Curtin’s Cast

Freddie Hayward on America’s ‘Summer of Socialism’ and 9/11, 25 Years On Something unusual is stirring inside America’s Democratic Party. Across the northern summer, young progressive and democratic-socialist candidates have been knocking over establishment Democrats — raising the possibility that the American left is finally experiencing its own Tea Party or MAGA-style insurgency. Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined from Washington by Freddie Hayward, US Correspondent for the New Statesman, to discuss what he has called “America’s summer of socialism”. How socialist are these insurgents really? Are Medicare for all, stronger unions, affordable housing and higher taxes on billionaires revolutionary ideas — or simply conventional social democracy made radical by America’s unusually right-shifted political culture? They discuss the legacy of Bernie Sanders, Zohran Mamdani and the DSA; Abdul El-Sayed’s insurgent Senate campaign; affordability and economic insecurity; organised labour and the possibility of a new alliance between unions and the socialist left; whether progressives have moved beyond “woke 1.0”; the political impact of Gaza; and why anti-establishment movements have generally proved more successful on the right than the left across Western democracies. They also compare developments in the United States with Britain and Australia, where Labor’s relationship with organised labour and the Greens’ electoral experience point to very different paths for left-wing insurgent politics. Finally, with America approaching the 25th anniversary of September 11, Freddie reflects on how the attacks are remembered a quarter-century later — and whether 9/11 still represents a genuinely shared American national memory.

They’re the generation politics forgot — and they may now be among the angriest in Australia. Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go deep on the latest RedBridge/AFR generational polling, which has One Nation at an extraordinary 35 per cent among Gen X, Labor on 28 and the Coalition languishing at 19. Even more strikingly, Gen X voters split almost evenly between Anthony Albanese and Pauline Hanson for preferred prime minister, while Angus Taylor trails far behind. Why is a generation raised through recession, restructuring, globalisation, deindustrialisation, the housing boom, the GFC and Covid turning away from the political establishment? Kos explores the Gen X “sandwich”: mortgages still to pay, adult children who cannot afford to leave home, ageing parents needing care and retirement no longer looking quite as secure as promised. Nick and Kos ask whether the revolt is driven by economics, disappointed expectations or a potent mix of material insecurity and cultural unease — and why Gen X appears willing to trust Labor on some services while turning overwhelmingly to One Nation on immigration. They also examine the Victorian numbers and what they mean for Ben Carroll’s Labor government, the Coalition and One Nation ahead of November. Is Gen X moving right — or has the generation that did what it was told simply become politically homeless?

Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go deep on the two latest RedBridge/AFR polls and what they reveal about the extraordinary reshaping of Australian politics: One Nation’s surge, the Coalition’s weakness, Labor’s low primary vote and whether voters are moving towards a durable three-bloc system or simply renting their votes in protest. They also unpack Melongate and what the episode says about political outrage, media consumption and where Australians are actually getting their news. Then it’s Victoria. With Ben Carroll attempting to reset Labor around working people, cost of living and services, can he turn around the government’s fortunes before November? Is Jess Wilson becoming a credible change agent? And can One Nation really sustain a 20-plus primary vote when voters have to choose an actual government?

This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth is joined by award-winning historian Ross McMullin, author of the definitive history of the Australian Labor Party, The Light on the Hill. Thirty-five years after its original publication, McMullin has returned to his landmark work, updating Labor’s extraordinary story through Keating, Rudd, Gillard and the leadership wars to Anthony Albanese’s historic 2025 victory. What has changed about Labor — and what has endured across 135 years? Where do Keating and Albanese sit in the Labor pantheon? What was the party’s greatest mistake? And who are the underrated, overrated and forgotten characters of Labor history? A fascinating long-form conversation about Labor, history, leadership and the craft of writing political history.

This week on Curtin's Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by one of Australia's foremost political journalists and historians, Paul Kelly, Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large, The Australian and author of the new book, The Twilight of Exceptionalism: The Liberal and Conservative Era (Melbourne University Publishing). Has Australia entered a fundamentally new political era? Why has reform become so difficult? What explains the decline of trust in institutions, the fragmentation of politics, and the rise of populism? The conversation explores: The end of Australia's "exceptional" political era Why the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments failed The future of the Liberal Party, Hansonism and the Teals Anthony Albanese, Labor and the coming Victorian election The changing nature of political leadership and journalism Whether Australian democracy can rediscover its reforming spirit A wide-ranging discussion on Australia's past, present and future with one of the country's leading political thinkers. Buy Paul's book here: https://www.mup.com.au/books/the-twilight-of-exceptionalism/9780522882339

