7am

It’s been a rollercoaster ride on the global oil market, with wild swings in petrol prices at the bowser. The war against Iran has caused panic buying in Australia and around the world. Meanwhile, our government has been criticised for not having greater reserves of petrol, diesel and jet fuel. And for not imposing higher taxes on giant gas companies, which are now raking in  a fortune thanks to the war. Today, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen on how prepared Australia is for the worst energy crisis in more...

Australia’s tobacco wars are fuelling violence, with fire bombings and arson attacks spanning across the east coast. Now the federal government wants to treat these organised crime syndicates like ‘drug lords’ by going after them with wire tapping and seizing their assets. And the tobacconists are in trouble too, with calls to ban tobacco stores and only sell cigarettes in supermarkets. Today, Criminologist Dr James Martin, from Deakin University on how to reign in the multi billion dollar black market that’s created a gangsters paradise   If you enjoy 7am...

John Blackburn spent four decades in the Air Force, rising to Deputy Chief. For more than decade he’s been warning that Australia is too reliant on imported fuel, too light on reserves, and too exposed if a global crisis – just like this one – disrupts supply. Now, as more than hundred servos around the country run dry and a Trump ultimatum looms, threatening to make the fuel crisis worse, Australia is paying the price for our lack of preparedness. Today, Chair of the Institute of Economic Research Australia, John Blackburn on how Australia botche...

Like so many stories about misinformation, this one starts with a social media post.  “Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM.” Not long after that, Donald Trump backtracked and set the record straight.  “He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.” But in those few short hours before clarification, misinformation had already take...

It’s been one year since dead fish began washing up on South Australian beaches, as the largest algal bloom in Australia’s history spread along the coast. Marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennett was part of the team that first surveyed the bloom – coming face to face with the algae’s devastating impact. Twelve months on, the bloom is still there, the damage has spread, and many of the warnings scientists made in those early days have proved well founded – particularly the damage to marine life. Today, we’re bringing you an episode from 2025 wi...

South Australia does not usually wake up on election day at the centre of the national mood. But this morning, a contest that looks settled on paper is carrying a much stranger energy. Peter Malinauskas is expected to win comfortably. The real movement is happening elsewhere; in the noise around One Nation, the protest vote in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis gathering around the once marginal party, and the possibility that a state election could end up telling us something bigger about where Australian politics is heading.  Today, Editor of InDaily SA, Belinda Willis, o...

While the world focuses on the war underway in Iran, Israel and the Gulf, there is another war front developing – Lebanon. Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Shia group, Hezbollah dragged the country into the war, attacking Israel after a joint US-Israeli airstrike killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel then hit back, bombing Beirut and amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border. Meanwhile, more than a million Lebanese people are now displaced, forced to flee their homes as the attacks continue and Israel demands evacuations. Today, Michael Young, editor of Car...

Brett Hosking is a fifth-generation grain and livestock farmer, and has seen his fair share of heartache and hard times. But this time, it’s not a natural disaster or a foreign war that’s threatening to tip farmers over the edge, but a decision from the Victorian government. The state has passed new compulsory acquisition laws which make it easier for energy companies to acquire farmers’ land and build transmission lines and renewable energy projects on it. Today, Victorian Farmers Federation President, Brett Hosking, on why the government’s push to roll out rene...

Australians are in for a world of pain, with mortgages and rents set to rise after our second interest rate hike in as many months. It was a line-ball decision from the Reserve Bank – with five members voting for a quarter of a percent jump and four against – putting our official cash rate at 4.1 per cent. RBA Governor Michelle Bullock says high inflation left them with no choice, but others have slammed the call. Today, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute, Greg Jericho, on why he thinks the RBA has got it horribly wron...

The war in the Middle East has sent Australia’s fuel prices soaring. And people are worried that if the battle between the US-Israel and Iran continues for another month – Australia may have to begin rationing fuel. Already, drivers are panic buying, stockpiling and some country petrol stations are running dry. Global oil supplies are under threat as Iran attacks tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. Today, Tim Buckley, the Director of Climate Energy Finance, and the question: as the oil shock hits home, how high could the price at the pump...

