Like so many of us, Chloe Hooper spent 2025 obsessing over the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson.

It was different to the crimes she’s written about before, in her books The Arsonist and The Tall Man, which was about a death in custody.

For Chloe, it was the domesticity of the mushroom killings, the family dynamic, that drew her in.

But why did this story captivate the country at-large? And what does it say about us, particularly about women, that we are drawn to true crime?

These were some of the questions that drove Chloe, and her friends and colleagues, the writers Helen Garner and Sarah Krasnostein, as they began traveling to the town of Morwell to watch Erin Patterson’s trial.

What followed is The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder – a book that wrestles with ideas about power, money, marriage and murder.

Today, Chloe Hooper on what our collective fascination with Erin Patterson tells us about who we are as a country in 2025.

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Guest: Writer and co-author of The Mushroom Tapes: Conversations on a Triple Murder Chloe Hooper

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One of the big stories of the 2025 election campaign was the wipeout of the Australian Greens.

In a stunning defeat, they lost three out of their four lower house MPs, including their leader Adam Bandt.

It left the party with big questions, about why they weren’t growing at a time when young people are more progressive than ever.

Now, more than six months out from the election, and under the leadership of Larissa Waters, they are beginning to show some signs of where the party wants to go next.

Today, Crikey columnist Rachel Withers, on whether the Greens can claw back support, or if they’ve taken the wrong message from their defeat.

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Guest: Crikey columnist Rachel Withers

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This year, Anthony Albanese promised to make big changes — on childcare, on Medicare, on the cost of living.

But while the government delivered some wins, it also quietly stepped back from the fights it didn’t want to have — on gambling, housing, and corporate power.

Today, contributing editor of The New Daily, Amy Remeikis, looks back on yet another huge year in politics, on the deals Labor made, the reforms it shelved, and what it reveals about how this government really works.

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: Contributing editor of The New Daily Amy Remeikis

Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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