On this episode of After America, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss Trump’s AUKUS review, Anthony Albanese’s meeting with Trump, and why Australia doesn’t share values with the US administration.
This discussion was recorded on Monday 16 June 2025 and things may have changed since recording.
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Order After America: Australia and the new world order or become a foundation subscriber to Vantage Point at australiainstitute.org.au/store.
Guest: Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s 29th Prime Minister // @TurnbullMalcolm
Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis
Has anyone actually read The Handmaid’s Tale? Maybe Margaret Atwood has. But it seems unlikely that many of the demonstrators who hauled out their red cloaks yet again last weekend have done more than watch the HBO TV show based—rather loosely—on the 1985 novel. Thomas Aquinas was supposed to have said, “I fear a man of only one book.” These are people of only one streaming miniseries.
Margaret Atwood doesn’t seem to mind them very much. In fact she appears pleased as punch with them, which is yet another indication that she is not a serious person. Ever since she wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian thriller implying that America in the mid-1980s was on the brink of turning women into burqa-wearing sex slaves because Ronald Reagan was president, Atwood and her non-readers have treated every political event they don’t like as their personal Iranian Revolution.
Under the proposed changes, Australians with super balances over $3 million would pay 30% tax – rather than 15% – on earnings above $3 million.
According to Australian Tax Office data, the current average super balance in Australia is around $182,000 for men and $146,000 for women. Among those aged 60 to 65, it’s around $402,000 for men and $318,000 for women.
The poll, conducted by YouGov, shows 52% of Australians support the proposed changes, compared to 26% who oppose them, while a similar figure (22%) don’t know or are unsure.
Key findings:
25% of Australians say they “strongly support” reducing tax concessions for people with super balances over $3 million, while 27% support the changes.
14% of Australians say they “strongly oppose” reducing tax concessions for people with super balances over $3 million, while 12% oppose the changes.
One in five of Australians think the changes will have an impact on their retirement plans, but the reality is that only one in 200 people have super balances that would be affected by the changes.
“Twice as many Australians support the proposal to reduce tax concessions on superannuation balances over $3 million as oppose the idea,” said Richard Denniss, Executive Director of The Australia Institute.
YouGov conducted a national survey of 1,535 voters on behalf of The Australia Institute between 6 and 11 June 2025, using an online survey polling methodology. Full details are provided in the methodology statement.
The poll is compliant with the Australian Polling Council’s requirements.
The margin of error on the effective sample size is 3.2%.
What’s On around Naarm/Melbourne & Regional Victoria: June 9-15, 2025 With thanks to the dedicated activists at Friends of the Earth Melbourne! . . See also these Palestine events listings from around the country: 9069
FPM Media Bulletin Saturday June 7 2025 All universities in Gaza have been destroyed. What does this mean for Palestinians? https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-07/gaza-lost-generation-of-students-academic-say/105379150 By Isabella Michie and Ali Benton for Late Night Live The Islamic University of Gaza was once a buzzing campus, filled with ambitious students studying everything from medicine to literature. Now, displaced families huddle […]
What’s On around Naarm/Melbourne & Regional Victoria: May 26 – June 1, 2025 With thanks to the dedicated activists at Friends of the Earth Melbourne! . . See also these Palestine events listings from around the country: 9071
Of course, it is no mystery why so many children are getting Long COVID. So many children are getting Long COVID because so many children are getting COVID. Over, and over, and over again.
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What’s On around Naarm/Melbourne & Regional Victoria: June 16-22, 2025 With thanks to the dedicated activists at Friends of the Earth Melbourne! . . See also these Palestine events listings from around the country: 9063
On this episode, Paul Barclay talks with Kieran Pender, associate legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre. Kieran says that current laws leave whistleblowers unsupported, vulnerable to retribution and liable for prosecution. Australia needs to lower the cost of courage in the public interest.
This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 29 January 2025, and things may have changed since the recording.
Like millions of Americans across the United States (and beyond), I spent part of yesterday at a No Kings protest. I attended ours here in Santa Fe, where attendance estimates ranged between 5000-7000, several thousand more than expected. I had the pleasure and honor of being quite involved in the planning and in activities at the protest, working with my marvelous fellow members of Indivisible Santa Fe.
Before the event I did multiple radio interviews and one political podcast for the Santa Fe New Mexican. I also worked hard advising Indivisible Santa Fe about safety and law-abidingness, especially because No Kings – Santa Fe included a sidewalk march on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far.
