Hello! This week's ep is a bit early: my plan is to (try) to start posting multiple episodes a week if possible. Let's see how we go. Sean Kelly is a writer who writes for a range of Australian publications. He's a former adviser to Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard. I've always been a fan of Sean's analysis and writing and was keen to get his thoughts on how COVID-19 is unfolding in Australia, particularly in terms of the Morrison government's response. We take a look back at how the...
Mar 30, 2020•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emerald Moon is a Brisbane-based Leftist activist and former candidate for the Australian Greens who's passionate about climate action and renters' rights. Emerald ran for the Greens in the safe Liberal seat of Bowman in 2019 and is currently working on the up-coming Brisbane local and Queensland state election. Amid the insanity of COVID-19 (I hope you're all okay!), I ask Emerald about how she arrived at her socialist politics, how the Queensland Greens are making real progress with socialist ...
Mar 24, 2020•57 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welp. Gosh. Here we are, then. I hope you're doing okay. Amidst the chaos of the global Coronavirus pandemic, previous LIASYO guest Osman Faruqi joins me (via Skype) to reflect on what the hell is happening. Osman is a journalist is the editor of The 7am Podcast for Schwartz Media and has been tweeting and writing a lot about the unfolding situation. Here we discuss the most egregious examples of capital exploiting this crisis and the insane contradictions about this economic system it exposes, ...
Mar 17, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael West is a Walkley Award-winning independent journalist covering the rising power of corporations over Australian democracy. After years working for both NewsCorp and Fairfax, Michael eventually went out on his own to cover the crimes of the corporate world and how big business get away with dodgy shit and poison our politics. Here Michael lays out his experiences in and philosophy on journalism (plus some insights into Murdoch empire), the conflicts of interest in the big business of med...
Mar 10, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast Alex Bhatal is a social worker and activist. From 2001 to 2018 she was a six-time Greens candidate for the inner-city seat of Cooper (formerly Batman) but in 2019, Alex quit the party having been subjected to a campaign of abuse and “relentless organisational bullying” for years. Here Alex lays out for her me her journey into politics, her passion for refugee rights and social work, why the Tampa incident inspired her to join the Greens and her experience of running in the same seat for 17 years...
Mar 04, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Oliver Yates is the former CEO of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Last year he quit the Liberal Party and ran as an independent candidate for the seat of Kooyong in the 2019 federal election. Oliver invited me into his house to chat about how his Tory/Liberal MP dad influenced his politics, his experience working at the CEFC, why he left the Liberals, his thoughts on capitalism's role in the climate crisis and why his passion for integrity in politics has fuelled his court challenge over L...
Feb 25, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Greg Jericho is a Walkley Award-winning economics writer for Guardian Australia . He lectures in journalism at the University of Canberra and tweets at @GrogsGamut . Here I ask Greg about his political worldview, his thoughts on economics and GM closing Holden in Australia his time in the public service (and the state of the service now), and how the media's obsession with "balance" is completely failing us when it comes to covering climate change. I’m doing LIASYO live at the 2020 Melbourne Com...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is a CROSS POD, BABY: an extract of my appearance on the podcast Red Flag Radio in which I discuss revolutionary socialism with Roz Ward , Liam Ward and Sarah Garnham . We chat about what Bernie Sanders' campaign represents, the failings of electoralism, a vision for a socialist society and vacuum cleaners. Check out RFR for the full episode and subscribe to them for more great episodes, please and thank you. I’m doing LIASYO live at the 2020 Melbourne Comedy Festival with special guest AND...
Feb 11, 2020•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Piccini is an historian at Australian Catholic University and co-host of the anti-capitalist podcast Living the Dream . He's written books about human rights and the Australian far left in the 60s and 70s and is partial to putting out some spicy tweets on @JonPiccini . Here Jon and I discuss his critique of human rights discourse and how it's seen Australia forget about economic rights, just how "radical" we can say Australia is politically and how our history might suggest that the Green Ne...
Feb 04, 2020•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lidia Thorpe is a Gunai-Gunditjmara woman, First Nations activist, a former Greens MP in the Victorian parliament and the current National Aboriginal lead for Amnesty International. In the wake of the Invasion Day rallies that Lidia helped organise over the long weekend, we discuss the emotional toll of January 26th, First Nations sovereignty, the failings of the Uluru Statement and the Victorian Treaty process and what it really means for non-Indigenous Australians to pay the rent. I'm doing LI...
