Lukas Coch/AAP With Jim Chalmers’s third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief – beyond the tax cuts – although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this week’s consumer price index showed, the battle with inflation has not yet been won. The government can’t afford to have an over-generous budget add to inflation and further delay a pre-election reduction in interest rates. In this podcast, we’re joined by independent economist Chris Richardson to discuss the budget and Australia’s economic outlook. Richardson say while the growth ..read more

Lukas Coch/AAP After the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel in an Assyrian Orthodox Church in Wakeley on Monday, and the killings in Bondi Junction shopping centre just two days earlier, many people in Sydney and in Australia more widely are tense. The shopping centre incident, in which the perpetrator was a mentally-ill 40-year-old man, was not seen by the police as terrorism; the church attack, by a 16-year-old youth, was. With constant protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza and fears about a wider Middle East conflict, social harmony among religions and cultures in Australia is strain ..read more

Lukas Coch/AAP The Albanese government and the Australian public are currently focused on the cost-of-living crisis and its impact on household budgets. For Australia’s longer-term economic outlook, the government is looking at reforms that are needed to increase competition and our flat-lined productivity. Andrew Leigh is in the middle of this debate. He’s Assistant Minister for Employment and Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury. In a speech he delivers on Thursday, Leigh homes in on one issue inhibiting competition which affects a surprising number of workers – “non-c ..read more

Alan Porritt/AAP Kim Beazley, a former Labor leader, served as Australia’s ambassador in Washington between 2010 and 2016. He is widely respected for his expertise in foreign and defence policy. In this podcast episode, Beazley discusses the brouhaha over Donald Trump’s denigrating comments about Kevin Rudd, the present Australian ambassador in Washington. We also canvass wider alliance issues and the recent visit to Australia by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who included a meeting with Paul Keating among his engagements. On Kevin Rudd’s future, Beazley says: I have hopes that he could s ..read more

Imaged Provided by Lesley Seebeck The United States House of Representatives has passed a bill to force TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to either sell TikTok to a non-Chinese company or face a ban in the US. While the measure won’t come into effect until the American Senate agrees, it has re-engaged a debate over TikTok’s risk to national security, as well as its impact on young people and the implications for free speech if there was a ban. The Albanese government has flagged it won’t blindly follow the US action but instead will rely on advice from its security agencies. The government, however ..read more

Australian National University / https://researchprofiles.anu.edu.au/en/persons/john-blaxland Last week, ASIO boss Mike Burgess gave his annual assessment of threats to Australia’s domestic security. In his speech, Burgess sensationally revealed that a former politician had “sold out their country” to a foreign regime. Burgess’s refusal to name the person, citing the need to protect ASIO’s tradecraft, invited speculation and debate. Nor would he specify the country, but a subsequent report said it was China. In this podcast, we’re joined by Professor John Blaxland, Professor of International ..read more

DIEGO FEDELE/AAP (Left) & Supplied by opposition (Right) The March 2 byelection in the outer suburban Melbourne seat of Dunkley is the third byelection this term but the first in a Labor-held electorate. It has been caused by the death late last year of Peta Murphy, after a long battle with cancer. Labor’s margin sits at 6.3% in Dunkley, an electorate that has swung between the major parties. Labor goes into the byelection as the favourite, as it seeks to sell its changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts. Most voters will be better off under the new package than they would have under the original ..read more

yeah LUKAS COCH/AAP The federal government has released its latest implementation plan for Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage. What are multiple gaps are still vast, with many areas not on track to meet their targets. After the failed Voice referendum, the government is looking to the next steps for First Nations people. To discuss this week’s policy announcement, the centrepiece of which is a $700 million jobs program for people in remote areas, we’re joined by Malarndirri McCarthy, senator for the Northern Territory and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians. McCarthy says: A ..read more

MICK TSIKAS/AAP The government has announced long-awaited fuel efficiency standards, which will place a yearly cap on the total emissions output for new cars sold in Australia. The new regime will move Australia in the direction of comparable countries, but it has its critics. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen joins the podcast to discuss this policy, as well as the government’s progress on the energy transition, which is facing resistance in some regional and rural communities. On the fuel standards, Bowen insists there’s no downside. I don’t see any losers out of this poli ..read more

MICK TSIKAS/AAP With the government’s changes to the stage 3 tax cuts to favour lower and middle income earners, and a looming by-election in the Victorian seat of Dunkley, eyes are now on the opposition for its response to Labor’s new package. In our first podcast of 2024, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor discusses the tax broken promise, where the economy is heading, falling inflation, and more. On the government’s tax backflip he says: I think Labor has shifted to a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul mindset now. They clearly believe in zero-sum economics, a zero-sum politics, where you take somethin ..read more