🚨 WE'RE BACK! Curtin's Cast returns – EARLY RELEASE 🎙️ Victoria's election campaign has just been blown wide open. In a dramatic day of escalating political tension, Deputy Premier Ben Carroll has advised Premier Jacinta Allan that he intends to be a candidate for the Labor leadership should a spill occur. With just four months until polling day, is Victoria now heading towards both an election and a Labor leadership crisis? In Episode 63, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down: 🔴 The latest Victorian polling 📉 Labor's deteriorating position ⚠️ The leadership speculation engulfing Spring Street 📈 One Nation's extraordinary surge and whether it holds 🔵 Why the Liberals still can't put the election away 🇦🇺 A quick federal polling check-in and what it means for Anthony Albanese This is one of the most timely Curtin's Cast episodes we've recorded. 🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts. #CurtinsCast #VicPol #SpringSt #AusPol #VictorianElection #Labor #OneNation #Polling #Politics

Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by acclaimed author, pianist and incoming ANAM Artistic Director Anna Goldsworthy to discuss her new Quarterly Essay, The God We Made: The Threat and Promise of Artificial Intelligence out now with Schwartz Media Is AI another technological revolution, or something far more profound? What remains uniquely human in an age of machines? Why do we still crave imperfection, authenticity and live experience? And are we repeating the mistakes we made with the industrial revolution and social media? From music, art and education to work, politics and existential risk, this wide-ranging conversation explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping our world — and what it means to remain human within it. Listen wherever you get your podcast goodies!

Could the 2026 Victorian election mark the beginning of the end of Australia's century-old two-party system? One Nation is now leading or tied in most national polls. Leadership whispers around Victorian Labor Premier Jacinta Allan are growing. But is this bigger than one premier — or even one party? On Curtin's Cast Episode 61 Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack: 🔥 Why replacing leaders won't stop deeper political forces 📊 What Redbridge modelling reveals about Labor & Coalition heartland seats 🗳️ Why One Nation's rise threatens BOTH major parties 💥 Why moral denunciation alone won't reconnect voters 🚨 If Victoria can produce a One Nation breakthrough, nowhere in Australia is immune.  Episode 61 of Curtin's Cast is out now! 🎧

This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth sits down with political strategist and campaigner Ed Coper, author of the new book Angertainment: How Social Media Outrage Ruined Everything. Over more than two decades, Ed has worked with an extraordinary range of political, civic and business leaders and movements, from Malala Yousafzai and Richard Branson to trade unions, climate campaigns, advocacy organisations and the Teal independents. He was also part of the team that helped build GetUp into one of Australia's most influential grassroots campaigning organisations. In this conversation, Nick and Ed explore how social media platforms, algorithms and the attention economy have transformed politics, media and public life, rewarding outrage over persuasion and division over dialogue. They discuss: • What exactly is “angertainment” and why outrage has become a business model; • Whether both Left and Right are vulnerable to the attention economy; • Young men, identity, Andrew Tate and algorithmic rabbit holes; • Which politicians understand social media best — and why; Can democracy survive the age of angertainment? Ed Coper joins Curtin’s Cast to unpack one of the defining political and cultural challenges of our time. Buy Ed's book here: https://www.readings.com.au/product/9781761636691/angertainment--ed-coper--2026--9781761636691  

One Nation is now Australia's most popular political party. Pauline Hanson is Australia's most popular political leader. And new RedBridge–Accent MRP modelling suggests the Australian political system may be fragmenting faster than either major party understands. This week on Curtin's Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack the extraordinary polling behind One Nation's rise, the collapse of traditional party loyalties, and what it means for Labor, the Coalition and Australia's political future. Is this simply another protest vote, or are we witnessing the biggest political realignment in modern Australian history? They explore why millions of Australians feel they're getting poorer in silence, how housing insecurity and falling living standards are reshaping political behaviour, why Labor's budget reforms have produced such a complicated reaction, and why the Coalition is failing to benefit from Labor's losses. Plus: could Pauline Hanson really become prime minister? What would need to happen for One Nation to become a governing force? And is Victoria about to provide a preview of Australia's fragmented political future? A provocative conversation about economic insecurity, political dealignment and realignment, institutional distrust and the forces reshaping Australian democracy. Check out Episode 59 via Apple, Spotify and Youtube

No Kos this week — but Nick Dyrenfurth is joined by one of Australia’s leading public intellectuals and scholars of political leadership, Professor Paul Strangio, to unpack one of the defining political questions of our age: Why has democratic politics become so chaotic — and why has Australia, so far at least, resisted full-scale democratic rupture? Drawing on Paul Strangio’s new book ‘The Alchemy of Leadership: Seven Australian Prime Ministers in a Turbulent Twenty-First Century’ (Melbourne University Publishing), this wide-ranging conversation explores the collapse of old political loyalties, revolving-door prime ministers, media fragmentation, hyper-politics, populism, culture wars and the emotional exhaustion now embedded in modern democratic life. From Howard, Rudd and Gillard to Abbott, Morrison, Albanese and the post-2025 political landscape, Nick and Paul examine how leadership itself has changed in the twenty-first century — and whether traditional democratic authority can still survive in the age of algorithms, permanent campaigning and anti-politics. They discuss: Why Australian politics became permanently unstable after 2007 John Howard’s role in “smuggling” conservative populism into the mainstream Pauline Hanson, Trumpism and why Australia avoided full MAGA-style collapse Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.

