Curtin’s Cast

In this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down why AI anxiety is already political — not hypothetical — and why governments are at risk of repeating the biggest mistake of the last economic transition. We’ve seen this movie before. It didn’t end well. Over 70% of Australians think AI will cost jobs — and this time, the fear hits before the impact. Based off new Redbridge polling and the John Curtin Research Centre's new policy report, 'For All of Us: Making Artificial Intelligence Work for Working People', the argument is simple: if workers don’t share in the gains, they won’t accept the change. And if they don’t accept it, they’ll vote against it.

Australia isn’t experiencing one populist surge, but two. In this episode of Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack new RedBridge and Accent Research polling revealing a striking political reality: under the same economic pressures, different generations are breaking in completely different directions. Among financially stressed Gen X voters, One Nation is surging. Among Gen Z voters under that same pressure, the Greens are rising just as sharply. Same system. Same frustration. Completely different political outcomes. This isn’t just volatility — it’s something deeper. The unravelling of the class-based political system that has defined Australia for more than a century. But here’s the paradox: as the system fragments, Labor remains dominant. Why? Drawing on Nick’s ‘Trump Bump 2.0’ thesis, the episode explores how voters are shifting from blaming governments to asking a different question — who looks like the “adult in the room” in an age of global instability. Nick and Kos break down: Why Australia now has two competing populisms The generational divide reshaping politics Why One Nation is insurgent but not a governing force The Coalition’s accelerating collapse How Labor is holding on amid fragmentation Is class politics is being replaced by generation and education This is a conversation about a political system coming apart — and what might replace it.

This week, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by arguably Australia’s finest historian and public intellectual, Professor Frank Bongiorno, for our landmark 50th episode — and a big question at the heart of Australian politics: Is Bob Hawke really the “gold standard”… or a myth we can’t escape? Our conversation is anchored in the new book Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government, edited by Frank, Carolyn Holbrook and Joshua Black — a major reassessment of Hawke’s record and reputation. We unpack: ▪️ Why Hawke still dominates how we judge governments▪️ What actually made the Hawke model work▪️ Why reform feels harder today▪️ Whether Labor is misreading its own history What matters now is what Albanese Labor can realistically learn from Hawke — and what his record tells students of Australian politics about the limits and possibilities of reform today.

This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down the most striking polling shift in a generation — and what it means for Australian politics. Victoria is no longer a conventional contest. Both major parties are struggling to reach 30%. One Nation is now polling in the mid-20s. The next Victorian election won’t be one election at all. It’ll be eighty-eight by-elections happening simultaneously across the state. In this episode we explore: 📊 RedBridge/Accent Victorian state election polling 👥 Generational and class realignment playing out in real time 🗳️ Check in on South Australia ahead of March 21 🌍 Whether Middle East conflict influences domestic voting behaviour This is a deep dive into the end of the old electoral map — and what replaces it.

This week Curtin's Cast is joined in the studio by Peter Khalil — Labor member for the federal seat of Wills in Melbourne, Assistant Minister for Defence, former Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, ex-national security adviser to Kevin Rudd, and previously the government’s former Special Envoy for Social Cohesion. From public housing in Melbourne’s north to junior tennis glory, from working as an executive with SBS to the frontline of Australia’s national security debate — Peter’s story is as global as it is grounded. And Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go deep with Peter, exploring:🎾 Growing up in Melbourne’s north to immigrant parents — and what a good working-class boy was doing playing tennis✝️ Who are the Egyptian Copts? Peter gives us a history lesson — one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, tracing their lineage back to the early Church, shaped by centuries of survival, faith and minority resilience in the Middle East🧭 Why Peter chose the brutal occupation of parliamentary politics over a a successful and comfortable executive career 🏘️ On the ground in Wills — what voters are actually saying at the doors🤝 Social cohesion beyond the slogan — what happens when trust frays?⚠️ Extremism — left and right — protest, grievance, and social media accelerant🌏 Geo-political volatility — what does middle-power strategy look like now?All killer, no filler. Catch Episode 46 wherever you get your podcasts.

🎙️ New Curtin’s Cast: Alastair Campbell on democracy in the age of Trumpism 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.

As we wrap up Curtin’s Cast for 2025, a big thank you to everyone who’s tuned in this year — and a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and season’s greetings to all our listeners. Your support has helped make Curtin’s Cast one of the most widely listened-to political podcasts in the country, and we’re deeply grateful. To close out the year, we couldn’t ask for a better conversation. 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.

🎧 NEW EPISODE | CURTIN’S CAST 🇺🇦🇦🇺Recorded live from Parliament House, Canberra 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.

With Kung Fu Kos away, Nick Dyrenfurth teams up with guest co-host Emma Dawson (Chifley Research Centre) to tackle a huge few weeks in politics: 📊 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.

🎙️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.

🎙️ Our guest today has lived the Australian story from the inside out. Born in Basra, Iraq, arriving to Australia as an asylum seeker aged nine including spending time in Villawood Detention Centre, and now a lawyer, chairperson and entrepreneur — Sam Almaliki’s journey is one of hope, hardship and renewal. From learning English behind fences to leading in business and community, Sam’s story captures the resilience and reinvention that define the Australian project. In this episode Nick and Kos yarn with Sam about: 🏠 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!

🎧 New #CurtinsCast episode - Kos Samaras is back with Brisbane Lions tragic & premiership celebrator Nick Dyrenfurth to dissect the week in politics: 🇬🇧 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.

#CurtinsCast host Nick Dyrenfurth takes a well-earned spell from the microphone as John Curtin Research Centre board member and constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris joins Kos Samaras to lead a searching conversation with "proud Westie" and emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis. 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.