Today, we're delving into the expenses scandal, if indeed we are calling it a scandal, that has engulfed the Communications Minister Anika Wells. A $100,000 taxpayer funded flight to New York snow-balled into a drip-feed of information about flights to the Formula 1 grand prix, the Boxing Day tests and even a family reunion at Thredbo. All of this dropping at precisely the moment the minister wanted to be talking about the social media ban that was instituted this week.

So, what are the rules around taxpayer-funded travel for MPs? And do the pass the 'pub test'?

Joining host Jacqueline Maley is chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal, and chief political commentator James Massola.

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The video is, according to those who have seen it, horrific to watch. Two sailors cling to the debris of a blown-up boat in the Caribbean, when they’re killed by a US military strike.

This occurred after the first strike on their boat failed to kill everybody on board.

It has sparked outrage, and led to accusations – by Democrat and Republican lawmakers alike – that the US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has presided over a military mission that may have been marked by war crimes.

Today, Andrew Bell, an expert on law and ethics in military operations, and a senior research scholar at the Center for International Security and Conflict at Stanford University, on why Donald Trump has ordered multiple boat strikes in the Caribbean, which have killed at least 80 people. And whether this could splinter the MAGA movement.

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Our mastheads have discovered that a number of sex offenders have committed crimes - in our communities - after serving their time in prison.

And here’s the thing. They committed these crimes while under a “supervision order”. This little known order, issued by a court, is meant to keep a “ring fence” around these known offenders, to keep tabs on them and monitor their movement. But it has also served to keep crimes by these violent predators largely hidden, due to a veil of secrecy created by legislation that protects them.

Today, senior reporter Chris Vedelago, on the failure of these secrecy laws. And the vexed issue of whether the anonymity protection of known sex offenders should be removed.

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Parents across the country have been wringing their hands for months about how the social media ban will work – and more so, if it will work. So, what exactly does the ban cover? And how will it be enforced? Today, reporter Bronte Gossling on the main methods children plan on using, to circumvent what the federal government has called a “world-leading” ban. And why most Australian parents say they won’t enforce it.

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When American author Anne Applebaum travelled to the frontlines of the Sudanese civil war this year, she gave herself a stern remit. Bear witness to, and report on, a lawless world that - since the United States has pulled most of its aid - is now run by warring militias, clans and families. Crucially, she would keep emotion out of it.

But then she met with people who were so thankful for the meagre aid the United States was still providing, that she felt “ashamed”.

Today, Anne Applebaum, a staff writer at The Atlantic, on how Sudan’s civil war shows what the end of the liberal order looks like.

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This week the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was on his honeymoon after his low-key Lodge wedding last weekend, while Senate estimates rolled on in Canberra, uncovering some interesting secrets.

Notable was the head-scratching amount that Communications Minister Anika Wells spent on flights to New York, made public ahead of the mammoth social media ban coming into effect.

Chief political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal political correspondent Natassia Chrysanthos join host Jacqueline Maley for this week's Inside Politics.

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When Mark Leishman and his wife Kathy first sought out the help of George Dimitriou, they were suffering with cash-flow problems at Mark’s business.

By the time their working relationship with Dimitriou finished - and after they discovered he was only pretending to be an accountant - their Newcastle home was repossessed, and they lost, they say, $4 million.

Today, chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont on George Dimitriou, a serial conman and high-school drop-out who conned vulnerable people out of millions of dollars with the help of, allegedly, a bank loans manager, and a series of lawyers.

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New figures out on Monday show that the median house values in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane have become, well, kind of insane. They’re the kind of figures that make people who’ve been desperately saving to break into the housing market tear at their hair by the roots.

But new research shows that allowing Australians to subdivide their properties could mean a million new homes being delivered in the nation’s five largest capital cities.

Today, senior economics correspondent Shane Wright, on whether this solution, which has eased price pressures in New Zealand, could be accepted here.

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