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The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis

The President of Peace has started another war.

It began with the bombing of a school in southern Iran. According to Iranian authorities, the death toll from that strike now sits at 168. Many of the victims were children.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump have normalised the sight of little coffins.

Emerging evidence now suggests the school was struck more than once – perhaps three times. A “double-tap” strike is when a first strike is followed up by a second in order to target those still sheltering, those running away, and first responders. Double-tap strikes are prohibited by the laws of war.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Skye discuss the economic impact of the illegal US-Israel war on Iran, the latest Australian GDP data, and why the Reserve Bank seems to want more Australians to be unemployed.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 5 March 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Skye Predavec, Researcher, the Australia Institute // @skyelark

Show notes:

On this episode of Follow the Money, author and economist Gary Stevenson joins Ebony Bennett to discuss wealth inequality, the global issue of housing unaffordability, why Australia should tax gas properly, and how many far-right parties have become the Steven Bradburys of global politics.

This episode was recorded on Thursday 26 February.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Guest: Gary Stevenson, economist and author of The Trading Game // @garyseconomics

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

On this episode of After America, Allan Behm and Dr Emma Shortis discuss the US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the assassination of its leader, Trump and Netanyahu’s cynical messages for the Iranian people, what this war means for nuclear proliferation, and the Australian government’s “deeply disappointing” response.

This discussion was recorded on Monday 2 March 2026.

The latest Vantage Point essay, What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

Guest: Allan Behm, Advisor, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

The Mar-a-Lago model: how Trump is trying to dominate global governance, After America, the Australia Institute (February 2026)

If you drink beer, congratulations, you’re the backbone of the Australian economy! After all, that’s how politicians and the media describe the gas industry. But the truth is the federal government collects more money from the beer excise than from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, as Independent ACT Senator David Pocock pointed out in Parliament, in an exchange that went viral.

When Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked why Australian beer drinkers pay more tax than gas export companies, the PM dodged the issue by accusing Senator Pocock of “promot[ing] grievance”.

If, like most Australians, you think Australia shouldn’t be giving away its gas for free, or that the gas industry should contribute more from its super profits tax than the beer excise, the Prime Minister seems to think you should stop whingeing about it. The real question is – why isn’t the Prime Minister aggrieved by this gas rip-off?

There are now “safe” Liberal and National seats where One Nation could do very well.

Labor, Greens and independent preferences will decide whether One Nation wins those seats – which means progressive voters have leverage over Liberals and Nationals desperate to hold their seats.

For decades, Australians in so-called “safe” seats have been told their votes do not matter, that they cannot influence the outcome of the election.

This myth was exploded four years ago when first-time community independents won a swathe of supposedly safe, “blue-ribbon” Liberal seats.

The success of these “teal” independents depended both on winning over former Liberal voters and securing preferences from progressive voters.

One Nation gives progressive voters another chance to flex their muscles and remind the major parties that there is no such thing as a safe seat.

A seat is considered “safe” if the winner at the last election got 60 per cent or more of the vote (including preferences), “fair safe” if they got 56-60 per cent of the vote and “marginal” if they got less than 56 per cent of the vote.

Don’t hold your breath.

Why am I pessimistic? Well, the problem with the Coalition isn’t just that they all want to be captain of the Titanic after it has struck the iceberg. The real problem is their policy solutions are rubbish.

Remember, there was no leadership speculation when Peter Dutton led the Coalition to last year’s historic election hammering.

The public didn’t reject the Liberals and Nationals because of internal fighting. They rejected them because they didn’t like their policies.

Dutton spent three years telling Australians that they were in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis (which was true). But when the election came around, the public could see how truly terrible the Coalition’s solutions were.

Does anyone remember the claims that nuclear, the most expensive form of electricity, was going to lower power bills?

On housing affordability, it was just as bad. Its big policy was to allow first-home buyers to drain their super accounts to buy a home. This would have been like a first-home buyers’ grant on steroids. The result would have been much higher house prices coupled with more Australians retiring in poverty.

So, will the new leadership team do any better? The early signs aren’t good.

One of the biggest supporters of the plan to use super to juice house prices was Tim Wilson. Angus Taylor has just appointed him shadow treasurer.

A detailed examination of data from the Reserve Bank and Australia’s National Accounts reveals that wage growth is not responsible for the recent uptick in inflation.

It concludes that the RBA’s latest interest rate hike not only fails to address the much bigger driver of inflation – surging company profits – but it blames the wrong culprit.

