Ruby Jones

Chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Middleton, on why ASIO is worried about Australians getting caught up in dangerous spy games.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton on what we learned from inside the commission’s hearings.

The royal commission hearings into robo-debt are over. With over 100 witnesses and nine weeks of hearings, the commission into one of the greatest failures in the history of the Australian government has already given us unforgettable insight into the thinking of our public servants and leading politicians. But there are still questions to be answered: like how could so many — find themselves in lock-step behind a policy that was unlawful?

National correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe, on the impossible promise of REDcycle and what we do now with tens of thousands of tonnes of plastic that has nowhere to go.

It was meant to transform the way we deal with waste. Australians were told to sort through their bins, and take plastic bags and packaging to drop-offs at the country’s biggest supermarkets to have them recycled. But instead of being recycled, tonnes and tonnes of this plastic was shoved into storage. Now, authorities are still trying to track it all down. So how did it all go so wrong?

Australia has a body that’s supposed to look after all of our mental health, and make recommendations to the government on how to make the situation better. It’s called the National Mental Health Commission. But inside the commission, some of the staff that are supposed to be coming up with solutions have faced layoffs, stress, anxiety, and worse. So, how did a commission set up with the best intentions turn into such a struggle for staff?

It’s the department that’s supposed to watch over the support system for Australians with a disability – and ensure the care they’re receiving is good. But the very people doing this job, at the Quality and Safeguards Commission of the NDIS, could be in an unsafe workplace. And the strangest part of all: the leadership of the commission has allegedly been pretending there isn’t a problem.

Senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton, on how the organisation that oversees the NDIS was gaslighting its own staff, and what that means for those who rely on the service.

Parliament is struggling with how to handle the case of Senator David Van, who continues to strenuously deny allegations of sexual harassment and assault levelled by Senator Lidia Thorpe and others. The case shows how, more than a year after the Jenkins review into the culture at parliament house, it remains uniquely incapable of handling complaints, finding the truth and providing a safe workplace for all. Today, chief political correspondent Karen Middleton, on why people can stay in parliamen…

Senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre and contributor to The Saturday Paper, Kieran Pender on why the NACC isn’t designed to protect whistleblowers.