Is Australian politics finally exiting the dead zone of managerialism and re-entering an era of genuine ideological conflict? In Episode 57 of Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Australia’s "revered pollster” Kos Samaras unpack the political shockwaves from Labor’s 2026 budget — and why much of the legacy media may be completely misunderstanding what is happening. As newspapers scream “political suicide” and compare the budget to the disastrous 2014 Hockey Budget, Nick and Kos explore why this is not 2001 or 2004 politics anymore. Millennials and Gen Z do not expect miracles — they want proof governments are finally willing to “touch the architecture” on housing, tax and intergenerational fairness. Nick and Kos dive deep into: why Labor now openly sees under-45s as its electoral base the collapse of the old Howard-era political settlement how this is the first serious reform battle in decades Angus Taylor’s high-risk budget reply and the risks of chasing Pauline Hanson why the Coalition’s proposal to strip non-citizens of welfare, NDIS and other benefits could detonate support among Chinese-Australian households how “household voting” works politically in migrant communities and why anti-Dan Andrews politics is a dead-end for the Victorian Libs Plus: Kos hints at a bombshell new Redbridge/Australian Financial Review poll, predictions on Andrew Hastie and November's Victorian state election

For years politics and media have obsessed over angry young men, the manosphere and figures like Andrew Tate. But what if the bigger political story is the radicalisation — and growing pessimism — of ‘Angry Young Women’? This week Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by New Statesman staff writer Emily Lawford to discuss her major recent cover story on the rise of the Gen Z “femosphere” and the widening political divide between young men and women. They discuss: ▪️ How young women are becoming more politically engaged, but more anxious and pessimistic ▪️ Why these young women are so down on young men, capitalism and animated by issues like Gaza ▪️ The rise of online feminist identity and activism ▪️ TikTok, social media and radicalisation pathways ▪️ Why young men and women are increasingly diverging politically ▪️ The impact on relationships, trust and social cohesion ▪️ What this means for Labor, the Greens and the future of democratic politics Featuring Australian polling and focus-group insights from Kos Samaras and the team at RedBridge. A serious conversation about one of the biggest — and least understood — political shifts reshaping the Anglosphere. Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

One year on from the 2025 federal election, the political landscape is shifting again — and not in ways either major legacy party can fully control. In this episode, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth unpack the latest RedBridge/Accent/AFR  polling and the fallout from the Nepean by-election. Has One Nation’s surge peaked? And is there a “Trump dump” effect — where getting too close to Trump and MAGA begins to turn voters off? Nick and Kos also explore Pauline Hanson’s emerging dilemma: a choice between battlers and billionaires, as her party draws support from working Australians while benefiting from the backing of right-wing figures like Gina Rinehart. We also preview the looming Farrer by-election and examine what Nepean signals for both Labor and the Liberals — and the Victorian election ahead.

In this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down why AI anxiety is already political — not hypothetical — and why governments are at risk of repeating the biggest mistake of the last economic transition. We’ve seen this movie before. It didn’t end well. Over 70% of Australians think AI will cost jobs — and this time, the fear hits before the impact. Based off new Redbridge polling and the John Curtin Research Centre's new policy report, 'For All of Us: Making Artificial Intelligence Work for Working People', the argument is simple: if workers don’t share in the gains, they won’t accept the change. And if they don’t accept it, they’ll vote against it.

On this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by leading scholars of nationalism and European politics expert Associate Professor Ben Wellings (Monash University) to unpack the forces reshaping the UK and Europe. From the collapse of the political centre to the rise of populists and Greens alike, this is a continent in flux. We cover: ▪️ The UK’s shift to five-party fragmentation with Greens and Reform surging ▪️ Trump Bump 2.0 reshaping European politics in real time ▪️ Hungary after Orbán — liberal reset or just a populist pause? ▪️ Scottish and Welsh elections and Keir Starmer’s future Essential listening for anyone trying to understand where Western politics is heading — and why the old rules no longer apply.

