Full Story

By The Guardian

News & Politics

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Are the NSW Covid disaster ...

07.29.2021

As the NSW Covid outbreak continues and millions of Australians struggle to access the financial support they need, the state and federal governments have announced increased Covid support payments. Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher ...

Full Story episodes:

07.29.2021 Are the NSW Covid disaster payments too little too late? – with Lenore Taylor As the NSW Covid outbreak continues and millions of Australians struggle to access the financial support they need, the state and federal governments have announced increased Covid support payments. Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher ...
07.28.2021 The ‘Witch of Darwin’ During the 1990s, Marie Cameron was known as the Witch of Darwin. It’s not a title she chose for herself but one she was given by the media, after a traditional Scandinavian bonfire, or ‘witch burning’, turned to violence. The ...
07.27.2021 Can NSW contain the Delta outbreak? New South Wales is struggling to contain Australia’s largest-ever outbreak of the infectious Delta variant of Covid-19. Guardian Australia’s medical editor Melissa Davey discusses what more can be done to bring down case numbers, and why other states and territories ...
07.26.2021 Guardian Australia’s guide to an Olympics like no other It’s been a tumultuous start for the Tokyo Olympics with protests outside the opening ceremony, a series of controversies around sexism and racism, and some athletes testing positive for Covid-19. Despite ongoing concerns about an outbreak, athletes are persevering, with ...
07.25.2021 Surveillance and cyber-weapons on the ground in Mexico Michael Safi hears from Nina Lakhani on how 15,000 Mexicans, including journalists and politicians, appeared on a list of possible targets for surveillance
07.22.2021 As climate disasters unfold worldwide, can Australia resist change? – with Lenore Taylor Increasing bushfires, floods and rising temperatures around the world make action on the climate crisis even more urgent, but Australia remains at a standstill. Guardian Australia editor Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher discuss Australia’s laggard approach to ...
07.21.2021 Postcards from lockdown in south-west Sydney As the NSW Covid outbreak worsens, attention has focused on three local government areas in the south-west of Sydney – Fairfield, Canterbury-Bankstown and Liverpool. As cases rise, extra police have been deployed and all non-essential workers have been told they ...
07.20.2021 A historic decision on the future of the Great Barrier Reef This week, Unesco’s World Heritage Committee will decide whether the Great Barrier Reef should be labelled ‘in danger’. If this happens, it will be the first time a natural world heritage site has received this status due to the impacts ...
07.19.2021 How a phone hacking tool was sold to governments around the world Investigative reporter Stephanie Kirchgaessner tells Michael Safi how a technology company’s clients have apparently selected journalists, activists and politicians in advance of possible surveillance
07.18.2021 General confusion: who is the military man charged with rolling out Australia’s Covid vaccine? In early June Lt Gen John Frewen was appointed coordinator general of Australia’s national Covid vaccine taskforce. Since then he’s popped up on television and radio talking about the rollout. But what exactly does his job entail? And why is ...
07.15.2021 The treacherous politics of Covid-19 – with Lenore Taylor The Delta variant has seemingly foiled Australia’s best laid pandemic plans. As politicians point fingers, case numbers are growing, and cities are going back into lockdown. Editor in chief Lenore Taylor and head of news Mike Ticher discuss why lessons ...
07.14.2021 Vanuatu’s golden passports A Guardian investigation has revealed that a scheme allowing foreign nationals to purchase citizenship in Vanuatu saw more than 2,000 people granted “golden passports” – and with it visa-free access to the EU and UK – in 2020. Among them ...
07.13.2021 Could bringing back its love song save one of Australia’s rarest songbirds? The regent honeyeater is an endangered native Australian songbird, with only a few hundred left in the wild. A few years ago scientists noticed something odd – they were mimicking other birds, and unable to sing their own song. Environment ...
07.12.2021 Norman Swan on what really makes us healthy Dr Norman Swan has become a household name over the past 18 months thanks to his work for the ABC and his podcast Coronacast. Now he’s written a book that tries to answer common questions about health and wellness. Features ...
07.11.2021 The Indigenous children who died at Canada’s residential schools Half a century ago, Barry Kennedy was taken from his family and forced into an abusive system that sought to obliterate his Indigenous heritage. Now, after the discovery of more than 1,000 bodies in unmarked graves at schools including his ...
07.08.2021 The car park scandal: will anyone ever be held accountable for pork barrelling? The Morrison government has once again been accused of pork barrelling, this time with a scheme that promised $660m worth of new car parks. But despite a scathing report and no evidence of merit-based decision making, it seems there will ...
