Australia is entering a frightening new stage of the pandemic this week.

Greater Sydney, Greater Melbourne and all of regional Victoria are in lockdown, and despite the restrictions, the outbreaks are still growing on both sides of the border.

So with 12 million people being told to stay home, how big a hit will there be to the economy?

Today on The Signal, we question the cost of Australia's zero-COVID strategy.

What is the price, and is it something we should still all be willing to pay?

Featured:

Nicki Hutley, Economist, Social Outcomes

gAbout 12 million Australians are in lockdown right now in an effort to reclaim Australia's COVID zero status.

At the same time, the UK has made a call to dispense with masks and restrictions in England altogether, despite a daily case count which has been topping 35,000.

So how's this going to go?

Today on The Signal: freedom day, or another chaotic misstep from the British Government?

We explore the country's rationale for flinging open the doors again next week.

Featured:

Ian Dunt, Editor-at-Large, Politics.co.uk

The Delta variant of COVID-19 was first picked up in India last October, but it still seems to have taken Australia by surprise.

So why weren't we ready?

Today on The Signal, with the Delta variant circulating in Sydney and Melbourne and with contacts in other places too, we ask whether we finally have a plan to fight it.

And if we do, can our leaders set aside their political and state rivalries for long enough to make it work?

Featured:

David Speers, Host, ABC TV Insiders

The Prime Minister Scott Morrison argues Australia is doing more than its share to combat climate change, but it's becoming increasingly clear that parts of the rest of the world see us as one of the bad guys.

In Europe, leaders are finalising plans to punish countries with high emissions, using trade as their weapon, and some of our other allies are expected to follow suit.

So are Australian companies in their sights?

And if that pattern continues, could it force the Government to be more ambitious with its climate change policy?

Featured:

Frank Muller, Former Australian and NSW government climate policy advisor

Kath Sullivan, ABC National Rural Reporter, Parliament House, Canberra

There's an assumption that it's relatively easy to access abortion care in Australia, but that really depends on where in the country you live, particularly if it's outside of a major city.

It's estimated as many as a third of Australian women need to access abortion services at some point during their lives.

So why is it still so hard if you live in the wrong postcode?

Featured:

'Sophie'

Dr Andrew Crossman, former Broken Hill GP

Jamal Hakim, Managing Director, Marie Stopes Australia

Things are pretty dire in NSW.

The extended lockdown in Greater Sydney, the Central Coast, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains has got progressively tougher, and with hundreds of new cases of COVID-19 still popping up, the end date is unclear.

The outbreak started a month ago when an unvaccinated airport limo driver ferrying US air crew caught COVID at work and spread it to Bondi, in Sydney's east.

Since then, the cases have moved, with a focus at the moment on three council areas in Sydney's South West: Fairfield, Liverpool, and Canterbury-Bankstown.

Today on The Signal, with all the numbers still trending in the wrong direction, is the lockdown a failure? And if so, what needs to change?

Featured:

Dr Julie Leask, Professor of Public Health, University of Sydney

Parliament's gender problem is as old as the institution itself.

Today on The Signal, a story of an alleged workplace assault in the 80s that's never been publicly heard before.

What does it reveal about that world then, and now?

We speak with the host of the new ABC TV and podcast series 'Ms Represented', Annabel Crabb, on the heart and history of the gender problem in Australian politics.

Featured:

Annabel Crabb, Host, Ms Represented, ABC Podcasts, ABC TV and ABC iView

Kate Sullivan, Former Queensland Liberal Senator and MP

Australia's travel ban is one of the most draconian measures against COVID-19 in the world.

Not only that, but it's being applied in what seems to be a pretty opaque and inconsistent way

Today on The Signal, what are the rules?

And is the Government actually allowed to do this to us?

Featured:

"Sasha", dual Australian-Israeli citizen

Karyn Anderson, Partner, Clothier Anderson Immigration Lawyers

Professor Kim Rubenstein, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, and Co-director, 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, University of Canberra

Donald Trump's family business is being accused of operating a tax fraud scheme and its chief financial officer is now also facing criminal charges.

The new indictment doesn't name Mr Trump personally, but the investigation still has a way to go, and it's only one of several ongoing probes into the company.

So how much trouble is the former president in?

Could a successful prosecution land him in prison, or is it likely to amount to little more than a speeding fine?

Featured:

David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder and editor of DCReport.org

Just north of here, 145 million people are in lockdown on Java and Bali in Indonesia.

Hundreds a day are dying of COVID, including some who were already fully vaccinated

Today on The Signal, we're going inside the world's latest COVID catastrophe, where authorities are clocking 20,000 new infections each day, and the number of deaths is rising rapidly.

So why have Indonesia's defences failed so badly?

Featured:

Resty Woro Yuniar, Indonesia Correspondent, The South China Morning Post

Professor Michael Toole, Epidemiologist, Burnet Institute

Additional reporting:

Anne Barker, ABC Indonesia Correspondent