Last week, Anthony Albanese announced a royal commission – something he’d spent nearly a month arguing against.

Now, former High Court justice Virginia Bell will lead an inquiry into the Bondi terror attack and the rise of antisemitism in Australia.

It’s a major shift for the Prime Minister – one that raises questions about how he makes decisions and how he handles pressure.

Today, press gallery journalist Karen Middleton, on the scope of the royal commission, the political fallout of Albanese’s reversal and the risk that it could all lead to deeper division.

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Guest: Press gallery journalist Karen Middleton

Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

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“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.

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: 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.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.