This week, health editor Michael Smith on why baby-making is such big business and how private equity firms are reshaping the IVF sector.

Further reading:
Ill-conceived: Inside Australia’s IVF money-making machine
The commercialisation of the industry as private equity owners take over from pioneering doctors has many people very worried.
Monash IVF rejects $300m takeover bid from Genesis Capital as too low
Shares in the fertility group have fallen more than 40 per cent since mistakes were disclosed earlier this year, prompting the PE-led consortium to swoop.
Monash IVF says market share, patients down since embryo mix-ups
Stiff competition and pricing pressure in Victoria has hurt the fertility group’s performance so far this fiscal year.

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Rear Window columnists Mark Di Stefano and Hannah Wootton look back on the action-packed year that was and ahead to what 2026 might bring.

This podcast is sponsored by Acenda

Further reading:

Cannon-Brookes now travels by private jet Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian co-founder and leading climate change crusader, has recently picked up a private jet.
Dutton left ‘very serious’ cyclone area for Hemmes’ Sydney mansion The opposition leader said people wanted the prime minister “governing, not campaigning” as Queensland braced for Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
Billionaires, boardrooms and office romances: Rear Window’s 2025 year-in-review
There was no shortage of hypocrites in corporate and political life in 2025, and a veritable surfeit of illicit office romances.

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This week on The Fin podcast political editor Phillip Coorey and NSW political correspondent Paul Karp on the carnage at Bondi, what is being done to make sure it never happens again and whether it’s enough.

This podcast is sponsored by Acenda

Further reading:

‘When is the shooting gonna stop?’ 9 minutes of terror on Bondi Beach
At first, the crowd thought it was fireworks; but as the bloodied bodies dropped around them, they realised this was a shooting and they were the targets.
Minns wants new laws to block protests after terror attacks
The NSW government has recalled parliament to legislate caps on gun ownership and new protest restrictions, despite federal Nationals rejecting a gun crackdown.
Just like that, the nation grew accustomed to antisemitism
The government did act to ward off “the long shadows of the past” for Jews, but not enough. And for that, it is exposed.

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