The Joe Rogan Experience again ranked the No 1 podcast in Australia
US podcaster Joe Rogan’s podcast is the most popular in the world on Spotify. And his podcast was the most popular among listeners in Australia and globally, the streaming company’s wrapped data shows.
This was the fifth year in a row the Joe Rogan Experience has been the world’s most streamed podcast on Spotify. But Rogan has been in the Australian headlines over the last couple of weeks for a different reason.
Late last month, the ABC chair Kim Williams sparked a furious response from Rogan fans for comments he made about the controversial podcaster at the National Press Club in Canberra.
At the press club, ABC reporter Jane Norman asked Williams about Rogan’s influence. Williams said he wasn’t a fan and that:
People like Mr Rogan prey on people’s vulnerabilities: they prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society.
They entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative – I personally find it deeply repulsive.
At the time, Rogan responded on X: “LOL WUT.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X, said at the time: “From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda.” (A reference to Soviet-state run media during communist rule)
Key events
Victorian deputy premier says $92m funding will ensure free swimming lessons for next few years
Just going back to the Victorian deputy premier Ben Carroll’s press conference from earlier, where he announced more government funding for swimming lessons.
Carrol said Swimming in Schools program has been going since 2017:
We’ve had a partnership going with Life Saving Victoria since about 2017 where we actually embedded it in the curriculum for our primary school students.
When we made it embedded in the curriculum, we invested at about $131m to be exact, and then just shy of $75m in the last budget. But [today’s announcement of $92m] ensures that we’re embedding long-term funding over the next four years to continue the swimming lessons for free for our primary school students.
The latest funding is from the 2024/25 budget, handed down in May. But Carroll says today’s announcement is timely:
Sadly, drownings are up, and this is a timely reminder, as we enter into summer, the importance of water safety, particularly for children. You know, 20 seconds is all it takes for a child to drown.
So to everyone, whether it’s at the beach this summer, whether it’s at the family swimming pool or gathering – people sometimes start consuming alcohol around pools and water – it’s so important to have water safety front of mind as we head into summer.
Minns says fact ATC must vote on racecourse sale means it was not pushed through without process
But Minns has said the Rosehill racecourse can’t be sold unless the members of the Australian Turf Club vote in favour of it, even if the government wants the sale to go through.
At the same press conference, he said:
Anyone that suggests that this has been run and done, rubber-stamped, pushed through by the NSW government without any consideration or due process – I mean you would have to willfully ignore the fact that the 20,000 members of the ATC have to vote on it.
Minns insists racecourse should be sold to power new housing ‘gamechanger’
Minns has insisted he wants to forge ahead with the proposal to sell the Rosehill racecourse and turn it into housing.
At his press conference this morning, Minns said:
We think this would be a gamechanger for Sydney. I’m not walking away from this proposal.
Yes, there are many hurdles for it to jump through but it is too crucial when it comes to new housing for young people in this expensive city to walk away from today.
In December, the New South Wales government announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian Turf Club (ATC) after being approached about turning the Rosehill Gardens racecourse into up to 25,000 homes and a school, with an accompanying metro station.
The plan was for the ATC retain ownership of the site until it was developed and a horse facility would be built at Horsley Park for the up to 400 animals that would need to be relocated, as well as developing Warwick Farm racecourse into a “new world-class track”.
The ATC reportedly proposed to sell the racecourse for up to $5bn.
The land is only thought to be worth up to $2bn at present, but Guardian Australia understands the ATC believes it will be worth up to $23bn once a metro station is built on it.
The proposal – which was controversial among some members of the horse racing community – has been scrutinised by a parliamentary committee which is due to hand down its report tomorrow.
This morning, Minns told reporters:
I would say if anyone has a proposal to build new housing for Sydney and NSW and they want to approach the NSW government, please do so.
Chris Minns defends conduct after reports of possible Icac referral
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has made an impassioned defence of his conduct as he faces a referral to the state’s corruption watchdog over his involvement in the government’s plan to sell a racecourse in western Sydney.
A parliamentary inquiry into the government’s proposal to sell the Rosehill racecourse in Sydney’s west and turn it into tens of thousands of homes will deliver its report on Friday.
It has been reported in the media that the inquiry’s report will recommend that Minns be referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac).
The decision reportedly concerns Minns’ relationship with Steve McMahon, the head of government relations at the Australian Turf Club, which owns the Rosehill site.
