Australian news with the stakes made plain.
News Club is a fast-moving Australian news conversation built around the week’s biggest stories and what comes next. It moves from Middle East conflict and fuel supply to Canberra, media, sport, and odd cultural side roads without losing the practical stakes.
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News Club is built for the listener who wants the week’s news made usable by people who have clearly been reading, comparing, and thinking aloud. Its core strength is translation. A distant conflict is not left as a distant conflict. The conversation keeps tracing the line from Iran, Israel, Lebanon, shipping lanes, oil exports, and ceasefire claims to Australian fuel supply, petrol prices, government guarantees, and cost-of-living pressure. That gives the show a useful rhythm: headline first, stakes next, then the practical question. What changes? Who is affected? What should be watched next week? The weekly wrap format is brisk, but it is not shallow. It gives room to uncertainty, especially when officials, governments, and media reports are saying different things at once. The hosts often pause on the limits of what is known, which suits stories such as US-Iran talks, Hezbollah’s role in ceasefire arrangements, or the risk of misinformation during war. Australian politics runs through the show without becoming insider theatre. Albanese, Jim Chalmers, Richard Miles, National Cabinet, One Nation polling, and South Australian politics appear as part of the larger question of how governments respond under pressure. The range is wide. Artemis II can sit beside Ben Roberts-Smith, a refinery fire, the Sussexes, AI, sport, Parliament House civics, and Sarah Ferguson talking about the craft of journalism. The show also has a lighter release valve. After fuel shortages and military risk, there might be talk of socks, cookbooks, swimming times, Chardonnay, or simply going for a walk. Those turns do not erase the seriousness. They make the show feel like a real debrief at the end of a difficult week. News Club suits people who follow Australian news but want the wider context explained without ceremony. It is conversational, alert, and grounded in consequences rather than outrage.
Made for: For listeners who want Australian current affairs explained through practical consequences, not partisan theatre. It suits people who follow headlines but want help connecting geopolitics, economics, Canberra, and daily life.
What sets it apart: News Club’s edge is its macro-to-micro habit: conflict, oil, diplomacy, and policy are quickly tied back to petrol, prices, voters, and household reality. The conversational format keeps complex stories moving without flattening the uncertainty.
News Club is the place to go for conversations about the news. Agenda-free and hosted by friends - Claire Kimball and Kate Watson - we are here for you - making it easy to keep across the big issues and get ahead of what's coming up.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
News Club makes geopolitical complexity and its Australian consequences understandable through careful questions, candid uncertainty, and an easy conversational rhythm.
News Club turns a crowded news week into a lively conversation, with Clare Kimball, Kate Watson, Eliza Harvey, and Jodie Spears sharing the presenting duties.
Clare Kimball connects the Strait of Hormuz to your fuel worries, then somehow gets to jam.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brisk weekly wrap links a refinery fire with ceasefires, stalled talks, and global economic pressure.
This weekly wrap frames the Geelong refinery fire as more than a local emergency, tying it to fuel supply, economic pressure, and the Prime Minister's overseas search for possible partners.
A brisk Australian news debrief on US-Iran negotiations, fuel security, and the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith.
The episode frames a volatile news week as a series of linked pressures, moving from the expected Artemis II splashdown to US-Iran negotiations, Israel and Lebanon, and Australia's exposure to a tighter oil and fuel market.
A brisk, conversational weekly briefing that makes the uncertainty around fuel, Iran, and Karg Island easier to follow.
The Weekly Wrap frames the fuel crisis and the wider war through uncertainty: what is known, what is being claimed, and what still lacks a clear path.
A conversational weekly reset linking Iran-related conflict, oil prices, politics, and a culture-world flare-up.
News Club turns a turbulent week into a brisk, connected current-affairs sweep, moving from Iran and related conflicts to the Strait of Hormuz, higher oil prices, a surprise shift in Nationals leadership, and Timothee Chalamet's opera and ballet controversy.
A measured look at Iran, regime change, and the unresolved question of what follows military success.
The episode sets Iran's uncertain future against the familiar temptation of regime change, asking what follows if military strikes succeed but leave Iranians to shape a government amid crisis.
A brisk Canberra wrap broadens into cervical-cancer progress and Ukraine dealmaking.
Weekly Wrap turns the final sitting week of Federal Parliament into a way through a crowded news cycle. Clare Kimball and Jodie Spears move from domestic politics to Hong Kong's apartment fire, Australia's push to eliminate cervical cancer, and the diplomatic pressure around…
A brisk Australian news roundup that puts the Coalition split's practical stakes in focus.
The week plays as a bundle of unfinished stories: major floods in northern New South Wales described as a once-in-500-year event, a Coalition breakup partly patched by Thursday, and Donald Trump's genocide claims about South Africa.
Ireland’s front pages, sorted before breakfast.
Libertarian politics with the filter off.
Clare Kimball and Jodie Spears cover major news stories from the week, including devastating floods in New South Wales described as a once-in-500-year event.
A cybersecurity expert discusses major cyber threats and the importance of designing technology that is safe and understandable for the average person.
Clare Kimball introduces a resurfaced interview with ABC's 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson, who discusses her approach to journalism and why she prefers talking about her craft over her personal life.
Claire Kimball introduces a resurfaced interview with Leigh Sales, who discusses her interviewing craft, dream guests, and celebrity stories.
Clare Kimball and Jodie Spears wrap up the week's news, starting with two major federal political stories: Labor's environmental law deal with the Greens and Barnaby Joyce quitting the Nationals.
News Club's Dubai-to-Tel Aviv flight report details a drop of more than 5,000 meters in under two minutes and a stabbing in the cockpit.
News Club's Clare Kimball and Eliza Harvey open with the Geelong refinery fire, saying the Viva Energy plant helps supply about 10% of Australia's fuel and that refining capacity has fallen 70% since 2009.
News Club’s Weekly Wrap moves from Artemis II’s return to Earth to Donald Trump’s warning on Iran, Australia’s fuel exposure, and Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest.
Squiz Kids host Bryce introduces the PM for a Day winner Jet Jarvis meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss his idea about reducing food waste.
News Club's weekly wrap opens with Australia's fuel crisis, US-Iran ceasefire talk, and Monday's National Cabinet meeting.
This episode discusses how the Middle East conflict impacts Australia, covering petrol prices, cost of living, sport and politics, and a South Australia election.
Five Iranian women vanished into a safe house after the federal police moved them out of their hotel.
Kate Watson and Clare Kimball open with the U.S.-Israel strike on Iran, the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the claim that Iran was edging toward nuclear weapons.
Clare Kimball introduces a resurfaced interview with ABC's 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson, discussing her approach to journalism and her reluctance to be the story.
Clare and Jodie discuss the week's news including Labor's deal with the Greens, progress on eliminating cervical cancer, and Robert Irwin winning Dancing with the Stars.