About this episode

The episode discusses the factors contributing to the rise of the far right in Australia and the potential for a revived union movement to address this issue.

Is the collapse in trust of Australia's institutions, the retreat of unionism from everyday working life, and the alliances forged in Victoria's Covid lockdowns and reactivated by the 2023 Voice referendum responsible for the rise of the far right? Is One Nation's surge a passing spike, or the tail end of a forty-year rupture in Australian political life? Could a revived, class-based union movement win back the "recent defectors" drifting from Labor to Pauline Hanson before it's too late? This week, Mark and Marija are joined by Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett, research organiser at the Victorian Trades Hall Council and author of the new report  Antidote . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Mark Kenny

Guest: Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett

Topics covered

• far right
• political trust
• union movement
• Australian politics
• Covid lockdowns
• Voice referendum

Keywords

• far right
• unionism
• political trust
• One Nation
• Labor
• Covid lockdowns
• Voice referendum
• Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Victorian Trades Hall Council, One Nation, Labor, Australia

Books & works: Antidote

More episodes of Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny

• The Cohesion Question · July 21, 2026 · 59 min
• Angertainment · July 7, 2026 · 52 min
• Two Teals, One Ticket · June 30, 2026 · 43 min
• Broken Britain and the Burnham Moment · June 23, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Race for the base · June 16, 2026 · 53 min

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