In the pre-No-Kings interviews, I found it easy to draw a line between the rather quaint sounding "No Kings" label and the need to fight Trump's ever-more assertive efforts at dictatorship. We must keep exercising our First Amendment rights, a cornerstone of U.S. constitutional democracy. As I told the crowd in Santa Fe: just showing up to protest what the Trump regime is doing and and seeks to do is itself a manifestation of a rejection of authoritarianism.
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
Join me for a live Q&A on my YouTube channel and X account tomorrow, Monday June 16 at 7:00 pm ET. We will discuss the ongoing developments in regards to the Middle East; war with Iran, the genocide in Gaza, politically driven assassinations in America and more. Questions will be taken from the comment section of this Substack post, as well as during the live on YouTube/X. To post your questions here, you must be a paid subscriber to my Substack.
For those who miss the stream, don’t worry — it will be available to watch on all platforms once it’s finished. Hope to see you there.
Israeli fire kills 41 in Gaza, health officials say, as rival militia emerges to challenge Hamas https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-12/israel-defense-forces-ghf-drone-yasser-abu-shabab-gaza-strip/105406038 By Andrew Thorpe, with wires In short: At least 41 people were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, many close to an aid site operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Israeli military said […]
FPM Media Report Saturday June 14 2025 Iran launches barrage of missiles at Israel as Trump pushes Tehran to take nuclear deal https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-14/iran-israel-nuclear-strikes-donald-trump/103698520 In short: Iran has sent “hundreds” of missiles towards Israel in response to Israel’s wave of bombings across Iran, which are believed to have killed a significant number of military leaders and […]
13 June 2025: Free Palestine Melbourne strongly condemns the recent military strikes carried out by the Israeli occupation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in the killing of civilians, including women and children, and targeted both civilian and strategic sites.
It doesn’t add up: You can’t be accountable, unless you actually do “accounting.”
HB 2025, the “transportation package” in the Oregon Legislature purports to address ODOT’s massive financial problems, but only makes them worse
The bill provides only a fraction of the money needed to actually pay for promised mega-projects. HB 2025 provides just $1.75 to $1.95 billion in resources for five listed projects that together need about $3.5 billion–and likely more.
HB 2025 also provides nothing to cover entirely certain and predictable cost overruns on the largest highway project in the state, the Interstate Bridge Replacement, which is likely to end up costing $9 billion–when long delayed cost estimates are finally released. The bill also provides nothing for the $1.1 billion Hood River Bridge. Adding these projects would push the mega-project hole to $5 billion; far greater than the funds allocated in HB 2025.
In all, its an excuse for ODOT to pretend that funding is available, to launch mega-projects based on low-balled cost estimates and optimistic assumptions, only to come back and demand more money later–exactly the same management failures that produced the agency’s financial problem.
“Do you know the locus classicus of that exquisitely American intransitive verb, to absquatulate?” I am often asked. “Prefix, ab- as in from or out of; root, squat– from the reflexive verb, to seat oneself upon the hams or haunches; suffix -ulare, emulating other Latinate infinitives such as ‘to emulate’? Literally, to depart dragging one’s hindquarters; colloquially, to haul a** or tuck tail and skedaddle; literarily, to hasten away abjectly; melodramatically, to abscond in shame?”
“I believe I do,” is my unwavering reply, though these things are, of course, subject to eternal debate among those who care. “It is to be found on the second page of the Gold Hill Daily News in the Comstock, Nevada Territory, May 30, 1864.”
Some background and context are called for. In September 1862, Samuel Clemens, not yet boasting his soon-to-be famous nom de plume“Mark Twain,” walked into the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise office and started work as a reporter at $25 a week. In Virginia City, Twain would later write, “There were military companies, fire companies, brass bands, banks, hotels, theatres, ‘hurdy-gurdy houses,’ wide-gambling palaces, political powwows, civic processions, street fights, murders, inquests, riots, [and] a whisky mill every fifteen steps.”
It was to be their very own tax that would grow with the economy. They could use that revenue to fund their responsibility to provide hospitals, schools, aged care, and housing, to name but a few.
But it turns out that the GST isn’t a growth tax.
GST revenue has grown slower than the economy and certainly slower than the cost of the services that they need to supply.
The ACT government needs to efficiently manage all the money it spends.
It needs to be striving to make the most of what it has. But that goal is being used as an excuse to accept that vital parts of government are underfunded.
We need to accept that the ACT government, as well as all the other state governments are lacking the revenue to do anything but fiddle at the edges of some of our biggest issues.
Fortunately, Australia is a wealthy, low-tax country and there are plenty of ways we can raise additional revenue.
The Greens’ recent proposal to increase the top rate of payroll tax is a great example of how more revenue can be raised from those who can most afford it.