Australia isn’t experiencing one populist surge, but two. In this episode of Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack new RedBridge and Accent Research polling revealing a striking political reality: under the same economic pressures, different generations are breaking in completely different directions. Among financially stressed Gen X voters, One Nation is surging. Among Gen Z voters under that same pressure, the Greens are rising just as sharply. Same system. Same frustration. Completely different political outcomes. This isn’t just volatility — it’s something deeper. The unravelling of the class-based political system that has defined Australia for more than a century. But here’s the paradox: as the system fragments, Labor remains dominant. Why? Drawing on Nick’s ‘Trump Bump 2.0’ thesis, the episode explores how voters are shifting from blaming governments to asking a different question — who looks like the “adult in the room” in an age of global instability. Nick and Kos break down: Why Australia now has two competing populisms The generational divide reshaping politics Why One Nation is insurgent but not a governing force The Coalition’s accelerating collapse How Labor is holding on amid fragmentation Is class politics is being replaced by generation and education This is a conversation about a political system coming apart — and what might replace it.

Has World War 3 already begun — just without a declaration? This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by the excellent Misha Zelinsky — Fulbright Scholar, economist, lawyer, and national security expert — to unpack a confronting idea: We may already be living through the early stages of the third great global conflict of modern times. From Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine to chaos in the Middle East and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Misha argues we are witnessing an unevenly distributed, undeclared world war — driven by a loose but dangerous alignment of authoritarian powers. On episode 51 we cover: Why historical analogies (1930s, WWI, Cold War) only go so far Why defence experts now see a 20–30% chance of global conflict this decade The rise of a “bad guys club”: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea How Western democratic deterrence failed — slowly, then all at once How modern warfare contains multiple overlapping theatres — military, economic, cyber — along with the familiar use of proxies Whether democracies are strong enough — including internally — to prevail This is a serious, sobering conversation about power, geopolitics, and whether the world has already crossed a threshold we don’t yet recognise.

This week, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by arguably Australia’s finest historian and public intellectual, Professor Frank Bongiorno, for our landmark 50th episode — and a big question at the heart of Australian politics: Is Bob Hawke really the “gold standard”… or a myth we can’t escape? Our conversation is anchored in the new book Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government, edited by Frank, Carolyn Holbrook and Joshua Black — a major reassessment of Hawke’s record and reputation. We unpack: ▪️ Why Hawke still dominates how we judge governments ▪️ What actually made the Hawke model work ▪️ Why reform feels harder today ▪️ Whether Labor is misreading its own history What matters now is what Albanese Labor can realistically learn from Hawke — and what his record tells students of Australian politics about the limits and possibilities of reform today.

A seismic election result in South Australia — but was it a Labor landslide, or a structural collapse of the Liberals? Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack: The Liberals finishing third and fourth across large parts of the state One Nation’s 22% surge and what it really means The critical importance of SA Premier Peter Malinauskas Why this could be a warning shot for Victoria 2026 This is a deep dive into fragmentation, realignment, and the future of the two party system. Check out episode 49 wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down the most striking polling shift in a generation — and what it means for Australian politics.   Victoria is no longer a conventional contest. Both major parties are struggling to reach 30%. One Nation is now polling in the mid-20s. The next Victorian election won’t be one election at all. It’ll be eighty-eight by-elections happening simultaneously across the state.   In this episode we explore:   📊 RedBridge/Accent Victorian state election polling 👥 Generational and class realignment playing out in real time 🗳️ Check in on South Australia ahead of March 21 🌍 Whether Middle East conflict influences domestic voting behaviour   This is a deep dive into the end of the old electoral map — and what replaces it.

This week co-hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Dr Kylie Gilbert-Moore — Middle East scholar, columnist and former political prisoner in Iran. After spending 804 days jailed in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Kylie offers a rare perspective on how the Iranian regime works and how ordinary Iranians see the world. In this episode we unpack: • Iran’s widening war in the Middle East • The death of Ali Khamenei and rise of his son • Whether authoritarian regimes are stronger or more fragile during war • What Iranians actually think about the conflict • How the region might change if Iran’s regime falls 🎧 Listen now via Apple, Spotify or YouTube

This week Curtin's Cast is joined in the studio by Peter Khalil — Labor member for the federal seat of Wills in Melbourne, Assistant Minister for Defence, former Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, ex-national security adviser to Kevin Rudd, and previously the government’s former Special Envoy for Social Cohesion. From public housing in Melbourne’s north to junior tennis glory, from working as an executive with SBS to the frontline of Australia’s national security debate — Peter’s story is as global as it is grounded. And Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go deep with Peter, exploring: 🎾 Growing up in Melbourne’s north to immigrant parents — and what a good working-class boy was doing playing tennis ✝️ Who are the Egyptian Copts? Peter gives us a history lesson — one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, tracing their lineage back to the early Church, shaped by centuries of survival, faith and minority resilience in the Middle East 🧭 Why Peter chose the brutal occupation of parliamentary politics over a a successful and comfortable executive career 🏘️ On the ground in Wills — what voters are actually saying at the doors 🤝 Social cohesion beyond the slogan — what happens when trust frays? ⚠️ Extremism — left and right — protest, grievance, and social media accelerant 🌏 Geo-political volatility — what does middle-power strategy look like now? All killer, no filler. Catch Episode 46 wherever you get your podcasts.

