Cut Through

With Victorians going to the ballot box in just a few weeks, the story of this state election is already being written. One Nation, the Coalition and Labor are neck and neck in some polls, so is a change of government inevitable?

This week on Cut Through, Antony Green, ABC election legend and Crikey contributor joins our politics editor Bernard Keane and Rachel Withers to talk about the most significant state election in decades, the key seats to watch – and what One Nation’s chances really are of scooping up major party losses.

Plus, are predictions of a Labor wipe-out unfounded?

Today’s episode covers:

• How significant is the Victorian state election?
• Ones to watch: the biggest contests on November 28
• Problems One Nation will face at the ballot box
• Jess Wilson’s chances of scooping up key seats
• Lessons from South Australia
• Why independents will struggle this time round
• Will Labor’s red wall in Melbourne’s west fall to One Nation?
• The Greens chances of going double-digits

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.

READ MORE:

Could the Greens flip these ‘sleeper’ seats in Victoria?

Where the teals at? Independents face a tough battle in Victoria — but don’t count them out

Can this new party win seats off Labor in Melbourne’s neglected western suburbs?

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With the fragmentation and loss of belief in the Liberal Party, the future of liberalism itself these days doesn’t look bright. But what would a “post-liberal” world look like?

This week on Cut Through, Tim Dean, resident philosopher at The Ethics Centre, joins Rachel Withers to talk about why liberalism is worth fighting for despite its flaws, and the ways that the left and the right can join together to fight disillusion, division and dismay. Plus, the moral erosion of the Trump administration’s short-lived promise of a livestreamed execution.

Today’s episode covers:

• The threats to liberalism
• What are the problems with liberalism today?
• What should the left be doing differently?
• What should the right be doing differently?
• The perversions of neoliberalism
• The immorality of public executions
• What does public execution signal to a population?
• How technology disseminates violence

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:

The only thing worse than liberalism is everything else

What’s wrong with public executions?

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Parliament is back in session, and there’s a new Greens leader on the scene to cause trouble for Anthony Albanese. Crikey’s politics reporter Anton Nilsson and journalist Tina Quinn discuss how Labor’s agenda is holding up against attacks from all sides.

Plus, Josh Frydenberg’s incredible comeback story gets better every time, and how the scourge of “drops” to favourable journalists weakens the media and lets politicians off scot-free.

Today’s episode covers:

• Digital Duty of Care bill and the Liberal Party’s picky relationship with “free speech”
• America’s “extraordinary” intervention in Australian tech legislation
• Can Labor and David Shoebridge get along?
• Will Angus Taylor’s “war on small business” attack lay a glove on Labor?
• (Another) great Josh Frydenberg comeback story
• The scourge of political drops and “horse race journalism”

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:

‘Addicted to drops’: Insiders spill on why Australian media is silent on One Nation’s press ban

‘People are human’: David Shoebridge on leadership rival tensions, a Labor alliance, and the Greens’ future

Debt-king Josh Frydenberg was a terrible treasurer — but he’s right on GST

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In a special Q&A episode of Cut Through, Rachel puts your questions to long-time Crikey contributors, climate analyst Ketan Joshi and Dr Ben Eltham, about the unfortunate topic de jour: the rapid proliferation of data centres. What are they? Do we actually need them? And what is the benefit — if any — of having them operate on Australian soil?

Plus, the AI wins we’ve had so far, and how this is a critical time in the battle against the normalisation of energy-guzzling, slop-producing data warehouses.

Today’s episode covers:

• What exactly is a data centre and do we need them?
• Artificial intelligence, energy use and personal responsibility
• Does Australia actually benefit from housing data centres?
• “Sovereignty-washing” and the lie of frontier models
• How the rest of the world is dealing with data centres
• The best-case scenario

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:

Canberra is ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ on AI. Where will it take us?

Doomsday AI cultists aren’t just good marketers — they’re capturing governments

What Ireland’s cautionary tale on data centres can teach Australia

NVIDIA’S AI Climate hoax

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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It’s been a busy month for our tips hog, Cochon Truffier. The intrepid pig snooped out some internal discussions between NACC staffers which probably should have been had at the pub, investigated the backlash to Mia Freedman’s comments about the Ed Sheeran/Macklemore saga, and dug into why student politicians at Sydney Uni were getting their knickers in a knot over allegations involving horse meat and bribery in Kazakhstan.

Plus, we take you behind the scenes of Barnaby Joyce’s run-in with a neo-Nazi at Canberra Casino, and look at how One Nation candidates in Victoria just can’t get their resumes right.

Today’s episode covers:

• Why Barnaby went to “friendly” media rather than respond to Crikey over casino saga
• One Nation candidates and their sometimes inaccurate bios
• Mia Freedman feels the heat from Mamamia’s Facebook fans over Palestine
• Locker room chat at the NACC
• The saga of Sydney Uni politics, horse meat and Kazakh bribes

Read more:

• Crikey asked Barnaby Joyce about a neo-Nazi encounter at a casino. His response shows how politics and media work
• A star One Nation candidate said he was a criminal lawyer. There’s no record of that
• The Snoop: News24’s unfortunate uniform, Mamamia’s audience backlash on Gaza, and more
• The Snoop: NACC’s internal messages revealed, 7.30’s foreign policy ‘bias’, and more
• The Snoop: One Nation candidate claims ‘witch hunt’, NFL’s play for Blinky Bill, and more

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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Paul Keating was prime minister of a very different Australia, in a very different geopolitical environment from that of today. How does his ambition for Australia hold up 30 years later? Crikey politics editor Bernard Keane and Professor James Curran from the University of Sydney discuss Keating’s legacy, and whether his approach to foreign policy suffered from the curse of being “right, but too early”.