The end result is that young home buyers are being lumped with the burden of bringing inflation down.

The report highlights that the RBA’s own data clearly shows “non-wage sources” are responsible for rising inflation.

Furthermore, forecasts in the RBA’s February Statement of Monetary Policy suggest that the impact of wages on inflation will actually fall over the next year, while inflation keeps rising.

“Lifting interest rates to slow inflation is often referred to as a blunt instrument. In this instance, the blunt instrument is being used to smash the wrong culprit,” said Greg Jericho, Chief Economist at The Australia Institute.

“The RBA’s own data makes it crystal clear that non-wage factors like massive corporate profits are driving inflation, not the meagre wage growth of workers.

“For many Australians, wages rises have been more than wiped out by interest rate rises – and certainly wiped out by price rises.

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Skye discuss Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson’s call for tax cuts, why tariffs won’t be replacing income tax despite Donald Trump’s claims, Australia’s bizarre subsidies for fossil fuels, and why Greg reckons he wouldn’t take a tasty pay rise to go to the dark side.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 26 February 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Skye Predavec, Researcher, the Australia Institute // @skyelark

Show notes:

The LITO is an automatic tax refund – currently capped at $700 per year – which low-income earners receive when they lodge their tax returns.

Increasing the cap to $3000 would ensure the nation’s lowest-income earners stay ahead of inflation. Those earning between $32,000 and $46,000 would receive a tax cut of more than $2,000 per year.

The reforms would help those who’ve been hit hardest by inflation: workers and families whose nominal wages may have risen, but whose real wages have fallen, as a result of surging prices, particularly on essentials like food, energy and rent.

The analysis shows the cost of increasing the LITO would be $11.98 billion per year. This revenue could be replaced with a gas export tax – as suggested by the ACTU – which could raise $17 billion.

Recent polling also shows widespread support across party lines for a 25% tax on gas exports, with particularly strong support among One Nation and Greens voters.

One Nation yesterday announced a policy to charge the gas industry royalties, while Independent Senator David Pocock threw his support behind a 25% gas export tax.

“This is the engine room of the cost-of-living crisis – the current tax settings mean that Australian families on low incomes are not keeping up with price rises,” said Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

On this episode of Follow the Money, journalist and author Niki Savva and Australia Institute co-Chief Executive Officer Dr Richard Denniss join Amy Remeikis to discuss how the Liberal Party ended up with their worst federal election result in modern history in 2025, why there’s no such thing as a safe seat in Australian politics anymore, and Niki’s latest book, Earthquake: the election that shook Australia.

This episode was recorded live at the Australia Institute’s Politics in the Pub in Canberra on Wednesday 18 February 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Guest: Niki Savva, journalist, author and former political advisor

Guest: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss

On this episode of After America, Allan Behm joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the potential consequences if the United States again strikes Iran, the first meeting of Trump’s grotesque ‘board of peace’, and the striking similarities between a(nother) shamefully racist week in Australian politics and Trump administration rhetoric and policies.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 20 February 2026.

The latest Vantage Point essay, What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

Guest: Allan Behm, Advisor, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Shorter America this week: Will he or won’t he on Iran; The Trump doctrine?; On climate, he absolutely will; The only thing more powerful than hate is love by Emma Shortis, The Point (February 2026)

For more than a decade, Australia Institute research has shown that CCS is one of the biggest and most expensive failures in the history of climate policy in Australia.

The research shows that CCS projects have repeatedly missed deadlines, fallen monumentally short of carbon capture targets and gobbled up billions of taxpayer dollars.

Sadly, detailed analysis of all the available evidence suggests there is little likelihood the epic failure of CCS will change any time soon.

“The gas export industry already gets most of its gas for free. This conference is gas companies saying they want publicly-subsidised infrastructure as well,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“It’s clear that this conference is about helping the gas industry, not about helping the climate. Look at who is attending: all the gas companies and none of the climate organisations.

“Carbon capture projects aren’t meant to work. 100% of carbon capture projects on gas-fired power stations have failed. On coal-fired power stations, the rate is 98%.

“It isn’t supposed to work, it is supposed to let investors pour money into new gas projects while pointing at spending on carbon capture to avoid any criticism on climate.

“Gas companies don’t want to pay for carbon capture themselves, they want taxpayers to pay.

“In 2024, a $700 million carbon capture lobby group told its industry donors to stop giving it money; that it had more money than it could spend.

