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Crikey is an independent news website featuring commentary on politics, media, business, culture and technology.

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The ABC logo (Image: AAP/David Gray)

‘Funerary’ feeling and unrest at ABC Radio amid high-profile departures

ABC staff tell Crikey that audiences are ‘fucking furious’ at recent changes to the broadcaster’s Sydney radio lineup, and that staff don’t have confidence in audio director Ben Latimer.

Hughes MP Jenny Ware in 2022 (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Federal Liberal MP lawyers up as explosive email sparks factional war in party’s south Sydney heartland

Exclusive: Hughes MP Jenny Ware told party colleagues at a meeting last night she was seeking legal advice in relation to an email sent by a Young Liberal branch in her own backyard.

Qantas planes at Melbourne Airport (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

Aussie passengers face exorbitant fares, delays and cancellations as Qantas limps through holiday season

‘The Albanese government’s answer is a taxpayer-funded ombudsman, a policy that looks like it was written in the Chairman’s Lounge.’

Who is the biggest shitstirrer of the year? (Image: Private Media)

Who was Australia’s biggest shitstirrer in 2024? Help Crikey figure it out

There is no greater honour at Crikey than to be considered a shitstirrer. Who made hell this year for Australia’s most powerful people?

Tanya Plibersek, Anthony Albanese, Paul Fletcher and Paul Brereton (Image: Private Media)

Vote now for Crikey’s prestigious Arsehat of the Year

Who is to blame, dear reader? Vote now in Crikey’s Arsehat of the Year awards!

Who was your Person of the Year? It is time to vote!

It was mostly bad. But not all bad. Here are a few figures who did useful and admirable things in 2024.

Defence Minister Richard Marles (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Consultants earning millions as AUKUS agency stumbles

A review of the Australian Submarine Agency won’t fix what’s wrong with AUKUS: the whole project is a debacle that will never deliver anything but fiscal pain.

Why is Chris Minns being referred to ICAC?

Is this a big deal? How does an ICAC referral work?

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and ousted prime minister Michel Barnier (Image: AAP/Private Media)

France’s government has fallen and political chaos has returned. Here are three scenarios for what could happen next

French democracy is strong at heart, but its current period of instability could see several governments rise and fall before the next National Assembly elections.

An email from Western Sydney University staff to NSW Police (Image: Private Media)

‘Any updates … greatly appreciated’: Western Sydney Uni staff gave intel to cops on Gaza protests

Exclusive: Internal WSU emails show security staff attended a pro-Palestine student meeting, monitored social media, and fed information back to police — despite the uni having previously downplayed its links with the cops.

Independent Senator Tammy Tyrrell (Image: Private Media/Zennie)

Tammy Tyrrell isn’t just Lambie Lite, and now she’s going after Labor’s social media ban

Former Jacqui Lambie staffer Tammy Tyrrell is very different to her former boss. But is that what the people of Tasmania voted for?

‘I think the major parties need a kick in the nuts’: How ‘Punter’s Politics’ stormed Parliament House

Punter Konrad has built up a large social following by questioning politicians on behalf of ‘the punters’.

Thomas Emerson and Jacqui Scruby (Image: Zennie/Private Media)

‘Paying it forward’: The rise and rise of Australia’s independents

Independents are increasingly working together. But does that undermine the very point of them?

NACC commissioner Paul Brereton, the NACC and Paladin logos, and a tear-out of Operation Barrister report (Image: Private Media/Zennie)

A $532m security contract and the NACC’s corrosive secrecy

The only thing the NACC’s report into Paladin has revealed is how damaging the commission’s lack of transparency is both for the public and potentially the people investigated.

(Image: Zennie/Private Media)

The rise of Paladin, KPMG’s cameo, and what the NACC isn’t telling us

Just a week after being sent the tender for the Manus contract, Paladin submitted its bid. Its initial quote to provide the services was $152m. After negotiations, Paladin was awarded a revised contract… of $229.5m. 

Paladin remains cloaked in secrecy: NACC needs to deliver or risk destroying its reputation

The unresolved questions at the centre of Paladin’s Manus Island contract aren’t theoretical or abstract concerns. They go to the heart of governance and political responsibility in Australia. 

Our reporters
Former prime minster Malcolm Turnbull (Image: AAP/HILARY WARDHAUGH)

NSW right-wingers call for Malcolm Turnbull’s expulsion from the Liberal Party for the… fifth time

None of the efforts have so far been successful — but insiders say there are other reasons conservatives would keep pushing for the ex-PM to be kicked out of the party.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese in Parliament (Image: AAP/Lukas Coch)

Voters are disillusioned — and parliamentary game-playing just makes it worse

Why did it take the use of a guillotine motion in the final sitting week of Parliament to progress legislation that had stalled in the Senate for months?

Robert Manne (Image: Black Inc.)

‘As vicious as anything I had ever seen’: Robert Manne on being News Corp’s target

“According to John Kidd, my ‘intellectual arrogance’ was ‘breathtaking’. According to John McCarthy, it was not The Australian I disliked, it was ‘the Australian people’.”

brat but it's press gallery elections (Image: Private Media)

Raygun, Brat, and The Bear: Canberra’s Press Gallery turns to memes amid election season 

As the Senate dealt with ‘real’ politics, the water cooler politics of the parliamentary press gallery was also heating up. Crikey was in the hallways for the gossip.

Front page of The Australian (Image: REUTERS/Carl Recine)

Pro-Palestine activist alleges The Australian defamed them

The Australian appears set to fight a defamation proceeding brought by a pro-Palestine activist this week.

Joe Rogan (Image: PxImages/SPP/Louis Grasse)

This is how Joe Rogan helped propel Trump to the White House

In his bid to court the ‘bro vote’, Trump engaged dozens of podcasters and streamers on the political fringe who share a common audience of young, politically disengaged men.

A Commonwealth Bank branch in Melbourne (Image: AAP/Joel Carrett)

Future Fund unveils big vote of no confidence in Australia’s banks

Why has the Future Fund cut its deposits in Australia’s major banks by up to 90%? Seems it isn’t happy with the interest rates on offer.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Stop interfering with independent institutions, treasurer

The Labor government has already tried to nobble the Productivity Commission. Now it’s attempting to interfere with the Future Fund.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (Image: AAP)

Teen social media ban inquiry didn’t even respond to man with disability’s accessibility request

‘Kids with disabilities are going to be affected by the proposed ban. We should be ensuring the government gets to hear from us.’

Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Mick Tsikas)

Coalition assurances on abortion mean nothing: History shows how women could be targeted

Peter Dutton’s assurances there would be no change to abortion laws under his government are belied by the history of the Liberal party, which has traded parliamentary votes for abortion restrictions.

Renewables are exceeding expectations — but so are emissions. Why?

Why do we keep believing the promise of carbon capture when it keeps failing to materialise?

Simon Holmes à Court on Climate 200, donation reforms and why Kerry Stokes wields more power than he does

Labor’s electoral reforms are framed around diluting the influence of Simon Holmes à Court. But the Climate 200 founder says this will only cut the legs out from under independent challengers.