Jan 28, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Craig Emerson is a former Labor MP. In the Rudd and Gillard governments he served as Minister for Trade and Competitiveness, Minister for Tertiary Education and Science and Minister for Small Business. Since leaving parliament, Emerson has run his own economic consultancy firm and in 2019, he co-authored the review into Labor's election loss along with Jay Weatherill . In this conversation I ask Craig about the reasons why he studied economics and joined the Labor party, his thoughts on "eco...
Jan 21, 2020•1 hr 14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Daniel Lopez is the commissioning editor for Jacobin magazine, socialist activist, author and tweeter. A month on from Corbyn and British Labour's brutal loss and as Australia burns, Daniel and I discuss the state of the Left right now, Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Party and the possibilities of a new socialist political party. I’m bringing my show ENOUGH to the 2020 Adelaide Fringe in March, tickets on sale now My new show GRANDILOQUENT is coming to the 2020 Brisbane Comedy Festiva...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Happy 2020, everyone. Here we bloody go. Here's me answering some of your questions about political movies, Morrison, bushfires, fatigue, Cats and Murdoch. Thanks to the folks who submitted questions and thanks (as ever) to you for listening to the show. STAND UP FOR BUSHFIRE RELIEF is happening at the Palais Theatre on January 20th - all funds raised going to Victorian bushfire relief I’m bringing my show ENOUGH to the 2020 Adelaide Fringe in March, tickets on sale now My new show GRANDILOQUENT...
Jan 07, 2020•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Charlie Pickering is a comedian and host of the satirical comedy show The Weekly on the ABC. I used to have one of those, but let's not go into it and start comparing who was "more successful" or "not cancelled". Here we chat about the ethics of including political figures in whacky comedy sketches, Charlie's centrist approach to politics, voting for John Howard, his interest in American political history and why he's more excited about Elizabeth Warren's candidacy than Bernie Sanders'. I'll be ...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast After joining me at the end of the shitshow that was 2016 for the first live edition of the podcast , Greens MP Adam Bandt returned to reflect on how far we have (or haven't) come and what to make of the political year that was 2019. Recorded in Collingwood at the Easey Street Concert Hall in front of a bloody lovely crowd, this is a funny and important conversation about Scott Morrison, socialism, the climate crisis, the 2019 election, the ALP's pathetic position on coal and the possibilities o...
Dec 10, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Patricia Cornelius is a celebrated Australian playwright who writes about class, love, capitalism and the cruel things we do to each other. Her plays include LOVE , Savages , SHIT , Do Not Go Gentle and Who's Afraid of the Working Class? In this conversation, Patricia tells me about her working class upbringing, her journey through feminism to Marxism, her time in the radical Melbourne Workers Theatre and reflects on whether today's middle-class and staid theatre can still be a voice for class-c...
Dec 03, 2019•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast Lizzie O'Shea is a lawyer at Maurice Blackburn, writer, broadcaster and socialist activist. She's the author of Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us About Digital Technology - an examination of radical social movements and theories from history and how they can be applied to technology capitalism. Lizzie and I discussed the class action she's working on against Uber's business model, the "datafication of ourselves", how much Facebook and Amazon suck, ...
Nov 26, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Faine is a veteran broadcaster who was just stepped down as the host of the Mornings show on ABC Local Radio after 23 years in the chair (and a total of 30 years at the national broadcaster). Jon kindly let me (back) into his house to have a wide-ranging chat about the state of the media, bias at the ABC, Elizabeth Warren, capitalism, the tech giants, civility, Kevin Bailey and his bladder. Come see me record a LIVE SHOW as Greens MP Adam Bandt returns on Tuesday December 10th, 7pm – all fun...
Nov 19, 2019•1 hr 20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Roz Ward is a queer Marxist academic and activist who was a co-founder of the Safe Schools Coalition. She was publicly attacked for her politics and her role in fighting for Safe Schools by the conservative media, religious lobbyists and members of the Coalition government. Here Roz reflects on her experience with the culture war bullshit around that programme and tells me what it taught her, why she's a revolutionary socialist, what she thinks can be achieved through electoral politics, her inv...
Nov 12, 2019•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is part two of my conversation with former AFL player and controversial media figure Sam Newman . Part one of the chat is here . Here we discuss Sam's thoughts on Muslim Australians' failure to "assimilate" into society, what does and doesn't constitute racism, Pauline Hanson and how he hoped to tackle homelessness if he were to become Melbourne Lord Mayor. JOIN THE BRAND NEW LIKE I’M A SIX-YEAR-OLD GROUP ON FACEBOOK! WOW! If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patro...
