The Australian economy is growing slowly, with people not opening their purses and businesses uncertain about the future. The Reserve Bank has cut interest rates three times this year - the official cash rate is currently at a historic low of 0.75%. Many are arguing monetary policy has run its course, and fiscal stimulus is needed. This week’s Essential poll shows voters tend to think so as well, with 56% agreeing that stimulating the economy should be prioritised over getting back to budget sur...
Oct 29, 2019•21 min•Ep. 151
Democracy 2025 is an initiative by the Museum of Australian Democracy and the University of Canberra, which aims to stimulate a national conversation on the state of our democracy, including the trust divide between the political class and everyday citizens. A just-released report by the project gives the perspective of federal politicians - key voices in the debate. Members of the last federal parliament were surveyed on their attitudes to democracy, the faults they see in the present political...
Oct 28, 2019•36 min•Ep. 150
While the drought continues to hit the Nationals’ constituents hard, the party faces a testing terrain on a political level. In this episode of Politics with Michelle Grattan, Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack acknowledges the mishandling of the bring-forward of the dairy code, which will increase the negotiating power of milk producers. Tensions blew up in the Nationals party room this week after Pauline Hanson managed last week to win an acceleration of the code. The deal was all about t...
Oct 23, 2019•25 min•Ep. 149
Tim Watts is Labor member for the Victorian seat of Gellibrand, one of the most diverse electorates in Australia. His own family is a microcosm of diversity - Watts comes from a long line of Australians with ancestors deeply rooted in the old attitudes of "white Australia", while his wife is from Hong Kong, and his children Eurasian-Australian. In his new book, The Golden Country, Watts reconciles the past and present in his family, as well as examining immigration, race and national identity in...
Oct 14, 2019•28 min•Ep. 148
Last week, a very special event took place in Parliament House. The daughters of Sir Robert Menzies and Arthur Calwell - Heather Henderson and Mary Elizabeth Calwell - came together to reflect on their fathers’ legacies, and to offer their perspectives on a different era in Australia’s political history. Michelle Grattan moderated the conversation. The event was organised by the Menzies-Calwell Group, made up of members of parliament from both sides of the political divide. Inspired by the frien...
Sep 24, 2019•58 min•Ep. 147
Arthur Sinodinos will soon leave the Senate, and early next year take up the position of Australian ambassador in Washington. A former staffer and one-time public servant as well as a former minister, in this podcast Sinodinos reflects on the challenges of pursuing reform, has some advice for ministerial staff in dealing with the public service, and warns about dangers for democracy and science posed by a polarised media. A strong ally of Malcolm Turnbull, Sinodinos tells Michelle Grattan that t...
Sep 18, 2019•24 min•Ep. 146
Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it's time to change Australia's economic course “in a responsible and affordable way which doesn't jeopardise the surplus”. Chalmers predicts the budget outcome for last financial year, forecast to be a deficit at budget time, could possibly show a surplus, because of high iron ore prices and other factors including an underspend on the NDIS. He argues the government can have both a more stimulatory policy and a surplus going forward, given the various boosts t...
Sep 16, 2019•26 min•Ep. 145
Helen Haines, MP for the Victorian regional seat Indi, made history at the election as the first federal independent to succeed another independent. She was backed by grassroots campaigners, Voices for Indi, who had earlier helped her predecessor, Cathy McGowan, into parliament. But while McGowan towards the end of her time in the House of Representatives shared real legislative power after the Coalition fell into minority government, the same power does not lie with the lower house crossbench t...
Sep 11, 2019•20 min•Ep. 144
This week’s June quarter national accounts showed weakness in business investment and consumer spending, reflecting an all-round lack of confidence. Still, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg remains optimistic about the economy. In this episode of Politics with Michelle Grattan, Frydenberg talks about the government’s discussions with the Reserve Bank on a new agreement covering the inflation target, saying: "If you look at the last 20 quarters, 17 of those were outside the [2-3%] band and today inflatio...
Sep 05, 2019•19 min•Ep. 143
The number of suicides in Australia has been rising in the last decade, with more than 3,000 Australians taking their life in 2017, according to the latest available ABS figures. Some of the most vulnerable groups include Indigenous Australians, young Australians, unemployed people, and veterans. Scott Morrison has declared this a key priority area for the government. He has appointed Christine Morgan, CEO of the National Mental Health Commission, as the national suicide prevention advisor to th...
