On this episode of Democracy Sausage , journalist Sarah Ison, political scientist John Warhurst, Marija Taflaga, and Mark Kenny discuss the federal budget and the return of ‘fibre to the premises’. After years of political battles over the National Broadband Network, why has the government now decided to build ‘fibre to the premises’? What lies ahead in next week’s federal budget, possibly one of the most important in Australia’s recent history? And is the federal opposition losing a fight for r...
Sep 28, 2020•58 min
On this Democracy Sausage Extra , Director of ANU Energy Change Institute Kenneth Baldwin joins Mark Kenny to discuss the five priority technologies in the government’s new Technology Investment Roadmap, and whether they will put Australia on the right track to quickly and effectively reduce emissions. This week, as part of its Technology Investment Roadmap, the Australian government revealed the five low-emission technologies it will prioritise for investment: clean hydrogen, energy storage, lo...
Sep 24, 2020•53 min
On this Democracy Sausage , Sharon Friel, Helen Sullivan, Meegan Fitzharris, and Marija Taflaga join Mark Kenny at the hotplate to talk about improving health and wellbeing beyond the coronavirus crisis, and whether Scott Morrison’s gas plan is more than just hot air. As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, more Australians are focused on health policy now than possibly at any point in the country’s contemporary history. But will this increased awareness during the crisis translate into long-term, w...
Sep 21, 2020•51 min
Once an outsider to win the last Australian federal election, Scott Morrison’s ‘miracle’ 2019 electoral victory put him at the helm during one of the most difficult years in the country’s contemporary history. So what has the COVID-19 crisis revealed about the prime minister, and Australian politics and society? Recorded live as part of the ANU/Canberra Times Meet the Author series, Guardian Australia ’s political editor Katharine Murphy joins Mark Kenny on this Democracy Sausage Extra to discus...
Sep 17, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Mark Kenny is joined by Arnagretta Hunter, Marija Taflaga and Frank Bongiorno to take a look at how conservatives have responded to the coronavirus crisis and how that compares to responses to the climate crisis. Conservative governments have had a mixed record on dealing with COVID-19, from Australia’s relatively effective response to public health disasters like in the UK, but underpinning strategies in both countries is the protection of the economy. But if conservatism is about preserving an...
Sep 14, 2020•56 min
On this episode, Chris Wallace chats with Mark Kenny about Labor’s 2019 election loss, the machinery of politics, and her new book, How to Win an Election . The 2019 Australian election produced a surprise result showing, not for the first time, that every election is there for the winning - including the next one. Labor's surprise loss in 2019, like the Liberal and National parties' defeat in the so-called 'unloseable' 1993 election, showed how careful attention to basic political craft can yie...
Sep 11, 2020•1 hr 2 min
On this episode, we chat with Katrine Beauregard and Marija Taflaga about the impact of the crisis on women, truth in political advertising, and political donations. In part two, Peter Martin joins us to talk about Australia’s recession and where to from here. Officially in recession and with households holding onto their money at an unprecedented scale, what does the future hold for the Australian economy? What might happen if spending never recovers? And what impact will the crisis have on wom...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 2 min
On this special bonus Democracy Sausage Extra , we’re joined by one of Australia’s most preeminent China scholars, Professor Jane Golley, to help us understand China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and what it means for Australia. A three-decade, $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan that currently involves over 60 countries, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vast economic and foreign policy initiative led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. But the scheme hasn’t been universally welcom...
Sep 05, 2020•39 min
On this episode, Mark Kenny chats to former New South Wales (NSW) Greens politician Ian Cohen about his life in politics, Australia’s history of environmental activism, and grabbing onto the front of a US warship in Sydney Harbour. Rising to prominence after surfing the bow wave of a US Destroyer during a nuclear disarmament protest, Ian Cohen became the first Greens politician to be elected to the NSW Legislative Council. After a political career spanning 16 years, Ian chats with Professor Mark...
Sep 03, 2020•53 min
On this special 100th episode of Democracy Sausage , we’re joined by Frank Bongiorno, Jacinta Carroll, Marija Taflaga, and Mark Kenny to talk Australian attitudes towards COVID-19 surveillance, security agencies on social media, and accountability for former political figures. What do Australian attitudes towards surveillance amidst the COVID-19 crisis suggest about trust in society? After weeks of icy diplomatic exchanges, what is the Australian government’s long-term goal for its relationship ...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 15 min
While the coronavirus crisis in the United Kingdom has abated somewhat in recent months, is life in the country going to get tougher if winter brings about a growing risk of transmission and Brexit negotiations falter? With us this week to discuss the challenges facing Britain are Remainiacs and The Bunker host Ros Taylor, pod regular Elizabeth Ames, and Brexit researcher Georgina Wright. It has been a very tough year in the UK, but some fear that very difficult times still lie ahead. With schoo...