Nov 05, 2019•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Newman is a former AFL player for the Geelong Football Club and has been a controversial figure in the Australian media for decades. He's best known for his work on The Footy Show , which he appeared on from 1994 until 2018. I find Sam's political positions to be ill-informed and incorrect (I'm pretty sure he feels the same about mine), but I know there are plenty of people out there who agree with him and think he talks a lot of sense when it to comes to political correctness, immigration, ...
Oct 29, 2019•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast Luke Buckmaster is a renowned film critic who has recently found himself hitting the streets as a climate protestor. Here Luke tells me about his emotional reaction to the climate crisis, what inspired him to get involved with the recent week of Extinction Rebellion protests, what he saw that inspired and moved him at those protests and the philosophy and ethics of civil disobedience. Oh also we touched on Marvel movies and Joker. JOIN THE BRAND NEW LIKE I'M A SIX-YEAR-OLD GROUP ON FACEBOOK! WOW...
Oct 22, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Maddison Connaughton is the editor of The Saturday Paper . She's written for Vice News , SBS, The Australian , The Age and others and has been twice-nominated for the Walkley Award for Young Australian of the Year. Here Maddison discusses why she became a journalist, her thoughts on her role as an editor and the ideological position of her paper, Ita Buttrose's comments on the loss of "larrikins" and political correctness and the dearth of new ideas in Australian political discourse. If you’ve g...
Oct 15, 2019•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Latika Bourke is an award-winning journalist and since 2016 has been the London correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Canberra Times. Here Latika reflects on covering British politics as the country has tried to deal with the fallout of the Brexit referendum and its ensuing chaos. She tells me about covering the Labour Conference in Brighton over the weekend and the state of the party, Brexit fatigue, the rise of the Liberal Democrats, what might happen next and what cover...
Sep 25, 2019•53 min•Transcript available on Metacast CONTENT WARNING: This episode involves discussion of sexual assault Aditi Mittal is a stand up comedian with a massive following in her native India. She's outspoken and hilarious about her politics and the plight of women under patriarchy. In this conversation Aditi tells me why for her "breathing is a political act", the repression in Indian society, how the caste system works, the country's recent rightward shift under the leadership of Narendra Modi and what it's like to live in a country of...
Sep 17, 2019•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Michael Walker is the host of TyskySour on Novara Media , an independent media organisation dedicated to covering British politics from the Left. After a big fat crazy week in British politics - Boris Johnson proroguing parliament, MPs defecting to other parties all over the place, general elections being proposed and voted down - Michael joined me in my London flat's kitchen to chat about what this moment means. He explains why he moved away from anarchism and why he now identifies as a "class ...
Sep 10, 2019•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Dr. Matt Winning (yes! Actual name!) is a climate policy researcher, environmental economist and stand up comedian. I got to see Matt's show at the Edinburgh Fringe this year, It's The End of the World As We Know It , and it make me laugh and also made me sad. Here we discuss the depressing reality we're faced with when it comes to the climate crisis, what is to be done about it (as individuals and collectively), approaching tipping points, apocalyptic predictions, what that IPCC report really m...
Sep 04, 2019•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Andrew Doyle is a stand up comedian and satirist who's written for Jonathan Pie , created the parody twitter character Titania McGrath , writes for Spiked Online and runs a "free-thinking" comedy night in London called Comedy Unleashed . But, unlike others who criticise social justice and the "woke movement", Andrew comes at these issues from a Leftist perspective. Here we chat about why Andrew is so concerned about "wokeness" and how he sees it affecting society, comedy and free speech. We cove...
Aug 22, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Grace Petrie is a socialist, feminist, lesbian singer-songwriter whose political songs place a fire in my heart and whose love songs break my heart. She's brilliant and I feel very lucky to have her on this show. In this chat I ask Grace about being labelled a "protest singer", her agenda when it comes to her music, the importance of representation, Hannah Gadsby, trans rights, battling with TERFs and Jeremy Corbyn. Plus at the end she bloody sings a song for us! It is great! You can be a hero i...
Aug 14, 2019•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast CONTENT WARNING: This episode involves discussion of sexual assault Daniel Sloss is a Scottish comedian who has sold out shows around the world, appeared on Conan shitloads of times and has two specials on Netflix. I'm also lucky enough to consider him a friend. Daniel's latest show X deals with toxic masculinity and his personal response to an incident involving the sexual assault of a friend. It's a funny and thoughtful response to gender politics, call-out culture, sexual violence and #MeToo....
Aug 06, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