Aug 26, 2019•25 min•Ep. 142
Scott Morrison has voiced his intention to shake up the federal public service - seeking to make it more efficient in implementing the government’s agenda. A review of the public service led by David Thodey is now finished. Meanwhile, Professor Beth Noveck and Professor Rod Glover have released a timely study of the public service, titled Today’s problems, Yesterday’s toolkit. Commissioned by the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, it builds on interviews with almost 400 public serva...
Aug 13, 2019•21 min•Ep. 141
Anthony Albanese has a blunt message for critics who are accusing Labor of attacking government measures but then voting for them. They should “examine the world as it is rather than as they would like it to be,” he says. In the post-election reality the Senate will mostly support the government. This severely limits the opposition's capacity to alter legislation. In this podcast episode, Albanese defends Labor's backing for the government's $158 billion tax package, supports an increase in News...
Jul 31, 2019•31 min•Ep. 140
After a bruising election outcome, GetUp is regrouping around a batch of issues - with press freedom the big ticket item. The activist group's national director Paul Oosting, who has been in Canberra for the parliamentary week, says this is "deeply, deeply important to our members right now. It's absolutely the number one issue that they care about". "We're absolutely in this campaign for the long haul. How we protect press freedoms, as of today - [it] isn't entirely clear how we get there from ...
Jul 24, 2019•21 min•Ep. 139
The two Centre Alliance senators, Stirling Griff and Rex Patrick will often be pivotal to the fate of government legislation. The smaller non-Green Senate crossbench this term means that if the government can muster Centre Alliance support, it only needs one other crossbencher to pass bills, as was the case with the government’s tax package. In this podcast Michelle Grattan talks with Stirling Griff about the party’s position on a range of issues - including the widespread pressure for an increa...
Jul 23, 2019•19 min•Ep. 138
Last week on this podcast we talked to Ken Wyatt about the government’s plan for a referendum – hopefully this parliamentary term – to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Constitution. This week, we continue the conversation on Indigenous recognition with Megan Davis, a law professor and expert member of a key United Nations Indigenous rights body on the debate about an Indigenous ‘Voice’ which has followed Ken Wyatt’s announcement. “At this point the only viable option for constitutional re...
Jul 16, 2019•23 min•Ep. 137
The first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians, Ken Wyatt, says on the government’s proposal to constitutionally recognise Indigenous Australians: “I’m optimistic about achieving the outcome because if the words are simple, but meaningful, then Australians will generally accept an opportunity to include Aboriginal people in the Constitution.” But he concedes Indigenous leaders would not take the same minimalist approach he is advocating for, but says it is “pragmatic”. "What I want to ...
Jul 11, 2019•20 min•Ep. 136
Frank Brennan, Jesuit priest and member of the expert panel on Religious Freedom set up by Malcolm Turnbull says the Israel Folau matter is a "simple freedom of contract case regardless of Mr. Folau's religious views". "I think the question is, did he voluntarily, and for a very large sum of money, agree with his employer to follow a work code which included an undertaking not to make statements on social media about various things which may or may not have a religious component?" Responding to ...
Jul 03, 2019•28 min•Ep. 135
The ACTU leadership has pushed controversial construction boss John Setka to quit his union job but its president Michele O'Neil says the final decision on his leadership rests on the union membership. She told The Conversation “members of unions elect their leadership and that’s an important principle”. In this podcast episode O'Neil denounces the government’s plan to bring back to parliament the Ensuring Integrity Bill - which would give the government greater power to crack down on union lawb...
Jul 01, 2019•24 min•Ep. 134
University of Tasmania political science professor, Richard Eccleston, says a lack of a coherent energy policy could count against the Coalition in the island state. “The party which seems to offer the more compelling commitment to climate change and renewable production will probably be well placed to capitalize on that [Tasmania’s environmental interests].” Eccleston told The Conversation the volatile seats of Braddon and Bass could won by the Liberals. However he says Lyons should be a “safe ...
May 09, 2019•20 min•Ep. 133
Inside Story’s Tim Colebatch says three Victorian seats are seen as “pretty certain” wins for Labor - Dunkley, Corangamite and Chisholm. A number of others “are really open” - Casey, La Trobe, Deakin, Flinders and possibly even Higgins. “It does strike me that [the Liberals] they’ve done a lot to show the flag in Victoria. Morrison has been down there frequently”. Colebatch tells The Conversation climate change is a big factor in many of the blue ribbon Victorian electorates. “The failure of the...
