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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When a 49-year-old man was arrested in California on Monday, after trying to enter a Donald Trump rally with a car equipped with fake licence plates, a couple of illegal guns, and a load of ammunition, it made history.

At least according to the local sheriff, who said his staff had foiled a record-making third assassination attempt on Trump. Police believe the suspect was part of a movement that considers the American government illegitimate.

Today, international and political editor, Peter Hartcher, on why the suspect would want to target the very candidate who most wants to dismantle much of the government.

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There may be a whopping 160 million Americans who will vote in the upcoming presidential election. In just three weeks. But it’s only thousands of people, in a handful of swing states, who will likely determine who wins the top spot in the White House.

North America correspondent Farrah Tomazin has been travelling to some of these areas and speaking to voters on the ground. Today, she reveals what they’ve told her about how near-assassinations, and a natural disaster, among other issues, might sway who they choose. And if they’re ready for a female president.

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One year ago, 16 million Australians voted and made their voices heard. The vast majority of us did not want to alter our constitution, in order to enshrine an indigenous voice to parliament.

So, what now for the Indigenous children who returned to school afterwards, to what they felt was a harsher country, as one ‘yes’ campaign advocate put it? And what do the leading ‘No’ advocates have planned instead, to improve the lives of indigenous Australians?

Today, chief political commentator David Crowe and federal political correspondent Paul Sakkal on the psychological and emotional impact of the last year on Indigenous leaders and communities. And what sort of damage Anthony Albanese might still yet suffer, as a result of this crushing defeat.

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On Friday, King Charles III and Queen Camilla will arrive in Australia for their first visit since Charles became the reigning monarch. Charles, it’s safe to say, has one of the more scandalous personal histories in a long line of monarchs. Who can forget so-called “Tampon-gate”, back in 1989?

Certainly not journalist Tony Wright. A reporter for five decades, he has a unique insight into the relationship between Australians and the royal family, having witnessed Charles and Diana-mania, first-hand, when he lived near the Woomargama station outside Albury, where the pair stayed during their iconic visit to Australia in 1983.

Today, Wright joins me to discuss whether the monarchy has any relevance to our lives now. And just how much - or how little - Australians realise that Charles is actually King of Australia.

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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 Albanese 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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China has experienced a mass exodus before. People fled the country, for instance, after the collapse of Chinese nationalist Chiang Kai-shek’s regime in 1949.

But lately, the country is seeing something new. Millionaires, in particular, are running away in record numbers. And taking jaw-dropping amounts of wealth with them.

Today, international and political editor Peter Hartcher, on how Chinese president Xi Jinping - the most repressive leader the country has had in decades - might respond to a trend that’s being seen by some as a humiliating blow to the country.

Audio credit:

• 'Quiet quitting' was happening in China before the rest of the world caught on, CNBC International.

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Humans, we know, are full of contradictions. Even so, the disconnect between what we’re shown in the media, about how Australians feel about the war in the Middle East, and what people themselves say, is surprising.

Record numbers of Australians, for instance, turned out around the country over the weekend, to protest the war. And the Greens, it would seem, have galvanised support for their party over their full-throated support for Palestinian rights. But exclusive results from our latest survey suggest a far more complicated picture.

Today, chief political correspondent David Crowe, on what Australians are really feeling about this conflict. And how it might sway the next Federal election.

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