The premier responded to those reports last night with a statement in which he said it was “disgraceful to politicise the Icac with unsubstantiated rumours”.
Minns doubled down at a press conference earlier this morning, where he was asked by journalists about those reports and whether he should face a potential referral to the corruption watchdog.
The premier said:
You have all been witnesses to the parliamentary inquiry. If there was a shred of information that had been collected by that inquiry, it would have been discovered before today.
The reason it hasn’t been and the reason this committee, in a politicised way, have reverted to the Icac, is precisely because they don’t have those facts, all that evidence.
Victorian government announces $92m for more school swimming lessons
Benita Kolovos
The Victorian deputy premier and education minister, Ben Carroll, is holding a press conference in Melbourne to announce $92m in funding for more school swimming lessons after an increase in drownings last summer.
He says the funding would allow for an extra 900,000 lessons in four years as part of the Swimming in Schools program, which helps students develop lifelong skills in swimming and water safety to reduce their risk of drowning and injury.
The government says it funds the lessons at every state and Catholic primary school as well as students of all ages in government specialist schools and English language schools, due to higher risks these students can face around water.
Carroll’s announcement coincided with Water Safety Week and came a day after Life Saving Victoria reported a “substantial increase” in young people drowning over the past year.
Their 2023-24 report found the largest increase in drownings across Victoria in the past year was recorded among 15 to 24-year-olds with 10 deaths, which is double the average drowning rate for the past decade.
On top of this, 25 to 44-year-olds recorded 17 deaths, the highest number of any age group and the highest tally for this group in 20 years.
Multicultural communities across Victoria also had the highest number of drownings since records began, with 21 deaths.
Nearly $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency seized, fifth man charged in relation to alleged dark net drug vendor
New South Wales police say they have seized nearly $900,000 worth of cryptocurrency and charged a fifth man as part of an investigation into alleged dark net vendors.
Police will allege in court the man, 34, laundered nearly $1.25m on behalf of what they allege was one of the largest drug vendors on the dark net.
Detectives from the cybercrime squad have been investigating an alleged criminal group using the dark net, a part of the internet that cannot be accessed through conventional search engines.
Police have alleged the group sold more than $80m worth of prohibited drugs in the past six years.
Earlier this year, police charged four other men in relation to the group, who remain before the courts.
The fifth man was arrested early yesterday morning after police said they used a warrant to search a property in Canley Heights in western Sydney.
Police said they seized $894,697 worth of cryptocurrencies, $7,000 in cash, a luxury watch worth $65,000, seven mobile phones, three computers and “cryptocurrency related paraphernalia”.
The man was arrested and taken to Fairfield police station, police said.
He was charged with knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage etc by deception and two counts of dealing with property proceeds of crime worth more than $100,000.
He was refused bail and appeared before Fairfield local court yesterday.
Investigations under Strike Force Carieville continue.
Natasha May
NSW health minister says ‘we don’t need judging and moralising’ in opening address to anti-drugs summit
Before Howard’s speech, the NSW health minister, Ryan Park, delivered the opening address, acknowledging Howard’s “enormous piece of work that has helped inform this summit, and I know will help chart our drug and alcohol policy going forward”.
Park told the summit that as a parent when it comes to drugs “you see an issue at every corner” but that the young people who spoke at the summit yesterday “don’t always see that through a frame of problem and problematic behavior.”
He thanked them for challenging him:
I wanted my own views to be challenged.
Park acknowledged experts’ calls for the need for compassion. Park said: “we don’t need judging and moralising, what we need is support.”
While the dial has moved on stigma around mental health challenges, he said “if we’re all honest with one another, we haven’t done the same in relation to drug use”.
Natasha May
Former special commissioner urges NSW government to take drug decriminalisation policy to next election
A former special commissioner has told the New South Wales government’s drug summit he is galled “we are being asked to revisit the same issues yet again when the work has already been done”.
Prof Dan Howard, the commissioner of the 2020 special commission of inquiry into the drug “ice”, told the audience this week’s summit could be a pivotal moment in drug and alcohol policy history. However, he acknowledged:
It galls me that we are being asked to revisit the same issues yet again when the work has already been done.
Howard acknowledged people with lived experience have continued to tell their stories at his special commission as well as at the week-long forum in 1999 that was the impetus for Australia’s first supervised injecting room and which this summit was modelled on.