Aug 27, 2020•1 hr 2 min
On this week’s fry up of politics and public affairs, our outstanding panel of John Hewson, Quentin Grafton and Marija Taflaga join us to talk about the COVID-19 aged care inquiry, tensions over state border closures, and whether or not a coronavirus vaccine should be mandatory. It was a “week of hope” in the words of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, after signing a letter of intent to access the promising Oxford University coronavirus vaccine and falling infection numbers in Victoria. ...
Aug 24, 2020•51 min
The coronavirus crisis is posing new questions and serious challenges to Australia’s political leaders. And those leaders are responding assertively – closing borders, slowing the economy, and working hard to keep infection numbers down. But are they making the right choices? On this Democracy Sausage Extra Mark Kenny talks with the insiders who ask the tough questions of those leaders every day – press gallery veterans David Crowe and Phil Coorey. Initial political optimism from an early Federa...
Aug 20, 2020•57 min
Has a failure to properly value care led to poor decisions driven by profit, and in doing so entrenched inequality for women? On this Democracy Sausage we take a look at the crisis unfolding in Australia’s aged care sector, the gendered dimensions playing out in the pandemic, and why we need to rethink how we value human beings in society. Even before the coronavirus hit, it was clear that the aged care sector had significant problems - a sector largely privatised and governed by profit, and bui...
Aug 17, 2020•1 hr 1 min
On this episode, academic and author Dr Liz Allen joins us to talk about the myth of the Australian ‘fair go’ and why COVID-19 could be leading Australia into demographic disaster. Political leaders often pitch Australia as the land of ‘a fair go’. But with real social mobility so hard to come by for many Australians, is this more national myth than reality? What can policymakers do to ensure demography doesn’t equal destiny for Australians experiencing disadvantage? And is the COVID-19 crisis c...
Aug 13, 2020•47 min
What does it take to be a political leader? What’s the magic mix of talent and time? And do Australia’s treasurer and shadow treasurer have that mix? Joining Mark Kenny to talk about what it takes to do the top job are commentator Niki Savva and Marija Taflaga. After botching the bushfire response, many argue Prime Minister Scott Morrison has performed strongly in the pandemic. But while he’s riding high in the polls, showing flexibility in policy, and moving quickly to sure up a struggling econ...
Aug 10, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Days after a presidential interview with one US-based Australian correspondent went viral, Mark Kenny chats with another stateside Aussie journalist Matthew Knott about the Jonathan Swan interview and Trump’s chances of reelection in November. Electoral surprises may have become the norm in recent years, so US presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, may not be resting as easy as many think. But with postal voting set to open soon in some states, is President Trump’s window to shake up the campaign clos...
Aug 06, 2020•40 min
On this special Democracy Sausage we launch a new book on governance systems in China, Taiwan and Australia with its co-editor Andrew Podger and ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop, and discuss how COVID-19 is affecting Australia’s elderly. What does reform look like in China and how does the country’s governance stack up against Australia’s? Has reform in the country actually gone backwards under Xi Jinping? And how can business navigate the increasingly tense relations between China and other countrie...
Aug 03, 2020•52 min
Mark Kenny talks with Annika Smethurst about the police raid that changed her life and her new essay, On Secrets . On 4 June 2019, Federal Police raided the home of Walkley award-winning journalist Annika Smethurst, changing her life forever. Smethurst was expecting a cleaner - instead it was the federal police with a warrant. Five of them turned her place inside out, including going through her underwear drawer. In this special Democracy Sausage Professor Mark Kenny speaks to Annika Smethurst a...
Jul 30, 2020•1 hr 2 min
On this Democracy Sausage Mark Kenny is joined by actor David Wenham, theatre producer Caroline Stacey, and performer-producer Tracy Bourne, as well as regular guest Marija Taflaga, to talk about how COVID-19 has affected the dramatic arts. Few industries have been impacted as severely by the coronavirus restrictions as the performing arts. And while the government has set aside $400 million to attract foreign film and television productions to Australian shores, far less is on offer for the cou...
