The Front

The lawyer representing one of the men accused of kidnapping and killing Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian says his client is “no mastermind”. Plus, Bondi Royal Commissioner meets with survivors, victims’ families and a billionaire finds himself in the middle of a scuffle.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian goes inside the camp in northern Syria where 34 Australian women and children are waiting to begin their long journey home. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two men were arrested in relation to the alleged kidnapping and murder of Sydney grandfather Chris Baghsarian on Wednesday. That’s after the 85-year-old’s remains were located almost 50km from his home. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On day one of the federal inquiry sparked by the Bondi Beach massacre, commissioner Virginia Bell and counsel assisting Richard Lancaster say they believe Australians can all agree that antisemitism is out of control and empathy needs to come back. But is that wildly optimistic in today’s climate? Cameron Stewart is here. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British police have arrested Lord Peter Mandelson, a high-ranking Labour party figure who was until recently Sir Keir Starmer’s ambassador in London, over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mossad’s audacious pager and walkie-talkie attacks hit Shia militia Hezbollah hard - but now the Iran-backed jihadis are using old-world moneylender networks plus new systems including trucks and boats full of cash to prepare for fresh warfare with the two Great Satans, Israel and the United States. Yoni Bashan joins us from the Middle East. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Our team includes Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emails published by the US Department of Justice in the so-called Epstein files appear to show the former Duchess of York, known as ‘Fergie’, introduced Poppy Cottrell to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein a year after he was released from prison. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s fair when reporting Donald Trump? He’s suing the BBC over a selective edit of his Jan 6 speech, but the ABC - which did its own slice of the same speech, is defending its journalism. Today, Steve Jackson joins us with internal ABC emails revealing who really runs the show. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First, the robots came for art and music. Now, the most human of artforms - podcasts - is being replicated by artificial intelligence models that aren’t satisfied with helping humans - they want to imitate us too. Here at The Australian - we will always make handmade, human journalism. But what happens when AI steps out from behind the curtain - and tries to claim the spotlight? Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by Claire Harvey and Jasper Leak. The host is Claire Harvey. Audio production and editing by Jasper Leak who also composed our theme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arrested, questioned and released to await possible charges carrying a 20 year jail penalty: it’s a hard fall for the former Duke of York. Today, Europe correspondent Jacquelin Magnay on the fall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The biggest American armada in two decades is assembling in the Middle East as negotiations fail. Today chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart joins us to step though Iran’s options from here, the Pentagon’s strategic calculations and what would happen to the agents of Iranian terror around the world, including in Australia. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victorian premier Jacinta Allan has lost her temper in a spectacular way with journalists who were asking about allegations of rampant dodginess in the construction, forestry, mining and energy union the CFMEU. Today’s afternoon headlines edition from The Front. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the government claims it’s not helping a group of so-called ISIS brides return to Australia, we look at how domestic politics is shaping the fate of these 34 women and kids. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US authorities will investigate a sprawling compound once owned by Epstein in the state of New Mexico in an effort to substantiate claims there are bodies buried on the property. Plus, what Randa Abdel-Fattah did next.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ACCC is suing Coles and Woolworths for allegedly misleading customers on price drops and discounts. But why are the supermarket giants defending the charges in court? Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A stunningly realistic fake clip of movie stars Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt having a fist-fight about Jeffrey Epstein is causing a meltdown in Hollywood. Plus, the thwarted return of ISIS brides.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just when you thought we were done with the epic defamation trial brought by Australia’s most decorated living soldier, there’s one more twist: a secret payment by Nine Entertainment to a witness who claimed Ben Roberts-Smith violently attacked her - and then turned on Nine’s star reporter. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Our team includes Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Australian police have returned to Oak Park Station, where four-year-old Gus Lamont was last seen five months ago. Plus, alleged Bondi gunman Naveed Akram appears in court and the ACCC takes Coles to court.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Preparations for the four-month trial of former broadcaster Alan Jones, who’s fighting indecent assault charges, have been rocked by a complaint from one of the alleged victims about phone calls from someone purporting to be a journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald. The tabloid’s owner Nine Entertainment denies it was them. Today, media Diary editor Steve Jackson joins us to talk about the Jones trial, a very messy dispute between two top legal figures and why terrorism investigators are interested in internal communications at the ABC and SBS. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy wins boy back - and everyone’s incredibly ripped. This is the new formula for female-friendly entertainment, from Canadian ice hockey TV phenomenon Heated Rivalry to new leather-and-motorbikes movie Pillion, starring Alexander Skarsgard. Today, Bianca Farmakis joins us to explore how far we’ve come since Philadelphia. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by Claire Harvey and Jasper Leak. The host is Claire Harvey. Audio production and editing by Jasper Leak who also composed our theme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sussan Ley’s resignation from politics will trigger a hotly contested by-election in her seat of Farrer. Plus, a judge rejects the BBC’s bid to delay Trump lawsuit and an Aussie snatches gold in the men’s moguls in Milan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The federal Liberals have dumped Sussan Ley - but is little-known new leader Angus Taylor going to be himself rolled by Andrew Hastie? Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the federal Liberals line up for a 9am Friday vote on the leadership, the 2025 entitlements scandal (remember that?) delivers one last victim: prominent Greens Senator admitting her use of ‘family reunion’ travel didn’t pass the pub test. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Street protests and violent scuffles have delivered the anti-Israel movement a week of great publicity at the expense of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose visit was supposed to reset the fractured relationship. Has it blown up in Anthony Albanese’s face? Plus, chief international correspondent Cameron Stewart looks at the void of protest over Iran’s brutal crackdown. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Our team includes Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US authorities say a person has been detained over the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of an American breakfast TV show host. Plus, Liberal party leadership tensions reach boiling point.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does the harsh sentencing of a publisher under Beijing’s new national security laws spell the end of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” experiment? National Chief Correspondent Hedley Thomas discusses how we got here after years of reporting on – and from – Hong Kong. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barnaby Joyce says 2021 Australian of the Year Grace Tame should be stripped of her honours after she led a chant of “globalise the intifada” at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney. Plus, Lindsey Vonn’s long road to recovery and rumours of a Liberal leadership spill. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a stunning election mandate, re-elected Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi will end Japan’s formal pacifism, create a national intelligence agency and massively grow defence spending. She’s already enraged China - so does she want a war? Our North Asia Correspondent Yoni Bashan is here. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeffrey Epstein files reveal an FBI report suggesting he was a Mossad agent, plus extensive communications with former Israeli Labor prime minister Ehud Barak - including Epstein asking Barak to assert he wasn’t an intelligence operative. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Intelligence agency ASIO issues a pre-emptive denial of an ABC Four Corners story on the Bondi massacre. It’s awkward timing for the ABC, with editor-in-chief and managing director Hugh Marks due to appear at a Senate Estimates hearing that will focus on its impartiality. Plus - the on-assignment blowup that's got everyone in commercial TV talking. Media Diary editor Steve Jackson is here. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s the reality TV format sweeping the world and we couldn’t resist asking Canberra bureau chief - and Traitors devotee - Richard Ferguson to analyse this wild political moment through a Traitors v Faithfuls lens. Traitors Australia, which flopped a couple of years ago, is coming back to screens, with post-production under way on Season 3. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by Claire Harvey and Jasper Leak. The host is Claire Harvey. Audio production and editing by Jasper Leak who also composed our theme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

South Australian police say they’ve identified a suspect in the disappearance of four-year-old Gus Lamont and confirm they’re now treating the case as a major crime. Plus, RBA boss Michele Bullock dismisses the Treasurer’s spending claim and ousted author Randa Abdel-Fattah’s next gig.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keir Starmer knew Lord Peter Mandelson was closely connected to Jeffrey Epstein, but made him the UK’s ambassador to Washington DC anyway. After the shocking sucking-up of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, could the Epstein scandal destroy a Prime Minister too? Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Wholly unsatisfactory”: that’s a coroner’s verdict on the actions of a psychiatrist who took Bondi Junction killer Joel Cauchi off his medications five years before he stabbed six people to death while suffering a psychotic episode. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A passionate young woman with strong views about Palestine: Lauren Lancaster is unknown outside student politics, but the former University of Sydney student representative council president, who’s condemned Israel for ‘ethnic cleansing’, is the daughter of Richard Lancaster SC, the senior counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Lia Tsamoglou. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In new court documents former Prime Minister Scott Morrison faces new accusations he froze out and victimised a senior staffer after the rape of Brittany Higgins. It comes from Fiona Brown - whose career was destroyed by false allegations from Higgins that she tried to cover up the rape. Now Brown says in a statement of claim lodged with the federal Court that the former PM’s top advisers gagged her and that she felt ‘frightened and intimidated’ by Morrison’s actions. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey and edited by Tiffany Dimmack. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has put the cash rate up for the first time in two years. As mortgage rates follow suit, we explore the thinking behind the central bank’s unanimous decision. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Treasurer says it’s not his fault. The Reserve Bank has been caught napping. But it’s clear we are spending too much and going too slow on housing - and that’s why the RBA’s under huge pressure to lift the cash rate today. Economics editor Matthew Cranston is here with some straight talk. View an edited transcript of this episode, plus photos, videos and additional reporting, on the website or on The Australian’s app. Read more about this story at theaustralian.com.au and see the video by subscribing to our YouTube channel. This episode of The Front is presented and produced by Claire Harvey with assistance from Lia Tsamoglou and edited by Jasper Leak. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Tiffany Dimmack and Joshua Burton. Jasper Leak also composed our theme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He’s been on the run for six months since allegedly shooting dead two police officers in Victoria’s High Country, and now police are saying the so-called ‘sovereign citizen’ is likely deceased. . See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No honking. No blaring engines. No exhaust. The Chinese government has crushed Beijing’s incredible noise pollution, in response to residents’ despair, with a combination of incentives and strict new rules. North Asia Correspondent Yoni Bashan is here. Read Yoni’s story - and see the video - by subscribing to our YouTube channel and checking us out at theaustralian.com.au and our app, available in your app store. This episode of The Front is produced and presented by Claire Harvey and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Kristen Amiet, Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, Joshua Burton and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Timothee Chalamet, Gen Z’s only movie superstar, is Oscar-worthy as Marty Mauser - a relentless, charming and often-times horrible hero in a film set in post-WWII Jewish New York. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. The weekend edition of The Front is co-produced by Claire Harvey and Jasper Leak. The host is Claire Harvey. Audio production and editing by Jasper Leak who also composed our theme.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A national crackdown on gun ownership is in jeopardy, with Anthony Albanese struggling to get the states and territories to sign up to his gun buyback, aimed at getting weapons out of the community. Today - what’s the problem? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.