The ODOT accountability charade. The pat political answer to the problem of chronic cost-overruns on Oregon DOT highway projects running into the hundreds of millions of dollars is that the Legislature will insist on “accountability” in its new multi-billion dollar transportation package. But all of the so-called accountability measures are just transparent gimmicks—re-arranging the organizational deck chairs, or management buzzwords—none of which have any demonstrated effectiveness in lowering or even managing costs. Case in point, the new “transportation package” bill, HB 2025, claims it will increase accountability by having the Governor appoint the head of ODOT. That is exactly the opposite of what the 2017 Legislature claimed it was doing to “increase accountability” by taking the appointment power away from the Governor, and vesting it in the Oregon Transportation Commission.
Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful questions! I answered most and tried to address the main points of those I didn’t include. I focused on topics that came up most often so look for the theme of your question even if you don’t see your name.
I do these Q & As once a month. If you’d like to submit a question, become a paying subscriber. You can do that here:
I am very grateful for your support! I am also exhausted and trying to stay strong for the weekend. Look out for each other, folks! These are tough times and I’m impressed by the resilience and defiance I see out here.
And onto the questions…
Star: How do you tell when feuds that involve the administration are real or not (e.g. Trump/Musk recently)? David M: What are the odds that Trump/Musk is just kayfabe?
The release last fall, after 44 years, of the Beach Boys’ abandoned masterpiece Smile is a milestone of American popular culture. Rolling Stone has called it “the most famous unfinished album in rock & roll history.” But Smile is also something much bigger. It is the pinnacle artistic achievement of a lost civilization, the middle-class, baby-boom, sun-soaked, clean-cut, work-hard-play-hard, bungalow-and-car culture of post-war Southern California. It was a paradise for the common man, one that produced legions of loyal and productive citizens, developed the modern aerospace industry, helped the West win the Cold War, and exported an attractive and fundamentally decent (if often vapid) vision of American life to every corner of the globe.
Western Migration
To understand Smile, you have to start by understanding the Wilsons, which requires understanding Hawthorne, California, circa 1961. In 1922, Murry Wilson arrived in Los Angeles at age five from Hutchinson, Kansas. His family was part of what journalist Carey McWilliams described in his classic 1946 study Southern California: An Island on the Land, as one of Los Angeles’s frequent “quantum leaps, great surges of migration”—in this case the 1920s oil boom that flooded L.A. County with white low-church Protestant burghers and strivers (mostly the latter) from the Plains and the Midwest.
But at press conferences in all three nations, reporters asked about Australia’s treatment of people from the Pacific who come to Australia on temporary work visas – it’s called the PALM scheme (which stands Pacific Australian labour mobility). In Vanuatu’s capital of Port Villa, which sends the highest number of people to work as part of the PALM scheme, Senator Wong assured one journalist that “PALM workers are entitled to the same conditions, legal conditions as Australian workers, and they should be treated as such.” Who wouldn’t agree?
Next time you’re looking over your pay slip, or looking for work, think about the basic rights you get that PALM workers don’t.
Israel accused of breaching international law by storming Madleen aid ship https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-10/greta-thunberg-boat-interception-latest-doran/105397110 By Middle East correspondent Matthew Doran In short: Lawyers for the crew of the civilian aid ship ‘Madleen’ are accusing Israeli forces of illegally intercepting the ship in international waters. Israeli forces seized the vessel and arrested the crew, including Swedish activist Greta […]
The American Mind’s ‘Editorial Roundtable’ podcast is a weekly conversation with Ryan Williams, Spencer Klavan, and Mike Sabo devoted to uncovering the ideas and principles that drive American political life. Stream here or download from your favorite podcast host.
Battle: Los Angeles | The Roundtable Ep. 271
This week, special guest Peachy Keenan rounds out the cast with a report from LA, where riots are breaking out (again). Governor Gavin Newsom failed to gain control on the ground, so Trump inserted himself and the National Guard to enforce law and order. Meanwhile, it’s not news that Trump and Elon’s bromance has concluded in a spectacular social media exchange, but Elon’s public tailspin in the aftermath merits a closer look. Plus: advice to law-abiding illegal immigrants (and to Elon), as well as media recommendations to help you escape the insanity of daily politics.