How many times must we listen to what these courageous people are telling us before we act? To fail them is an abuse of their courage and trust.
His speech was met with multiple instances of the audience breaking out in applause.
Howard highlighted the support of the peak evidence based bodies of physicians, the law council and researcher for action to decriminalise drug use and encourage a health based approach.
He ended it by urging the government that after the co-chairs of the summit release their report, “bite the bullet” and go the next election with a policy of decriminalisation.
“You have a mandate now.”
Ariel Bogle
Peter Dutton calls for offshore wind project in NSW to be scrapped
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, appeared in Port Stephens, NSW this morning calling for a local offshore wind project not to proceed.
The Hunter coastline was declared a potential area for offshore wind by the government in mid-2023. After public consultation, the zone was reduced in size and one company, Novocastrian Wind Pty Ltd, was offered a preliminarily feasibility licence to develop the project.
If elected, Dutton said his government will rescind the Port Stephens offshore wind zone and talked up his party’s nuclear power policy.
“It’s in this community’s best interest that this project does not proceed,” Dutton claimed.
He said he had spoken to locals who raised issues with the consultation process and possible environmental impact. Asked if he would cancel other offshore projects, Dutton said:
What’s important to do in relation to offshore wind is to look at each of the projects.
We’ll look at the individual community and what the net impact, whether it’s positive or negative, into our energy system.
What the Coalition is about is delivering lower-cost electricity and gas to consumers and small businesses.
Dutton appeared alongside the shadow climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, and Laurence Antcliff, the Liberal party candidate for Paterson, which includes part of Port Stephens. The seat is held by Labor MP Meryl Swanson.
Detectives investigating four separate incidents of children being approached by drivers in white vans in Melbourne
Victoria police detectives are investigating four separate incidents in Melbourne in the last month of children being approached by drivers in white vans.
Police have said they believe the incidents are not linked.
On Tuesday morning, a 10-year-old boy walked away after he was approached by a man driving a white van on Landscape Dr in the eastern suburb of Boronia, police said.
Police said that, a day earlier, a 15-year-old girl was approached by a man driving a white van while she was walking along Saxon St in Doncaster, also in Melbourne’s east.
The man asked the girl to get in the van, police said, after which she ran away to a nearby shopping centre.
On the evening of 27 November, another teenage girl was approached by a man driving a white van on Spring St in Tullamarine, in the city’s north, police said.
Police said the man asked the 14-year-old to get inside the van and she ran away to a nearby park.
On 18 November, an 11-year-old boy was walking along Halley Street in Blackburn when he was approached by a man driving a white van, police said.
Police said the man told the boy his mother had asked him to give him a lift home and that he drove away after the child declined his offer.
The investigations into each of the incidents are ongoing, and police have asked anyone with any information to contact CrimeStoppers.
The Joe Rogan Experience again ranked the No 1 podcast in Australia
US podcaster Joe Rogan’s podcast is the most popular in the world on Spotify. And his podcast was the most popular among listeners in Australia and globally, the streaming company’s wrapped data shows.
This was the fifth year in a row the Joe Rogan Experience has been the world’s most streamed podcast on Spotify. But Rogan has been in the Australian headlines over the last couple of weeks for a different reason.
Late last month, the ABC chair Kim Williams sparked a furious response from Rogan fans for comments he made about the controversial podcaster at the National Press Club in Canberra.
At the press club, ABC reporter Jane Norman asked Williams about Rogan’s influence. Williams said he wasn’t a fan and that:
People like Mr Rogan prey on people’s vulnerabilities: they prey on fear, they prey on anxiety, they prey on all of the elements that contribute to uncertainty in society.
They entrepreneur fantasy outcomes and conspiracy outcomes as being a normal part of social narrative – I personally find it deeply repulsive.
At the time, Rogan responded on X: “LOL WUT.”
Elon Musk, the owner of X, said at the time: “From the head of Australian government-funded media, their Pravda.” (A reference to Soviet-state run media during communist rule)
T-Swift most streamed album in Australia on Spotify as Wiggles take local crown
Now for what the rest of us are listening to.
Spotify has released its Wrapped data for the year, which shows the most popular music, podcasts and audiobooks in Australia based on the number of streams.
Pop queen Taylor Swift has taken out the top spot as Australia’s most streamed artist for a second year in a row, off the back of her Eras tour.
Swift’s Tortured Poets Department was the most-streamed album in Australia. This was followed by Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’Sweet and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft.
