The Morning Edition

Anthony Albanese is back from the United Nations in New York to a slump in his approval rating and more economic pain.
On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank raised interest rates to a 15-year-high due to continued inflation pressure. So what's driving inflation? How much is government spending contributing to this issue?
Also this week, the Greens elected a new leader. NSW senator David Shoebridge is far more confrontational than former leader Larissa Waters and comes from the party's hard-left faction.
His election may signal a shift in strategy from the party, which wants to replicate the success of left-wing figures such as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal hosts today's conversation with senior economics correspondent Matt Wade and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.

Further reading
To avoid another rate rise, things might have to get worse
The Greens need to let the sunshine in or risk stagnation
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When the competing leaders of the world's two biggest economies gather for a summit, there's usually a lot to tussle over – military build-up, trade, critical minerals or AI. But that's not what happened when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping met last week.
Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher discusses the moments that could signal a startling break with decades of American policy.

Background reading:
How Trump’s grovelling emboldens China and imperils the Asia Pacific

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your podcasts.

Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you live in a certain part of Australia, you have probably noticed them – big moths flying around, clinging to glass doors and gathering around lights in massive numbers.
But for all the freak-outs across the east coast, naturalists are rejoicing.
Today, national environment and climate editor Nick O’Malley talks about the return of the bogong moth after a near-total population collapse, and why they’re so important for our landscape.

Background reading:
After a catastrophic decline bogong moths are back, and naturalists are celebrating

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your podcasts.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interest rate hikes are stressing Australian mortgage holders across the country.

But are higher rates the only way to get inflation down? Or are there alternatives to the Reserve Bank’s go-to, blunt-force measure?

Today, senior economics writer Matt Wade, on the potential – and challenges – of four alternatives to help keep inflation in check, newly floated by an Australian think tank.

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.
If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your podcasts.
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The past five decades have witnessed immigration on a scale the globe has never seen before, and countries around the world are convulsing with anti-immigration sentiment. Australia might be an island, but it's no different.
This is a dangerous moment, investigative journalist Eryk Bagshaw argues. Immigration has become a scapegoat because successive governments have lost control of policy levers, and infrastructure has failed to keep up. At the same time, whole swaths of the economy are dependent on temporary migrants.
Bagshaw visited migrant communities both old and new to work out what has gone wrong and what Australia must get right.

Further reading
‘You can’t put everything on immigration’: The suburbs at breaking point
The moment Australia’s immigration program went off the rails
Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.