Today’s episode covers:

• Shaping foreign policy in a post-Cold War world
• Winston Churchill’s influence on Keating
• Australia and Asia under Keating
• Indonesian President Suharto’s impact on Keating
• Reimagining Australia’s national identity
• Keating’s view of the US alliance: then and now
• Sliding doors: The 1996 election loss

Read more:

• Grand Ambition: Paul Keating's global vision for Australia by James Curran
• Paul Keating and a very present past raise hard questions for a country of decidedly modest ambition

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/.

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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Worms on the uterus, chatbots soliciting photos of women’s breasts, and AI-generated podcasts shilling supplements: welcome to the weird, dark and dangerous world of AI “Mum Slop”, a genre of content targeting the health anxieties of pregnant people and new mothers. 

Crikey contributor Madison Griffiths joins the podcast to expand on her recent article exploring the intersection of AI and women’s health, for good, bad and worse. 

Today’s episode covers:

• What is “Mum Slop”?
• Why new mothers are susceptible to AI exploitation
• Why slop doesn’t have to look realistic to shill products
• Sexism and the “certainty gap” in women’s health
• Can the “Digital Duty of Care” legislation help curb the harms of Mum Slop?
• How the “free birth” movement leveraged social media

Read more:

• Welcome to the dark and dangerous world of Mum Slop
• Madison Griffiths’ Labour Relations essay series
• First-time mother scared to feed her daughter after varying advice from multiple practitioners

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/ 

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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After conducting 10 days of public hearings and receiving almost 800 written submissions, the independent AUKUS public inquiry is moving into its final phase. It will soon prepare a report to answer the question: will AUKUS keep us safe, and at what cost?

In today’s special episode, the inquiry’s lead commissioner Peter Garrett and former submariner and independent senator Rex Patrick join Cut Through to answer your burning questions about the AUKUS deal and what the inquiry can practically achieve without government buy-in.

Today’s episode covers:

Peter Garrett (listen from 01:00):

• The lack of government – and Labor party – interest
• The US use of HMAS Stirling naval base in WA
• Weighing up informed vs uninformed submissions
• Impact on Australian sovereignty and foreign policy
• Can the inquiry have practical outcomes?

Rex Patrick (listen from 30:10): 

• Cost and opportunity-cost of AUKUS
• Government secrecy over handling of nuclear waste
• Will technological advancement make AUKUS submarines obsolete too soon?
• What if the submarines are never delivered?
• The merits of AUKUS
• Public inquiries vs parliamentary inquiries

Read more:

• AUKUS Public Inquiry
• The anti-AUKUS campaign needs to turn into an effective political movement
• In the fantasyland of AUKUS, even the good news shows how badly things are going
• AUKUS waste is a toxic topic. The Albanese government wants it kept quiet
• Undersea drones are a welcome addition. But as with everything AUKUS, details are scant

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/ 

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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Why the eSafety Commissioner is arguing it should be allowed to keep some secrets relating to the under-16 social media ban, WA Labor’s gas lobbyist candidate for the Secret Harbour by-election does a runner, and former NACC commissioner Paul Brereton gets exposed by FOIs... again! 

Charlie Lewis and Crystal Andrews recap these stories and many more compelling, illuminating and absurd items from The Snoop, our daily roundup of tips, treasures and titbits from news and politics in Australia and around the world.

This episode covers:

• Paul Brereton’s redacted conflicts of interest declaration
• Analysis by Rex Patrick: The government’s poor performance on FOIs
• Hit rate and secrets of the eSafety Commissioner 
• Labor’s decision to ignore former gambling addict Luke Bateman
• PointsBet CEO calls for more regulation
• Who wins WA Secret Harbour by-election: Labor or One Nation?
• RFK Jr’s ridiculous ringtone

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/ 

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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Two major bills passed parliament this week, with Labor and the Coalition coming together to get the job done on gambling advertising reforms and the NDIS overhaul.

Crikey’s politics writer Rachel Withers joins readers’ editor Crystal Andrews and media reporter Daanyal Saeed to bring you up to speed on which MPs crossed the floor to vote against their party, the important details buried within both sets of legislation, and whether the optics of a Labor and Liberal duopoly will turn voters off. 

Plus, the anti-abortion bill — and accompanying stunt by the Australian Christian Lobby — you might have missed. 

This episode covers:

• What’s in the final gambling ad ban
• Coalition MPs crossing the floor
• NDIS cuts pass in the Senate
• What does the Coalition get out of this?
• Do voters like major party deal-making?
• Australian Christian Lobby’s “Born Alive” anti-abortion bill
• Tip: More One Nation Victoria candidates
• Tip: Is Clive Palmer returning to politics again?

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to [email protected] or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/ 

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.

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