Inside Politics

This week we’re joining the dots between two different stories: the fight over superannuation, and the colourful past of One Nation’s leader in Victoria, Warren Pickering.
On Monday, Pauline Hanson told voters her party would allow renters and prospective home buyers to withdraw their superannuation early. The policy was scant on details, but it had the desired effect of controlling the national debate.
The same thing happened with the Pickering press conference.
Normally, a leader of a right-wing political party admitting to taking drugs would not be good for electoral prospects. But, as Victorian political editor Chip Le Grand argues, the mea culpa had the opposite effect.
Le Grand joins senior economics correspondent Shane Wright for Inside Politics. Today’s host is deputy national editor Stephanie Peatling, filling in for Jacqueline Maley.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal on Inside Politics, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, every Friday.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods.
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In this week’s episode, we dissect Labor’s brutal loss to One Nation in a supposedly safe seat in Western Australia.
Does this byelection really signify, as victor Luke Herdegen put it, that no MP is safe from the “orange tsunami”?
One Liberal MP who is worried is Andrew Hastie. Liberal strategists have been telling us his stance against accused war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith may cause voters in his electorate to defect to One Nation.
Also, this week One Nation leader Pauline Hanson claimed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s rhetoric was fuelling violence towards her.
Is this a bit rich coming from someone who is so divisive? Or should we be looking at threats to politicians more seriously?
Today’s episode is hosted, as usual, by Jacqueline Maley with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Today's guest is WAtoday state political reporter Hamish Hastie.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal on Inside Politics, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, every Friday.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week we reported on some interesting polling that grappled with what makes One Nation voters tick, and one issue stood out.
There’s also been an argy-bargy in the party this week over immigration numbers, the net result of which being, perhaps, that One Nation is not totally against migration.
Meanwhile, the Labor government is yet to announce its migration plan and which visa classes it may cut, but the early talk of deportation of migrants sent shockwaves through some communities.
Finally, we also talk about the AI data centres cropping up in Australian communities. Are they worth the investment and the energy drain?
Today’s conversation is hosted by Jacqueline Maley, with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

Background reading:
1000 One Nation voters said why they were voting for Hanson – and what it would take to switch
Albanese tells Queensland to get with the program on AI revolution

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we have something special and a little bit different because Tony Wright, one of the stalwarts of Australian political writing, is stepping back from daily newsroom duties after 50 years in journalism.For about 30 of these years, Tony reported on federal politics. Bob Hawke was the first prime minister he covered, while Paul Keating often rang Tony at home in the mornings to, at first, berate, and then debate, the stories he had written.
He witnessed great moments - such as the apology to the stolen generations - and the fracturing of Australian politics from the Rudd-Gillard era.
Today, Tony talks to Inside Politics host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

Background reading
‘Hawkie would like to see you’: Lessons, power and nostalgia from 30 years in the press gallery

If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re back to talking about melons and the podcast interview that continues to cause dramas for the prime minister.
Six weeks ago, Anthony Albanese appeared on a podcast called ‘Bush Deep’ and was asked about the worst gift he received. Melons, he replied, gifted to him by Japanese prime minister.
What was said, and not said, has become the focus of attacks from the media, the Coalition and One Nation this week.
So why has the issue reared its head again? And is it affecting Albanese’s reputation or are the Coalition and co over-egging it?
While all this was going on, the main game for the government was economic management.Rates were placed on hold, but the Reserve Bank boss Michelle Bullock reminded everyone that she’d raise them if she had to. It comes as all the big banks forecast further drop-offs in house values – aren’t more affordable homes what we want? Or are the government's tax changes wreaking havoc on our struggling economy?
Today’s episode is hosted by Jacqueline Maley, with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.