This week it’s a one-on-one Kos vs Nick deep dive. No guests. No niceties. Just a hard look at the polling — and some of the rubbish floating around. We unpack: 📊 The latest federal and state polls — what’s real and what’s noise 🔵 The new Liberal leadership — and why it’s not generational renewal 🗳️ The same free-market fundamentalism dressed up with culture-war garnish 📰 The same campaign/media tactics including obligatory News Corp sit-down 🏙️ A leader who doesn’t hold an urban metropolitan seat 💥 And the deeper truth: the problem isn’t just the leader — it’s the party We also dig into: 📍 Victorian and South Australian polling 🎤 The Mally campaign launch: One Nation is the real threat ⚠️ How One Nation can eat into Labor’s base especially in Victoria Then: 🏗️ Why issues like the CFMEU saga are viewed by voters as intra-elite squabbles 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️ The widening gender divide and growing generational fracture — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z — and how each tells a different political story If you want to know where Australian politics is actually heading — beyond the hot takes — this is the episode for you!

🎙️ New Curtin’s Cast: Alastair Campbell on democracy in the age of Trumpism Politics everywhere feels simultaneously stuck and combustible — in the US, the UK and here in Australia. This week Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Alastair Campbell — former Director of Communications and Strategy to Tony Blair, co-host of The Rest Is Politics, and one of the sharpest observers of modern democratic politics — for a wide-ranging and unsparing conversation. We explore: Why UK Labour PM Keir Starmer governs with a commanding majority yet struggles to project purpose How Anthony Albanese’s Australian Labor and Canada’s Mark Carney are resisting the right-wing populist surge The global ecosystem of right-wing media, influencers and big money amplifying grievance and normalising transgressive politics of the MAGA, Reform UK and Aussie One Nation variety Why figures like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson can get away with behaviour mainstream politicians cannot What New Labour got wrong - namely the downsides of globalization  Housing, intergenerational equality and climate are the means by which the social democratic centre-left can beat back the populist Alt-Right Alastair also speaks candidly about his own reaction to Trump — even joking about how he has “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — and what that reveals about the emotional intensity of contemporary politics 🎧 Listen to episode 44 wherever you get your podcasts. 

🎙 Curtin’s Cast returns for 2026 Episode 43 | Polling shocks, Coalition fracture and the new politics of grievance Australian politics is realigning in real time. In the first Curtin’s Cast episode of 2026, co-hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack a turbulent political summer — from polling shocks and Coalition breakdown to the surge of One Nation, the Gen X revolt, and the risks now facing a dominant but vulnerable Labor government. We discuss: • What the polling is really telling us • Why the Coalition’s break-up (and make-up) doesn’t fix the right • One Nation’s consolidation and electoral prospects • Gen X as the new grievance cohort • How legacy media built a populist right-wing Frankenstein it can’t control • Why the Greens are stuck in neutral • Why Labor’s next term must be about delivery, not luck • What the 2026 SA and Victorian elections will reveal about federal politics 🎧 Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

As we wrap up Curtin’s Cast for 2025, a big thank you to everyone who’s tuned in this year — and a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and season’s greetings to all our listeners. Your support has helped make Curtin’s Cast one of the most widely listened-to political podcasts in the country, and we’re deeply grateful. To close out the year, we couldn’t ask for a better conversation. Quarterly Essay has reached its 100th edition — a remarkable milestone for long-form political writing in Australia. And to mark it, Kos and Nick sit down with Sean Kelly, author of The Good Fight: What Does Labor Stand For? — an essay that asks an important, and uncomfortable, question in Australian politics. Sean argues Labor’s challenge today isn’t simply electoral, but moral: a crisis of purpose, confidence and imagination. Why has the party that once reshaped the nation struggled to articulate what it stands for heading into 2026? What replaced the old sense of mission? And can a politics built on “kindness” survive a harsher, more unequal era? 📘 Buy Sean Kelly’s Quarterly Essay #100 here: 👉 https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2025/11/the-good-fight Thanks again for listening in 2025. We’ll see you in 2026 — with plenty more to talk about.

On this week’s Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go one-on-one on what the latest Redbridge and Resolve polling is really telling us about Australian politics heading into a huge 2026 calendar. With two state elections looming in South Australia and Victoria, and federal pressures building, we unpack what to expect at state level, how federal factors are cutting through, and why One Nation’s surge is no longer a side story. The conversation then turns to the deeper question behind the numbers: who is actually experiencing material decline in living standards, and how that economic anxiety is reshaping voting behaviour across One Nation, Labor, Liberals and the Greens. With inflation risks still live and global instability rising, we also ask what kind of nation-building agenda Labor will need to put on the table in 2026 to hold the political centre.

🎧 NEW EPISODE | CURTIN’S CAST 🇺🇦🇦🇺 Recorded live from Parliament House, Canberra Winning the Peace: Why Ukraine’s Reconstruction Is Australia’s Test Too This episode features one of the most powerful voices in Australia’s Ukraine community. Alex Vynokur didn’t become an advocate by choice — history chose him. A Ukrainian Jew whose family endured antisemitism and world war, Alex's family have built an incredibly successful life in Australia. When Russia invaded, he didn’t look away. He built the United Ukraine Appeal into a lifeline for hospitals, families and frontline communities under fire. Now he joins Curtin’s Cast — just minutes after the launch of our new report in Parliament along with report author Dr Dominic Meagher and hosts Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth  — to argue that rebuilding Ukraine is not charity, it is solidarity and strategy to serve Australia's national interest.

Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras sit down with Nine Media’s Chief Political Correspondent, Paul Sakkal, for one of the sharpest political conversations we’ve had all year. We cover everything reshaping Australian politics right now: • The latest polling — and what it really means • Liberal Party chaos & whether Sussan Ley can hang on? • The rise and rise of One Nation: who’s voting for them? Why? • Whether Pauline Hanson has finally hit her ceiling • Andrew Hastie — principled conservative or emerging Messiah figure? • Why the Liberals’ national future runs through fixing Victoria first • And what to expect from new Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson It’s a wide-ranging, data-rich, brutally honest breakdown direct from the corridors of power.

With Kung Fu Kos away, Nick Dyrenfurth teams up with guest co-host Emma Dawson (Chifley Research Centre) to tackle a huge few weeks in politics: 📊 What the latest federal polling really says 🌆 Mamdani’s NYC upset + outsider politics 🇬🇧 UK Labour turmoil, Reform & Greens surge 📱 Australia’s under-16 social media ban Is a new generation rejecting “politics-as-usual”? And what should Australian Labor, indeed political parties of all stripes, learn before it’s too late? Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

  Fifty years to the day after the Dismissal, this week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and guest co-host Emma Dawson talk to acclaimed historian and political biographer Troy Bramston about his stunning new biography Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New. 700+ pages of reform, chaos, and vision — from Gough’s youthful poem to the tumultuous events of 11 November 1975. What does Whitlam still mean to Labor today? Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Buy Troy's book: https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460716137/gough-whitlam-the-vista-of-the-new-the-definitive-and-most-up-to-date-biography-from-australias-leading-political-biographer/

  🎙️This week on Curtin's Cast, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth sit down with Gerard Dwyer, National Secretary of the SDA — Australia’s largest private-sector union covering retail, fast food and warehouse workers and a proud John Curtin Research Centre Board member. From regional NSW, to the classroom and social work, and now the frontline of the labour movement, Gerard shares his journey, values, and vision — from the dignity of retail work and the scourge of workplace violence to the fight for fair pay for young workers, and why housing must be at the heart of Labor’s renewal. There’s even a yarn about his short-lived career as a jockey 🏇 This is a conversation about work, safety, and fairness but also about the enduring moral purpose of the labour movement in an era of economic insecurity and populist politics. 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

🎙️ This week's Curtin's Cast delves into what one British political writer calls the Netflixisation of Politics. Nick Dyrenfurth & Kos Samaras dive into the end of the political pendulum: both major parties bleeding to their disruptor flanks, the rise of niche tribes, and how politics has become algorithmic entertainment — the voter as subscriber, not loyalist, from Reform UK and the Greens’ surge in Britain with Keir Starmer's Labour government assailed from right and left to similair Aussie trends. We also ask why do right-wing fear campaigns on crime and law and order still work outside the cities but flop inside them? And what does the recent and successful Albo–Trump meeting — and the Coalition’s hysteria over it — tell us about Australia’s underlying political psychology?

🎙️ Our guest today has lived the Australian story from the inside out. Born in Basra, Iraq, arriving to Australia as an asylum seeker aged nine including spending time in Villawood Detention Centre, and now a lawyer, chairperson and entrepreneur — Sam Almaliki’s journey is one of hope, hardship and renewal. From learning English behind fences to leading in business and community, Sam’s story captures the resilience and reinvention that define the Australian project. In this episode Nick and Kos yarn with Sam about: 🏠 Growing up in public housing & the power of aspiration 🏏 From Cricket Australia to navigating boardrooms 🤝 Migration, belonging & social cohesion   🎧 Listen to Curtin’s Cast with Sam Almaliki wherever you get your podcast goodies!

🎙️ New Curtin’s Cast episode! Kos and Nick dive into explosive new polling showing the combined major party primary vote at historic lows. The Liberals are haemorrhaging votes on their right flank while collapsing among Gen Z, millennials, women and CALD voters. They unpack the immigration debate, the rise of Advance Australia and right-wing online grifters, and ask: who exactly is voting for One Nation in 2025? (Spoiler: not the people who matter in marginal swing seats). Plus: how the Greens’ extremist rhetoric around the Middle East is backfiring with mainstream progressives. 🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

🎧 New #CurtinsCast episode - Kos Samaras is back with Brisbane Lions tragic & premiership celebrator Nick Dyrenfurth to dissect the week in politics: 🇬🇧 The rise of alt-right & MAGA politics in the UK and Australia 🛠️ Andrew Hastie on migration, housing & slaying the neo-liberal dragon ⚠️ Wayne Swan’s warning to Labor on its shallow base in a time of electoral volatility…  and much more besides.

🎧 New Curtin’s Cast Episode With Nick Dyrenfurth still away, JCRC board member & leading constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris joins Kos Samaras for a rich, personal and political conversation. 🌏⚖️ 💡 From her Indian-Fijian family roots and early acting dreams to the frontlines of law and advocacy, Shireen shares the journey that shaped her fight for justice and belonging. 🗳️ They dive deep into the Uluru Statement and the Voice referendum: • Lessons from working with First Nations leaders • Why constitutional design matters more than slogans • A frank autopsy of the 2023 Yes campaign—what worked, what didn’t • Where recognition, treaty & reform go next A candid, insightful episode on law, culture and the future of Australia’s democracy.

#CurtinsCast host Nick Dyrenfurth takes a well-earned spell from the microphone as John Curtin Research Centre board member and constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris joins Kos Samaras to lead a searching conversation with "proud Westie" and emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis. From the frontlines of emergency medicine to the fraught politics of end-of-life care, Dr Parnis reflects on the class politics of medical care, dealing with dying patents and what makes for a “good death,” the limits of autonomy, and why Victoria’s voluntary assisted-dying safeguards still trouble him. The discussion widens to COVID’s class divides and the paradox of highly-educated, generally affluent anti-vax movement. It’s a candid, compassionate exploration of clinical ethics, public policy, and how we might rewrite the script on death and care in Australia.

This week’s Curtin's Cast features the excellent ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth explore her working-class upbringing in north-west Sydney, the parallels between the rise of One Nation in the 1990s and today’s hard-right, neo-Nazi currents, and whether her attraction to the labour movement was a matter of nature or nurture. We cover the cultural left milieu she emerged from, the eye-opening experience of being the first in her family to attend university, the ACTU’s pioneering Organising Works program, the influence of mentors like Tom Macdonald and Tas Bull, and her path to the top job leading a resurgent union movement through seismic challenges from Covid to AI and intergenerational inequality. And yes — we also dive into Sally’s lifelong obsession with martial arts and how it’s shaped her leadership. A rich and revealing conversation you won’t want to miss.

This week we’re joined by Professor Sean Scalmer — one of Australia's leading historians based at the University of Melbourne, Fellow of the Academy of Social Science, and author of A Fair Day’s Work: The Quest to Win Back Time. We dive into: ⏳ The fight for the eight-hour day and Australia’s pioneering role 📉 How progress stalled from the 1980s onwards 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 The hidden burden of unpaid work, especially for women 💻 Technology, productivity and the “always on” culture 🗳️ Why politics has failed to act on overwork ✨ What a fairer future — maybe even a four-day week — could look like A revealing look at the crisis of work-life balance — and how we might win back our time. Grab a copy of Sean's book here: https://www.mup.com.au/books/a-fair-day-s-work/9780522880816

This week’s Curtin’s Cast features the thoughtful and formidable former Liberal MP Keith Wolahan. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth discussed Keith’s Irish Catholic working-class roots in Dublin, his childhood in suburban Melbourne and education at Ringwood Secondary College, through to his academic achievements at Melbourne, Monash and Cambridge and career as a barrister. Our conversation delved into his two decades of military service including the elite 1st Commando Regiment, deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, and the loss of close friends in combat that shaped his reflections on leadership, sacrifice and ethics. We unpacked his pivotal preselection contest against Kevin Andrews in the seat of Menzies and his brief time in federal parliament, with Keith providing some raw and super interesting insights into modern political life. We also explored the lessons of defeat after Menzies turned red in 2025, his honesty in taking responsibility, and his vision for a Liberal Party that must reconnect with urban voters – especially professionals, women, younger Australians and migrant communities. Keith spoke candidly about his family life, his values, and whether a political comeback might lie ahead alongside his work at the Bar. This is a conversation not to be missed. Check out a preview which is running in Nine Media's The Age and SMH: https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/canavan-leads-group-of-five-demanding-coalition-debate-now-on-scrapping-net-zero-20250826-p5mpvo.html

