7am Schwartz Media

This week, as the federal budget is handed down, we’re bringing you The Cost: Inside the living crisis.
We’ll explore the impact this crisis is having on our country, why it just isn’t ending and whether our leaders are doing enough to protect our standard of living.
Today, executive director of the Australia Institute Richard Denniss on when prices will finally stop going up – and the kind of country we risk becoming once the crisis is finally over.

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Guest: Executive director of the Australia Institute, Richard Denniss

The tasering of a 95-year-old grandmother, the double-murder of a Surry Hills couple, the Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial and now the spike in domestic violence.
These are some of the biggest stories in Australia over the past 12 months, and all of them have drawn in one very powerful woman – Karen Webb, the commissioner of the NSW Police Force.
The veteran cop has found herself at press conferences and interviews having to defend herself and the force to a national audience.
Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on who Karen Webb really is and how she climbed her way through the vipers nest of the NSW police.

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Guest: Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton

One of Australia’s favourite shows has a contentious sponsor this year.
MasterChef, a show that delivers fairytale stories of home cooks rising to national celebrity, is being supported by the gas industry.
So what does big gas want with MasterChef? And what are they paying for?
Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe, on the fight over the future of our kitchens and whether the gas industry can survive their next major elimination challenge. 

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Guest: National correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Mike Seccombe

Israeli airstrikes are targeting the southernmost city in Gaza and tanks have been seen entering the outskirts of the city.
Rafah was once the last safe haven in Gaza, where civilians fleeing Israeli bombardment had been told to seek refuge.
The United States, along with international allies, have long pushed for Israel not to invade the city.
Today, Middle East correspondent for The Economist Gregg Carlstrom, on Rafah and what it would take to clinch a last-ditch ceasefire deal.

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Guest: Middle east correspondent for The Economist, Gregg Carlstrom

It’s a small mystery in Australian politics: Why was Peter Dutton’s first major policy as opposition leader a promise to build nuclear power plants?
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like an obvious vote winner and early polling shows most Australians are yet to be convinced.
But this may be less about votes and more about holding the Coalition together, with the help of a lobby group most of us have never heard of.
Today, investigative journalist and contributor to The Monthly Marian Wilkinson on the Coalition for Conservation lobby and their links to Peter Dutton’s nuclear promises.

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Guest: Investigative journalist and contributor to The Monthly, Marian Wilkinson

In recent years, Australia has faced a reckoning over the actions of some of our special forces soldiers, who have gone from decorated heroes to murderers accused of horrific war crimes against civilians.
David McBride is the former military lawyer who first gave journalists documentary evidence of civilian killings in Afghanistan.
To his supporters he’s a war crimes whistleblower, but detractors say that was never his motivation.
During a secretive national security trial, he pleaded guilty to handing over those files and this morning his sentencing hearing gets underway.
Today, David McBride, on why he did it, whether he has any regrets and how Australia keeps its secrets.

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Guest: David McBride