Australia is supposed to be reducing its emissions at a rapid pace, and last year, the Albanese government put a new target into law.
Now, we will finally get to see exactly how Labor plans to force our biggest polluters to reduce their emissions.
But will the proposal win the support it needs? And how will it shape the political year to come?
Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno, on why next week could either end the climate wars, or start a whole new chapter.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno.

Thought the climate wars were over? A sequel’s out next week

More and more people have to pay to see a doctor, GPs are leaving the profession, and the cost of seeing a specialist is rising at an alarming rate.
That’s why the government is promising the biggest overhaul to Medicare in its 40-year existence – the details of the plan could be released any day now.
Everything is on the table for consideration: increasing the Medicare rebate, giving pharmacists the power to prescribe drugs and more.
But how do we make sure we get changes to Medicare right?
Today, associate editor of The Saturday Paper, Martin McKenzie-Murray, on why Medicare is being overhauled, and the people responsible for deciding the future of Australia’s public health system.

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Guest: Associate editor of The Saturday Paper Martin McKenzie-Murray

Why it’s so expensive to see a doctor

Between his death, two weeks ago, and his burial tomorrow, a furious battle has raged over George Pell’s legacy.
If you happen to read The Australian newspaper, though, you probably wouldn’t be aware there are two sides to the debate.
The Murdoch newspaper has been glowing about Pell’s influence.
Why is the Murdoch media so invested in how the former Catholic cardinal is remembered? And what are they willing to ignore to make their case?
Today, legal affairs editor for The Saturday Paper Richard Ackland on how Pell built his influence with journalists, and how he wielded it.

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Guest: Legal affairs editor for The Saturday Paper Richard Ackland

'Catholic Mafia': How George Pell won over Murdoch

Australian law is far from perfect.
Not only can it be unjust, it’s sometimes simply no longer fit to do what it was intended to.
The person responsible for maintaining our federal laws is the attorney-general. And, since the last election, that’s Mark Dreyfus.
Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe – on Mark Dreyfus, what drives him, and why he says Australia’s treatment of refugees has been “deliberately cruel”.

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Guest: National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe.

The attorney-general on ditching outdated and “deliberately cruel” policy

Tony Windsor was a politician and, as an independent, he helped hand minority government and the prime ministership to Julia Gillard.
He says that at the end of the day, politicians are, by their nature, weak.
And if there’s any example that’s taught him that, it’s the decades-long fight over our water and how we protect it.
Today, former Independent MP Tony Windsor on our water, how gas developments can threaten it and how grassroots campaigns can force politicians to back down.

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Guest: Former independent MP Tony Windsor.

‘Politicians are naturally weak’: Tony Windsor versus the gas industry

A crime wave in Alice Springs grew into a national crisis this week, with politicians jumping on planes in a last-ditch effort to listen to a community whose concerns have fallen on deaf ears.
But how did the crime rate in Alice Springs become an issue for Anthony Albanese? And how could the situation have deteriorated so far?
Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Chris Wallace on how giving communities a voice could force politicians to face complex challenges.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace.

Alice Springs: The crisis that shouldn’t have happened

It’s been over 30 years since the high court acknowledged that terra nullius was a lie, that this country was not empty – that Indigenous Australians had an ongoing claim to the land beneath our feet.
But still today, officially, large swathes of Australia are held as what’s called ‘crown land’.
What is it? And what do the assumptions about crown land say about the attitude to land ownership in modern Australia?
Today, author and Noongar woman, Claire G. Coleman on the case for returning crown land.

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Guest: Author and Noongar woman, Claire G. Coleman.

The case for returning crown land

Jacinda Ardern’s decision to resign as the Prime Minister of New Zealand shocked her country and the world. 
She had seemed almost universally beloved. And the young, empathetic and energetic politician was the most world-renowned prime minister New Zealand has ever had.
So what made Ardern unwilling to continue? And does she leave her country with the kind of meaningful change she set out to make?
Today, freelance correspondent Charlotte Graham-McLay, who is writing a book about the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack.

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Guest: Freelance correspondent, Charlotte Graham-McLay

What made Jacinda Ardern unique might also explain her shock exit

The Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia has been a battleground for months – and now, it’s the target of Russia’s newest offensive. Fighting there could be about to get a lot worse. 
Ukrainian forces are readying a defense, but the war effort in this part of southeastern Ukraine involves more than fighting back on the frontlines.
Dr Natalya Mosol is a psychologist, and for the past year, she’s been working with people who have seen the worst of the war.
Today, Dr Natalya Mosol, who features in Jane Caro’s article in the latest edition of The Saturday Paper, ‘Treating trauma in Ukraine’s children’.

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Guest: Psychologist at the National University of Zaporizhzhia, Dr Natalya Mosol.

Trauma therapy for children in Ukraine

The premier of NSW, Dominic Perrottet wore a Nazi uniform to his 21st birthday party.
Since the revelations, Jewish groups in NSW have told journalists that they have fielded calls, particularly from elderly members of the community, in tears after hearing about the incident.
But why did Perrottet come out and admit the scandal? Does it have anything to do with the looming election? And who was circulating the rumours about the premier’s 21st birthday?
Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe on what’s going on behind the Perrottet scandal and what links it may have to the gambling industry.

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Guest: National correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe.