The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis

More often than not, Australia’s relationship with the United States highlights and reinforces the worst in our politics, and the worst in theirs.

Here at home, the week began with some shamefully racist politicking by federal parliamentarians. A “hardline” Liberal Party immigration proposal was “leaked” to the Australian media. Straight from the Trump playbook, the proposal mooted banning immigrants from 37 regions, deporting 100,000 asylum seekers and visa holders, and even vetting the social media of aspiring migrants. To followers of American politics, that might sound very familiar.

Photo: AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi

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On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Angus discuss why Coles is in court over its pricing, whether it’s time to panic with government debt set to hit $1 trillion, and the role of corporate profits in driving inflation.

This discussion was recorded on Wednesday 18 February 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Angus Blackman, Executive Producer, the Australia Institute // @angusrb

Show notes:

The results show that support for taxing gas export cuts across party lines, including among voters often seen at opposite ends of the political spectrum, such as the Greens and One Nation.

Australia Institute research shows a 25 per cent tax on gas exports could raise  $17 billion every year, while incentivising producers to prioritise the supply of gas to domestic customers.

The findings come ahead of the upcoming Farrer by-election, expected to be contested by the Liberals, Nationals, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, and independent candidates.

Statement: “Gas export corporations should pay a flat 25% tax on gas exports” 

“Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas,” said Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

On this episode of After America, Jon B Wolfsthal, former Special Assistant to President Obama for National Security Affairs, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the expiry of the New START nuclear weapons treaty between the United States and Russia, AUKUS and Australia’s nuclear capabilities, and why “nuclear weapons are back with avengeance”.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 12 February 2026 Australian time.

The latest Vantage Point essay, What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

Guest: Jon B Wolfsthal, former Director of Global Risk, Federation of American Scientists // @jonatomic

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Trump has scrapped the long-standing legal basis for tackling climate emissions by Robyn Eckersley, The Conversation (February 2026)

Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit was always going to deepen divisions within Australia, not heal them. Social cohesion can’t be built on a bedrock of police violence, criminalising protest, silencing dissent and ignoring international law.

Australia’s Jewish community needs comfort and support while they grieve the fifteen innocent lives lost in the Bondi massacre. But why not invite a religious leader to provide comfort instead of a deeply controversial political leader? The grief of the Palestinian community in Australia, who are mourning the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians at the hands of Israel, was extended no such comfort or consideration by the Prime Minister or the NSW Premier in recent weeks.

Israel’s crimes in Gaza are monstrous and well-documented. The UN commission of inquiry found evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal intent by Israeli leaders and has recommended they be prosecuted.

He will equal Scott Morrison’s record of 1368 days on Thursday. On Friday, he’ll surpass him, leapfrogging both John Curtin and Morrison, to sit behind Paul Keating as the 12th longest-serving prime minister.

Short of his party moving against him, Albanese is almost certain to win another term as Prime Minister.

The Coalition is 28 seats behind. Even if there was a “thruplition” with One Nation, the Liberals, Nationals and Barnson would have to hold their existing 43 seats and win another 27 to take government.

And don’t expect that election to be held in 2028. New deputy leader Jane Hume was right last week when she said expected Albanese to take advantage of the Liberal Party’s decline and call an early election.

Labor is already eyeing off Forrest, La Trobe, Longman and Goldstein as potential seat gains. Bowman will be on the list.

The Liberals, or Nationals (depending on who wins that fight), will have a tough time holding on to Sussan Ley’s seat of Farrer, with One Nation on the march and a community independent having already shorn 10 points off Ley’s margin at the last election. It is very doubtful the Liberals or Nationals will run another woman in Farrer, which will leave the Coalition with just enough women in the lower house to fill a 2016 Honda Civic. That’ll be sure to arrest the number of women turning their back on the party!

On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the persistent rumours of changes to the capital gains tax discount, why government spending isn’t to blame for the latest inflation increase, and the impact of the federal government’s five per cent deposit scheme on lending figures (and don’t discuss wages as promised last week, cus Greg can’t read a calendar).

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 12 February 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Isaac Herzog has been credibly accused of incitement to commit genocide and, while his is largely a ceremonial role, he is the head of state of a nation credibly accused of genocide, whose leaders are wanted on war crime charges.

Raising any of these legitimate issues brought more lectures from political leaders about needing to “bring down the temperature” and a reminder that Herzog is here to comfort members of Australia’s grief-stricken and traumatised Jewish communities after the horrific Bondi terror attack.

