On this episode of Follow the Money, Bill Browne joins Ebony Bennett discuss the extraordinary scale of Labor’s victory in the May federal election, what the devastating result might mean for the Coalition, and why a large crossbench in federal parliament could be here to stay.
Guest: Bill Browne, Director of Democracy & Accountability, the Australia Institute // @browne90
Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett
Despite the complaints of conservatives, it was not in disloyal subversion or terrorism against the American state that the American university lost its soul. Nor, despite the strictures of leftist radicals, did academia sully itself by colluding with government warmongers. In fact, the purpose of the modern university, since it was created in Berlin by Wilhelm von Humboldt and transplanted to America, has always been to serve the nation, not least by helping to produce and celebrate a national culture. As an institution of higher learning, the university has a duty to seek truth and knowledge in all its varied domains. But when we think about the university as citizens, we should think fundamentally of the duties of the American university to the state that privileges it and to the country which supports it.
In that respect, from 1775 to 1989 the American university had a pretty good war record.
This is the second installment in the Notes on the Crises series on the IRS. While the first essay traced how the agency has become a political target and potential tool of authoritarianism, this piece investigates how DOGE’s so-called tech modernization efforts may further entrench those risks.
Anisha Steephen (they/them) is a nationally recognized expert in domestic economic policy and mission-driven investing, with over 15 years of experience advancing public policies that address structural inequality. Anisha served as the first Senior Policy Advisor for Racial Equity at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Anisha can be found on bluesky @asteephen.bsky.social.
Ira Regmi (they/them) is a macroeconomic policy analyst with a background in international development. They can be found on @iraregmi.bsky.social and iraregmi.com.
Rethinking public debt Lars Syll Few issues in politics and economics are nowadays more discussed — and less understood — than public debt. Many raise…
Understatement of unemployment John Haly In Australia, the media and government utilise Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) unemployment statistics. These indicate that the jobless rate…
This title borrows a phrase from Ruth Puttick, Principal Research Fellow at UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP), during the panel “Building Dynamic Capabilities: How Do Cities Adapt to Tackle Grand Challenges?” The session was chaired by Dan Hill, Director of Melbourne School of Design, and featured Mariana Mazzucato, Founding Director of UCL IIPP, James Anderson, Head of Government Innovation Programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies, Ruth Pick, Manager at Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Bridgette Morris, Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Cape Town. Held as part of the 2025 IIPP Forum, the panel explored why promising ideas often stall inside city governments, and what it really takes to make progress last. This blog follows up on that conversation.
Israeli bombardment in Gaza kills 58 people in one day ABC / Reuters | 1 July 2025 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-01/israeli-bombardment-in-gaza-kills-58-people-in-one-day/105479464 A beachfront cafe and schools were among targets struck on Monday as Israel stepped up its latest campaign in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has signalled it would be intensifying operations in the Palestinian enclave after […]
Milei’s “Radical Plan”, revisited – part 2 Peter Rock-Lacroix In 2023, Javier Milei pitched dollarization as the path toward prosperity for Argentina. Two years on,…
The Reserve Bank of Australia and The Treasury welcome the release of a public consultation today by Australian Payments Network and Australian Payments Plus on the future of the account-to-account payments system.
What Quantitative Easing is and the “purpose” behind it Ellis Winningham Quantitative Easing (QE) is nothing more than an asset swap for reserve* liquidity. Orthodoxy,…
In its campaign to shake up higher education, the Trump Administration has taken unprecedented steps to repel foreign college students. These include banning Harvard University from enrolling foreign nationals, ordering American embassies and consulates to pause all student visa interviews, and revoking visas of students from China. While the administration has since walked back some of these measures, the problem of foreign students demands sober reflection.
The Federal Reserve’s mission and regional structure ask that it always work to better understand local and regional economic activity. This requires gauging the economic impact of localized events, including natural disasters. Despite the economic significance of natural disasters—flowing often from their human toll—there are currently no publicly available data on the damages they cause in the United States at the county level.
