When West Australian mining billionaire Chris Ellison was accused of a decade of tax evasion, his lawyers responded by trying to cut a deal with the Australian Taxation Office. The terms of that deal included an 80 per cent reduction in the penalty payable and an assurance that his conduct wouldn’t be referred to police or the corporate watchdog. The reason that Ellison, managing director of the company Mineral Resources, would push for those terms is obvious. The real question is why the tax of...
Oct 28, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1383
When Elon Musk took the stage at a pro-Trump rally in Pennsylvania to announce he would start giving a million dollars a day to randomly chosen people who had signed an online petition, it begged the question, is this legal? To win, people had to be registered to vote in one of the seven key battleground states and have signed the petition saying they support the First and Second Amendments, which guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. The stunt attracted huge publicity, but for...
Oct 27, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1382
Melanie Cheng began her writing career as an author of short stories. Her first collection, Australia Day, was published in 2017 to much acclaim. Her second novel, The Burrow, follows a Melbourne family forced to confront the tragedy of their shared past. On this episode of Read This , Michael sits down for a conversation with Melanie about family, connection, and the power of narrative medicine. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 26, 2024•30 min•Ep. 1381
King Charles’ first visit to Australia as monarch laid bare a lot of unfinished business. Moments after the king sat down following an address to the Great Hall in Parliament House, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe was escorted out after shouting “you are not our king” and “this is not your land”. It didn’t just bring home the fact that, despite a failed referendum in 1999, the Australian republican movement is still alive – it also highlighted that the more recent failed referendum on a Voice t...
Oct 24, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1380
The fight over abortion in Queensland had seemed settled. It was decriminalised in 2018 and has since attained wide public support. But with Katter’s Australian Party promising to introduce a bill to repeal those laws in the new parliament, it’s become a surprise issue heading into this weekend’s election. The leader of the Liberal National Party David Crisafulli has insisted he has no plans to change the laws, but if enough of his MPs choose to vote with their conscience, the decision could be ...
Oct 23, 2024•18 min•Ep. 1379
This week, a group of Stolen Generations survivors visited a site from their childhood that holds a lot of painful memories: the notorious Kinchela Aboriginal Boys Training Home in New South Wales. The gathering marked 100 years since Kinchela was opened – a home that institutionalised hundreds of Indigenous boys, and subjected them to torture, abuse and reprogramming, in order to assimilate them into white society. Now, the survivors and their families want to take ownership of the site, to mak...
Oct 22, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1378
When Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister, he made a call that made the then president of the United States very, very angry. Donald Trump called it the “worst call he’d had all day” – a “killer”, “crazy” and “disgusting”. But Turnbull argues that standing up to Trump, even if it means saying things he doesn’t want to hear, is the only effective way to deal with him. Now, as Australia faces the prospect of a second Trump term, Turnbull says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s willingness to face of...
Oct 21, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1377
The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar is a pivotal moment in the war in the Middle East. Sinwar, a mastermind of the October 7 attacks, was top of Israel’s most wanted list before he was killed by Israeli troops in Rafah last week. His death represents a significant win for Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as a “settling of the score”. While United States President Joe Biden said the war in Gaza could now be ended, Netanyahu has vowed to continue “full force” until t...
Oct 20, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1376
There are few people in this country as obsessed with understanding the cultural and social potential of Australian cuisine as New Zealand-born chef Ben Shewry. And there are even fewer who have managed to combine that passion with the highest echelons of success. On this episode of Read This , Michael sits down with Attica’s head chef to discuss his new memoir, Uses for Obsession. expect. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 19, 2024•30 min•Ep. 1375
The government led by Anthony Albanese is a timid troupe of shivers looking for a spine to run up. That’s the assessment from the Labor wise men who gather for lunch in Sydney once a month – Paul Keating, Bob Carr, John Faulkner and other warriors of the past – who claim the government is too cautious and defensive. For many Labor insiders, both in Canberra and across the country, the carping from the sidelines is an annoying distraction they wish would go away. But there are some within the Alb...
