• Iran’s widening war in the Middle East • The death of Ali Khamenei and rise of his son • Whether authoritarian regimes are stronger or more fragile during war • What Iranians actually think about the conflict • How the region might change if Iran’s regime falls

🎧 Listen now via Apple, Spotify or YouTube

📊 The latest federal and state polls — what’s real and what’s noise 🔵 The new Liberal leadership — and why it’s not generational renewal 🗳️ The same free-market fundamentalism dressed up with culture-war garnish 📰 The same campaign/media tactics including obligatory News Corp sit-down 🏙️ A leader who doesn’t hold an urban metropolitan seat 💥 And the deeper truth: the problem isn’t just the leader — it’s the party

We also dig into:

📍 Victorian and South Australian polling 🎤 The Mally campaign launch: One Nation is the real threat ⚠️ How One Nation can eat into Labor’s base especially in Victoria

Then:

🏗️ Why issues like the CFMEU saga are viewed by voters as intra-elite squabbles 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️ The widening gender divide and growing generational fracture — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z — and how each tells a different political story

If you want to know where Australian politics is actually heading — beyond the hot takes — this is the episode for you!

Politics everywhere feels simultaneously stuck and combustible — in the US, the UK and here in Australia. This week Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Alastair Campbell — former Director of Communications and Strategy to Tony Blair, co-host of The Rest Is Politics, and one of the sharpest observers of modern democratic politics — for a wide-ranging and unsparing conversation. We explore:

• Why UK Labour PM Keir Starmer governs with a commanding majority yet struggles to project purpose
• How Anthony Albanese’s Australian Labor and Canada’s Mark Carney are resisting the right-wing populist surge
• The global ecosystem of right-wing media, influencers and big money amplifying grievance and normalising transgressive politics of the MAGA, Reform UK and Aussie One Nation variety
• Why figures like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson can get away with behaviour mainstream politicians cannot
• What New Labour got wrong - namely the downsides of globalization 
• Housing, intergenerational equality and climate are the means by which the social democratic centre-left can beat back the populist Alt-Right

Alastair also speaks candidly about his own reaction to Trump — even joking about how he has “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — and what that reveals about the emotional intensity of contemporary politics 🎧 Listen to episode 44 wherever you get your podcasts. 

Episode 43 | Polling shocks, Coalition fracture and the new politics of grievance

Australian politics is realigning in real time. In the first Curtin’s Cast episode of 2026, co-hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack a turbulent political summer — from polling shocks and Coalition breakdown to the surge of One Nation, the Gen X revolt, and the risks now facing a dominant but vulnerable Labor government. We discuss:

• What the polling is really telling us • Why the Coalition’s break-up (and make-up) doesn’t fix the right • One Nation’s consolidation and electoral prospects • Gen X as the new grievance cohort • How legacy media built a populist right-wing Frankenstein it can’t control • Why the Greens are stuck in neutral • Why Labor’s next term must be about delivery, not luck • What the 2026 SA and Victorian elections will reveal about federal politics

🎧 Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Quarterly Essay has reached its 100th edition — a remarkable milestone for long-form political writing in Australia. And to mark it, Kos and Nick sit down with Sean Kelly, author of The Good Fight: What Does Labor Stand For? — an essay that asks an important, and uncomfortable, question in Australian politics.

Sean argues Labor’s challenge today isn’t simply electoral, but moral: a crisis of purpose, confidence and imagination. Why has the party that once reshaped the nation struggled to articulate what it stands for heading into 2026? What replaced the old sense of mission? And can a politics built on “kindness” survive a harsher, more unequal era?

📘 Buy Sean Kelly’s Quarterly Essay #100 here: 👉 https://www.quarterlyessay.com.au/essay/2025/11/the-good-fight

Thanks again for listening in 2025. We’ll see you in 2026 — with plenty more to talk about.

Winning the Peace: Why Ukraine’s Reconstruction Is Australia’s Test Too

This episode features one of the most powerful voices in Australia’s Ukraine community. Alex Vynokur didn’t become an advocate by choice — history chose him. A Ukrainian Jew whose family endured antisemitism and world war, Alex's family have built an incredibly successful life in Australia. When Russia invaded, he didn’t look away. He built the United Ukraine Appeal into a lifeline for hospitals, families and frontline communities under fire.

Now he joins Curtin’s Cast — just minutes after the launch of our new report in Parliament along with report author Dr Dominic Meagher and hosts Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth  — to argue that rebuilding Ukraine is not charity, it is solidarity and strategy to serve Australia's national interest.

• The latest polling — and what it really means • Liberal Party chaos & whether Sussan Ley can hang on? • The rise and rise of One Nation: who’s voting for them? Why? • Whether Pauline Hanson has finally hit her ceiling • Andrew Hastie — principled conservative or emerging Messiah figure? • Why the Liberals’ national future runs through fixing Victoria first • And what to expect from new Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson

It’s a wide-ranging, data-rich, brutally honest breakdown direct from the corridors of power.

📊 What the latest federal polling really says 🌆 Mamdani’s NYC upset + outsider politics 🇬🇧 UK Labour turmoil, Reform & Greens surge 📱 Australia’s under-16 social media ban

Is a new generation rejecting “politics-as-usual”? And what should Australian Labor, indeed political parties of all stripes, learn before it’s too late?

Listen on Apple, Spotify and YouTube.

Fifty years to the day after the Dismissal, this week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and guest co-host Emma Dawson talk to acclaimed historian and political biographer Troy Bramston about his stunning new biography Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New. 700+ pages of reform, chaos, and vision — from Gough’s youthful poem to the tumultuous events of 11 November 1975. What does Whitlam still mean to Labor today? Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube. Buy Troy's book:

https://www.harpercollins.com.au/9781460716137/gough-whitlam-the-vista-of-the-new-the-definitive-and-most-up-to-date-biography-from-australias-leading-political-biographer/

🎙️This week on Curtin's Cast, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth sit down with Gerard Dwyer, National Secretary of the SDA — Australia’s largest private-sector union covering retail, fast food and warehouse workers and a proud John Curtin Research Centre Board member. From regional NSW, to the classroom and social work, and now the frontline of the labour movement, Gerard shares his journey, values, and vision — from the dignity of retail work and the scourge of workplace violence to the fight for fair pay for young workers, and why housing must be at the heart of Labor’s renewal. There’s even a yarn about his short-lived career as a jockey 🏇 This is a conversation about work, safety, and fairness but also about the enduring moral purpose of the labour movement in an era of economic insecurity and populist politics. 🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

🏠 Growing up in public housing & the power of aspiration 🏏 From Cricket Australia to navigating boardrooms 🤝 Migration, belonging & social cohesion

🎧 Listen to Curtin’s Cast with Sam Almaliki wherever you get your podcast goodies!

They unpack the immigration debate, the rise of Advance Australia and right-wing online grifters, and ask: who exactly is voting for One Nation in 2025? (Spoiler: not the people who matter in marginal swing seats). Plus: how the Greens’ extremist rhetoric around the Middle East is backfiring with mainstream progressives.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.

🇬🇧 The rise of alt-right & MAGA politics in the UK and Australia 🛠️ Andrew Hastie on migration, housing & slaying the neo-liberal dragon ⚠️ Wayne Swan’s warning to Labor on its shallow base in a time of electoral volatility…  and much more besides.

With Nick Dyrenfurth still away, JCRC board member & leading constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris joins Kos Samaras for a rich, personal and political conversation. 🌏⚖️

💡 From her Indian-Fijian family roots and early acting dreams to the frontlines of law and advocacy, Shireen shares the journey that shaped her fight for justice and belonging.

🗳️ They dive deep into the Uluru Statement and the Voice referendum: • Lessons from working with First Nations leaders • Why constitutional design matters more than slogans • A frank autopsy of the 2023 Yes campaign—what worked, what didn’t • Where recognition, treaty & reform go next

A candid, insightful episode on law, culture and the future of Australia’s democracy.

From the frontlines of emergency medicine to the fraught politics of end-of-life care, Dr Parnis reflects on the class politics of medical care, dealing with dying patents and what makes for a “good death,” the limits of autonomy, and why Victoria’s voluntary assisted-dying safeguards still trouble him.

The discussion widens to COVID’s class divides and the paradox of highly-educated, generally affluent anti-vax movement. It’s a candid, compassionate exploration of clinical ethics, public policy, and how we might rewrite the script on death and care in Australia.

We dive into: ⏳ The fight for the eight-hour day and Australia’s pioneering role 📉 How progress stalled from the 1980s onwards 👩‍👩‍👧‍👦 The hidden burden of unpaid work, especially for women 💻 Technology, productivity and the “always on” culture 🗳️ Why politics has failed to act on overwork ✨ What a fairer future — maybe even a four-day week — could look like

A revealing look at the crisis of work-life balance — and how we might win back our time. Grab a copy of Sean's book here:

https://www.mup.com.au/books/a-fair-day-s-work/9780522880816

Our conversation delved into his two decades of military service including the elite 1st Commando Regiment, deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, and the loss of close friends in combat that shaped his reflections on leadership, sacrifice and ethics. We unpacked his pivotal preselection contest against Kevin Andrews in the seat of Menzies and his brief time in federal parliament, with Keith providing some raw and super interesting insights into modern political life.