How monetary myths conceal power Asad Zaman Modern economics rests on a dangerous illusion: that abstract, universal laws – derived primarily from the European experience…
Howl of frustration John Alt I recently received a plaintive howl from someone who had just finished viewing my five Video-Diagrams: “How”, he agonized, “can…
This blog is a follow-up to the panel discussion From Digital Feudalism to Digital Sovereignty, part of UCL IIPP’s Rethinking the State Forum 2025. The session, chaired by Rainer Kattel, Co-Deputy Director and Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at UCL IIPP, featured Francesca Bria, Honorary Professor at UCL/IIPP, member of the High-Level Roundtable for the New European Bauhaus, and co-author of EuroStack 2025; Mike Bracken, visiting Professor at UCL/IIPP, founding partner at Public Digital and former Executive Director of the UK Government Digital Service; Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at UCL and Founding Director of IIPP; and Cecilia Rikap, Associate Professor in Economics and Head of Research at UCL/IIPP. The recording can be watched above.
“Don’t even bother talking about efficiency unless you know what it’s for”. With this provocation, Mariana Mazzucato opened the panel “Beyond the Chainsaw: Rethinking Efficiency in Government” at IIPP’s Rethinking the State Forum 2025. The conversation, moderated by Josh Entsminger, PhD student at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, featured Yamini Aiyar, former CEO of the Centre for Policy Research; Rohit Chopra, former Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Elizabeth Linos, Emma Bloomberg Associate Professor of Public Policy and Management; Damon Silvers, Visiting Professor at UCL IIPP; and Mazzucato herself, Professor and Founding Director at UCL IIPP.
Over the course of ninety minutes, the panel unpacked what efficiency has come to mean in public administration and how, far from being a neutral virtue, it has become a weapon.
Pornography has never been more free—free in a double sense because nearly anyone in the world can access pornography at little to no cost, and there are seemingly no limits to what can be pornographized. Given the pervasiveness of pornography in the world today, and its real impact on our political and personal lives, last month our Materialist Feminist Reading Group read Andrea Dworkin’s recently re-issued book  Pornography: Men Possessing Women. At the end of the session, we considered the question: what ought to be the Left’s position on pornography? Or, as Dworkin provocatively puts it: can the Left have its whores and its politics too?
On this episode of After America, Professor James Laurenceson, Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the Trump administration’s confused approach to China and how Australia is navigating these complex relationships.
This discussion was recorded on Friday 13 June 2025 and things may have changed since recording.
You can sign our petition calling on the Australian Government to launch a parliamentary inquiry into AUKUS.
Join Dr Emma Shortis and Dr Richard Denniss in conversation about After America: Australia and the new world order at the University of Melbourne at 6pm AEST, Wednesday 16 July.
Guest: James Laurenceson, Professor and Director, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney // @j_laurenceson
Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis
Ever since the Republican Party failed to repeal and replace Obamacare during President Trump’s first term, healthcare reform has slipped off the GOP’s agenda. However, Obamacare’s problems continue to fester, with Americans in the individual health insurance market facing high costs and restricted choices. If the GOP intends to deliver on its pledge to help middle-class families—and especially the young voters who swung to Trump—it must finally honor its broken promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. In doing so, the GOP could look to countries like Australia, Chile, and Germany on how to restructure the individual market.
Climate change has made it impossible to treat development as business as usual. Extreme weather, food insecurity, mass displacement, and the loss of biodiversity are exposing just how outdated our economic governance models have become. But while governments have shown they can mobilize trillions in times of war or financial collapse, this boldness is still absent when it comes to inequality, hunger, and climate resilience.
In this context, the climate crisis can no longer be seen as an environmental issue, but a governance challenge. And the aid system, still anchored in a donor-driven assistance paradigm, is being called into question.
On this episode, Sunita Narain joins Paul Barclay to discuss the need for inclusive and equitable growth in tackling climate change, pollution and congestion in Delhi, renewable energy in India and how climate change and climate justice will affect global migration.
This discussion was recorded on Tuesday, 18 February 2025, and things may have changed since the recording.