American singer and songwriter Benson Boone has made his debut on the list and had the number one song with Beautiful Things, which he released early in the year.
The Wiggles were announced as Australia’s most-streamed local artists, followed by The Kid LAROI.
The 2013 indie rock classic Riptide by Australian singer Vance Joy is still going strong, taking out the number one place for Australia’s most-streamed local artist song.
It was followed by producer CYRIL’s Stumblin’ In, a rework of the classic song sung by Chris Norman and Suzi Quatro.
Albanese’s Spotify wrapped shows all-Aussie bands
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has released what he says is his Spotify wrapped playlist for the year.
In a post on X, Albanese shared a screenshot of his most played songs on the streaming platform this year.
What he says were his top picks were all by Australian artists, with local bands Hockey Dad, Lime Cordiale and King Stingray in the mix.
His favourite song of the year, at least according to Spotify, was the indie rock ballad Australia by Melbourne musician G-Flip.
The prime minister’s second-most played song was Letting Go by Angie McMahon, who is also from Melbourne (coincidentally, this blogger is looking forward to seeing Angie play at Meredith music festival this weekend).
Sarah Basford Canales
Labor’s Katy Gallagher to give speech defending public service
Labor frontbencher Katy Gallagher wears many hats but this morning, she will deliver a speech about the state of the public service – one of her portfolios – amid the Coalition’s proposed slash-and-burn of the bureaucracy.
The ACT senator and key lieutenant of prime minister Anthony Albanese will tell top mandarins this morning a battle over the Australian public service will be “front and centre” of the next federal election contest.
Gallagher’s annual speech on APS reform in Canberra on Thursday morning will depict the choice Labor says Australians, and particularly Canberrans where a large number of public servants work, will have at the polls: a well-resourced and capable public service with Labor or thousands of job cuts under a Dutton government.
The minister will say:
At a time when Australians are facing real cost of living pressures, these cuts would mean longer wait times for critical payments and reduced support for those who need it most.
It’s the same old, lazy playbook – cut jobs, outsource work and watch as policy capability collapses as Australians pay the price with a public service unable to deliver on their behalf.
The number of public servants has risen to more than 185,000 as of June, an 8.9% increase on the previous year, the latest state of the service report from the Australian Public Service Commission showed in November.
Since the Albanese government was elected in May 2022, the bureaucracy has grown by around 26,000 places, or 16.4%.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has flagged potential job cuts in Canberra if he is victorious at the next federal election.
Gallagher is expected to tell the audience made up largely of bureaucrats she won’t go down “without a fight”.
“I’m not going to sit by and allow a lazy and fraudulent promise to cut the public service by 20% without a fight to present the alternative view. A strong, independent APS is worth fighting for.”
You can read more of our coverage here:
Chalmers concedes ‘possibility’ of Labor losing next election
Chalmers has said it is possible Labor will lose the next federal election after only one term in government.
During his interview with ABC’s RN Breakfast, the host, Patricia Karvelas, asked Chalmers if he conceded there was a “very real risk” Labor would not be re-elected. Chalmers replied:
Of course, that’s a possibility. You know, we take, we take no outcome of any election for granted.
Chalmers has also said he plans to hand down a fourth federal budget as treasurer in March, before the next election.
The treasurer said he would want Anthony Albanese to serve another full term as prime minister if Labor is re-elected, even if it doesn’t win enough seats to retain a majority government. Chalmers said:
One of the things that we’ve shown a capacity to do is regenerate under the same leader.
My expectation and my hope is, if we do win the election next year, that Anthony Albanese serves the full term and runs again, that’s what I would expect to happen.
Karvelas pressed Chalmers on this, asking him: “what’s wrong with change?” He responded:
Well, I think we’ve one of the things that we’ll be taking to the Australian people is a sense of stability, a sense that we’ve got an economic plan.
We’re rolling that out in difficult times, we’re helping people where we can, and that’s a tribute to Anthony’s leadership
Chalmers’ interview comes the day after an Australian National University study found just 38% of voters have confidence in the federal government, a level approaching the lows before Scott Morrison was voted out of office in May 2022.
Nevertheless, the study – based on a survey of 3,622 respondents between 15 and 25 October – found the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had “significantly higher” favourability than Peter Dutton leading into the 2025 election.
Chalmers offers no comment on possibility of interest rate cut in December
Chalmers wouldn’t be drawn on whether Australia’s weak GDP growth means the Reserve Bank (RBA) will reduce interest rates when its board next meets on 10 December.