07.07.2021 The injecting centre that saved Lisa’s life Three years ago, when Lisa Townsend walked into a medically supervised injecting centre, she had been addicted to heroin, on and off, for 25 years. The benefits of supervised injecting facilities are well established, but that centre is one of ...
07.06.2021 Threats, insults and China’s influence on Australian universities A landmark report by Human Rights Watch has detailed accounts of pro-democracy students and academics in Australia who are being harassed and threatened over their comments relating to China. In some cases, people have been doxxed, and others claim their ...
07.05.2021 Uncle Jack Charles on finding family Uncle Jack Charles is known as many things – an Indigenous activist, a survivor of the Stolen Generation, a former addict and a brilliant actor. The story of his life has been told many times, through documentary, memoir and theatre. ...
07.04.2021 Britney Spears battles to take back control of her life and fortune A legal arrangement set up in the wake of a mental health crisis has left the singer with little control of her personal or professional affairs. Laura Snapes and Sam Levin describe how she’s challenging the situation in court
07.01.2021 The week the Covid consensus snapped in Australia – with Lenore Taylor The merry consensus that guided national cabinet through most of the Covid-19 pandemic spectacularly snapped this week after the prime minister surprised state and territory leaders by announcing a change to AstraZeneca vaccine advice. Editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and head of ...
06.30.2021 The science behind the Covid Delta variant that’s shutting down Australia A strain of Covid-19, called the Delta variant, has spread across Australia, triggering lockdowns in multiple states and territories. Governments and health experts worldwide have warned that this variant is highly infectious, with the NSW premier describing transmission in a ...
06.29.2021 Fibromyalgia and treating chronic pain Since she was a teenager Nikki Marshall remembers having painful periods and for decades has received treatments for a variety of chronic pain conditions, including fibromyalgia, endometriosis and migraine. But it’s only recently that Nikki became aware that the different ...
06.28.2021 Why are tenants being charged just for paying their rent? In 2018 Melbourne tenant Orlando Skeete was told he would have to start paying rent via a company that planned to charge him a series of fees, including a 1.1% charge on all credit- or debit-card payments. This is not ...
06.27.2021 A death at sea and why answers are so difficult to find In March of 2020, Eritara Aati Kaierua was declared dead aboard a fishing vessel. He was working as an observer, monitoring catches to make sure no illegal fishing was taking place. Video later showed the feet of several people entering ...
06.24.2021 The return of Australia’s toxic climate politics – with Lenore Taylor The government’s reaction to the possibility of the Great Barrier Reef being listed as ‘in danger’ and a leadership change in the National party have highlighted Australia’s toxic politics around global heating. Editor-in-chief, Lenore Taylor, and head of news, Mike ...
06.23.2021 Are tech companies taking away our ‘right to repair’? The Australian government is looking at whether it’s easy enough to repair things that we use everyday – also known as the right to repair. A draft report released this month says it’s not – especially when it comes to ...
06.22.2021 Why is Barnaby back? On Monday, Australian politics once again found itself dealing with a leadership crisis – with the National party voting to return Barnaby Joyce as leader and deputy prime minister. This is the second time he has held this office, after ...
06.21.2021 Egypt’s crackdown on human rights workers Ten years since the Arab spring rocked Egypt and removed its president, the country is still detaining human rights workers and locking up political prisoners. Karim Ennarah, a human rights worker for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was at ...
06.20.2021 JoJo Zaho on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under and First Nations representation The reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race is an international sensation with multiple Emmy awards and spin-offs around the world. Australia’s first season – RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under – has been marred by controversies around race and a lack ...
06.17.2021 Is the truth out there? The US government prepares its landmark report on UFOs A hotly anticipated US government report on decades of mysterious sightings of UFOs is due for release this month. The Guardian’s Adam Gabbatt and former UK Ministry of Defence employee Nick Pope investigate
06.16.2021 The people of Biloela v the government For three years the #hometobilo campaign has lobbied for a family of Tamil asylum seekers to be released from immigration detention, and returned to the Queensland community of Biloela where they lived. Last week the family’s youngest daughter Tharnicaa was ...
06.15.2021 Is Australia’s biggest new gas project cutting its emissions – or doubling them? Woodside Petroleum is planning to expand a liquefied natural gas project in a plan it claims will reduce emissions by 30% by 2030. But analysts say the project will cause emissions to skyrocket. Environment editor Adam Morton explains why the ...