Oct 17, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1374
According to Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer Zali Burrows, he is “arguably Australia’s most hated man”. Burrows also told a federal court that her client is too “scared” to attend court, and his reputation has been so tarnished that “the only shot he’d probably ever have in making money is by going on OnlyFans or something silly like that”. Lehrmann has launched an appeal after a defamation trial judge ruled in favour of Network Ten, finding on the balance of probabilities that he raped Brittany Higgins...
Oct 16, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1373
Alice Springs is littered with “For Sale” signs as those who can afford it are packing up and leaving. Punitive government curfews made daily life more challenging, and families struggle to see a future for themselves if things continue the way they are. With the newly elected Country Liberal Party promising to be even tougher on crime – and lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old – more government interventions are on the way. But there’s also the story of those who stay to ...
Oct 15, 2024•29 min•Ep. 1372
Police are everywhere in Alice Springs. You see them driving pursuit vehicles and caged vans on the streets, or stationed outside the bottle shop checking IDs. But more police doesn’t mean less crime – it just means more people are getting locked up. As Alice Springs reels from the police shooting of Warlpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker, and in the wake of an apology from the Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy for systemic racism, Daniel James wants to find out whether it's poss...
Oct 14, 2024•32 min•Ep. 1371
From afar, Alice Springs is a whirlpool of myth and truth. A town with competing interests and few solutions, marked by chaos and decades of government overreach. That all came to a head earlier this year, with what’s been described as a “youth riot” in town. The violence led to the Northern Territory government imposing an emergency curfew. This is when the headlines started: in cities and towns across Australia, we read about a “crisis” about “rampages”. One newspaper described the kids here a...
Oct 13, 2024•30 min•Ep. 1370
Malcolm Knox began his career as a journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald , back in the 90s. His breakout was in 2004 when, as literary editor, he broke the story of the fake Jordanian memoirist, Norma Khouri for which he won a Walkley Award. Since then he has written more than a dozen books of nonfiction and has been publishing fiction since 2000. On this episode of Read This , Malcolm sits down with Michael to discuss his seventh and latest novel, The First Friend . See omnystudio.com/listen...
Oct 12, 2024•23 min•Ep. 1369
The war in the Middle East is dominating Australian politics. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton spent the week attacking Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – claiming he disrespected the Jewish community when he included calls for de-escalation and a ceasefire in a condolence motion to mark the one-year anniversary of October 7. But there are signs that Dutton’s attacks aren’t landing, and that he’s become too focused on the Middle East conflict at the expense of pressing issues closer to home. Today,...
Oct 10, 2024•18 min•Ep. 1368
A five-minute drive from the cliff where Ben Roberts-Smith allegedly murdered Afghan farmer Ali Jan, there is a small mud-brick room used for storing almonds. It was in this room, locals say, that a separate group of Australian soldiers killed two Afghan men in a shocking and brutal way. Despite the intense publicity around the killing of Ali Jan, almost nothing has been heard about what happened in the almond room, and nobody has been held accountable. Today, anthropologist and writer Michelle ...
Oct 09, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1367
For two-and-a-half years, Ukraine has been fighting Russia with the goal of “total victory” – to not only beat President Vladimir Putin’s forces back to the border, but to reclaim all territory annexed by Russia since 1991. But as both President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin’s popularity and resources fade, and as another winter approaches, it’s possible that a more pragmatic end to the war could be in sight. Today, editor-in-chief of The Economist Zanny Minton Beddoes, on what it would take for ...
Oct 08, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1366
Protecting Australia’s environment is a matter of urgency – or at least that’s the message the Albanese government campaigned on two and a half years ago. But now, with environmental legislation stalling in the Senate and a series of announcements lacking detail, there’s a sense that the government’s priorities have shifted. Today, director of the Australia Institute’s climate and energy program Polly Hemming, on the rhetoric of “nature positivity” and the inaction it hides. Socials: Stay in tou...
Oct 07, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1365
One year on from the October 7 attacks against Israel, the region is bracing for more war. It seems almost certain Israel will launch a retaliatory attack against Iran, after it fired ballistic missiles at Israel last week. Meanwhile, over the weekend, Israel continued its airstrikes on Lebanon, with multiple explosions reported in the suburbs of the capital Beirut. Today, Israel correspondent for The Economist Anshel Pfeffer on where the Middle East is headed, and how, or if, the fighting can e...
Oct 06, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1364
Charlotte Wood became a mainstay in Australia’s literary firmament in 2016 following the release of her award-winning novel, The Natural Way of Things . Her latest book, Stone Yard Devotional , is a meditation on grief, solitude, what it means to live a good life, and what we owe one another. It has been shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. On this episode of Read This , Michael sits down with Charlotte to discuss her new book, and she shares the psychic catastrophe that informed its final for...
Oct 05, 2024•26 min•Ep. 1363
There’s a greater than 50 per cent chance that there will be a terrorist attack – or a planned attack – in Australia in the next year. That’s the reality behind the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s recent decision to upgrade the nation’s terror threat level to “probable”. So the need for all states and territories to be working on a united strategy with the federal government to prevent terrorist attacks is greater than ever. But that’s not what’s happening. The states...
Oct 03, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1362
As much as they would hate to admit it, both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris fit the definition of “coastal elite”. The United States presidential candidates are a wealthy New York businessman and reality TV star running against a San Francisco liberal with a career in public office. That’s why they’re both hoping their vice-presidential candidates and running mates will speak to a specific group of voters – the blue collar, working class area of the Midwest. And yesterday’s debate showed that bo...
Oct 02, 2024•19 min•Ep. 1361
There are hundreds of angry posts on X, TikTok and Reddit from citizen journalists archiving Coles and Woolworths' published prices and noticing some strange patterns. The posters complain that the two supermarket giants have misled their customers with their “Down Down” and “Prices Dropped” promotions. Now, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has launched legal action, alleging the big two presented discounted promotions that were actually higher, or the same, as the price...
Oct 01, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1360
When Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in Beirut over the weekend, Michelle Jasmin Dimasi felt the blast from her apartment. Michelle’s an Australian journalist and she’s been based in the city for a few months. Now, as Israeli airstrikes continue, she is preparing to leave, likely by plane. But for a million displaced people within Lebanon, that calculation of where to go, and how to get out, is much more complicated. Today, Michelle Jasmin Dimasi on the reality of life in Lebano...
Sep 30, 2024•13 min•Ep. 1359
The leader of Hezbollah has been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut. Hassan Nasrallah led the group for more than 30 years, building it into a powerful political force within Lebanon and the most heavily armed non-state militia in the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ordered the killing from his hotel room in New York, before his speech at the United Nations general assembly. Joe Biden has called the killing a “measure of justice”. But Lebanon is entering three d...
Sep 29, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1358
Sri Lankan-born Canadian essayist, poet, and Booker Prize-winning novelist Michael Ondaatje recently released a stunning collection of poems. Ondaatje is now 80 years old and it’s almost half a century since he published his first novel; even longer since he first published poetry. On this episode of Read This he joins Michael for a conversation about A Year of Last Things and why writing remains such a joyful act of discovery. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 28, 2024•26 min•Ep. 1357
The Reserve Bank should lower interest rates, and if they don’t, the government should make them, according to the Greens. Their spokesperson for economic justice Nick McKim has said he won’t support the government's reforms to the RBA unless the treasurer intervenes in the bank’s decision-making processes and tells them to lower interest rates. It’s a big demand: something that has never happened before and is unlikely to now, with Labor saying the Greens are “out of control”. And there is also...
Sep 26, 2024•16 min•Ep. 1356
The Liberal National Party has been in the political wilderness in Queensland for most of the past three decades. But in a month’s time that’s likely to change, after an election campaign fought on youth crime. Yesterday, David Crisafulli announced courts would be able to access young people’s full criminal histories, even after they have turned 18. It’s a move legal experts say is cheap and won’t change rates of offending. All this tough talk hides a more complicated story, in which a small num...
Sep 25, 2024•17 min•Ep. 1355
In more than 30 years of lobbying for gambling reforms, Tim Costello says no government has tried to silence him through the use of a legally binding non-disclosure agreement. That’s until the Albanese government asked him to sign an NDA as part of lobbying the government on new gambling advertising laws. The chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform says he believes its purpose was to “muzzle” the group. It’s part of a growing government trend to use non-disclosure agreements as a con...
Sep 24, 2024•15 min•Ep. 1354