But two things can be true at the same time. In this case, while there were Australian Jewish people who sought comfort from “their head of state”, there were also Australian Jewish people who found no comfort in Herzog’s visit, who found community in people protesting the invitation while Palestinians are still being killed by Israeli forces.

Herzog himself ended his public meeting with Anthony Albanese by referencing the “next phase in Gaza”. But raising what that means – which includes Americans and Israelis seeking to establish beachfront resorts on Palestinian territory, built on the bones of mass graves – is raising the temperature, according to Australian leaders.

It was 13 years from the formation of the Australian Labor Party to when then-leader Chris Watson was invited to form government.

His four months as prime minister was spent at the helm of the first democratic socialist government in the world. But his impact on modern Labor looms large, having helped establish the solidarity pledge for Labor caucus members, which ultimately forced his own exit during the 1916 conscription split.

Since then, caucus solidarity – the rule that once Labor’s political arm has made a decision, all caucus members are bound to it regardless of personal views – has been treated as both a threat and novelty by party outsiders. It has always been thus.

Another future Labor “rat” Hector Lamond, wrote of the caucus system in 1914:

“Most electoral contests are determined by that large body of more or less intelligent voters who do not attach themselves permanently to any political party. For the most part they are patriotic citizens, striving earnestly to approve what is best in the programs of rival candidates for their electoral favours.

“A large body of these electors has naturally been attracted by the progressive and national character of the Labor platform, and in increasing numbers have given the Labor Party a qualified support.

On this episode of Follow the Money, Kumi Naidoo, South African human rights and climate advocate, joins Ebony Bennett to discuss the need for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, why it’s past time for the Australia government to stop coal and gas expansion, and his new Vantage Point essay, What We Owe the Water.

This episode was recorded on Monday 9 February 2026.

What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo is available now for just $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

You can also subscribe to the Vantage Point series to get four essays a year on some of the most pressing issues facing Australia and the world.

Guest: Kumi Naidoo, President, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative // @kuminaidoo

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

The report, part of a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry, has found the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM)) scheme is so lopsided it could damage diplomatic and economic relationships, rather than enhance them.

Similarly, the expansion of the scheme to fill shortages in the health and aged care sectors is luring medical professionals away from the health systems of workers’ home nations, leaving them desperately under-resourced.

The scheme generates around a billion dollars a year, yet just $184 million makes it back to the homelands of workers.

The report makes three recommendations:

• Ensuring a fair share of money makes it back to workers and their families.
• Improving the rights and conditions of workers, to ensure they’re not at risk of modern slavery.
• Re-examining the expansion of the scheme – originally designed to fill seasonal agricultural roles, like fruit picking – into Australia’s care sectors.

“When the PALM scheme was established, it was lauded as a win-win for Australia and its participating neighbours,” said Morgan Harrington, Research Manager at The Australia Institute.

“But more than three quarters of the money earned in Australia stays in Australia. This is desperately unfair and not in the spirit of what the scheme was set up to do.

“These workers are now a vital part of our economy, particularly in rural Australia. Without them, our meat processing, fruit picking, aged and health care sectors would be in trouble.

On this episode of After America, Ben Doherty, Guardian Australia senior reporter covering international affairs, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the mass layoffs at the Washington Post, the lack of transparency around the AUKUS submarine deal, and why the Australian government still has its head in the sand over Trump.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 6 February 2026.

The latest Vantage Point essay, What we owe the water: It’s time for a fossil fuel treaty by Kumi Naidoo, is available now for $19.95. Use the code ‘PODVP’ at checkout to get free shipping.

Guest: Ben Doherty, Senior Reporter, Guardian Australia

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

‘Possibility of US ever selling Australia nuclear submarines is increasingly remote, Aukus critics say’ by Ben Doherty, Guardian Australia (February 2026)

The Wrap: Australia doesn’t need a strong Opposition, but it does need a strong Parliament

“Australia is an ‘elective dictatorship’, an ominous term coined in the 1990s by David Hamer. Mr Hamer was a Liberal parliamentarian who served in both houses of Parliament (he was an MP and a senator). His point was that, between elections, the Government’s power is barely constrained by law or the Constitution.

“Instead, the Government is constrained by the Parliament. However benign or well-meaning a Government, democracy depends on the option for the Parliament to intervene to stop abuse of power,” writes Bill Browne.

