Please Explain: Coronavirus Daily

What do the women of Australia want? And do they have the power to sway this election?

This weekend Labor intensified its pitch to voters in a campaign launch that focussed on wages and jobs, and on Monday we published the latest Ipsos polling, which showed the election is still too close to call. We’re joined today by Chief Political Correspondent David Crowe, who was in Brisbane on Sunday for the Labor Party campaign launch. Our full weekly episode of Please Explain will drop, as usual, this Thursday afternoon. Become a subscriber Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage. Becoming a subscriber also gets you exclusive behind-the-scenes content and invitations to special events. Click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald.

It’s becoming clear that when you step into the polling booth in just over two weeks you'll have quite a choice to make. Do you buy Bill Shorten’s big taxing, big spending pledge to make Australia more fair, or Scott Morrison’s promise to get government out of the way of the economy so it can do its thing? Mr Shorten started this week at his Labor campaign launch announcing an extraordinary $10 billion package to directly boost the wages of childcare workers as well as access to early education services for working families. This week on Please Explain we're joined by The Sydney Morning Herald political editor Peter Hartcher, Nine political editor Chris Uhlmann, and senior economics writer Jess Irvine to sort through the numbers and figure out what makes dollars and sense. Become a subscriber Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage - click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald.

April 4, 2018: Rugby star Israel Folau was asked by a user on Instagram what God's plan for homosexuals was. "HELL” he replied  “Unless they repent of their sins and turn to God." Folau wasn’t bigoted or homophobic, he said, he was guided by his Christian faith. On this Please Explain podcast extra, our chief rugby writer Georgina Robinson joins the Herald’s managing editor of sport, Ian Fuge and columnist, author and former Wallaby Peter Fitzsimons, to dissect a case that has opened up all kinds of issues. Subscribe to The Age: https://subscribe.theage.com.au/ or The Sydney Morning Herald: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/ How are we doing? Get in touch: pleaseexplain@theage.com.au or pleaseexplain@smh.com.au

Regional Australia is angry - and the government knows it. What will happen to the Coalition if voters desert the Nationals at the May 18 election?

We’re a week in to the federal campaign and I don’t want to alarm you, but this election might just turn out to be about policy. Is this how politics is supposed to work? Sure we’ve had campaign mascots gyrating on posters, and the odd candidate faux pas, but the early focus has stayed firmly on income tax, superannuation and climate policy. Maybe it’s a reflection of the candidates, or voters growing tired of pollies bickering about personality - but for the first time in a long time it’s ideas that are getting all the oxygen. This week on Please Explain, chief political correspondent, David Crowe, and our deputy federal editor Stephanie Peatling join the panel to dissect the first week of 2019's campaign. We also check in with our political correspondents on the ground: Michael Koziolwith the Prime Minister in Tasmania, and Shane Wright who's on the road with Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.Become a subscriber Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage. Becoming a subscriber also gets you exclusive behind-the-scenes content and invitations to special events. Click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald.

On what should have been a quiet Monday night in the French capital, thousands of people lined the streets to watch the most famous gothic church in the world burn.

After the fall of the caliphate, countries around the world are facing a similar quandary: what to do with families who left their native countries for Syria years ago who are now desperate to return?

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has handed down his first, and possibly last, federal budget.   It's the earliest budget on record, with Scott Morrison expected to kick off the election campaign as early as this weekend. On Please Explain this week -  Tory Maguire chats to senior economics reporters Jess Irvine, Shane Wright and chief political correspondent David Crowe about whether this budget is "just throwing large numbers around" with a "no voter left behind" ideology.

A Please Explain extra - Michael Bachelard calls up defence and national security correspondent David Wroe in Syria. He and photographer Kate Geragthy have just interviewed Sydney man Mohammed Noor Masri, in Kurdish detention for joining Islamic State in Syria.

This week, Donald Trump had one of the best days of his presidency. US Attorney-General William Barr announced that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had finished his investigation and found there was no evidence of collusion between the US president’s campaign and Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 US election. On Please Explain this week - Nick O’Malley dives into Meuller’s report. US correspondent Matthew Knott and Deputy World editor Chris Zappone grapple with the question of whether the report is an indictment on US democracy, or merely another Trump scandal likely consigned to the scrap heap?

A terror attack of unfathomable hatred was unleashed on people peacefully praying in a mosque in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Armed with six guns, a few petrol bombs and white supremacist ideals, Australian expat Brenton Tarrant allegedly drove calmly to Al Noor Mosque and murdered at least 50 people. Senior writers Nick O'Malley, Jacqueline Maley delve into gun control, the Overton Window and the role of social media in radicalising the far-right with host Michael Bachelard. Young muslim woman and former Sky News employee Rashna Farrukh discusses why she quit the broadcaster after their coverage of the attack and human rights lawyer Diana Sayed gives us her take on what needs to change.   Click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald. Get in touch at please.explain@smh.com.au

With an election looming, treasurer Josh Frydenberg is just weeks away from delivering his first, and possibly last, Federal Budget. Last week, the OECD warned the Australian economy has fallen into a ''per-capita recession'' for the first time since 2006, with global and Australian growth predicted to slow even further. The announcement prompted skepticism from critics. Ross Gittins called it a scare tactic - that any recession qualified by an adjective is not the real deal. This week on Please Explain we’re joined by senior economics writers Jessica Irvine and Shane Wright to cut through the adjectives and figure out if the recession we all feared has finally arrived, or is the economy being used as a tool, once again, to instill panic and fear? Our supporters power our newsrooms and are critical for the sustainability of news coverage. Click on the links to subscribe to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald.

George Pell stood with arms behind his back as Chief Justice Peter Kidd read out the sentence. He did not react. One of his supporters put a hand to her face and cried, while another woman consoled her. The court room was quiet during the hour Judge Kidd spent explaining his decision. In this Please Explain podcast extra, we speak with The Age's court reporter Adam Cooper about the sentencing of George Pell on Wednesday morning. EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.

Australia’s highest ranking catholic is in jail - George Pell’s conviction of five child sex offences sent shockwaves across the globe. This week on Please Explain - the fury and fallout of George Pell’s conviction. We speak with: Alex Lavelle, Editor, The Age John Sylvester, author, crime writer and columnist. Louise Milligan, ABC investigative journalist and author of Cardinal, the Rise and Fall of George Pell. Become a subscriber to The Age or The Sydney Morning Herald. EDITOR'S NOTE: The High Court overturned Cardinal George Pell's conviction for historic child sex offences in a judgment handed down April 7, 2020. In a unanimous decision all seven High Court judges found Victoria's Court of Appeal should not have upheld Pell's conviction. It found the evidence could not support a guilty verdict.