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Rita PanahiColumnist and Sky News host

Rita is a senior columnist at Herald Sun, and Sky News Australia anchor of The Rita Panahi Show and co-anchor of top-rating Sunday morning discussion program Outsiders.Born in America, Rita spent much of her childhood in Iran before her family moved to Australia as refugees. She holds a Master of Business, with a career spanning more than two decades, first within the banking sector and the past ten years as a journalist and columnist.

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Victoria has made history as the first state or territory in Australia to negotiate a Treaty with First Peoples, following the passage of the Statewide Treaty Bill through Parliament today. Sheena Watt in white glasses

Panahi: Nothing to be gained from race-obsessed Left’s toxic agenda

Victoria has become the epicentre of the Left’s race obsessions, with the democracy deniers pressing ahead with the very racial division that the majority of Australians rejected in the Voice referendum just two years ago.

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OpinionOpinion

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - December 3, 2025: Australian Minister for Communications, Anika Wells addresses the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Panahi: Wells’ spree shows you can’t stand between a Labor pollie and a junket

From posh meals in Paris to a family ski trip in Thredbo and spending more than $30,000 per person for flights to New York, the extent of Anika Wells’ spending spree on taxpayers’ dime is gobsmacking.

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OpinionRita Panahi

When the state gives itself the right to intrude on your land without your permission, it’s breaching a fundamental right

Panahi: Authoritarian Allan government picked on the wrong guy

Labor’s treatment of rural Victorians has been shameful. But the country is fighting back and one particular standoff shows how fed up farming communities are with the state government.

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OpinionRita Panahi

The former government minister has been vindicated with successive legal victories but has paid a heavy price to clear her name.

Panahi: Real victims of shameful Higgins scandal

The alleged rape of Brittany Higgins was weaponised by Labor and deliberately distorted and exploited by segments of the media. Those who participated in that deception must be held accountable.

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OpinionRita Panahi

Pauline Hanson donned a burqa on the floor of the Senate.

Panahi: Hysteria over Hanson misses the point on burqa debate

The reaction to Pauline Hanson wearing a burqa on the floor of the Senate is further proof that Australia’s media and political class is captured by an outdated, cowardly brand of political correctness.

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Louisa Bonner’s Welcome to Country came under fire.

Panahi: Woeful AFLW made even worse by divisive ceremonies

The AFL doesn’t need to give footy fans any more reason to avoid attending AFLW games, but it’s decided to make the experience even more painful by injecting politics and racial division with lengthy Welcome to Country announcements.

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From left, American real estate developer Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future wife), former model Melania Knauss, financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, February 12, 2000. (Photo by Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)

Panahi: Epstein files release may be one of Democrats’ biggest own goals of the decade

The Democrats’ excitement about engineering the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files doesn’t stem from any righteous sense of justice — it’s all a desperate attempt to link the disgraced financier’s criminality to President Donald Trump.

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Panahi: Wilson just a Jacinta Allan-lite millennial with a Teal worldview

Panahi: Wilson just an Allan-lite millennial with a Teal worldview

Former Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin had shortcomings but the woman the party dumped him for, Jess Wilson, has many more — including limited life and political experience. She’s also shown poor judgement.

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OpinionRita Panahi

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - November 13, 2025: Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley holds a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Panahi: Ley finally takes a stand in her best day in the job

Already the usual suspects in the media, academic and activist class are railing against the Coalition’s decision to abandon net zero. But as we’ve seen at multiple elections, voters have no appetite for small-L liberalism or Labor-lite alternatives.

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CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos - September 24, 2025: Dr Anna Cody, Sex Discrimination Commissioner addresses the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra. NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Panahi: Sex Commissioner waging war against real women

How can a woman who doesn’t know what a woman is be trusted to serve the interests of Australian women? Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner must step down before she brings further disrepute to her office.

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Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/rita-panahi