When Pete Hegseth faced the Senate to become Donald Trump’s defense secretary, he was grilled on everything from his lack of experience and his drinking to past controversial remarks – including that women should not serve in combat roles.

But the hearing also made something else clear: Hegseth wasn’t just being chosen to run the Pentagon in the ordinary sense. He was being chosen to wage a cultural and ideological battle inside it – to bring what he called “warrior culture” back to an institution he and Trump believed had gone “woke”.

Today, former chief national correspondent for Voice of America, Steve Herman, on the face of America’s new militarism and the role of Christian nationalism in the Trump administration.

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Guest: Former chief national correspondent for Voice of America, Steve Herman

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It’s been a rollercoaster ride on the global oil market, with wild swings in petrol prices at the bowser.

The war against Iran has caused panic buying in Australia and around the world.

Meanwhile, our government has been criticised for not having greater reserves of petrol, diesel and jet fuel.

And for not imposing higher taxes on giant gas companies, which are now raking in

a fortune thanks to the war.

Today, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen on how prepared Australia is for the worst energy crisis in more than 50 years – and the war: should we even be backing it?

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Guest: Energy Minister Chris Bowen

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Australia’s tobacco wars are fuelling violence, with fire bombings and arson attacks spanning across the east coast.

Now the federal government wants to treat these organised crime syndicates like ‘drug lords’ by going after them with wire tapping and seizing their assets.

And the tobacconists are in trouble too, with calls to ban tobacco stores and only sell cigarettes in supermarkets.

Today, Criminologist Dr James Martin, from Deakin University on how to reign in the multi billion dollar black market that’s created a gangsters paradise

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Guest: Criminologist Dr James Martin, Deakin University

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John Blackburn spent four decades in the Air Force, rising to Deputy Chief.

For more than decade he’s been warning that Australia is too reliant on imported fuel, too light on reserves, and too exposed if a global crisis – just like this one – disrupts supply.

Now, as more than hundred servos around the country run dry and a Trump ultimatum looms, threatening to make the fuel crisis worse, Australia is paying the price for our lack of preparedness.

Today, Chair of the Institute of Economic Research Australia, John Blackburn on how Australia botched our emergency fuel plan, what we should do next, and why the Iran war is shaping up to be a covid-level crisis.

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Guest: John Blackburn, Chair of the Institute of Economic Research Australia

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Like so many stories about misinformation, this one starts with a social media post.

“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed. Don’t do it, Mr. Prime Minister, give ASYLUM.”

Not long after that, Donald Trump backtracked and set the record straight.

“He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.”

But in those few short hours before clarification, misinformation had already taken hold.

Social media posts accusing Australia of inaction on the soccer team, and falsely claiming Albanese lied to Trump about granting the women asylum gained millions of views on X.

Meanwhile, news commentary which wrongly portrayed Trump as triggering Albanese’s decision hit the mainstream media.

It’s just one recent example of the wave of misinformation making it increasingly difficult for all of us to work out what is and isn't factual in this ‘post truth’ world.

Today ABC journalist and host of new doco ‘The Matter of Facts’ Hamish Macdonald on the misinformation and disinformation taking over our online world.

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Guest: Hamish Macdonald, ABC journalist

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It’s been one year since dead fish began washing up on South Australian beaches, as the largest algal bloom in Australia’s history spread along the coast.

Marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennett was part of the team that first surveyed the bloom – coming face to face with the algae’s devastating impact.

Twelve months on, the bloom is still there, the damage has spread, and many of the warnings scientists made in those early days have proved well founded – particularly the damage to marine life.

Today, we’re bringing you an episode from 2025 with marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennett, on what caused the bloom, what he saw beneath the surface, and what it means for the fate of the ocean.

This episode first aired in August 2025.

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Guest: Marine ecologist Dr Scott Bennett

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South Australia does not usually wake up on election day at the centre of the national mood. But this morning, a contest that looks settled on paper is carrying a much stranger energy.

Peter Malinauskas is expected to win comfortably. The real movement is happening elsewhere; in the noise around One Nation, the protest vote in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis gathering around the once marginal party, and the possibility that a state election could end up telling us something bigger about where Australian politics is heading.

Today, Editor of InDaily SA, Belinda Willis, on the state election that may be a whitewash for Labor, but a warning for everyone else.

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Guest: InDaily SA Editor Belinda Willis

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While the world focuses on the war underway in Iran, Israel and the Gulf, there is another war front developing – Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Shia group, Hezbollah dragged the country into the war, attacking Israel after a joint US-Israeli airstrike killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Israel then hit back, bombing Beirut and amassing tens of thousands of troops on the border.

Meanwhile, more than a million Lebanese people are now displaced, forced to flee their homes as the attacks continue and Israel demands evacuations.

Today, Michael Young, editor of Carnegie’s Middle East Center blog on whether Lebanon could see a ground invasion and what Israel’s plan is to reshape the region.

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Guest: Michael Young, editor of Carnegie’s Middle East Center blog

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