The Looking Forward Podcast

Will history’s verdict be that Trump trashed the legacy of Reagan - as some of his supporters delightedly claim - or that there are stronger continuities between the two, sharing records of lower taxes, regulatory reform and a strong military, all built on votes from mainstream Americans. Where has the Trump insurrection left the Republican Party, and what are the lessons for the Liberals in Australia? By disputing the election and...

All through the western world Museum Directors have set themselves the task of “decolonising” their collections and exhibits, but what could this become and what does it mean anyway? Do they know, or are they just going woke to protect their own jobs? Is it about appropriately recognising indigenous cultures, or something more?

Regular co-hosts Scott Hargreaves and Chris Berg are joined by the IPA’s Bella d’Abrera to look at the la...

The allegations of serious war crimes by Australian special forces contained within the Brereton Inquiry report mean some change is necessary even as justice takes its course. But should Parliamentarians involve themselves more in Defence and military oversight, as Andrew Hastie MP suggests, or could this politicise the military and cast it into the culture wars? Could adverse findings about a ‘warrior culture’ lead to something us...

Now it’s South Australia's turn for lockdown hell for at least six days, and Daniel Wild joins the panel live from Adelaide to report on the chaotic decision making behind the Government’s draconian measures. 

Apparently the coronavirus spread by failure in Hotel Quarantine - who would have expected THAT! Seriously, are our Governments incapable of learning and preparing, and delivering a decent test and trace system?

Meanwhile...

It's a global High Vis vest frenzy, because whether or not he’s President going forward the global legacy of Trump is a realignment of politics, with heartland conservatives switched on and centre-right parties around the world looking for blue collar voters. To what extent can this be said about Australia and can it explain what's happened this week in the ALP as the Shadow Cabinet dissolved into a brawl over climate versus coal?

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There’s some grieving from Gideon on the Podcast as indications are that Joe Biden will be sworn in as President, though his fabled ‘blue wave’ failed to eventuate. Trump confounded the polls and energised a mass base of Americans in a way that suggests his political legacy will live on. Is this at the expense of the right’s traditional free market values - or was there a fusion? Did Trump really divide America, or was he just the ...

Scott Morrison’s mid-year plan for a COVIDSafe economy is back on track having been derailed by Victorian bungling, but with vaccines uncertain and international borders closed, what is the outlook for Australia’s coronavirus Endgame?  Can services like education and tourism ever rejoin king coal and iron ore as the foundations of our prosperity, at least any time soon? Why would any business invest when Governments can shut you do...

Gideon Rozner joins the panel to compare world leaders’ various responses to coronavirus and how this links to politically polarised ideals of “leadership”. If leadership for progressives just means technocracy and more lockdowns, is that why Gideon’s labelling of Jancinda Adern as “incompetent” saw much frothing and outrage across domestic and global media? We highlight the various leadership styles of Saint Jacida, Chairman Dan,...

We may look back on this as the week when the global wave of coronavirus lockdown hysteria recedes, as more sensible voices and experts come to the fore, including a key WHO adviser condemning the use of lockdowns as a primary means of control for the coronavirus.

The historic Great Barrington Declaration led by Professor Sunetra Gupta (Oxford) and Jay Bhattacharya (Harvard) replaces lockdowns with “focused protection” to protect t...

Trump has tested positive for COVID-19 less than one month before the US election. What will this mean for the politics surrounding the upcoming election and could this revelation play for or against Trump’s faltering campaign? (1:59-21:45)

Trump has also received a kind of ‘cocktail’ of medication in response to contracting the virus, not all of which is available to the common American citizen. In the spirit of Right to Try, shou...

Victoria has been electrified by the prospect that politicians and public servants from the Premier down could be charged and even jailed for deaths attributable to the Hotel Quarantine fiasco, under tendentious new industrial manslaughter laws only recently enacted by the Andrews Government. Governments must be held to account, but is this the job of the courts, or Parliaments and voters? If we start jailing politicians for incomp...

This week saw the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and immediate controversy about who will replace her on the United States’ Supreme Court, as the Democrats invent reasons to stall the process. The panellists reflect on the career of a remarkable advocate and jurist, and examine how the Republican push in the Senate to confirm a Trump nomination as replacement will affect the election. If even Mitt Romney wants to do it, what’s stoppi...

There are hard borders with no sign of let up across Australia, as State Premiers spuriously justify all decisions as being on the basis of medical advice while enjoying the populist support for supposedly keeping out the virus. But they can only do so because in our crazy fiscally frazzled federation the Feds pick up the bill for the economic costs. And why can actors and footballers cross borders when ordinary people can't? What...

The Deputy CMO says to Victorians "make your bed", but they're fraying at the edges as their Premier loses credibility for refusing to admit he is pursuing a virus eradication strategy - something achieved literally nowhere in the world. How diabolical is the combination of political spin and ceaseless nudging from the army of "public health" advisers? And how much longer can Victorians be expected to trust the very politicians and...

The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has announced new legislation to ensure agreement the States, councils and universities have with foreign governments are consistent with Australian foreign policy. What does this mean for the relations with China and are there any risks with giving the Federal Government further powers? (2:05-15:48). What are the risks with the Victorian Government’s Belt and Road agreement as it relates to expe...

After six months of COVID19 in Australia the panel discusses whether it’s time to say this is the new normal, and that we can neither wait for a vaccine nor indefinitely extend emergency powers. Australian PM Scott Morrison announced a deal with AstraZenica for provide a coronavirus vaccine for all Australians in 2021, but is that even feasible or just an announcement driven by politics? And isn’t it too early for the PM to discu...

On this special episode of the IPA’s Looking Forward, co-host Chris Berg interviews Russ Roberts from the Hoover Institution, known to most as the long-standing host of Econtalk, and also Professor Mike Munger from Duke University, who is well known as a libertarian economist and political candidate.

Is the Pandemic just the perfect example of Hayek’s Knowledge Problem, that knowledge is dispersed and no “expert” can be across it? ...

Joe Biden has decided Kamala Harris is to be his pick as vice president based on the fact she is an African-American woman. Should identity politics have a place in the presidential campaign, or should people of power be chosen rather on merit? (3:27-25:20). Dan Tehan has announced a review into Robert French’s freedom of speech on campus model. Should we be concerned about the issue of free speech rights on Australian campuses and...

Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews is seemingly delighted to have brought Victoria to an unprecedented standstill as he pursues eradication of the runaway coronavirus. But what will be the economic costs and how confident can we be that it will actually work, especially as second, third and fourth waves are reported across the globe? Where is accountability for past and present maladministration, when the Andrews Government seeks to...