Jul 27, 2020•51 min
On this special Democracy Sausage Second Serve Mark Kenny and Peter Martin discuss today’s economic update from the Treasurer and the impact of the corona-crunch on the nation’s future. The economic update given by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg today made for a sobering read, with net debt expected to rise to $677 billion by 30 June 2021, GDP down seven per cent in the June quarter, and unemployment expected to hit more than nine per cent at the end of the year. So has the coronavirus crisis led Aus...
Jul 23, 2020•49 min
On this Democracy Sausage we take a look at how the arts world has been impacted by COVID-19, plus whether the crisis has changed what Australians want from their governments, with historian Paul Pickering and composer and musician Kim Cunio. Even before the coronavirus crisis struck, artists were doing it tough – with crushingly-low incomes, and a sector withering from low funding, a reliance on philanthropy, and a workforce who have to take on additional skill sets to survive. But lockdowns ar...
Jul 20, 2020•1 hr 5 min
The Palace Letters – finally released to the public this week – detail the long road to one of the world’s great constitutional crises. On this Democracy Sausage , Mark Kenny is joined by Frank Bongiorno and Chris Wallace to discuss what we now know about The Dismissal. On 11 November 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was dismissed from his role by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. Nearly 25 years later the correspondence between the Governor-General and the Queen’s Private Secretary is now ...
Jul 16, 2020•1 hr
On this episode of Democracy Sausage we take a look at the rising infection rate in Victoria, the optics of Scott Morrison going to the football on the weekend, what the modelling tells us about the virus’ trajectory, and Trump’s troubles in the US. With Melbourne in lockdown and rising rates of community transmission in Victoria and beyond, did Prime Minister Scott Morrison play it badly by going to the football, or would staying away have sent the wrong message? Do the COVID-19 numbers suggest...
Jul 13, 2020•1 hr
On this Democracy Sausage , Mark Kenny is joined by former long-time public servant Allan Behm to discuss community values in the COVID-19 crisis, the “serious vacancies in leadership” around the world, and learning the lessons of history to understand China’s behaviour. In launching Australia’s new Defence Strategy Update recently, Prime Minister Scott Morrison drew parallels between the strategic and economic threat Australia currently faces with that faced by the world in the 1930s and 40s. W...
Jul 09, 2020•59 min
This time on Democracy Sausage we take a look at Southeast Asia: how the governments of the region are responding to Australia’s new defence stance, how they have responded to COVID-19, and how they are balancing the great powers of the US and China. The panel also takes a look at the outcome of the weekend’s Eden-Monaro by-election. Just as Australia is carefully calibrating its relationship with China, the countries of Southeast Asia are having to balance their role now and into the future bet...
Jul 06, 2020•55 min
The success of the National Cabinet has shown politicians the value Australians place on political cooperation. But can the government use this changed landscape to tackle the policy challenges facing the country and disarm the weaponised political disagreement of the climate wars? Mark Kenny talks to Annabel Crabb of the ABC about how the country’s politics has changed as a result of the coronavirus crisis. After a sluggish response to Australia’s bushfires and a resulting brush with political ...
Jul 02, 2020•50 min
On this Democracy Sausage we take a look at tackling the climate crisis as Australia is still battling the coronavirus. Mark Kenny is joined by Kieran Gilbert, Frank Jotzo, and Marija Taflaga. Australia’s attempts to tackle climate change have been a catastrophic failure of public policy. But can Labor and the Coalition park partisanship to find policies that tackle the problem without stumbling on the politics? Joining Professor Mark Kenny at the Democracy Sausage hotplate are Professor Frank J...
Jun 29, 2020•55 min
In the decade to 2018, 106 local and regional newspapers closed in Australia. As a consequence, 21 local government areas are now without a local newspaper. On this episode Mark Kenny talks to Associate Professor Kristy Hess about the high price of losing local newspapers, and how communities are responding. From death notices to court reporting and holding councils to account, local newspapers and the journalists working for them play an essential role in serving and informing communities. But ...
Jun 25, 2020•41 min
Are the government’s changes to university degree funding about getting graduates job-ready, or hostility towards the humanities? The government is changing university funding to encourage students into ‘job-ready’ degrees and away from humanities and the social sciences. But is this about meeting future employment demands or something else? Joining Mark Kenny to discuss the changes are Dr Jill Sheppard and regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga. Dr Jill Sheppard is a political scientist at the Sch...
Jun 22, 2020•33 min