Journalist A. J. Liebling famously said, "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” Today, in a world dominated by corporate capitalism — including subservient politicians and careerists — the press’s freedom has been eroded to mere margins. Journalist and writer Patrick Lawrence joins host Chris Hedges on this episode of The Chris Hedges Report to chronicle the decline of journalism, which he details in his book, Journalists and Their Shadows.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has delivered a spending review, releasing a large amount of money for capital investment while also committing to further spending cuts in order to meet the UK’s self-imposed fiscal rules. This wasn’t ever going to be something that challenged the UK’s failed systems of inequality, but there are points […]
ISRAEL-PALESTINE MEDIA REPORT 11.6.25 Australia, UK sanction Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich ABC | Matthew Doran & Tom Crowley | 11 June 2025 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-11/australia-to-sanction-two-israeli-ministers/105401564 Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Norway and the United Kingdom have announced sanctions against far-right Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. The pair will face a travel ban […]
Shortly after Linda McMahon was sworn in as the 13th Secretary of Education, she pledged to dismantle the Department of Education (ED) as its “final mission.”
Just eight days later, the ED announced a reduction in force (RIF), which impacts nearly 50% of its personnel, as part of a “commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most.” Terminated employees were to be placed on administrative leave beginning March 21. The department explained that when Donald Trump was inaugurated it employed 4,133 personnel; after the RIF and voluntary resignations, 2,183 workers would remain.
One week later, on March 20, Trump issued an executive order that proclaimed that “the experiment of controlling American education through Federal programs and dollars—and the unaccountable bureaucracy those programs and dollars support—has plainly failed our children, our teachers, and our families.” Closing the department, Trump observed,
Australia Institute research, released more than a year ago, recommends Australia follow the French lead and do the same.
In May 2024, The Australia Institute’s Textile Waste report revealed that Australian shoppers contribute to fast fashion waste more than any others on earth, surpassing Americans as the biggest textile consumers, per capita, on the planet.
Fast fashion has grown exponentially in recent years, with the exploding influence of Chinese brands Temu and Shein. Both sell huge quantities of cheap, quickly made, quickly shipped garments all around the world. They’re manufactured using high volumes of polyester, a fossil fuel-derived fabric that is plastic.
Many end up in landfill within 12 months of purchase.
“As one of the world’s biggest consumers of clothes, shoes and bags, Australia should have acted sooner to reduce the mountains of textile waste in this country,” said Nina Gbor, Circular Economy & Waste Program Director at The Australia Institute.
“To protect the environment and Australian fashion brands, we need to drastically reduce waste at the source by penalising brands that mass produce incredibly cheap, low-quality clothing that is often worn just a handful of times before ending up in the bin.
“France has introduced laws which will tax fast fashion garments 5 Euros (approx. $9) each, which will double by 2030.
“The Australia Institute recommended a similar scheme for Australia more than a year ago.
How Trump, DOGE, and Project 2025 Are Turning the IRS Into a Tool of Authoritarian Rule
Editor’s Introduction: Hello readers, it's Nathan Tankus and I am very happy to bring to you the first in a long multi-part series on the IRS spearheaded by Anisha Steephen. Anisha worked for the United States Treasury from 2021 through January 2025. They concluded their tenure around the time Fiscal Assistant Secretary David Lebryk was pushed out of government. Because of their specialization in economic and tax issues, they were the perfect person to take on investigating what has been going on in the Internal Revenue Service and providing the big picture understanding Notes on the Crises readers need about what’s going on.
The US president has given the Albanese government the circuit breaker it needs to walk away from AUKUS.
Despite the frothing at the mouth in some mainstream media outlets this morning, Australians are unlikely to mourn the impending death of the deal.
Polling conducted for The Australia Institute during the election campaign found that 54% of Australians want a more independent foreign policy over a closer alliance with the United States.
An earlier poll found more Australians consider Donald Trump a greater threat to world peace than Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“It’s highly likely Donald Trump will tank the whole deal,” said Emma Shortis, Director of the International & Security Affairs program at The Australia Institute.
“It was always a terrible deal for Australia anyway.
“It was conceived in secrecy and born in haste.
“Let’s face it, we were never likely to get any submarines – certainly not within a remotely workable timeframe.
“All AUKUS did was tie us ever closer to an increasingly volatile and aggressive America.
“Scott Morrison gave Anthony Albanese little time or choice but to support AUKUS. Now, Donald Trump has given him a golden opportunity to get out.
On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss some of the bogus claims about productivity, why giving fossil fuel subsidies to fossil fuel companies is a bad idea, and the latest Trump tariff news.
This discussion was recorded on Thursday 12 June 2025 and things may have changed since recording.
Our independence is our strength – and only you can make that possible. By donating to the Australia Institute’s End of Financial Year appeal today, you’ll help fund the research changing Australia for the better.
Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute and Centre for Future Work // @grogsgamut
Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek