Latest Episodes
Politics podcast: Glenn Lazarus on the government's industrial relations legislation
Senators will return to Canberra later this month with the expectation that they will give final consideration to the government's industrial relations legislation – unless they decide to refuse to consider it. Glenn Lazarus, whose approval the government may need if the bills are to have any hope of passing, tells Michelle Grattan he will not be bullied or blackmailed into giving his support. Lazarus…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: George Wright on Labor's chances of winning the election
While Labor goes into the coming election as underdog, the party's strategy to win government will capitalise on what it sees as its competitive advantages. From Labor’s national secretariat in Canberra, campaign director George Wright tells Michelle Grattan the party will be working hard to increase its direct contact with voters. "We worked very hard at that in 2013 and we will work even harder on…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Ricky Muir's fight to stay in the Senate
The Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party’s Ricky Muir this week made an unsuccessful last roll of the dice to try to delay the government's Senate voting reform legislation. The bill will prevent almost all "micro" players being elected to the Senate, and facilitate the government driving out most of the current bunch if it holds a double-dissolution election. But Muir tells Michelle Grattan the reforms…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Tony Windsor on his bid for New England
In what promises to be one of the toughest contests at the election, former independent MP Tony Windsor will try to retake the seat of New England from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Windsor tells Michelle Grattan he believes the seat is winnable. "I'm not naive in politics, I know there will be an enormous amount of money thrown at this but my campaign will be based on people – and people power…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Mathias Cormann on Senate reform
Following recommendations from the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, the government has amended its Senate reform bill to include provision for optional preferential voting "below the line" as well as "above the line". Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann explains the details of the changes and says the bill "empowers the Australian people to determine what happens to their votes…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: senator David Leyonhjelm on Malcolm Turnbull
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm has accused Malcolm Turnbull of failing to live up to his promise to liaise closely with the Senate crossbenchers. As the "micro" players react furiously to the government's proposed Senate voting changes, Leyonhjelm tells Michelle Grattan he has not heard from Turnbull since his call in his first week as prime minister. Despite the "reservoir of goodwill…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Francis Sullivan on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
Soaring community outrage over the issue of child sexual abuse was this week fanned by a Tim Minchin song calling for Cardinal George Pell to return home to Australia to give evidence to the royal commission. Francis Sullivan, CEO of the Truth, Justice and Healing Council, tells Michelle Grattan that his organisation supports the crowd-funded push to fly victims to Rome and describes Pell as a lightning…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill on the tax debate
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill's willingness to countenance an increase to the GST angered federal Labor colleagues. But Weatherill tells Michelle Grattan he has no regrets about his "circuit-breaker" intervention – although he also concedes an increase to the GST is not really a solution to the states' revenue problems. "It raises too much money in the early years and too little in the later…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Kelly O'Dwyer on tax reform
As the government considers a tax reform agenda without changing the GST, Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer discusses tax and superannuation with Michelle Grattan – and strongly defends the Business Council of Australia's Jennifer Westacott against an attack by Victorian Liberal president Michael Kroger. O’Dwyer also suggests the Liberal Party tap talented women on the shoulder to get more female representation…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Nick Xenophon on launching a political party
At the start of a frenetic year for independent Nick Xenophon, the South Australian senator tells Michelle Grattan his new national political party, the Nick Xenophon Team, will fill a vacuum. "People want a genuine choice from the political centre. I think they're sick of the left and right skirmishes we see in politics – the red team, blue team approach where even if one side acknowledges that the…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Michaelia Cash on the government's push to restore the ABCC
As the government turns up the heat over its push to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC), Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has revealed she is willing to agree to senator David Leyonhjelm's call for a sunset clause in the legislation. "David has raised that with me and ... yes, I would accept an eight-year sunset clause," she said. She said in that time the ABCC would…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Tony Burke on Labor's fiscal challenge
In the first Politics Podcast for 2016, Michelle Grattan and Shadow Finance Minister Tony Burke discuss the challenging gap between government revenue and spending, and what Labor would do to address the problem. Burke pitches Labor’s recent education announcements as being central to its economic vision, describing them as a "strategic economic investment" in what Australia will need post the mining…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Andrew Leigh on MYEFO
Michelle Grattan discusses the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook with Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, gauging his thoughts on the savings measures announced by the government and how Labor would address the issue of budget repair.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Peter Reith on the Turnbull government
Former Howard government minister Peter Reith, who has just released his recollections of the period in his book The Reith Papers, talks about the challenges facing the Turnbull government including his view that Tony Abbott needs to keep his head down for a while, the pros and cons of increasing the GST and the predicament facing Mal Brough.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Bill Ferris on innovation
The newly appointed chair of Innovation Australia, Bill Ferris, talks about his early experiences investing in start-ups in the 1970s, the need for Australia to bring its ideas and inventions to market, and the way to tackle a business culture that fears failure.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Simon Birmingham on education reform
Michelle Grattan speaks with Education Minister Simon Birmingham about his negotiations for a new higher education package, efforts to crack down on rorting in the vocational educational sector and the government's overhaul of the childcare system.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Christian Porter on domestic violence
Michelle Grattan speaks with Social Services Minister Christian Porter about the government's moves on domestic violence, his thinking on welfare reform and his support for making adoption easier.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: the danger of leasing the Port of Darwin to the Chinese
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Peter Jennings has strongly criticised the decision to lease the Port of Darwin to a Chinese company, saying it is a deep strategic mistake after a flawed policy process. Speaking to Michelle Grattan, Jennings also canvasses the difficulties of co-ordinating Russian and American military action in the Syrian conflict, and warns Australia could…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Katy Gallagher on transitioning from chief minister to senator
Former ACT chief minister Katy Gallagher, now a federal Labor senator with new responsibilities in the shadow ministry, admits she has found the jump into the bigger political pool challenging. She has also had to do a pivot in her views on increasing the GST. Here she also talks about mental health, federal-state relations and Labor's face-off with Malcolm Turnbull.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: John Blaxland on his new book, The Official History of ASIO
Michelle Grattan discusses the newly released book The Protest Years: The Official History of ASIO 1963-1975 with its author, John Blaxland. Among several controversies, they review the evidence supporting conspiracy theories surrounding the dismissal of the Whitlam government and the fractious relationship between the agency and Labor Attorney-General Lionel Murphy.
2 Hosts: Michelle Grattan and John Blaxland
Politics podcast: Sarah Hanson-Young on the plight of 'Abyan'
In this interview, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young calls on the government to appoint an independent advocate to protect the interests of the Somali woman known as "Abyan", who is being held on Nauru. Michelle Grattan also probes Hanson-Young on the Greens' electoral prospects following the ascension of Malcolm Turnbull to the prime ministership.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Sam Dastyari unleashed
In The Conversation's first live podcast, which took place in Canberra's Muse wine bar and bookstore, Sam Dastyari gives a candid insight into Labor's strategy to win back government, the threat of the Greens and much more.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Jamie Briggs on the infrastructure needs of Australian cities
In the cabinet reshuffle that followed the Liberal Party leadership spill, new Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appointed Jamie Briggs as the Minister for Cities and the Built Environment. Jamie Briggs joins Michelle Grattan to talk about his new portfolio, the policy pivot away from just roads toward other infrastructure projects like public transport, the changes under the new prime minister and much…
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Kim Carr on Labor's new higher education policy
Higher education looms as a key issue in the next federal election. The Labor Party released its higher education policy this week. Shadow Higher Education Minister Kim Carr joins Michelle Grattan to talk about the new policy in depth.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan
Politics podcast: Arthur Sinodinos on why Australia needed a new prime minister
Arthur Sinodinos was a key backer of Malcolm Turnbull. In this interview with Michelle Grattan he talks about why the Liberals needed a change in leadership, what he hopes will change in the running of the Prime Minister's Office and much more.
1 Host: Michelle Grattan