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On this episode of Dollars & Sense, Greg and Elinor discuss the Reserve Bank’s decision to raise interest rates and the absurdity of elite private schools receiving substantial public funding.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 5 February 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off the regular price – offer available for a limited time only.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

Australian high schools the most expensive in the world – new research, the Australia Institute (February 2026)

What are the odds? The RBA has raised interest rates – for no real reason other than to meet the desires of speculators by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (February 2026)

On this episode of Follow the Money, Matt Grudnoff joins Ebony Bennett to discuss big economic reform opportunities facing the government and why the Reserve Bank of Australia is so cautious about cutting rates, yet so quick to hike them up.

Join economist, author and former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis and friends in Adelaide on Sunday 1 March and in Sydney on Thursday 5 March. Tickets are selling fast, so get yours now.

Guest: Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist, the Australia Institute // @mattgrudnoff

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

Hasty decision inflicts more pain and will cost jobs, the Australia Institute (February 2026)

The RBA was cautious when it came to cutting interest rates last year. The board repeatedly told borrowers it didn’t want to be hasty and would wait for more data before bringing rates down.

Today’s decision is, predominantly, a reaction to one month of inflation data. The annual inflation rate increased to 3.8 percent in December, above the Reserve Bank’s target band of 2-3 percent. But that was almost entirely driven by one-off spending on travel and accommodation.

The underlying or “core” inflation – which strips out all the big jumps and falls – was 0.23 percent in December, the lowest in six months.

“By its own cautious standards, the RBA should have waited at least another month before inflicting more pain on borrowers,” said Matt Grudnoff, Senior Economist at The Australia Institute.

“The December CPI numbers were driven almost entirely by the increase in prices for travel and accommodation.

“Today’s decision will cost jobs. The RBA wants unemployment to go up. It believes low unemployment makes it hard for businesses to hire workers, forcing them to increase wages to attract them, and those higher wages will lead to higher prices.

“But unemployment has been below the RBA’s sustainable rate of 4.5 percent for four years and wages have not shot up. Forcing unemployment up will just create pointless misery.”

On this episode of After America, author and former speechwriter Don Watson joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the trajectory of the Trump administration, why Australia can’t avoid the rupture being brought about by the MAGA movement, and where Democratic leadership might come from in a “woefully” split party.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 30 January 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Usually available for $34.95, use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off – offer available for a limited time only.

Guest: Don Watson, author of The Shortest History of the United States

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

The Shortest History of the United States of America by Don Watson, Black Inc. (2025)

From the fallout from Adelaide Writers’ Week, to our gun research referenced several times in Parliament, we had a busy start to the year. Watch just a few of our media appearances from January 2026.

The post January 2026 Media Highlights appeared first on The Australia Institute.

The soaring cost of educating high school students is driven by the unusually high number of Australian students who go to private schools and the unusually high prices of those private schools.

It costs Australian families $4,967 per year to send a child to high school, almost four times the OECD average. This figure is the average for all families with a child at high school. Families who send their children to private schools are paying even more, with fees now reaching up to $55,000 per child, per year.

Key findings:

• More than 40% of Australian high school students now attend private schools. If the current trend continues, most Australian high school students will attend private schools by 2055.
• Despite increasingly high fees, private schools don’t offer a substantially better education than public schools. Research shows gaps in test results are mainly due to differences in the socio-economic background of students, rather than the quality of the teaching.
• Private schools that have enough money to build swimming pools and horse stables still receive significant public support. At the same time, public schools face a funding shortfall of over $4 billion.

“Governments are throwing public money at private schools that clearly don’t need it,” said Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.

Australian politics is often unedifying. But watching the latest spill-non-spill-spill (or Schrödinger’s spill, if you will – it being both on and not on at the same time) play out, while Sussan Ley’s team beg for their jobs in a WhatsApp chat group (this columnist is not on the invite list) seems yet another low point.

We have a Nationals MP challenging a leader without canvassing any votes (either a stalking horse move or just another Queensland MP tantrum) and a Liberal Party unable to work out if it has a challenger just yet, or if it wants to wait until the election review is released and that dust settles before stepping in.

The opposition has a stand-in shadow cabinet, while its MPs claim it is still auditioning for government. Branson is riding high on the discontent.

Meanwhile, the government preaches social cohesion. All while preparing to welcome the Israeli president – who posed for content signing bombs that were later dropped on civilians in Gaza – and having just passed hate speech laws that make criticism of Israel’s actions against Palestine a potential crime.

