Demographer Liz Allen and social policy expert Ben Phillips join us to discuss the budget's impact on struggling Australians and the politics of the population debate.

What impact will the modest increases to the JobSeeker payment and other benefits have on the lives of people who are doing it tough? Is the federal government doing enough to build the case for more substantial increases in social security spending? And should people be concerned about the impact of a growing population on infrastructure? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Dr Liz Allen and Associate Professor Ben Phillips join Professor Mark Kenny to discuss the politics of population and the case for a stronger safety net.

Liz Allen is a demographer and social researcher at the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences and the author of The Future of Us: Demography gets a makeover.

Ben Phillips is an Associate Professor and a Principal Research Fellow at the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods.

Mark Kenny is a Professor at 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.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au.

This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.

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