Insiders: July 23

Guest on Sunday’s Insiders is Acting Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

Host David Speers is joined by Patricia Karvelas, Jacob Greber and Anna Henderson.

Our top story is the Victorian government’s decision to axe the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to cost overruns. Dan Andrews told Victorians the estimated cost of holding the 12-day event across regional Victoria had ballooned from the $2.6b announced when the state won the games unopposed in 2021 to as high as $7b today. So what’s behind the dramatic increase in cost, and what discussion did the state government have with the Commonwealth about contributing to the cost of hosting the games? And what does this week’s decision tell us about the appetite of governments (and taxpayers) to foot the bill for large sporting events into the future?

The panel will discuss this week’s jobless figures with more than 30,000 Australians finding a job last month and keeping the unemployment rate at 3.5% and as low as 2.9% in Australia’s most-populous state, NSW. The government welcomed the number and said every new job was cause for celebration, but markets reacted to the data by increasing the likelihood that the RBA will lift interest rates next month. Also on the economy, we’ll look at the release of the government’s first ‘wellbeing budget’ that’s already come in for some criticism for using out-of-date data.

Also on the agenda this week is university reform, with Education Minister Jason Clare releasing the interim report of the Universities Accord. The report floats a new levy on international students and a focus on increasing rates of tertiary education in regional Australia and importantly among Indigenous communities as the government seeks to dramatically increase the number of Australians who undertake tertiary education. The unanswered question is how all of that will be paid for.

And finally, we’ll discuss news that the former secretary of Human Service Kathryn Campbell has been suspended without pay from her role in the AUKUS project following the release of the Robodebt royal commission’s final report.

Talking Pictures host Mike Bowers is joined by Amanda Copp from National Radio News for a look at the week’s best cartoons.

Sunday 9am on ABC, ABC News.