Listeners vote on their favourite songs from the previous 12 months in what has become known as “the world’s largest musical democracy”. Over two million votes were cast for the latest countdown. In this wide-open playing field, the success of Australian artists is a source of national pride.

Since Spiderbait became the first Australian artist to top the countdown with their song Buy Me A Pony in 1996, a total of 16 Australian artists have clinched the number one spot. Although British singer-songwriter Olivia Dean took out this year’s honours, five of the top 10 songs were by Australian artists. This good showing, however, no doubt has something to do with the fact that voters were given a new option of filtering their votes to include Australian artists only. The reason Triple J introduced this initiative probably has something to do with the reality that last year’s countdown featured the fewest artists since 1996.

Over on the national ARIA charts, not a single Australian song cracked the top 20 in 2025 – in fact Taylor Swift has more songs in the top 40 than all Australian artists put together. It seems that ARIA’s initiative to exclude songs more than two years old (which would weed out evergreen hits) is yet to bear fruit.

So what gives? Surely Australians haven’t just stopped liking Australian music?

The translation from Republic is a little more nuanced – Plato was obsessed with order and assumed everyone was just as obsessed as him, and carried that assumption through to a desire to hold office.

So Plato assumed everyone went into office for the same reason. The whole passage the paraphrased quote comes from goes something like this:

“For they are not desirous of honours. It is indeed necessary to add some compulsion and penalty on them if they are intending to be willing to rule. This is likely the reason that a willingness to go to office without facing compulsion is considered shameful. But the greatest penalty is to be ruled by someone worse if a person is not willing to hold office himself. It seems to me that people of propriety hold office (when they do) because they fear that outcome and that they enter into power not because they are going after something good or because they enjoy it, but because it is necessary and they are not able to entrust it to those better than themselves or their equals.”

Which, obviously, is not true. Some people just like power. Those same people enjoy sowing seeds of discord that they never have to actually solve, in order to keep it. They are able to do that, because many of us in the media work to make their offerings seem sane and normal.

On the first episode of Dollars & Sense for 2026, Greg and Elinor discuss why the Radical Left Lunatics at the OECD think Australia’s property investor tax concessions are busted, why inflation is your fault (*for shame*), AUKUS spending, and that one time Greg went too hard on New Year’s Eve.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 29 January 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off the regular price – offer available for a limited time only.

Host: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Elinor Johnston-Leek, Senior Content Producer, the Australia Institute // @elinorjohnstonleek

Show notes:

The easy thing for the RBA to do next week is raise interest rates. The smart move is to wait by Greg Jericho, Guardian Australia (December 2025)

On this episode of Follow the Money, Dr Emma Shortis and Greg Jericho join Glenn Connley to discuss how Australia can navigate what Canadian PM Mark Carney calls the Trump “rupture”.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ at checkout to save $5 off the price – available for a limited time only.

Guest: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Guest: Greg Jericho, Chief Economist, the Australia Institute // @grogsgamut

Host: Glenn Connley, Senior Media Advisor, the Australia Institute // @glennconnley

Show notes:

After America, the Australia Institute

Dollars & Sense, the Australia Institute

On this episode of After America, Allan Behm joins Dr Emma Shortis discuss the global “rupture” identified by Prime Minister Carney, President Trump’s petulant response, why Trump’s apparent climbdown over Greenland may not save NATO, and what this all means for America’s allies, including Australia.

This discussion was recorded on Thursday 22 January 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Usually available for $34.95, use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off – offer available for a limited time only.

After America: Australia and the new world order is available from Australia Institute Press for just $19.95.

Guest: Allan Behm, Advisor, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

Special Address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada | World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, World Economic Forum on YouTube (January 2026)

The Wrap with Amy Remeikis

You didn’t have to be a political savant to see what was going to happen this week from the moment Sussan Ley decided to open the door to negotiations with Anthony Albanese on the hate group bill almost no one wanted.

One of the first rules of politics is if the other side are knocking on your door asking you to negotiate with them, then what you’re negotiating is only ever going to benefit those knocking.

It was the worst of politics – civil liberties used as bait to hoist the Liberal leader by her own political petard. Ley’s lack of principle, experience and political instinct saw her rush to politicise the antisemitic Bondi attack, demanding a royal commission, for parliament to be recalled and a suite of hate speech legislation to be rushed through. After a united media and political class frenzy, Albanese gave Ley everything she wanted. She was, in every sense, the architect of her own downfall, egged on every step of the way by a rightwing media apparatus that has sent the Coalition backwards for the last two elections.

