On this episode of Democracy Sausage, journalist Sarah Ison, political scientist John Warhurst, Marija Taflaga, and Mark Kenny discuss the federal budget and the return of ‘fibre to the premises’.

After years of political battles over the National Broadband Network, why has the government now decided to build ‘fibre to the premises’? What lies ahead in next week’s federal budget, possibly one of the most important in Australia’s recent history? And is the federal opposition losing a fight for relevance, or is Labor leader Anthony Albanese just doing what he can with a difficult hand? On this Democracy Sausage, our expert panel - political correspondent for The West Australian Sarah Ison, Emeritus Professor John Warhurst, regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga, and host Professor Mark Kenny - talk about the federal budget and helping voters make more informed decisions at election time.

John Warhurst AO is an Emeritus Professor of political science at ANU. His expertise is centred on Australian government and politics, especially parties, elections, lobbying, and church-state relations.

Sarah Ison is a political correspondent for The West Australian.

Mark Kenny is a Professor in the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.

Dr Marija Taflaga is the Director of ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a lecturer in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.

You can access smartvote Australia, a project of The Australian National University, here.

This year’s ‘Australia in the World’ lecture with Pat Turner AM will be broadcast live on ABC News and Sky News at 12.30pm on Wednesday 29 September. You can find more details here.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.

This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University.

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