21st birthday?

Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe on what’s going on behind the Perrottet scandal and what links it may have to the gambling industry.

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

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Summer has provided everyone with a respite from politics, even our politicians.

But as they return, they’ll need to face up to problems that have been long in the making.

The pandemic is still with us, and clues from the northern hemisphere point towards variants that authorities will have to keep a close eye on.

And in the meantime, this week, we have been warned that inequality got worse throughout the pandemic.

Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace on how Covid-19 made the wealthy richer and why we can’t be complacent about the virus.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace.

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When Liberal MP Julia Banks quit the Morrison government in 2018, her resignation was cited as an example of how hostile the political environment can be towards women.

But Banks’ story and her resignation happened to coincide with a landmark report: Respect@Work.

That report, and the changes it recommended, languished on the desk of the former government. But reform is now finally coming into effect and, in theory, should change the workplace for women.

Today, former politician Julia Banks, on the report she watched be pushed aside, and her hope that this year it’s finally going to change our workplaces for the better.

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Guest: Former Liberal MP and the author of Power Play, Julia Banks.

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George Pell’s body is returning to Australia after last weekend’s funeral service in the Vatican. He will be interred in the crypts below St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

To his supporters, Pell was a guardian of traditional faith and doctrine, whose conviction on charges of child sexual abuse was overturned by the High Court.

To thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by priests across Australia, Pell was the leader who oversaw an era when the Church moved too slowly, and protected itself rather than children.

Today, freelance investigative journalist and the author of a book about the trial of George Pell, Fallen, Lucie Morris-Marr on Pell and the questions left for thousands of survivors after his death.

If this episode has raised issues for you, for support you can contact Blue Knot on 1300 657 380 and The Survivors and Mates Support Network on 1800 472 676.

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Guest: Author of Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell, Lucie Morris-Marr.

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