This week, the federal Opposition ruled out co-operating with the government on legislation to cap the number of international students coming to study at Australian universities.

Both Labor and the Coalition say that international student numbers need to come down, to ease pressure on housing and infrastructure. But Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said Labor’s bill was flawed because it favoured the big Group of eight universities at the expense of regional unis.

Dutton promised the Opposition will impose bigger cuts on international students than Labor, and he said that the best way to bring down migration numbers is to vote for the Coalition at the next election.

So what will the central issues of the next election be? When is it likely to be?

Joining Jacqueline Maley to discuss is political correspondent Paul Sakkal and federal politics reporter Natassia Crysanthos.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

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As much as we can know anything these days, we can probably say the next election is going to be very close.

But what about the Greens, often called the third party of Australian politics? How are they faring with the Australian public? Have they successfully rebranded from being the party of the environment to being a broader based movement?

National Affairs Editor James Massola and Federal Political Correspondent Paul Sakkal joins Jacqueline Maley for Inside Politics.

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Donald Trump has been elected as the 47th American president.

His decisive victory will have major impacts on global affairs and on the Australian economy. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton were quick to congratulate Trump, and both leaders will be assessing their relationship with the President elect over coming weeks.

So what does a Trump presidency mean for Australia?

Joining Jacqueline Maley to unpack is chief political correspondent David Crowe and Nine’s national affairs editor Andrew Probyn.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

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Politics is full of surprises but few people expected abortion policy to be back on the agenda in 2024. The fierce abortion debate in the United States has been turbocharged by the upcoming presidential election.

Now the fight over reproductive rights has made its way to Australia.

Abortion has been a surprise issue in the Queensland election campaign. It was also the subject of an attempted legislative rollback in South Australia last week. Now it is being put on the federal agenda by high-profile Opposition front-bencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.

Joining Jacqueline Maley to discuss is federal political correspondent Paul Sakkal, and federal politics reporter Natassia Crysanthos.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

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It’s probably our greatest national obsession. Property: buying it, selling it, how much it costs and how hard it is to afford.

This week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made headlines when it was reported he had bought a $4.3 million ocean-front beach house at Copacabana on the NSW Central Coast.

Albanese said the purchase was made in contemplation of his changing personal circumstances. He is set to marry his partner Jodie Haydon, who grew up in the area and whose family still lives there.

But the optics were unbelievably bad. Australia is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and the related housing affordability crisis is one of the main, if not the main, issues for the next election.

Joining Jacqueline Maley to unpack all this is chief political correspondent David Crowe and national affairs editor James Massola.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

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A year on from the stunning October 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli towns, our parliament - on the other side of the world - is again convulsing over the widening war.

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese jets off to the influential ASEAN summit in Laos, he is trying to lower the temperature on a polarising domestic debate about antisemitism and Australia’s level of support for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

One of the most prominent Australian backers of the Palestinian cause, Labor defector Fatima Payman, has started a new party just days after the PM and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton split on the question of how to commemorate the October 7 attack.

Today, political editor and international editor Peter Hartcher and political reporter Natassia Chrysanthos join Paul Sakkal on the fallout from the October 7 motion.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wanted to talk about the budget surplus and the crack-down on the big supermarkets over their alleged ill-treatment of customers this week, but that was derailed by the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

While the government struggled to find the right form of words to respond to the crisis between Israel and its neighbours, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton labelled the Prime Minister weak, and said he needed to stand more firmly with Israel.

The result was an ugly week where both men vied to position themselves to voters as the best leader to handle a crisis, showing off their very different styles.

Deputy federal politics editor Nick Bonyhady and federal political correspondent Paul Sakkal join Jacqueline Maley to discuss.

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Federal politics got interesting this week when our very own James Massola and David Crowe reported that the Labor government has asked the Treasury to model cuts to negative gearing tax concessions, a policy that has previously caused Labor plenty of electoral pain.

The Prime Minister and his frontbench are being very coy about any proposed changes to the tax treatment of investment properties.

Are changes to negative gearing an option the government is really considering? How would they argue the case to cut the concessions this time, given they have tried and failed to do so before? And would changes to negative gearing make any difference to house prices anyway?

Joining Jacqueline Maley to discuss are chief political correspondent David Crowe and national affairs editor James Massola.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.

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