He said:
Well, I would say about that, that the Reserve Bank, when it meets, will weigh up all of this data, as they usually do.
They’ll come to a decision independently. They’ll do that with me, without me pre-empting [it].
The RBA’s latest forecasts had GDP expanding at an annual pace of 1.5% by the end of 2024 and the national accounts released yesterday suggest that estimate will have to be revised lower.
Over the twelve months to the September quarter this year, Australia’s headline inflation rate rose by 2.8%, which was the lowest in more than three years and within the RBA’s target range of 2-3%.
However, underlying inflation, which stripped out goods that were more volatile in price, remained at 3.5%.
At its November meeting, the RBA left the cash rate – which guides interest rates set by banks – unchanged for an eighth meeting in a row, at 4.35%.
Chalmers acknowledges economy ‘very weak’
The federal treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says he acknowledges the Australian economy is “very weak”.
Chalmers is being interviewed on ABC Radio National Breakfast the day after data was released showing the economy grew at a weaker-than-expected pace in the September quarter despite extra government spending.
He said:
I do acknowledge that the economy is very weak and people are under a lot of pressure.
And if you look at those quite difficult set of figures that were released yesterday, there were some encouraging elements.
When you look at the national accounts, you can see that wages are growing, inflation is coming down, and the tax cuts are playing a helpful and meaningful role as well.
Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.3% in the July-September months, the fastest in a year and the 12th quarter in a row of growth, the Australian Bureau of Statistics national accounts figures released on Wednesday showed.
As my colleague Peter Hannam reported yesterday, gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 0.3% in the July-September months, compared with the 0.5% rate expected by economists – and the annual growth of 0.8% is the weakest since the end of 2020.
Greens election policy calls for federal drug testing agency
Natasha May
The Greens’s new election policy for a federal expansion of pill testing would involve the creation of a new drug testing agency.
The agency, housed within the federal Department of Health and Aged Care, would coordinate and run drug testing sites in capital cities and regional hubs as well as providing free testing services at Australian music festivals.
Under the policy, the Greens say they would also provide additional funding to the department to coordinate data collection, analysis and communication of results of the drug tests.
The drug testing sites would be rolled out over the next 5 years starting with 10 drug testing sites in capital cities in 2026-27, and later expanding to ultimately encompass 18 drug testing sites in capital cities and 4 in regional hubs from 2028-29 onwards.
The party’s spokesperson for health and mental health, Senator Jordon Steele-John, said:
At the moment the biggest danger facing young people using drugs at festivals isn’t the substance itself but a failure of government policy that doesn’t allow people to be able to check what is in that drug and access education and medical services when needed.
We have a system designed to criminalise and stigmatise people who take drugs in our community which has led to tragic outcomes. It is time we listen to the community and the experts and implement commonsense approaches to minimise harm and risk.
The Greens’ announcement comes as the NSW Labor government prepares for the second day of its two-day drug summit in Sydney, where it is canvassing potential reforms including pill testing.
The summit hasn’t finished, but the NSW government has already ruled out decriminalising the personal possession of drugs, leading to criticism from experts and health groups.
Welcome
Catie McLeod
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Catie McLeod and I will be hosting the blog this morning. Here are our top overnight stories.
Australia is still far from catching up to the levels of migration expected before the pandemic, a new study from the Australian National University has shown, contrary to claims of record-high migration.
Before Covid, net migration was projected to hit about 300,000 by 2025. But the study, led by the migration hub’s director, Alan Gamlen, found net overseas migration may still be 82,000 people short of that number.
The New South Wales Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sue Higginson, has called on state Labor to step in and block Idemitsu’s plan to expand its Boggabri coal project, saying if the project is granted approval, it will result in an additional 62m tonnes of coal being dug up and burned in Australia and overseas.
Higginson says the federal Labor government is refusing to consider the effects on climate change from coal mining.
As we reported yesterday, the federal government has declined to review the Boggabri mine as well as BHP Mitsubishi’s Caval Ridge coal project in central Queensland and Jellinbah Group’s Lake Vermont coal project in Queensland for their potential climate impacts.
The decision means the three mines will remain under assessment for potential approval.
And the Greens have announced a new election policy for a federal expansion of pill testing, involving the creation of a new drug testing agency. I’ll have more on this announcement for you shortly.