Last year’s Hottest 100 featured just 27 Australian songs, the lowest number since 1994.

This contrasts with the years 2014 to 2022 when Australian artists produced more than half of the songs in the Hottest 100.

The analysis shows that the decline in Australian songs in the Hottest 100 is mirrored in data from streaming services – the number of Australian songs and artists featuring in global streaming services like Spotify is declining rapidly.

This is because Australian artists are crowded out by other English-speaking acts, particularly those from the USA.

The analysis concludes that Australian music can be rejuvenated with policy support focused on increased funding and better regulation of streaming services.

“The decline of Australian songs in the Triple J Hottest 100 is caused by lack of funding and governments’ failure to regulate streaming services,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“When it comes to Australian music, streaming has changed everything.

“Whereas once the main source of music for Australian listeners was Australian radio stations, audiences are now listening through global streaming services. These work on algorithms that filter for language but not for geography, so Australian artists are competing against American artists, which the streaming services are biased towards.

Amy Remeikis and Bill Browne join Ebony Bennett to discuss how having fewer guns in the community will make Australians safer. However, the complex anti-hate legislation that was rushed through at the same time could have serious consequences for Australian society.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ at checkout to save $5 off the price – available for a limited time only.

Where it all went wrong: the case against John Howard by Amy Remeikis is available for pre-order now.

Guest: Amy Remeikis, Chief Political Analyst, the Australia Institute // @amyremeikis

Guest: Bill Browne, Democracy & Accountability Director, the Australia Institute // @browne90

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

Australia Institute research shows the number of guns in the Australian community has surged to more than 4 million and a gun is stolen every four hours in Australia. The theft of legally owned guns is the biggest single source of new firearms on the black market in Australia.

The laws establish the infrastructure for a new national gun buyback scheme, make it illegal to import the kind of rapidly reloading rifles and shotguns used in the Bondi massacre, and enable states and territories to consider intelligence gathered by Commonwealth agencies like ASIO as part of firearms licensing decisions.

“Gun law reforms can’t stop hate or antisemitism, but these reforms will help stop hate from turning into the kind of horror we saw in Bondi,” said Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of The Australia Institute.

“Australia Institute research has repeatedly shown that the most straightforward way to keep Australians safe is to reduce the number of guns available in the community.

“Not only are there at least 800,000 more guns in the Australian community now than before the Port Arthur massacre, but they are being kept in large numbers in our cities and suburbs.

“Thirty years on from Port Arthur and there is still no National Firearms Register up and running, something that needs to be accelerated as a matter of urgency.

On this episode of After America, Matt Duss joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the Trump administration’s new tariffs against Europe, what if anything it might do in Iran, and its threats to prosecute political opponents.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 16 January (AEDT) 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off – offer available for a limited time only.

Guest: Matt Duss, Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy // @mattduss

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

‘Shorter America this week: everything is gender’ by Emma Shortis, The Point (January 2026)

‘How Marco Rubio Went from “Little Marco” to Trump’s Foreign-Policy Enabler’ by Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker (January 2026)

Ley, and others in her increasingly small circle, mistook Josh Frydenberg’s win in forcing the Albanese government to call a royal commission into the events that led to Bondi as a personal victory.

It became obvious that was a mistake almost as soon as it happened. The Liberals may have found brief unity in a feverish lust of blaming the government, and anti-genocide protesters, for the actions of deranged terrorists, but that unity was never going to hold.

After losing the summer, Anthony Albanese is playing the long game. In throwing together a little of what everyone wanted into a bill no one wanted, he got to say he tried.

It is a well-worn Australian political tactic – wielding power through failure: “We tried to do something, and just couldn’t and that’s someone else’s fault” becomes the narrative, with the focus then shifting to who is not letting the government do as it wishes, rather than the government’s failure to find the support it needs to get it through.

In this case, Labor itself didn’t want the “something” it was attempting to do. It played a high stakes game with liberties to own the right, aided by the Greens, who saw the lay of the land and made the smart choice.

Now Ley must own the Coalition walking away from legislation it said it wanted, while the government gets to pretend it tried to meet its expectations.

In more crass terms, Ley f–ked around. Now she’s finding out.

Just days after hundreds of homes were destroyed and tens of thousands of livestock died in Victoria’s bushfires, across the state hundreds more people were evacuated and multiple cars washed out to sea due to flash flooding following an intense storm.

Fossil fuel companies cause the climate change that turbocharges extreme weather events, but ordinary Australians are paying the price. It’s time that changed.

Global warming means extreme weather events like storms, floods, and bushfires are more frequent and more intense. But these disasters are still too often framed as tragic but unavoidable acts of nature, rather than the inevitable consequence of Australia being the third largest exporter of fossil fuels on Earth.

Gas, oil, and coal companies are let off the hook, while the true costs of climate-fueled disasters keep landing on the wrong people, again and again. It’s well past time Australia implemented a climate disaster levy on fossil fuel companies.

Because the costs of climate-fueled disasters are enormous. Homes and properties are destroyed. Businesses shut down. Cattle dead. Farms damaged. Local infrastructure – roads, power, water – wiped out in a matter of hours.

Following a string of major floods across the east coast of Australia in 2022, Australians claimed more than seven billion dollars on their home insurance – almost double the previous record.

On this episode of After America, Professor Elizabeth N Saunders from Columbia University joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss the “chaotic cruelty” of the Trump administration, its escalation of hostilities over Greenland and whether it will strike Iran.

This discussion was recorded on Tuesday 13 January (AEDT) 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off.

Guest: Elizabeth N Sauders, Professor of Political Science, Columbia University // @profsaunders

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Show notes:

‘What happens now in Venezuela – and the world?’ by Elizabeth N Saunders, Good Authority (January 2026)

‘Imperial President at Home, Emperor Abroad’ by Elizabeth Saunders, Foreign Affairs (June 2025)

On this episode of Follow the Money, Richard Denniss and Ebony Bennett discuss the political and policy response to devasting Bondi terrorist attacks, the cancellation of Adelaide Writers’ Week, Trump and the Australia-US alliance, and what to look out for in federal politics in 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ at checkout to save $5 off the price – available for a limited time only.

Dead Centre: how political pragmatism is killing us by Richard Denniss is also available now.

Guest: Richard Denniss, co-Chief Executive Officer, the Australia Institute // @richarddenniss

Host: Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director, the Australia Institute // @ebonybennett

Show notes:

The Wrap with Dr Emma Shortis

The Trump administration started 2026 as it means to continue: with violence and lawlessness.

Trump’s attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of the Venezuelan president clearly contravene every principle of international law.

This attack, and the administration’s escalating threats against other places, like Greenland, send a clear message. Trump is leading an imperial revival. His version of America has no respect for old alliances. It has no care for the safety or security of the rest of the world.

We are, now, in uncharted territory. The America we thought we knew is gone. And it isn’t coming back. Even a “decent” America (and there are many decent Americans) will be looking over its shoulder, cautious and reluctant.

This has deeply serious consequences for Australia. As our colleague Allan Behm wrote in The Point this week, we simply cannot bury our heads in the sand and hope this will all pass us by. It will not.

The Trump administration has already made that clear. It has trashed the Free Trade Agreement we signed with the US in 2004. The US Congress is threatening the Australian eSafety Commissioner with contempt charges if she does not testify before a congressional committee. She is being accused of “harassing” US tech companies – for enforcing Australian domestic policy and law in Australia.

If international law matters to Australia – and it does – then our response to Trump’s concerted attacks on the rule of law also matters.

On this episode of After America, Emma Shortis and Angus Blackman discuss the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, the credibility of the Trump administration’s threats against Greenland and elsewhere, and the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

This discussion was recorded on Friday 9 January 2026.

A time for Bravery: what happens when Australia chooses courage is available now via Australia Institute Press. Use the code ‘POD5’ to get $5 off.

Host: Emma Shortis, Director, International & Security Affairs, the Australia Institute // @emmashortis

Host: Angus Blackman, Executive Producer, the Australia Institute // @AngusRB

Show notes:

‘What you need to know about Trump administration’s abduction of Nicolás Maduro’ by Emma Shortis, The Point (January 2026)

Following a statement from the board responsible for the Adelaide Festival organisation and all Adelaide Writers’ Week events, The Australia Institute is withdrawing its support and sponsored events from this year’s literary festival.

The Australia Institute has valued being part of discussions at the event, which in the past have promoted bravery, freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas.

Censoring or cancelling authors is not in the spirit of an open and free exchange of ideas.

The post Statement from The Australia Institute appeared first on The Australia Institute.