Best of 2025: The rallies, the neo-Nazis, the flag-draping: How politics on immigration have led to this point

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.

Hi and Merry Christmas! Your Inside Politics team is on a little hiatus over summer before we return at the end of January. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy some of our favourite episodes of the year, starting with a trip down memory lane to election night with our former chief political correspondent David Crowe before he passed the baton to BFF of the podcast Paul Sakkal.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 mid-January. It was another big year for the human headline that was U.S President Donald Trump, and political and international editor Peter Hartcher was an essential listen each week on our podcast as we tried to make sense of it all. This episode was recorded in May, just as Trump was poised to introduce what he called his ‘big beautiful bill’, which was predicted to tip government debt over the one trillion mark. What did it matter? Because, Hartcher argues, these figures point to an empire in decline.  Hartcher explores what it would mean if the United States ceased to be a great power, and what it would take to bring America back from the brink. 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 mid-January.  Well, the mushroom murders was the criminal case of the year and in this episode, we take you inside the court on the day Erin Patterson was sentenced to life imprisonment.  Patterson received a triple-murder conviction for the now infamous lunch of beef wellington that a jury trial found she laced with death cap mushrooms and served to her in-laws. Since we recorded this episode with court reporter Erin Pearson, Patterson has applied for leave to appeal her convictions, which is yet to be decided. But this episode addresses the big question after the sentencing, which was why she was granted the opportunity of parole. 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 mid-January.  Today, we return to an episode recorded in October with senior columnist Jacqueline Maley, when more torrid tales emerged of the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, and his connection to sex offender and disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein. When this was recorded, the royal had just been stripped of his Duke of York and Prince title. British MPs have since announced a parliamentary inquiry into the Crown Estate, after revelations the former prince had not paid rent on his mansion for more than 20 years.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, it’s Samantha Selinger-Morris here, the host of The Morning Edition. We’re bringing you the best episodes of 2025 before your Morning Edition team returns mid-January.  This one is about Belle Gibson.  One of the original wellness influencers, Gibson claimed to have healed herself from terminal cancer through healthy eating. The problem was, she never had cancer.  This episode was recorded shortly before the release of the worldwide hit television series Apple Cider Vinegar, which was based on the work of two of our journalists, Beau Donelly and Nick Toscano, in exposing Gibson’s cancer con.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.