Late Night Live — Full program podcast

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his plan to address fuel prices. And 'The Shah's party, and the Iranian revolution that followed'. Bob Templer on how Iran's recent history explains the deep divisions and violence that occurred in February, leading to the current war. 

Guests: 

• Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator
• Robert Templar, author of 'The Shah's last party, and the Iranian Revolution that followed' (Hurst)

The only Australian state with a budget surplus will get an extra $6.6 billion from Australian taxpayers in the coming financial year, under its special GST deal. Israel's parliament has passed a law that makes the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank who have been found guilty of killing Israelis. Australia's wilderness has just been mapped for the first time in 40 years, and it's estimated to have shrunk by more than 20 percent.

Guests: 

• Shane Wright – Senior Economics Correspondent for the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. 
• Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative
• James Watson, Professor of Environmental Science, University of QLD 

The Australian government will halve the fuel excise for three months, as the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war looks set to drag on. UK journalist, commentator and self-identified communist Ash Sarkar offers her critique of the modern liberal-Left, and its tendency to fall into culture war traps that do not serve people's material needs. Plus, why has the Canadian province of British Columbia decided to ditch seasonal clock changes, and embrace daylight savings time year round? 

Guests: 

• Anna Henderson, chief political correspondent, SBS News
• Ash Sarkar, journalist at Novara Media, author of Minority Rule: Adventures in the Culture War
• Maurice Katz, video journalist with CBC, Vancouver

Millions have been made homeless by wars in the Middle East, but with access severely limited, humanitarian agencies are struggling to get aid into the region. Plus, the National Library of Australia's departing General-Director Marie-Louise Ayres reflects on a decades-long career at this cherished public institution, where she's overseen the digitisation of millions of precious Australian archives. 

Guests:

• Susanne Legena, CEO of Plan International Australia
• Mat Tinkler, CEO Save the Children Australia 
• Marie-Louise Ayres, departing Director-General, National Library of Australia

Bruce Shapiro on whether Trump now looking for a way-out of the war in Iran, and why the Pentagon has lost its defence of media shut-out rules. Plus the New York Times has investigated  Donald Trump’s private business footprint in the Gulf, and found luxury real estate, golf courses, and high-profile partnerships. And why we should celebrate failure. 

Guests:

• Bruce Shapiro, contributing editor with The Nation magazine and Director of the Global Center for Journalism and Trauma. 
• Eric Lipton, Investigative reporter, New York Times
• Dr Samuel West, Clinical psychologist and founder, Museum of Failure

The South Australian election result has got the major parties elsewhere scrambling to understand what the One Nation phenomenon means for them. In tribute to the late Rhoda Roberts, we replay an interview she did with David Marr on the 'Welcome to country' backlash. Plus the downsides of pretty flowers, and what the industry is doing to clean up its act. 

Journalist and author William J. Kole examines how white evangelicals in the United States have fused the gospel and guns - and are standing in the way of reasonable restrictions on firearms. Plus, fresh scrutiny on the makers of the herbicide Roundup - and the widely-cited research used as evidence of its safety.

Guests:

• William J. Kole, journalist and author of In Guns We Trust -The Unholy Trinity of White Evangelicals, Politics, and Firearms, published by Broadleaf books 
• Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and Affiliated Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University

Pauline Hanson rose from Ipswich City Council in 1994, to win the federal seat of Oxley in 1996, as a disendorsed Liberal turned independent. Her maiden speech ignited national controversy, and after just two years in Canberra, and a string of failed comebacks, she’s now back at the centre of Australian politics — with One Nation now polling at 24% of the primary vote (Resolve Strategic). Some of Australia's finest political minds unpack Hanson's remarkable resurgence.

Guests:

• Niki Savva, journalist, author and former political advisor to Peter Costello
• Paul Kelly, Editor-at-large for The Australian
• Simon Hunt and his alter ego Pauline Pantsdown
• ABC Election Analyst Emeritus, Antony Green

Producer: Ali Benton

Ian Dunt on why UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to be drawn into the "wider war" in the Middle East. Geoffrey Watson reflects on the findings of the National Anti-Corruption Commission into Robodebt - and finds them wanting. And why a law professor thinks the power of presidential pardons in the USA should be curtailed.

Guests: 

• Ian Dunt: iNews columnist and regular LNL commentator
• Geoffrey Watson SC, Director of the Centre for Public Integrity, Senior Counsel at New Chambers
• Saikrishna Prakash, Distinguished Professor of Law and Miller Center Senior Fellow at the University of Virginia

Our regular Canberra correspondent Anna Henderson on the new-look Nationals. Saudi Arabia is playing a quiet hand so far in the war. And a longtime radical feminist reflects on the need to keep protesting.

Guests:

• Anna Henderson,  chief political correspondent, SBS
• Simon Mabon, Professor of International Politics at Lancaster University, specialising in Saudi-Iranian relations
• Margaret 'Mag' Merrilees, author of 'Scared Angry Laughing - how to fix the world'