“I’m REAL and I’m sitting here blushing because of YOU!”

That’s the message 76-year-old Thongbue “Bue” Wongbandue received from a flirty Facebook Messenger chatbot before it proposed he travel to New York for a meet-up.

Bue – who was cognitively impaired after suffering a stroke – packed a suitcase to catch a train, believing the woman was real. He never made it home alive.

Jeff Horwitz is an investigative tech reporter based in Silicon Valley. He has written a book about Facebook’s scandals and cover-ups, so when he received an email claiming ‘Meta AI killed my relative’, he wasn’t surprised, but he was intrigued.

Today, he reveals Meta’s internal guidelines that permitted this behaviour, including examples allowing romantic or ‘sensual’ chats with minors.

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Guest: Investigative technology reporter for Reuters, Jeff Horwitz

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Darwin’s crocodile farms supply some of the world’s most exclusive fashion houses.

But as award-winning journalist Katherine Wilson started looking into this booming hundred million dollar industry, she knew she had to visit the Northern Territory herself.

As she got closer to this secretive industry, what she found was shocking: animals being kept in cramped conditions and being killed in drawn out processes, Indigenous people who say they are being ripped off for dangerous work and claims of conservation by a scientist with a sordid criminal history.

This is part one of a two part series, which we originally published in August.

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Guest: Award-winning journalist Katherine Wilson

Photo: AAP Image/Paul Miller

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This is part two of a two-part series. Start with Part 1: The true cost of crocodile skin.

The lucrative Australian crocodile skin industry has always sold its conservation credentials – arguing that by farming the animals, they were ensuring the future of the species.

Two prominent scientists, using successful media businesses to promote research which showed those benefits, gave credibility to an industry worth 100 million dollars.

Their work also reportedly underpinned Northern Territory and Queensland legislation regulating the industry.

But when one of these scientists was exposed as one of the worst animal abusers in Australian history, everything about crocodile farming was called into question.

Today we go inside the Darwin jail cell where that scientist now resides, and hear about the reckoning inside the controversial crocodile industry.

This episode was originally published in August.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Award-winning journalist Katherine Wilson

Photo: AAP Image/Paul Miller

Background reading: https://www.themonthly.com.au/august-2025/essays/skin-game

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Last year, the federal environment minister approved Woodside’s plans to keep its North West Shelf project producing gas out to 2070.

Both the government and Woodside claim that gas is a necessary transition fuel as the world decarbonises – but how convincing are their arguments?

Today, investigative journalist and author of the Quarterly Essay Woodside vs the Planet, Marian Wilkinson, on how one company captured the country – and convinced us that we need the gas industry.

This episode was originally published in September 2025.

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Guest: Investigative journalist and author of the Quarterly Essay Woodside vs the Planet, Marian Wilkinson

Photo: AAP Image/Supplied by Woodside Energy

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When one of the world’s most powerful families converged in a Nevada court room in 2024 to fight over the future of their empire, what unfolded was tightly guarded.

Rupert Murdoch was attempting to change a decades-old family trust in order to install his chosen son, Lachlan, as heir apparent when he dies.

But then, in a rare interview with The Atlantic staff writer McKay Coppins, James Murdoch gave his account of the case and how it tore his family apart.

Today, Coppins tells us why James spoke out to reveal the bitter details of the battle over the Murdoch empire.

This is part one in a two part interview. It was originally published in February 2025.

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Guest: Staff writer at The Atlantic, McKay Coppins

Photo: Ron Galella / Getty

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One of the cardinal Murdoch family rules is never speak about the family outside the family.

So, when journalist McKay Coppins got in touch with James Murdoch back in 2024, he really wasn’t expecting a reply.

But Coppins was curious – what would happen to the Murdoch empire when Rupert died? And what it would mean for his youngest son, James, who was seemingly an outcast from the family?

What he didn’t yet know was there was a secret high stakes legal battle going on – and James was ready to talk.

This is part two in a two part interview. It was originally published in February 2025.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Staff writer at The Atlantic, McKay Coppins

Photo: Ron Galella / Getty

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As hard-fought gains in reproductive medicine, voluntary assisted dying and LGBTQI health care have been made – another story has emerged.

One where religious pharmacists, doctors and hospital systems believe it's justifiable to withhold medication or support, often with devastating consequences.

Now, one in five pharmacists in Australia will refuse you care if the medication you’re asking for doesn’t align with their beliefs – and in some parts of the country, that number is closer to half.

Today, writer and reproductive health advocate Hannah Bambra on the unconscionable reality of conscientious objection.

This episode was originally published in September 2025.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Writer and reproductive health advocate Hannah Bambra

Photo: AAP Image/ABE MADDISON

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Donald Trump wants to write the next chapter in US spaceflight history.

With billionaire tech CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk by his side, he’s outlined an ambitious agenda: to land the first humans on Mars before he leaves office.

Whether or not that goal is achievable, the plan would massively reshape America’s space program to the benefit of Musk’s company.

NASA has already suffered from Musk’s efforts to gut the federal government through the Department of Government Efficiency – and key SpaceX officials have been gaining power at the space agency.

Today, Wall Street Journal reporter Emily Glazer, on Elon Musk’s plan to take over NASA.

This episode was originally published in April 2025.

If you enjoy 7am, the best way you can support us is by making a contribution at 7ampodcast.com.au/support.

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Guest: Wall Street Journal reporter, Emily Glazer.

Photo: AP Photo/NASA

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