06.14.2021 David Dungay Jr’s family take their fight for justice to the United Nations David Dungay Jr’s name has become a frequent rallying cry at Black Lives Matter protests across Australia. Now the family of the Dunghutti man, who died in custody in 2015, is teaming up with the barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC to ...
06.13.2021 Will Tokyo really host a pandemic Olympics? The Games were meant to be a moment of national celebration but, with coronavirus cases rising in Japan, this summer’s postponed Olympics are the subject of recrimination and protest. Justin McCurry, the Guardian’s Tokyo correspondent, tells Anushka Asthana why the ...
06.10.2021 With the spotlight on the Biloela family, can Australia’s rhetoric on refugees improve? This week the Biloela family was thrust back in the news as three-year-old Tharnicaa was airlifted to a hospital in Perth to fight pneumonia and a blood infection. Mike Ticher and Lucy Clark speak about the treatment of the Biloela ...
06.09.2021 Behind the rise of hyperpop The past decade has seen the formation of a vibrant and strange genre of music called hyperpop. Its growth has been spurred on by the internet – through Soundcloud, Twitter and now Spotify – and it has been linked to ...
06.08.2021 Love, fear and Covid failures in Australia’s aged care The coronavirus outbreak in Melbourne has spread to aged care, with multiple cases linked to one facility: Arcare in Maidstone. For young carer Ai-Lin, whose 86-year-old grandmother Ann lives at the facility, this outbreak raises serious questions about Australia’s aged ...
06.07.2021 Is hormone-treated beef bad for us? Nearly half of Australia’s cattle is treated with growth hormones to speed up weight gain. Australian regulators say these hormones are safe and legal, but in the EU and the UK, they’re banned. However a new free-trade agreement currently under ...
06.06.2021 The Wuhan lab leak theory Joe Biden has asked US intelligence services to urgently investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, including the possibility that it began with an accident in a laboratory. The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont looks at the available evidence
06.03.2021 How has Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout gone so wrong? – with Lenore Taylor The latest Covid outbreak in Victoria has renewed focus on the federal government’s slow vaccine rollout, which has missed its own targets for aged care residents and workers several times. Gabrielle Jackson talks to Lenore Taylor and Mike Ticher about ...
06.02.2021 Brittany Higgins, the prime minister’s office and a test of ethics Multiple investigations have been launched since Brittany Higgins came forward in February with allegations she had been raped in parliament by another staffer in 2019. One of them was made public last week. Katharine Murphy explains what the Kunkel report ...
06.01.2021 Saxon Mullins on the fight for affirmative consent laws The NSW government last week announced changes to laws around sexual assault and consent that could dramatically change how survivors experience the court system. Saxon Mullins, the director of advocacy at the Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy Initiative, ...
05.31.2021 Emily Maguire on family and hoarding When do the objects we love become a health hazard? In this recording of Guardian Australia’s monthly book club, author Emily Maguire discusses her latest novel, Love Objects, with features editor Lucy Clark
05.30.2021 After a muddled rollout, how can Australia boost vaccinations? Amid yet another outbreak in Victoria, the federal government is again under scrutiny over the slow pace of the vaccine rollout. There are also concerns that the confused messaging around the rollout, particularly about the AstraZeneca jab, has fuelled vaccine ...
05.27.2021 Why better reporting on Aboriginal deaths in custody matters for families seeking justice This week the Australian Institute of Criminology told the Senate it would report on Aboriginal deaths in custody every six months, up from every two years. Lorena Allam and Calla Wahlquist explain why this matters and what led to this ...
05.26.2021 Samoa’s democracy in crisis For nearly two months, the Polynesian island nation of Samoa has been in the grips of a political crisis after one of the most dramatic elections in the country’s history. After a supreme court intervention, a parliamentary lockout and a ...
05.25.2021 Two lives changed by the death of George Floyd A year ago, the murder of George Floyd caused outrage in Minneapolis – and kicked off a protest movement that spread across the world. How do the young Black people at the heart of the story live with his legacy?
05.24.2021 Diego v Deliveroo: are workers winning more rights in Australia’s gig economy? Last week, in a landmark case, Australia’s Fair Work Commission ruled that Deliveroo rider Diego Franco was an employee – not a contractor. The case could have ramifications for the wider gig economy, where the use of contractors has led ...
05.23.2021 When will the mouse plague end? In the past few months rural communities throughout eastern Australia have been besieged by a mouse plague that has devastated homes and businesses. The NSW state government has faced allegations that they’ve been slow to respond, but there’s also fears ...

