Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny

Former ambassador Bob Bowker joins Democracy Sausage to assess the Middle East two years after October 7 and asks whether the prospect of a Palestinian state has been obliterated forever.

Why did Hamas's military wing launch an attack they knew would unleash catastrophic retaliation? How has Australia's recognition of Palestine exposed an 'iceberg adrift' in our society? And why does Trump's 20-point peace plan have even less ch...

Author Virginia Haussegger joins Democracy Sausage to discuss her new book tracing fifty years of Australian feminism and ask why the revolution that began in 1975 remains unfinished.

What role did a Canberra house party have in selecting the world's first women's advisor to a Prime Minister? Why did ASIO surveil women's liberation meetings and photograph their knitting bags? And what does the UN Secretary-General mean when he w...

Columnist Jenna Price and economist Sinclair Davidson join Democracy Sausage to dissect the crisis engulfing Australia's university sector and ask whether it can be fixed before it's too late.

Why are students being taught by academics on 13-week contracts who can't get home loans? How did universities end up with 55% of staff in administration while gutting teaching? And should prospective students skip university entirely unti...

Historian Frank Bongiorno joins Democracy Sausage to dissect the Liberal Party's existential crisis and asks whether Australia's 'natural party of government' is heading for collapse.

Is the Liberal Party becoming ideologically pure but electorally toxic? Why are Liberal MPs losing control of their branches to Sky After Dark viewers? And what happens when a political party holds just one in ten metropolitan seats but refuses to ...

Former senior Australian diplomat Jane Hardy joins Democracy Sausage to examine the new alliances emerging from Beijing's recent military parade and what they mean for global security.

What does it mean when India's Modi holds hands with Putin while Trump imposes punishing tariffs on supposed allies? How has North Korea quietly amassed enough material for 50 nuclear warheads? And is the West's post-war alliance system finally cr...

Political scientist Kate Crowley and election analyst Ben Raue join Democracy Sausage to examine Tasmania's political crisis and what it reveals about Australia's democratic future.

Is Tasmania ungovernable or just badly governed? Why do the major parties keep pretending they have mandates when voters have abandoned them? And what does Tasmania's experience with minority governments tell us about where Australian democracy is he...

What does the government's reluctance to partner with the Greens reveal about its reform agenda? What do the Liberal Party's internal battles over net-zero mean for the future of conservative politics in Australia? And where does Labor sit on Mark's freshly coined 'reform-courage' spectrum?

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Mark Kenny is joined by Jason Koutsoukis and Dr Stewart Jackson to talk about whether th...

Can we fix the tax system? 

What is good economic growth vs bad economic growth? 

And, as the government's productivity roundtable begins, how do we become more productive as a nation?

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Marija Taflaga enlists tax policy specialists Robert Breunig and Kristen Sobeck to help chart a productive future for Australia.

Professor Robert Breunig is the...

Economist Richard Denniss joins Democracy Sausage and argues policies suffer because of our need to find the centre in any debate. 

What does pragmatism really mean for Australian politics? How do attempts at unity constrain political debate? And how do evidence, position and politics interact in policymaking? 

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Dr Richard Denniss and Professor Mark Kenny talk about t...

Political scientist Jill Sheppard joins Democracy Sausage to talk about the upcoming productivity roundtables, protests on starvation in Palestine and having the courage to act.

What is a mandate and how should Labor interpret its victory? Will the upcoming productivity roundtable act as a stepping stone for action or a delegation of decision-making? And how can our politicians start to build their political and moral ...

Political scientists Mark Riboldi and Pandanus Petter join Democracy Sausage to discuss housing policy, safety nets and the fair go. 

How do politicians talk about housing, and does it impact policy? Who are the villains (or scapegoats) in the Australian housing narrative? And what does living with dignity mean in our current society; is it universal basic income? 

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, ...

Security expert John Blaxland joins Democracy Sausage to talk Trump, Australia and taking a strategic approach to the relationship. 

As parliament returns and a new opposition leader in place, what can we expect the tone of the debate to be? Is the Trump administration’s approach to their allies indicative of isolationism? 

And how should Australia respond to the US request to commit to defending Taiwan? 

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Historian Frank Bongiorno joins Democracy Sausage talk about political independence, and the pressure to be agile and take action.

Is Albanese’s John Curtin Oration pivot-point speech on the level of Curtin’s own ‘turn to America’ or something entirely tamer? 

How will history interpret AUKUS? 

And can we expect Labor to take a bolder approach to governance this time around? 

On this episode of Democr...

The numbers are in. Pollster Shaun Ratcliff joins Democracy Sausage to dissect the latest election data and what it means for the future of #auspol.

What do the numbers tell us about when the shift to Labor started? 

What does the fall off in the primary vote tell us about the future of our politics? 

And what’s behind young voters moving away from major parties? 

On this episode of Democracy Sausa...

US expert Emma Shortis joins Democracy Sausage to talk about the reshaping of the US-Australia relationship, misguided assumptions and finding Australia’s place in the world. 

Can Trump be treated as an aberration in US foreign policy or has he permanently reshaped the global order? Does fealty to Trump’s America make Australia safer or should we rejig our relationship? And what can we learn from our neighbours in the ...

The ABC’s Chief Election Analyst Emeritus Antony Green joins Democracy Sausage to discuss a career spent covering elections.  

Antony Green has covered more than 90 elections. How does this recent one compare to ones in the past? What does the ‘broad church’ of the Liberal party mean these days? And will Labor ever be vulnerable to an ‘orange’ independent vote? 

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Anto...

Treasurer Jim Chalmers joins Mark Kenny to talk our changing economic environment, productivity and ‘progressive patriotism’.

Amid the unpredictability of the current economic environment, how can Australia benefit from global change? What is the government planning to do to ensure productivity roundtables are actually productive? And how can we meet the challenge of decarbonising our economy? 

On this episo...

Join Democracy Sausage co-hosts to discuss the US, domestic fiscal debates and what to expect in the weeks ahead. 

What will the agenda be for the Albanese-Trump meeting at the G7, especially with the unfolding instability in the US? What does the conversation around the proposed changes to superannuation taxation say about our expectations for government? And how will Sussan Ley and Anthony Albanese change...

Former Attorney-General George Brandis joins Democracy Sausage to discuss the Liberal Party’s “Jack Kerouac political experience” and wider political trends.  

Is the Liberal Party’s shift to the right a more recent trend or has it been a long time coming? Does the party still need to find itself? And is it finally time for gender quotas? 

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor George Brandis KC...