May 06, 2019•17 min•Ep. 132
Western Australia-based William Bowe, who runs The Poll Bludger website, says “there is a feeling that there is a Labor resurgence in the state”. Bowe told The Conversation a “floundering” state economy after the mining boom downturn, with falling house prices and rising unemployment, has created a sense that “prosperity has been lost. And that sense of downward mobility is very dangerous for the government”. “Because Western Australians are not feeling as prosperous, they are more receptive to ...
May 01, 2019•21 min•Ep. 131
ANU marketing lecturer Andrew Hughes says this is the first election where the advertising spend and activity has been more focussed on digital. He told The Conversation that on Monday, the first day of pre-polling, there was a surge in social media ads - the Coalition had over 230 different ads on Facebook while Labor had over 200. "The sheer volume of ads is probably the highest we’ve ever seen in Australian politics because of the number of ads just on Facebook alone," he said. He also spoke ...
Apr 29, 2019•21 min•Ep. 130
While the major party leaders seem to have curated their images, University of Canberra assistant professor in communications and media Caroline Fisher says they can’t always control how these could be manipulated. Fisher says there has been “a real attempt to soften” Scott Morrison as the “daggy dad” through candid personal selfies. In contrast, Bill Shorten has opted for more professional shots which portray him “in a more prime ministerial light” but “are almost otherworldly”. She also discus...
Apr 24, 2019•17 min•Ep. 129
Shadow Finance minister Jim Chalmers said Labor was looking for ways to make things fairer for low-income earners who were “largely left behind” in the government’s budget. He told The Conversation the measures “would be through the tax system and would most likely be around the low and middle income tax offset which the government introduced”.
Apr 03, 2019•12 min•Ep. 128
From inside the budget lockup, The Conversation’s Business and Economics editor Peter Martin and political and economic journalist Tim Colebatch from Inside Story shared their reactions to the pre-election budget. Martin said the budget featured a substantial tax cut “that goes back in time” and that while the government was forecasting “good times around the corner,” there has been barely any sign of them. He also said he thought while the budget gives Labor an advantage, Treasurer Josh Frydenb...
Apr 02, 2019•10 min•Ep. 127
After more than two decades, Jenny Macklin is in her final days as an MP. Her legacies from her time as a Labor minister include parental leave and the landmark National Disability Insurance Scheme. In this podcast she tells The Conversation a Labor government would fix “one of the worst” problems of the NDIS by abolishing the cap on the number of staff that could be employed in the agency. “There are other issues as well […] there’s problems with the pricing of services. There just hasn’t been ...
Mar 27, 2019•26 min•Ep. 126
The Australian Election Study, conducted by the Australian National University, has been running since 1987. Its director Ian McAllister says one thing voters will want at this poll is stability. McAllister says that for the first time in a long while, one of the major parties - Labor - has put forward some “very constructive policies”. But, he told The Conversation, Bill Shorten is very unpopular: he “ranks below any leader we’ve ever recorded across virtually every personal quality including t...
Mar 04, 2019•22 min•Ep. 125
The Sydney electorate of Warringah will be one of the most fascinating battlegrounds in the May election, with a high profile independent Zali Stegall challenging former prime minister Tony Abbott. Despite the seat being on about 11 per cent, Abbott describes this as a “full on marginal seat campaign”. Abbott is running hard on local issues. He says over-development and traffic congestion are the biggest issues and if reelected he is keen to use his position to be a “champion” for the Northern b...
Mar 01, 2019•23 min•Ep. 124
Independent MP Kerryn Phelps, who set the ball rolling for the medical transfers legislation, says its passage is “a remarkable exercise in cooperation”. Phelps says that of the about 1000 people on Manus and Nauru “around 70 people require urgent medical evacuation” and “another couple of hundred will require transfer but not as urgently”. She describes Scott Morrison’s proposal to reopen the Christmas Island detention facility as a “political statement”. “What we need to do is to have a region...
Feb 13, 2019•11 min•Ep. 123
Deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Michael McCormack says the banking royal commission report contained a good outcome for farmers. McCormack praised Nationals backbenchers Llew O’Brien, George Christensen and John “Wacka” Williams for their role in pushing for the commission, saying he was “really pleased” about major changes recommended in relation to agricultural loans. Acknowledging the big challenges ahead for the Nationals at the election, he told The Conversation he is “not going ...
Feb 05, 2019•28 min•Ep. 122