We also explored the lessons of defeat after Menzies turned red in 2025, his honesty in taking responsibility, and his vision for a Liberal Party that must reconnect with urban voters – especially professionals, women, younger Australians and migrant communities. Keith spoke candidly about his family life, his values, and whether a political comeback might lie ahead alongside his work at the Bar.

This is a conversation not to be missed.

Check out a preview which is running in Nine Media's The Age and SMH:

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/canavan-leads-group-of-five-demanding-coalition-debate-now-on-scrapping-net-zero-20250826-p5mpvo.html

Read the entire report here: https://lnkd.in/ga2xad8J

https://byrnel.substack.com/p/no-power-greater?

Emma Dawson is Executive Director of the Chifley Research Centre and former Executive Director of Per Capita. She has worked as a researcher at Monash University and the University of Melbourne; in policy and public affairs for SBS and Telstra; and as a senior policy adviser in the Rudd and Gillard Governments.

Emma has published reports, articles and opinion pieces on a wide range of public policy issues. She is a regular contributor to Guardian Australia, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, and a frequent guest on various ABC and commercial radio programs nationally. She appears regularly as an expert witness before parliamentary inquiries and often speaks at public events and conferences in Australia and internationally.

Emma is the co-editor, with Professor Janet McCalman, of the collection of essays What happens next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID-19, published by Melbourne University Press in September 2020. She is a Fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute of Australia and an Adjunct Professor at the UTS Business School.

Anti-Fascists : Jim McNeill and his mates in the Spanish Civil War by Michael Samaras

The Australians who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War were men and women of conscience. They were prescient in their understanding of fascism’s threat and convinced that taking up arms against it was the right thing to do. They were Australia’ s pioneers against fascism.

Jim McNeill, a Wollongong steelworker, stowed away in the bottom of a meat ship to get to Europe and join the famed International Brigades. He was a man of strong political convictions who fought fascism at home and abroad. He was friends with the charismatic hero Ted Dickinson, the conscientious Bill Morcom, the musical Jack Franklyn and the life-hardened Joe Carter. They became part of McNeill’s life. Their stories form part of his story and are told here with his.

This book ensures that the memory of these courageous Australians is not forgotten. Anti-Fascists explains why they went to Spain, what happened to them there, and what became of them after the war.

John Faulkner, Former Labor Senate Leader: This book is a deeply researched account of the history and motivation of a small band of courageous Australians who, without government approval or support, travelled to Spain in a vain attempt to defeat fascism. A great read for any history buff. Paul Daley, Author and Guardian writer: With a meticulous historical eye and elegant prose, Michael Samaras brings to life the courage and commitment of Jim McNeill and other Australians who fought fascism in Spain. This remarkable book represents the long overdue historical remembrance of an overlooked group of extraordinary Australian women and men.

About Paul

Paul Strangio is Emeritus Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. Paul specialises in Australian political history, with a particular focus on political leadership and political parties. He’s an author and editor of 11 books, including Keeper Of The Faith: A biography of Jim Cairns, studies of the Australian prime ministers, Neither Power Nor Glory: 100 Years of Political Labor in Victoria, 1856–1956 and, with Nick Dyrenfurth, edited Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party System. He’s been a frequent commentator on Australian politics in the print and election media, including a regular column for The Age, and for a number of years has had a regular segment on ABC Radio Melbourne.

Drew Westen is a Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Emory University and formerly taught at the University of Michigan and Harvard Medical School. He is founder of Westen Strategies a strategic messaging consulting firm that serves nonprofits and political organizations and the author of three books and countless scholarly articles, including The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation. The book has been widely used by political candidates and leaders around the world and is credited as having influenced campaign strategies in a number of races, beginning with the 2008 Presidential race. President Bill Clinton described it as one of the most significant books in politics he had read in a decade. He has advised a range of organizations, from presidential and prime ministerial campaigns in the US and internationally.

Maurice Glasman is an English political theorist, academic, social commentator, and Labour life peer in the House of Lords. Baron Glasman is professor of politics at St Mary’s University, London, and director of the Common Good Foundation. Maurice is best known as a founder of the Blue Labour tendency, a term he coined in 2009, which advocates for a conservative form of socialism. He is the author of Blue Labour: The Politics of the Common Good and and Unnecessary Suffering: Managing Market Utopia.