Best of 2025: What is freebirthing?

We’re on a break over summer, our dear chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal is probably off to a yoga retreat somewhere in Bali, and we return at the end of January for another fun-filled year of Inside Politics. Well, we can’t ignore the impact that Donald Trump had on domestic politics last year and for this episode, we return to a point in time when most of the press pack was obsessed with whether Anthony Albanese will meet with the US president. It finally happened, and we recorded this episode about a week before the meeting would take place. Paul is joined by our special guest star, and economics correspondent Shane Wright, to forecast the details of the meeting, before they argue about Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ abandonment of superannuation reforms.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, it’s Samantha Selinger-Morris here, and I’m the host of The Morning Edition. We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns on Monday. In August, two police officers were shot and killed at a property in Victoria’s high country and suspected murderer, Dezi Freeman, went on the run. Now, more than four months later, he is still missing.  In this episode, associate editor and special writer Tony Wright takes us to the whispering forests and deep valleys of the high country, which have long hidden those on the run.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns next week. Last May, the incumbent Labor government swept to power while the Liberal Party suffered an election wipeout, with women voters, in particular, shunning the party. In this episode, recorded just after the election result, political and international editor Peter Hartcher traces the Liberals’ surprising history of embracing the female vote and how that crucial vote was lost in 2025.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, it’s Samantha Selinger-Morris here, and I’m the host of The Morning Edition. We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns next week. With the tragic death of a wellness influencer after the birth of her child at home in Melbourne, the practice of freebirthing was thrust into the spotlight last year. In this episode, senior writer Wendy Tuohy takes us through the nuances of homebirthing, a woman’s right to choose where she has her baby, and why ‘freebirthing’ is seen as so radical.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we’re heading back to a court in Melbourne with crime writer Chris Vedelago. It was the day when one of the last remaining figures from the city’s gangland war, Tony Mokbel, was released on bail thanks to a legal scandal like no other.  Mokbel had convictions quashed over the so-called ‘Lawyer X’ saga and since this episode was aired, he was freed from prison.  We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns next week.    Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Happy New Year. We’re on a break over summer - lucky us - before we return at the end of January for another year of Inside Politics. Today, we’re returning to an episode recorded in the wake of the divisive ‘March for Australia’ protests, which became the vehicle for a hodgepodge of causes, including immigration, an issue that would lead to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s sacking from the frontbench.  The episode features chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember how there was a federal election? In this episode, we return to Anthony Albanese's astonishing landslide victory in May with former chief political correspondent David Crowe and senior economics correspondent Shane Wright. Crowe and Wright reflect on how history-making the win was, and what Albanese will do with his mandate.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, we return to a good news story as we kick off a new year. The fame of Robert Irwin, the son of ‘crocodile hunter’ Steve Irwin, was supercharged recently when he won one of America's top reality television shows, Dancing with the Stars. Our culture editor-at-large Michael Idato delves into the Irwin family empire and how Robert Irwin’s brand of “nice” won over America. And we hope you have a safe and happy new year.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we say goodbye to 2025, we can only hope we also see an end to the swirling chaos of multiple wars that raged across the world, and in the case of the Israel-Gaza conflict, fractured so much of our society. Today we return to a special episode with British barrister and human rights lawyer Phillipe Sands, who defended Palestine at the International Court of Justice, on how to retain compassion and integrity in our fragmented world. We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns mid-January.  Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A tax on tobacco seemed like a great idea to deter smokers and raise revenue.  But, as the price of cigarettes soared, major criminal organisations saw an opening, and began to pump cheap, illegal cigarettes into Australia.  And violence came along with it as warring gangs fought for control of the trade in our major cities.  Today, with your Morning Edition team on a summer break, we return to an episode with senior economics correspondent Shane Wright on the tobacco tax problem.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.