In a competitive field we think this week's Curtin's Cast might be the best yet featuring the super impressive South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth discussed Peter's upbringing in Adelaide, his career as a unionist rising from the Woolies shopfloor to become state secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association representing retail, fast-food and warehousing workers, and journey from becoming SA Labor Opposition leader to Premier during the Covid years. Our conversation spanned artificial intelligence and productivity, housing, social media policy, the end of woke and anti-woke politics, Labor connecting better with disillusioned young men and Australians of faith, and the deteriorating geopolitical environment.

We are very fortunate to have the one of the brightest and most innovative economists in Australia as part of our team - Dr Dominic Meagher. He's our latest guest on Curtin's Cast with Kos Samaras discussing the finer details of our recently released paper co-authored with Nick Dyrenfurth - 'Innovation Nation: Powering Australian Productivity in the 2020s and Beyond'. On this episode we get to the core of what productivity actually is and why Australian growth is now at its lowest in 60 years, mostly as the result of the old playbook of cutting costs, deregulation, and squeezing workers being no longer fit for purpose, and deep dive into the JCRC's bold, practical and distinctively social democratic blueprint for a more dynamic, resilient, and fair economy with productivity the means by which we can realise rising real wages and better living standards.  Read the entire report here: https://lnkd.in/ga2xad8J

The great 'Kung Fu' Kos Samaras is back with Curtin's Cast co-host Nick Dyrenfurth discussing the post-election environment and the crisis of the Liberal-National Party.

This week's Curtin's Cast is a ripper featuring Gautam Raju, Global Director, Policy & Advocacy – Programs with Movember. Gautam, as listeners will discover is a ripper bloke talking about an issue Australian society is slowly but surely confronting - bloke's health, whether mental or physical well-being. Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge's Simon Welsh covered a smorgasbord of topics from Gautam's work co-leading the United Nations Secretary General campaign response to combat misinformation on COVID-19 which has reached over 1 billion people to big topics from the state of play in 2025, the usefulness of terms such as toxic masculinity, sport and male role models, the online world and social media influencers including right-wing populist types, and what political progressives and those on the left of politics need to do better in these spaces. A big thanks to Simon for filling in for Kos Samaras these past few weeks. Enjoy episode 23!

This week's Curtin's Cast is a powerful, at times moving episode featuring Ronnie Hayden, Australian Workers Union Victorian Branch Secretary. Hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge's Simon Welsh chatted to Ronnie about his upbringing in Ireland, diverse working life as a cafe owner and construction worker, life as a Dad to five children and fostering 55 (!) kids, personal challenges he has overcome on the way to leading the Victorian AWU and the issues facing working people which fire him up.

History nerds and labour movement aficionados we have a cracker of a Curtin's Cast for you this week! Nick Dyrenfurth was joined by Redbridge's Simon Welsh to yarn with historian and author Dr Liam Byrne, discussing his new book, No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia. Liam is a distinguished biographer of the great John Curtin and another Labor prime minister Jim Scullin - his first book was Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin: the Making of the Modern Labor Party (Melbourne University Press, 2020) so we naturally traversed his earlier studies of these Labor icons, Liam's own Irish-Scottish family background and attraction to labour history and union activism, why people came together to form unions and purpose of unionism itself, the progression of unionism in Australia over nearly two centuries, the big and lesser known heroes of his story, and just how crucial unions have been in shaping modern Australian society - especially the struggles of women workers, culturally and linguistically diverse and First Nations' workers, and more recently LGBTIQA+ toilers, as well as how unions are enjoying something of a resurgence especially amongst younger people. No Power Greater is fascinating and compelling history - enjoy the pod and make sure to buy Liam's book. Read an extract and secure a copy here: https://byrnel.substack.com/p/no-power-greater?

This week's Curtin's Cast is a special edition featuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's 2025 Curtin Oration in Sydney on Saturday 5 July on the 80th anniversary of John Curtin's passing and the PM's expansive Q and A which followed with our centre's Chair, Sam Almaliki.

We had a fabulous chat this week on Curtin's Cast with one of Britain's finest young historians, authors and leading political commentator, David Swift. Co-hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras deep dived into Dave's latest book, Scouse Republic: An Alternative History of Liverpool (Constable). We explored what makes Liverpool unique culturally and politically and touched on all manner of other subjects from Nigel Farage, why "Tory" is such a venomous insult, and what the left gets right and wrong about working people. Enjoy!