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Full Story

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Full Story episodes:

Are the NSW Covid disaster payments too little too late? – with Lenore Taylor

The ‘Witch of Darwin’

Can NSW contain the Delta outbreak?

Guardian Australia’s guide to an Olympics like no other

Surveillance and cyber-weapons on the ground in Mexico

As climate disasters unfold worldwide, can Australia resist change? – with Lenore Taylor

Postcards from lockdown in south-west Sydney

A historic decision on the future of the Great Barrier Reef

How a phone hacking tool was sold to governments around the world

General confusion: who is the military man charged with rolling out Australia’s Covid vaccine?

The treacherous politics of Covid-19 – with Lenore Taylor

Vanuatu’s golden passports

Could bringing back its love song save one of Australia’s rarest songbirds?

Norman Swan on what really makes us healthy

The Indigenous children who died at Canada’s residential schools

The car park scandal: will anyone ever be held accountable for pork barrelling?

The injecting centre that saved Lisa’s life

Threats, insults and China’s influence on Australian universities

Uncle Jack Charles on finding family

Britney Spears battles to take back control of her life and fortune

The week the Covid consensus snapped in Australia – with Lenore Taylor

The science behind the Covid Delta variant that’s shutting down Australia

Fibromyalgia and treating chronic pain

Why are tenants being charged just for paying their rent?

A death at sea and why answers are so difficult to find

The return of Australia’s toxic climate politics – with Lenore Taylor

Are tech companies taking away our ‘right to repair’?

Why is Barnaby back?

Egypt’s crackdown on human rights workers

JoJo Zaho on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under and First Nations representation

Is the truth out there? The US government prepares its landmark report on UFOs

The people of Biloela v the government

Is Australia’s biggest new gas project cutting its emissions – or doubling them?

David Dungay Jr’s family take their fight for justice to the United Nations

Will Tokyo really host a pandemic Olympics?

With the spotlight on the Biloela family, can Australia’s rhetoric on refugees improve?

Behind the rise of hyperpop

Love, fear and Covid failures in Australia’s aged care

Is hormone-treated beef bad for us?

The Wuhan lab leak theory

How has Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout gone so wrong? – with Lenore Taylor

Brittany Higgins, the prime minister’s office and a test of ethics

Saxon Mullins on the fight for affirmative consent laws

Emily Maguire on family and hoarding

After a muddled rollout, how can Australia boost vaccinations?

Why better reporting on Aboriginal deaths in custody matters for families seeking justice

Samoa’s democracy in crisis

Two lives changed by the death of George Floyd

Diego v Deliveroo: are workers winning more rights in Australia’s gig economy?

When will the mouse plague end?

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