This month, one of the biggest shows in Australian radio was suddenly pulled off air. For years, Kyle and Jackie O have been treated as untouchable – a breakfast radio juggernaut that could pull huge audiences, generate endless headlines, and weather scandal after scandal. So much so that the Australian Radio Network handed the pair a $200 million deal – one of the biggest contracts Australian media has ever seen – betting Sydney's most popular breakfast show could go national. But that bet turned shaky: The show struggled to win over Melbourne, controversies kept piling up, and the re...

For some time now, an alarming number of Australian boys have been engaging with, and looking up to, the misogynistic influencer Andrew Tate. This week, the conversation about misogyny and the “manosphere” has resurfaced. Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek has accused Married At First Sight of platforming coercive control and misogyny, Netflix has released Louis Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere, and fresh research suggests roughly 40% of teenage boys surveyed agreed that women lie about domestic and sexual violence. Tate’s influence is warping classroom conversation, driving female peers to the fringe of discussion and even causing s...

In Canberra, accountability is often promised in moments of crisis. Much harder is what comes after. Matt Canavan has taken over the Nationals leadership, sharpening his party’s ability to confront One Nation. Former ASIO boss Dennis Richardson has walked away from the government’s antisemitism royal commission, raising fresh questions about a process already under pressure. And years after Robodebt devastated thousands of lives, a final report has landed with a reminder of just how hard real accountability can be to find.  Today, press gallery journalist Karen Middleton, on what Canavan’s rise means for the Coaliti...

John Bolton has spent years arguing that bombing Iran isn’t just justified but necessary.  For decades he has argued that American military force can solve the problem of hostile regimes in the Middle East. He backed the Invasion of Iraq, championed some of the most disastrous American interventions of the modern era, and despite that, he is still arguing more force, more intervention and more regime change will bring stability to the Middle East. Now, as the US escalates again, Bolton’s worldview is back at the centre of the debate. A worldview, that when...

This week Iran announced a new Supreme Leader. Mojtaba Khamenei is the son of the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But who’s really running the country now? We look into the heavily armed elite forces pulling the strings – the Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC.Today, Iranian journalist and author Arash Azizi on what direction Iran’s elite armed forces could take the country.   If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.   Socials: Stay in touch wit...

On Sunday night, after Iran’s final game of the Women’s Asian Cup on the Gold Coast, protesters surrounded the team bus, banging on the windows and shouting “let them go”. Later, five members of the Iranian squad broke away from their minders. By Tuesday, the federal government had confirmed they had been granted humanitarian visas. The move followed days of concern about what the players might face if they returned to Iran, after several were denounced on Iranian state television for refusing to sing the national anthem at the start of the tournament. Th...

Independent MP Monique Ryan can remember a time in Australian politics when small breaches could cost a career.  Now she says we’ve been gradually conditioned to tolerate corruption and the loss of transparency in parliament. Over recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of lobbyists with access to Parliament House. Literally thousands move through the building, meeting politicians and staffers; often leaving little public trace of who they’ve spoken to and why.  Today, Independent MP, Monique Ryan on the thousands of lobbyists roaming the halls of Parliament House...

Who should hold the power to decide how AI is used on our battlefields? That’s the question being debated after a face-off between the Pentagon and one of the world’s biggest AI companies. Anthropic ultimately lost its contract with the US military after refusing to let its Claude program be used for mass surveillance of American citizens, or for fully automated weapons capable of killing with no human oversight. But now that its rival, OpenAI, has stepped into the ring and cut its own deal with the government, what does that mean for how...

It’s been revealed this week that Monash IVF has paid millions of dollars in secret settlements, after two nightmare mixups saw women implanted with the wrong embryos – one of them giving birth to a stranger’s baby. At least three families have now received compensation for the bungle, which was caused by human error. But these mistakes – at one of the oldest and most reputable clinics in the country – have had devastating consequences that reach far beyond the affected families, damaging the confidence of anyone relying on fertility treatment in Australia. In this episo...

When the United States launched strikes on Iran, Australia was quick to back the move.  Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says it’s about defending global security. But critics say that argument sounds familiar. More than two decades ago, another Australian prime minister used almost identical arguments to justify joining America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Back then, Albanese himself warned those decisions would redefine Australia as a willing backer of US militarism no matter whether it is in the national interest.  Today, political editor at Crikey, Bernard Keane, on why he believes the Pr...