Media Release Number 2025-15: The RBA has commenced its consultation on Guidance for the Australian Clearing and Settlement Facility Resolution Regime.
What’s On around Naarm/Melbourne & Regional Victoria: June 30-July 6, 2025 With thanks to the dedicated activists at Friends of the Earth Melbourne! . . See also these Palestine events listings from around the country: 9193
Labor’s landslide federal election victory in May, both in seats and two-party preferred terms, was underpinned by a greater number of preferences than ever from voters who didn’t put it first on the ballot paper.
Key findings:
The Labor Party has never received so many preferences from voters who didn’t put it first.
The growing number of voters giving their first preference to a minor party or independent candidate is hurting the Coalition far more than Labor.
In 2013, 21% of voters gave their primary vote to a minor party or independent candidate. Of that, more preferred Labor (62%) to the Coalition (38%). Yet the Coalition was able to form government.
In 2025, 34% of voters gave their primary vote to a minor party or independent candidate. Despite an almost identical split of preferences to 2013 (62% Labor/38% Coalition), Labor won in a landslide.
In 2025, the Liberal–National Coalition had a historically low vote, whether you measure it in first-preference or 2PP terms.
“One of the great Australian innovations is the full preferential voting system, which guarantees that every vote matters and you cannot waste your vote,” said Bill Browne, Democracy & Accountability Director at the Australia Institute.
The comparison of median rent data for March Qtr 2025 shows that the commercial asking rent data inflates rent prices, a trend reflected over time. This matters because it impacts on rents in the market.
Israeli strikes kill at least 72 people in Gaza as prospects for ceasefire in war improve ABC / AP | 29 June 2025 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-29/israel-strikes-gaza-displacement-tents-ceasefire-talks-improve/105473676 More than 70 people, including children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza, according to Palestian health officials. There have been sporadic indirect talks between Israel and Hamas since Israel […]
At the 2025 federal election, the Albanese Labor Government won over 55% of the two-party preferred vote. The two-party preferred vote, called 2PP, measures whether Australians preferred their Labor candidate or their Liberal–National Coalition candidate. 55% of the 2PP is the party’s best result since 1943.
This high 2PP vote disguises a relatively low first-preference vote of 35% for Labor. That is, only about one in three voters put “1” next to their Labor candidate.
The Labor Party has never received so many preferences. 20% of Australians preferred Labor to the Coalition but did not put Labor first. That 20% plus the 35% who gave Labor their first preference results in 55% 2PP for Labor. The result is a Labor landslide, despite a relatively low first-preference vote.
The Liberal–National Coalition also depended on preferences to an unusually large degree. Even so, it had a historically low vote, whether you measure it in first-preference or 2PP terms.
FPM Media Report Saturday June 28 2025 IDF launches investigation into possible war crimes after deaths near aid sites https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-27/israeli-strike-kills-18-palestinians-in-central-gaza/105471440 In short: The Israeli military has opened an inquiry into possible war crimes after deaths near a Gaza aid site. Meanwhile, 18 people have been killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza, in an […]
This article is read by Eunice Wong, a Juilliard-trained actor, featured on Audible's list of Best Women Narrators. Her work is on the annual Best Audiobooks lists of the New York Times, Audible, AudioFile, & Library Journal. www.eunicewong.actor
Successive generations demolished the concept of sovereignty, casting suspicion on the notion that a leader’s decisions can legitimately reshape political or social life. This shift began in the United States when the intelligentsia promulgated the concept of “the authoritarian personality.” They found this personality in the working classes, their churches and associations, their families and fathers, and the politicians who represented them. Where there was the whiff of authoritarian character traits, fascism probably lurked.
In 2010, the U.S. government created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to restore public trust after the global financial meltdown. It was a bold experiment: a state agency with a clear mission, deep expertise, and a mandate to protect ordinary people from predatory financial practices. By all accounts, it worked. Until it became DOGE’s target.
At the recent panel, which opened IIPP’s Rethinking the State Festival, titled “Rethinking Public Value in the Age of Doge”, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra described what’s happening:
