When the National Disability Insurance Scheme was created in 2013, it was proof that a rich society could find the money to help people living with a disability. This was social democracy at work.

Twelve years on, it has turned into a $62 billion behemoth, on track to cost more than the age pension.

The Albanese government last week admitted the scheme was at risk of collapse. It announced a root-and-branch overhaul to remove 300,000 Australians from the scheme in the space of a few years.

The man leading the contentious reform agenda is Health Minister Mark Butler.

The 55-year-old South Australian has emerged as one of Labor’s most energetic ministers, taking on big tasks in aged care, tobacco control and disability support.

He’s also been asked if he might be the next Labor leader after Anthony Albanese.

He joins this bonus episode of Inside Politics with chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal.

Background reading

• Natassia Chrysanthos and Paul Sakkal – New NDIS eligibility tool will be ‘relatively blind’ to diagnoses.
• Natassia Chrysanthos – ‘Am I disabled enough?’ The question autistic participants are asking after NDIS overhaul.

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Regular listeners will know Peter Hartcher – he’s our international and political editor and a weekly voice on The Morning Edition, helping us dissect and process the extraordinary times that we’re living in.

Every week we get a lot of comments from our listeners, so we put a call out for the burning questions you’ve wanted to ask Hartcher. Today we've collated a selection of them for this special episode.

Background reading

• Peter Hartcher's latest column – Trump says he’s won the war. No one has told the Iranians.
  
  

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It's shaping up to be a story of profound betrayal – if the allegations are proven in court.

On the one hand is one of Australia's most influential and richest philanthropists, a woman who doesn't use email or indeed a computer.

On the other is her personal secretary, whom she entrusted with access to her intimate personal and financial details.

Today, chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont on the case of Judith Neilson, Annalouise Spence and the alleged $1.6 million sequin-studded fraud.

Background reading

• Kate McClymont's story – 'Profound betrayal’: The billionaire and her secretary’s $1.5m sequin-studded fraud.
• And ‘Overwhelming case’: Billionaire’s ex-secretary refused bail over alleged $1.6m fraud.

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Within hours of the shooting, right outside where US President Donald Trump was dining at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, the American president was venting his anger.

Not, notably, about the gunman firing shots in the lobby of the hotel. But at a journalist who read out what the suspected shooter allegedly thinks about Trump.

Today Bruce Wolpe, a senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre, on why this shooting differs - in such a crucial and dangerous way - from the two attempts on Trump's life during the 2024 election campaign, and the reckoning that is now spreading throughout Washington as a result.

Further reading:

• Inside the pandemonium at the Washington Hilton
• ‘Friendly Federal Assassin’: Alleged shooter’s manifesto says he was targeting Trump officials

And just a note, after recording this episode, Cole Tomas Allen, was charged - on Tuesday, Australian time - with an attempted assassination of Donald Trump. According to a note Allan reportedly sent family members minutes before the attack, he believed that it was his duty to target Trump administration officials. Jeanine Pirro, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, has said that additional charges would be brought against him.

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Prohibition-era gangs, mafia dons, the notorious Melbourne’s gangland wars and the rise of flashy outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Crime in Australia has had a few iterations, and has mirrored crime occurring in the rest of the world.

But now we’re in a new era.

Today investigative reporter Marta Pascual Juanola on how organised crime has changed and the uniquely Australian trend that has emerged.

Read Marta's story on organised crime here.

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Today, we are talking about one of the federal budget’s trickiest customers - the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Labor was once like a proud parent of the NDIS, but now even the minister in charge, Mark Butler, is describing the scheme as a honeypot for organised crime.

Also this week, an inquiry about taxing offshore gas exports went kind of viral due to a David Pocock question about beer and an appearance from a podcaster called Punters Politics.

Joining host Jacqueline Maley is chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos.

Background reading

• Natassia Chrysanthos’ latest story on the NDIS
• All of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s political news and analysis.

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Since the Cold War ended more than 35 years ago, many of us have likely not given much thought to Bloc warfare. Those nuclear threats that the Western and Eastern Blocs hurled at each other? A thing of the past.

But lately, the beginnings of a return to Bloc warfare have revealed themselves.

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher on the group of countries that are assisting each other to fight wars. And why few have heard of their grouping.

Next Thursday, we'll be airing a special episode with Peter, in which he will be answering your questions. So if you have any questions about the state of our world that you've been dying to ask Peter, or a topic you'd love him to discuss, emails us at podcasts@nine.com.au and we may feature it on air next week.

Background reading

• Peter Hartcher's article: Trump’s madcap folly emboldening this ‘axis of upheaval’
• Peter Hartcher's columns and stories.

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Treasurer Jim Chalmers is slated to make a big change to the tax system, with the centrepiece of the May budget a change to taxing capital gains on property.

Will the likely tweaks reduce skyrocketing house prices, or address intergenerational inequality?

Today, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright talks about who this change will cost, who it will benefit, and by how much.

Background reading:

• Shane Wright's story, 'CGT like it's 1999.'
• The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age's up-to-date political coverage.

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