The premier, the Nazi costume and the pokies

Summer has provided everyone with a respite from politics, even our politicians.
But as they return, they’ll need to face up to problems that have been long in the making.
The pandemic is still with us, and clues from the northern hemisphere point towards variants that authorities will have to keep a close eye on.
And in the meantime, this week, we have been warned that inequality got worse throughout the pandemic.
Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace on how Covid-19 made the wealthy richer and why we can’t be complacent about the virus.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Chris Wallace.

How Australian billionaires got richer during the pandemic

When Liberal MP Julia Banks quit the Morrison government in 2018, her resignation was cited as an example of how hostile the political environment can be towards women.
But Banks’ story and her resignation happened to coincide with a landmark report: Respect@Work.
That report, and the changes it recommended, languished on the desk of the former government. But reform is now finally coming into effect and, in theory, should change the workplace for women.
Today, former politician Julia Banks, on the report she watched be pushed aside, and her hope that this year it’s finally going to change our workplaces for the better.

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Guest: Former Liberal MP and the author of Power Play, Julia Banks.

Julia Banks on how politics fails women

George Pell’s body is returning to Australia after last weekend’s funeral service in the Vatican. He will be interred in the crypts below St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.
To his supporters, Pell was a guardian of traditional faith and doctrine, whose conviction on charges of child sexual abuse was overturned by the High Court.
To thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse perpetrated by priests across Australia, Pell was the leader who oversaw an era when the Church moved too slowly, and protected itself rather than children.
Today, freelance investigative journalist and the author of a book about the trial of George Pell, Fallen, Lucie Morris-Marr on Pell and the questions left for thousands of survivors after his death.
If this episode has raised issues for you, for support you can contact Blue Knot on 1300 657 380 and The Survivors and Mates Support Network on 1800 472 676.

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Guest: Author of Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell, Lucie Morris-Marr.

George Pell could have helped. He made it worse.

This year Peter Dutton has begun to spread doubt about the Voice to Parliament. His question is: where’s the detail?
One woman has spent years fleshing out the proposal. Marcia Langton co-authored a report on The Voice, and briefed every party room in Canberra about what the model could look like.
Today, Professor at the University of Melbourne Marcia Langton on the details of the Voice to Parliament, and what’s at stake if Australia gets this moment wrong.

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Guest: Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, Professor Marcia Langton.

The detail on the Voice is right here

Elon Musk has lost more money than any human being who has ever lived.
It’s not because of his purchase of Twitter – well, not directly, anyway. It’s because in the last 12 months, the share price of his other company, Tesla, has plummeted.
But why is Elon Musk, the erratic entrepreneur, so intertwined with Tesla? How has the company become an extension of one man’s ideas? And is that healthy?
Today, veteran Tesla-watcher and financial journalist, Antony Currie, on the unshakeable faith in Elon.

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Guest: Financial journalist for Reuters, Antony Currie.

Elon Musk’s guide to losing $US200 billion in net worth

On this Weekend Read, chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program Laura Tingle, with her piece from the summer issue of The Monthly.
It’s called ‘A patch of land’, and in it she writes of the joys of tending and surrendering herself to a native garden, before bidding it a fond farewell after nearly 20 years.

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Guest: Chief political correspondent for the ABC’s 7.30 program, Laura Tingle
Background Reading: A Patch of Land

Weekend Read: ‘A patch of land’: Gardening with Laura Tingle

Australia’s domestic security agency, ASIO, says right-wing extremism now makes up half of its priority cases. And the far right, while still fringe, has capitalised on division and social media to push its message during the pandemic.
So just how big a risk is this movement today? And how did we allow this discredited and dangerous ideology to get a foothold once again?
Author Lydia Khalil discusses how counter-terrorism turned a blind eye to the far -right and how we all need to solve that problem.

How counter-terrorism turned a blind eye to the far right, with Lydia Khalil

When we talk about the most significant events of the last year, the one that might have the biggest impact on humanity actually took place far above the Earth’s atmosphere.
Up there, in orbit around earth, is one of the most powerful tools humans have ever had to hunt for the origins of our universe – and for alien life.
The James Webb Space Telescope has the ability to look so far and with such clarity that we can get an insight into a period of time that our best scientists have only ever speculated about: the cosmic dark ages.
Today, Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne University, Dr Alan Duffy on why the last year marked a new beginning for our understanding of the universe.

The search for the very first star, with Dr Alan Duffy

Each year, around a million Australians visit the US . But it's becoming a more dangerous place: firearm murders alone increased by 35% between 2019 and 2020. 
But you won’t find that statistic in the guidance for Australians travelling to the US. And it’s a risk that disproportionately affects people of colour.
Today, author and contributor to The Monthly, Santilla Chingaipe on the travel guidance we rely on for our safety and what it tells us about how race functions in bureaucratic definitions of Australianess.

Travel advice and race, with Santilla Chingaipe

Misinformation, fear and pain: when Andrew Denton was asked to speak on the topic of euthanasia, he found something that he couldn’t look away from.
What started as a single lecture became the biggest political fight of his life.
And the last year has seen the fruit of those labours, with every state now having laws to allow people the right to choose to end their life when faced with terminal illness. The territories are well on their way to doing the same.
Go Gentle Australia, the organisation he founded, helped change the tide of a debate around death that had been paralysed in Australia for decades.
Today, Andrew Denton, on the campaign that changed how Australians will experience the end of their lives and the way it’s changing the care we receive at the end.

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