Capitalism is dying, but not in the way you might think. That’s the argument of academic economist and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who proposes capitalism has mutated into a far more sinister, feudal system on the back of sophisticated algorithms and big tech. On this episode of Follow the Money , recorded live at the State Library of NSW, Varoufakis speaks with the Australia Institute’s Ebony Bennett and Stephen Long about his proposition and his new book, Technofeudalism . ...
Mar 20, 2024•39 min•Season 9Ep. 300
The Albanese government came to power with big expectations around climate action, but are the government’s actions falling short of their rhetoric? On this episode of Follow the Money , former President of Kiribati Anote Tong joins Walkley Award winning journalist Stephen Long to discuss the Australian government’s “disappointing” record on climate, the role of China in the region and the prospects of a Pacific UN climate conference hosted in Australia. There are still tickets available to see ...
Mar 13, 2024•30 min•Season 9Ep. 299
The ‘robodebt’ debacle was a shameful episode for the federal government, but was it an anomaly? Our guest today says the same behaviours that enabled robodebt have been playing out for decades in our climate policymaking and questions whether the government has appetite to implement its proposed integrity reforms. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Polly Hemming, Director, Climate & Energy program, the Australia Institute // @pollyjhemming Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Direc...
Mar 06, 2024•23 min•Season 9Ep. 298
Independent MP Helen Haines has introduced a bill to Parliament designed to prevent pork-barreling, where taxpayer money is allocated according to where it is needed to win votes, not where the public needs it most. This was recorded on Tuesday 27th February 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Bill Browne, Director, Democracy & Accountability program, the Australia Institute // @Browne90 Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, ...
Feb 28, 2024•17 min•Season 9Ep. 297
Tasmania is heading to an election – 14 months early. Tasmania is retuning the size of its lower house from 25 seats to 35 seats at this election and multiple polls have predicted the result will be a minority government, so this is shaping up be a particularly interesting contest. This was recorded on Tuesday 20th February 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Eloise Carr, Director, the Australia Institute Tasmania // @GeneveraE H...
Feb 20, 2024•25 min•Season 9Ep. 296
Federal Parliament is set to pass new industrial relations laws, including the 'right to disconnect.' This means that workers will legally be able to ignore calls outside of work hours. This was recorded on Tuesday 13th February 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Dr Jim Stanford, Director, the Centre for Future Work, the Australia Institute // @MarkOgge Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_benn...
Feb 14, 2024•18 min•Season 9Ep. 295
Every year, the Commonwealth collects more revenue from HECS than it gets from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. The PRRT is so insufficient that gas companies love it! Mark Ogge explains the Government's proposed changes, and how we can fix it to tax our gas companies fairly. This was recorded on Tuesday 6th February 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor, the Australia Institute // @MarkOgge Host: Ebony...
Feb 07, 2024•23 min•Season 9Ep. 294
It’s been a week for the books in Australian Politics history, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing changes to the highly-criticised Stage 3 tax cuts. Which got the media, and the opposition, into a bit of a frenzy. So what's changed, and how will it affect you? This was recorded on Tuesday 30th January 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist, the Australia Institute // @MattGrudnoff Host: E...
Feb 01, 2024•25 min•Season 9Ep. 293
With the Iowa Republican caucus over, the starting gun on the 2024 US Election has fired, with the promise of a dramatic election year, and democracy itself on the ballot. This was recorded on Tuesday 23rd January 2024 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher, International & Security Affairs program, the Australia Institute // @EmmaShortis Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute...
Jan 24, 2024•33 min•Season 9Ep. 292
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. 7 years ago, The ABC’s groundbreaking environmental series War On Waste firmly placed the nation’s attention on Australia’s waste issues and solutions. The new season investigated recycling in Australia, brought to light new waste topics, challenged the lack of corporate accountability towards their own waste and explored what government can do to curb the waste tide. And most important...
Jan 17, 2024•51 min•Season 9Ep. 291
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. Extreme heat is the most direct and deadly consequence of our hellbent consumption of fossil fuels. It is a first order threat that drives all other impacts of the climate crisis. And as the temperature rises, it will reveal fault lines in our governments, our politics, our economy, and our values. Join Jeff Goodell, award-winning environmental journalist and author of Heat , for a disc...
Jan 16, 2024•54 min•Season 8Ep. 290
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. On 15 September 2008 came the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, the largest bankruptcy in US history. This set off a chain reaction and had a massive impact on the Australia financial system and economy. Across the northern hemisphere the GFC became known as the Great Recession. But in Australia the economy was spared the large rises in unemployment that occurred in the USA and Europe as we...
Jan 10, 2024•59 min•Season 8Ep. 289
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. Australia’s native forests are not only home to some of our most vulnerable and threatened species, they hold critical cultural and ecological value. While native forest logging is being phased out in Western Australia and Victoria, other states are failing to take action to protect these iconic and precious ecosystems from logging. This was recorded on Wednesday 4th October 2023 and th...
Jan 10, 2024•58 min•Season 8Ep. 288
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. The first person will face trial in relation to Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is David McBride, the whistleblower on trial, not an alleged war criminal. On the eve of David McBride’s trial, a distinguished panel of experts discussed what’s at stake, what it says that whistleblower not a war criminal is facing trial, and the right to truth and accountability when whistleblowers ar...
Jan 03, 2024•51 min•Season 8Ep. 287
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. What if we’re thinking about inflation wrong? Join renowned economist Isabella Weber, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a discussion about the economics and politics of seller’s inflation. This was recorded on Thursday 7th September 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guests: Isabel...
