Introducing Virginia: Our latest investigative podcast

Today we're sharing the first episode of Virginia – The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald's latest investigative podcast on Jeffrey Epstein's most prominent victim.Walkley-award winning journalist Melissa Fyfe and WA Today reporter Carla Hildebrandt spent more than six months investigating Virginia Giuffre's life in Australia and the months before her death.Despite Virginia's heroic battle in the most notorious sex-trafficking case of the 21st century, few knew about one of her toughest fights. It was one she fought privately at home in Australia.Follow The Age and SMH Investigates to listen to all four episodes of Virginia.Read the Good Weekend feature or our visual story which chronicles the harrowing final months of Virginia's life as her marriage unravelled. Visit our websites at smh.com.au, theage.com.au and watoday.com.au, and send questions, information and feedback to [email protected] to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today we’re hot off the press, to use an old newsroom cliche, to talk about the federal government’s new plan for migration. Immigration Minister Tony Burke gave a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday where he announced significant changes. These changes included curtailing visa hopping, targeting international students, implementing a ballot system for backpackers, and ramping up the deportation of unlawful non-citizens. If these aims are achieved, what will the consequences be? Will demand for housing drop? Will there be labour shortages in agriculture, or aged care? What about deportations – does that signal ICE-esque raids? And what about the broader questions around Australian culture? Joining national deputy editor Stephanie Peatling today is chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal. Cut through the noise of federal politics with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal on Inside Politics, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, every Friday. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Donald Trump announced his so-called Liberation Day tariffs in April last year, one question seemed to dominate: which country would suffer the most economic pain? But since then, one country after the next seems to have awoken to a starkly hopeful realisation: the United States accounts for only 15 per cent of total global imports and trade. So, could these countries join a newly powerful trading bloc? Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on recent moves by Canada to possibly join the European Union, and if Australia could follow suit.   Background reading: Euro-vision: Could Australia join the European Union? One key minister is open to it   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.

For nearly 35 years, hundreds of thousands of readers around the world have turned to Caitlin Moran for laughter and her signature nouse about how to cope with life's worst bits. Having grown up in poverty in a down-at-heels English town and helping to support her siblings from the age of 15, Moran was resilience personified. And then Trump, the universe and everything nearly stole her sanity. Today, in a break from the doom and gloom of news, the British author on how we can rediscover how life really is a "quiet loving thing".Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pauline Hanson has finally announced her party’s migration policy, after weeks in which various One Nation MPs publicly contradicted one another on the plan. Today, hear federal political reporter Brittany Busch on which visa holders Pauline Hanson has in her sights – and whether her plan could risk our prosperity.   Further reading:  Slash the intake: Majority of Australians demand deeper migration cuts 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.

Finals in Australia’s major sporting codes are in full swing. And six weeks after the AFL grand final is played, the other biggest show of the year - the men’s, and women’s, draft - begins. But the work to find the next big thing starts years earlier, when scouts hunt for teenagers who possess unusual qualities. I’m Samantha Selinger-Morris, and you’re listening to The Morning Edition, from The Age and Sydney Morning Herald. Today, explainer reporter Madeleine Heffernan and sports reporter Peter Ryan, on the making of a sports star. Further reading: 'The winning formula: Do you have what it takes to be the next footy star?'   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.

This week we’re joining the dots between two different stories: the fight over superannuation, and the colourful past of One Nation’s leader in Victoria, Warren Pickering. On Monday, Pauline Hanson told voters her party would allow renters and prospective home buyers to withdraw their superannuation early. The policy was scant on details, but it had the desired effect of controlling the national debate. The same thing happened with the Pickering press conference. Normally, a leader of a right-wing political party admitting to taking drugs would not be good for electoral prospects. But, as Victorian political editor Chip Le Grand argues, the mea culpa had the opposite effect. Le Grand joins senior economics correspondent Shane Wright for Inside Politics. Today’s host is deputy national editor Stephanie Peatling, filling in for Jacqueline Maley.   Cut through the noise of federal politics with host Jacqueline Maley and chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal on Inside Politics, from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, every Friday. If you enjoyed this episode and want to hear more, rate, review and subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube or whichever platform you find your pods.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week marks twenty-five years since the United States suffered a terrorist attack that was predicted to change the world forever. Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher talks about the lessons that the US learned – and failed to learn – and examines the costs and rewards of Australia's full-throated support of its ally following the attack. Hartcher also discusses what Australia's alliance looks like today in the face of Donald Trump's presidency. 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.

A far-right party in Germany has just trounced its rivals in a state election – the closest such a party has come to holding power in a German state since World War II. The result sent shockwaves through a country that has, since the destruction of Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime, created a political system that prevents extremist parties from returning to power. Today's guest, Europe correspondent David Crowe, discusses what the rise of the Alternative for Germany party, otherwise known as the AfD, means for Europe and the rest of the world.Further reading: Election shockwave: Meet the smiling new leader set to bring hard-right upheaval to Germany 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.

It’s the Australian government versus big tech yet again in parliament this week, with Labor planning to introduce a bill that would tackle online harm and hand back control of social media algorithms to users. It comes as toxic online content is increasingly linked to violent sexualised behaviour in young men.But is what we see on social media a matter for a government? Or has the algorithm become so out of hand that guardrails need to be put in place? Today's guest is federal bureau chief Michelle Griffin.Background reading: Hardline free-speech campaigners demand Coalition block Labor’s latest social media plan   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.