Daily News

7am

Solstice Media

An independent daily news show. We feature the country’s best reporters, covering the news as it affects Australia. This is news with narrative, every weekday.

300 episodes

‘It’s not 1800-phone-a-friend’: the failed promise of therapy apps 3 Oct 2026 · 17 min If you listen to podcasts, and let’s be honest, there’s a fair chance that you do, it’s likely that you’ve heard ads for a thing called Better Help. It’s an app offering flexible,…

New leader, new Greens? 2 Oct 2026 · 17 min David Shoebridge has taken over the Greens leadership with a big ambition: to replace Labor. He’s doing it at a time when Australians are becoming less attached to the major parti…

What the ‘Cornell 7’ tells us about male silence, violence and misogyny 1 Oct 2026 · 15 min News of an alleged rape involving seven men at an elite university – a case being called the ‘Cornell 7’ – is reverberating across the US. For many people, the case – and the way…

Ben Roberts-Smith and the One Nation law change that could impact his trial 30 Sept 2026 · 13 min In April this year, Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five counts of the war crime of murder. He’s now out on bail and maintains his innocence – and One Nation has s…

Why interest rate pain is now worse than the bad old days of 17.5% 29 Sept 2026 · 16 min For years we’ve heard from older generations that the current interest rate pain is nothing compared to the horror of 17.5 per cent rates in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. But now,…

The Medicare hack and the rise of rogue AI agents 28 Sept 2026 · 16 min In June, an OpenAI agent was looking for public information about medicines spending when it broke into a Medicare statistics website and accessed files it wasn’t authorised to se…

AI is eating the world’s books 27 Sept 2026 · 17 min A rare old book can now be worth more dead than alive. Books are being bought, cut apart and scanned to train artificial intelligence. Nobody knows how many books have been destro…

The Korean doomsday church targeting Australians 26 Sept 2026 · 16 min When starting out at university, it’s normal to want to meet new friends and establish a community. But for some young Australians, that formative time has led them down the path…

Is liberal democracy running out of answers? 25 Sept 2026 · 19 min For decades, liberal democracy came with a promise: that with each generation we would become freer, wealthier, and have more control over our lives. But after years of economic s…

Could Australia’s media survive Trump-style attacks? 24 Sept 2026 · 17 min For years, Donald Trump’s attacks on the media were treated as part of the spectacle of his politics. Now, three major news organisations have had their White House passes revoked…

The absurd lengths Australia goes to keep Nauru Airlines flying 23 Sept 2026 · 16 min It’s an uncomfortable fact our government doesn’t like to face: 25 years on from the Tampa affair, we’re still paying a tiny island micro-nation hundreds of millions of dollars to…

Trump and Murdoch: The enemies who need each other 22 Sept 2026 · 16 min One of the defining themes of Donald Trump's presidencies has been his war against the media. Last week, he banned journalists from three media outlets from the White House, sayin…

A richer Australia in 2066 – but for who? 21 Sept 2026 · 14 min Australia in 2066 will be older, richer, and – according to the treasurer – transformed by artificial intelligence. The latest intergenerational report says, despite an aging popu…

The race to put weapons in space 20 Sept 2026 · 15 min A whole new galactic battleground has just opened up. The United States has declared it has weapons in space, and it’s ready to use them. So, are we entering a new era where the o…

Serco’s ugly legacy in Australia’s immigration detention system 19 Sept 2026 · 14 min Last year, the company that ran Australia’s immigration detention network for over a decade, British conglomerate Serco, lost its contract, but not before helping build what’s bee…

Albo’s mum and “primitive” first Australians: has Pauline finally gone too far? 18 Sept 2026 · 17 min Migration is shaping up to be the next big battleground in federal politics as Labor desperately tries to wrestle back control of the narrative from One Nation. But does this week…

Is Labor’s migration plan tackling a real problem or a political one? 17 Sept 2026 · 18 min After one false start and a hell of a lot of political pressure from the right, Labor has finally unveiled its long-awaited immigration plans. Backpackers, students and visa overs…

Why is Australia going soft on settler sanctions? 16 Sept 2026 · 18 min Last week, countries including the UK, Canada and France announced plans to restrict trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank. In the past, Australia has joined its oversea…

A big-tech defector’s AI warning for the world 15 Sept 2026 · 18 min In the last week, AI bosses around the world have suddenly grown a conscience – urging a global slowdown amid fears the race to develop artificial intelligence could outstrip huma…

Is another GFC brewing? 14 Sept 2026 · 18 min The numbers are almost incomprehensible – last month US debt hit 40 trillion dollars. With an interest bill of more than three billion dollars a day. And that’s before Donald Trum…

Something is seriously wrong in the Northern Territory 13 Sept 2026 · 19 min One by one, the Aboriginal leaders, organisations and watchdogs the Northern Territory government is supposed to work with are walking away. The Children’s Commissioner has resign…

This is Alice Springs: Children of the Intervention 12 Sept 2026 · 31 min From afar, Alice Springs is a whirlpool of myth and truth. A town with competing interests and few solutions, marked by chaos and decades of government overreach. In cities and to…

Did the PM dabble in pork barrelling? 11 Sept 2026 · 15 min In 2020 Anthony Albanese called for the sacking of then-sports minister Bridget McKenzie over her involvement in the infamous sports rorts – which he labelled a farce. Not long af…

“Nerd Reich”: Are big tech billionaires at war with democracy? 10 Sept 2026 · 18 min When Donald Trump was sworn in for a second time, some of the most powerful men in the tech world had the best seats in the room. Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg – a displa…

Why Jacqui Lambie’s not done fighting veteran health caps 9 Sept 2026 · 14 min Last month, an emotional Jacqui Lambie revealed a private health battle connected to her time in the army – a debilitating prolapse that required surgery. The Tasmanian senator ca…

Why are the conservative parties suddenly obsessed with super? 8 Sept 2026 · 16 min One Nation is copping heat for a proposal that would let Australians take some of the money going into their super as extra pay instead. For up to three years, renters and mortgag…

The far right is winning. Could Australia’s neo-Nazis be next? 7 Sept 2026 · 16 min In imposing scenes in the UK over the weekend, hundreds of masked men belonging to the hard-right group Patriot Platform stopped traffic. Around the same time, political party AfD…

Have the Greens lost their appetite for a fight? 6 Sept 2026 · 17 min On the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Labor has promised a vast new national park to protect more than 12,000 koalas. But there’s a catch. The New South Wales government want…

Firebombs and gang wars: The bloody fallout of Australia’s tobacco crackdown 5 Sept 2026 · 13 min For years, Australia has made cigarettes increasingly expensive in an effort to drive down smoking. Now, the Coalition wants to dramatically reverse course. It's promised to slash…

Paul Keating's unfinished argument for an independent Australia 4 Sept 2026 · 19 min Paul Keating has been out of office for thirty years. But he’s never really left the national conversation. Keating wanted Australia to find its security in Asia, not from it, and…