Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny

On this special bonus Democracy Sausage Extra, we’re joined by one of Australia’s most preeminent China scholars, Professor Jane Golley, to help us understand China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and what it means for Australia.A three-decade, $1 trillion infrastructure investment plan that currently involves over 60 countries, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a vast economic and foreign policy initiative led by Chinese President Xi Jinping. But the scheme hasn’t been universally welcomed - indeed Victoria’s 2018 to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China on the deal has been met with criticism by the Federal Government. But what are the economic and foreign policy factors driving the BRI? How valid are the national security concerns about the scheme, including those about so-called ‘debt-trap diplomacy’? And how should Australia be responding? On this special extra Democracy Sausage Extra, we’re joined by one of Australia’s most preeminent China scholars, Professor Jane Golley, to help us understand the BRI and Australia-China relations.Professor Jane Golley is an economist and Director of the Australian Centre on China in the World at The Australian National University.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Mark Kenny chats to former New South Wales (NSW) Greens politician Ian Cohen about his life in politics, Australia’s history of environmental activism, and grabbing onto the front of a US warship in Sydney Harbour. Rising to prominence after surfing the bow wave of a US Destroyer during a nuclear disarmament protest, Ian Cohen became the first Greens politician to be elected to the NSW Legislative Council. After a political career spanning 16 years, Ian chats with Professor Mark Kenny in paradise on the NSW Far North Coast on this Democracy Sausage Extra. The pair chat about the history of environmental activism in Australia, the importance of protecting and preserving the delicate ecological balance in his local community, and what the future might hold for the Australian Greens. 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.Ian Cohen is a former Australian Greens politician. Ian was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1995 as its first Green member. He retired from parliament in 2011.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this special 100th episode of Democracy Sausage, we’re joined by Frank Bongiorno, Jacinta Carroll, Marija Taflaga, and Mark Kenny to talk Australian attitudes towards COVID-19 surveillance, security agencies on social media, and accountability for former political figures.What do Australian attitudes towards surveillance amidst the COVID-19 crisis suggest about trust in society? After weeks of icy diplomatic exchanges, what is the Australian government’s long-term goal for its relationship with Beijing? And why are Australia’s security agencies taking to social media? On the 100th episode of Democracy Sausage, we’re joined by national security expert Jacinta Carroll, historian Professor Frank Bongiorno, regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga and, taking a break from his holiday to appear as guest, Professor Mark Kenny.Jacinta Carroll is Senior Research Fellow at ANU National Security College and was the inaugural Head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Counter-Terrorism Policy Centre.Professor Frank Bongiorno AM is the Head of the School of History at ANU and is an Australian labour, political and cultural historian.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 Director of the Australian Politics Studies Centre in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Her major research is on political parties and particularly the Liberal Party of Australia. She has previously worked in the Australian Parliamentary Press Gallery as a researcher at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While the coronavirus crisis in the United Kingdom has abated somewhat in recent months, is life in the country going to get tougher if winter brings about a growing risk of transmission and Brexit negotiations falter? With us this week to discuss the challenges facing Britain are Remainiacs and The Bunker host Ros Taylor, pod regular Elizabeth Ames, and Brexit researcher Georgina Wright.It has been a very tough year in the UK, but some fear that very difficult times still lie ahead. With schools reopening and winter set to force Britons back indoors, will the colder months bring with them another spike in COVID-19 cases? While the country has seen an outpouring of support for frontline workers, is the pandemic actually undermining the social contract in the UK? And with Brexit negotiations forced down the priority list, what impact is the uncertainty about the future of UK-European relations having on British business already struggling? On this Democracy Sausage Extra we’re joined by a top panel of UK-based experts - Ros Taylor, Elizabeth Ames and Georgina Wright - to look at the challenges facing Britain as it tries to manage Brexit negotiations and a global pandemic.Georgina Wright is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Government, where she focuses on the United Kingdom's engagement and influence in the European Union after Brexit. Her research interests also include Franco-British relations and the future of the European Union.Ros Taylor is Research Manager for the LSE Truth, Trust & Technology Commission and Managing Editor of the LSE Brexit blog, and the host of the Remainiacs and The Bunker podcasts.Elizabeth Ames is an international trade policy expert. She is currently Director of the Britain-Australia Society and Trustee of the Menzies Australia Institute at King's College London.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week’s fry up of politics and public affairs, our outstanding panel of John Hewson, Quentin Grafton and Marija Taflaga join us to talk about the COVID-19 aged care inquiry, tensions over state border closures, and whether or not a coronavirus vaccine should be mandatory.It was a “week of hope” in the words of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, after signing a letter of intent to access the promising Oxford University coronavirus vaccine and falling infection numbers in Victoria. So after weeks of restrictions in Victoria following its second wave outbreak, is this week another turning point in Australia’s coronavirus response? Should Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck face sanctions for failing to recall how many aged care residents have died from the virus in a Senate Inquiry? And is making a COVID-19 vaccine compulsory essential to ensure community safety in the wake of the pandemic? With Mark Kenny on a well-earned break, Martyn Pearce fires up the barbeque this week, joined by former Opposition Leader Dr John Hewson, Crawford School’s Professor Quentin Grafton, and regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga.Dr John Hewson AM is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at Crawford School of Public Policy. He is an economic and financial expert with experience in academia, business, government, media, and the financial system.Professor Quentin Grafton is an ANU Public Policy Fellow, and Director of the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Policy Forum.Dr Marija Taflaga is Director of the Australian Politics Studies Centre in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Her major research is on political parties and particularly the Liberal Party of Australia. She has previously worked in the Australian Parliamentary Press Gallery as a researcher at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Martyn Pearce is a presenter for Policy Forum Pod and the Editor of Policy Forum. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The coronavirus crisis is posing new questions and serious challenges to Australia’s political leaders. And those leaders are responding assertively – closing borders, slowing the economy, and working hard to keep infection numbers down. But are they making the right choices? On this Democracy Sausage Extra Mark Kenny talks with the insiders who ask the tough questions of those leaders every day – press gallery veterans David Crowe and Phil Coorey.Initial political optimism from an early Federal Government response and subsequent low infection numbers has now given way to fear, with Australia’s internal borders closed, and soul searching and inquiries about community protection and service provision. So what does this unprecedented political time look like to the insiders – the people who report from Canberra’s press gallery? Joining Professor Mark Kenny are Phil Coorey of the Australian Financial Review and David Crowe of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. The panel discuss the questions the pandemic raises about Australia’s federated system, why every leader gets judged on the numbers, whether Australia’s good performance through the Global Financial Crisis encouraged complacency about the impacts of COVID-19, and the ‘bad men’ in charge of the world. 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.Phillip Coorey is an Australian journalist, currently political editor for The Australian Financial Review. Phillip has covered federal politics since 1998, beginning as political correspondent for The Advertiser.David Crowe is Chief Political Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, and a regular commentator on national affairs on the ABC’s Insiders program. In a career spanning 25 years, he has covered federal politics as the national affairs editor of The Australian and the Chief Political Correspondent of The Australian Financial Review.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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has a failure to properly value care led to poor decisions driven by profit, and in doing so entrenched inequality for women? On this Democracy Sausage we take a look at the crisis unfolding in Australia’s aged care sector, the gendered dimensions playing out in the pandemic, and why we need to rethink how we value human beings in society.Even before the coronavirus hit, it was clear that the aged care sector had significant problems - a sector largely privatised and governed by profit, and built on the back of low-paid, poorly-valued, and precariously employed women workers. On this episode of Democracy Sausage Mark Kenny speaks to Meegan Fitzharris, Helen Sullivan, and Sharon Bessell about what the crisis in aged care tells us about how governments deliver the services people need, what we value in society, and what we want society to look like after the crisis.Meegan Fitzharris is a Senior Fellow in Health Policy and Leadership at ANU College of Health and Medicine. She is a former Labor Member of the Legislative Assembly for Molonglo and Yerrabi and was the ACT Government's Minister for Health and Wellbeing.Professor Helen Sullivan is Director of the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.Sharon Bessell is Professor of Public Policy and Director of Gender Equity and Diversity at Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University.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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, academic and author Dr Liz Allen joins us to talk about the myth of the Australian ‘fair go’ and why COVID-19 could be leading Australia into demographic disaster.Political leaders often pitch Australia as the land of ‘a fair go’. But with real social mobility so hard to come by for many Australians, is this more national myth than reality? What can policymakers do to ensure demography doesn’t equal destiny for Australians experiencing disadvantage? And is the COVID-19 crisis creating a ‘perfect storm’ for demographic trouble in Australia? On this Democracy Sausage, Mark Kenny is joined by demographer Dr Liz Allen to talk about what demography reveals about Australia’s democracy, why economic uncertainty might be preventing a COVID-19 baby boom, and her new book The Future of Us. Dr Liz Allen is a demographer and social researcher with quantitative and qualitative expertise at The Australian National University and author of The Future of Us: Demography gets a makeover.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.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it take to be a political leader? What’s the magic mix of talent and time? And do Australia’s treasurer and shadow treasurer have that mix? Joining Mark Kenny to talk about what it takes to do the top job are commentator Niki Savva and Marija Taflaga.After botching the bushfire response, many argue Prime Minister Scott Morrison has performed strongly in the pandemic. But while he’s riding high in the polls, showing flexibility in policy, and moving quickly to sure up a struggling economy, the real political test will come with the predicted deep and long recession to come. If he or opposition leader Anthony Albanese struggle, both government and opposition have potential leaders in waiting in Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers. But what does it take to lead? Do you need 20 years’ experience in politics? Or has the accelerated rate of change that has afflicted Australian politics over the last two decades changed the political paradigm? Joining Professor Mark Kenny to talk leadership, recession, and recovery are journalist and commentator Niki Savva and regular podleague Dr Marija Taflaga.Niki Savva is an Australian journalist, author, and former senior adviser to Prime Minister John Howard and Treasurer Peter Costello.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 Director of the Australian Politics Studies Centre in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Her major research is on political parties and particularly the Liberal Party of Australia. She has previously worked in the Australian Parliamentary Press Gallery as a researcher at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Days after a presidential interview with one US-based Australian correspondent went viral, Mark Kenny chats with another stateside Aussie journalist Matthew Knott about the Jonathan Swan interview and Trump’s chances of reelection in November.Electoral surprises may have become the norm in recent years, so US presidential hopeful, Joe Biden, may not be resting as easy as many think. But with postal voting set to open soon in some states, is President Trump’s window to shake up the campaign closing too fast for the surprise 2016 victor to secure a second term? Plus with the president decrying ‘mail-in’ voting as opening the door for fraud, will the election results be seen as legitimate by his rusted on supporters? And does the US need an independent, non-partisan, federal electoral service like the Australian Electoral Commission to sure-up its famous democracy? In a week for Australian correspondents in the US, we talk to Matthew Knott from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald about Trump’s electoral prospects, Biden’s options for running mate, and that interview. Matthew Knott is North America correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Acast, 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.