Jan 03, 2024•57 min•Season 8Ep. 286
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. This episode, we're listening back to one of our most popular episodes from the year with our Executive Director Richard Denniss, digging into the cycle of corporate profits, inflation, and low wages. This was recorded on Wednesday 7th June 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Richard Denniss, Executive Director, the Aust...
Dec 27, 2023•29 min•Season 8Ep. 285
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. One of the great mysteries of Australian life is that a land of sweeping plains, with one of the lowest population densities on the planet, has a shortage of land for houses. As a result, Sydney’s median house price is the second most expensive on Earth, after Hong Kong’s. Alan Kohler discusses his latest essay and tells the story of how we got into this mess – and how we might get out ...
Dec 27, 2023•57 min•Season 8Ep. 284
Our summer podcast series brings you some of the best conversations from our webinars and live events in 2023. This year has been a doozy in Australian politics, and we need to talk about it. We invited a panel of distinguished press gallery journalists along to our Politics in the Pub live event, to give us the low down on what's happened, and wrap things up for us for the year. This was recorded on Wednesday 29th November 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org...
Dec 20, 2023•59 min•Season 8Ep. 283
The United Nations annual climate conference, COP28, is wrapping up, and it's crunch time. Is there going to be a mention of actually phasing out fossil fuels? Or will we have more of avoiding the issue? This was recorded on Tuesday 12th December 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Polly Hemming, Director, Climate & Energy program, the Australia Institute // @pollyjhemming Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia I...
Dec 13, 2023•22 min•Season 8Ep. 282
The Maugean skate, native to Macquarie Harbour, is running out of time. It's facing extinction, due in large part to the Tasmanian salmon industry. This was recorded on Monday 4th December 2023 and things may have changed since recording. australiainstitute.org.au // @theausinstitute Guest: Eloise Carr, Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor, the Australia Institute // @GeneveraE Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey // @jenniferm...
Dec 06, 2023•21 min•Season 8Ep. 281
Clive Palmer, one of Australia's richest men, is suing Australia for at least $41.3bn, claiming it breached the ASEAN free trade agreement in relation to coal exploration permits. But he's doing so...as a foreign investor? Stephen Long explains how Clive Palmer’s controversial legal strategies challenge Australia’s trade agreements and environmental laws. Stephen Long is a Senior Fellow and Contributing Editor at the Australia Institute, and Walkley Award winning journalist, previously at ABC's ...
Nov 29, 2023•20 min•Season 8Ep. 280
In a less than ideal week for the government, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has copped some criticism for how much overseas travel he’s been doing. Most PMs have been subject to criticism for travelling, so how seriously should we take it this time? This was recorded on Tuesday 21st November 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher, International & Security Affairs program, the Australia Institut...
Nov 22, 2023•28 min•Season 8Ep. 279
Economic data can tell us a lot about what's happening in society and the economy. Introducing the Autralia Institute's brand new podcast, Dollars & Sense, with Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work and popular columnist of Grogonomics with Guardian Australia. In Dollars & Sense, each week, Greg Jericho will dive into the latest economic figures, and explain what they can tell us about what's happening in the economy, how it will impact y...
Nov 19, 2023•21 min•Season 8Ep. 278
Australia is one of the few countries with a developed research sector that does not have a research integrity watchdog, instead relying on research institutions to initiate and oversee investigations into their own researchers. This was recorded on Wednesday 15th November 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Dr Kristen Scicluna, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, the Australia Institute // @kristenscicluna Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Di...
Nov 16, 2023•15 min•Season 8Ep. 277
The RBA has delivered its first interest rate rise since Michelle Bullock took over from Philip Lowe as Governor, up 25 basis points to 4.35%, the highest in 12 years. So what needs to change for the pain to stop? This was recorded on Tuesday 7th November 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @GrogsGamut Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_b...
Nov 08, 2023•29 min•Season 8Ep. 276
By exposing human rights abuses, government wrongdoing and corporate misconduct, whistleblowers like David McBride and Richard Boyle make Australia a better place. Yet too often in Australia, whistleblowers are prosecuted rather than supported. This was recorded on Tuesday 24th October 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Kieran Pender, senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre // @KieranHRLC Professor Peter Greste, award-winnin...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 8Ep. 275
Following the Voice Referendum, new Australia Institute research shows that almost nine in ten (87%) Australians want Parliament to pass truth in political advertising laws before the next federal election. This was recorded on Tuesday 17th October 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Bill Browne, Director, Democracy & Accountability Director, the Australia Institute // @Browne90 Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Austral...
Oct 19, 2023•22 min•Season 8Ep. 274
Many Australians are still unsure what the referendum on is even about. What would a Voice to Parliament look like, and how would it help Indigenous people? To help make it more clear, the Australia Institute’s own Kate McBride recently sat down with Pat Anderson AO, Alyawarre woman and architect of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This was recorded on Friday 8th September 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Pat Anderson AO, Al...
Oct 11, 2023•18 min•Season 8Ep. 273
As the Senate Inquiry into the management and assurance of integrity by consulting services continues, Labor senator Deb O'Neill and Greens senator Barbara Pocock have been applying the pressure to consulting firms in the hotseat. This was recorded on Wednesday 4th October 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guests: Rod Campbell, Research Director, the Australia Institute // @R_o_d_C Bill Browne, Director, Democracy & Accountability /...
Oct 04, 2023•27 min•Season 8Ep. 272
The Australia-America economic relationship is one of the world’s most consequential, worth over $2 trillion, yet few understand its depth and scale. This was recorded on Thursday 3rd August 2023 and things may have changed since recording. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Guest: Joey Herlihy, Research Intern, International & Security Affairs program, the Australia Institute Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Producer: Jennifer Macey //...
Sep 27, 2023•27 min•Season 8Ep. 271
