Trust Me, I'm An Expert
148 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 4 years ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsThe Conversation's editors bring you the most insightful, fascinating, surprising analysis and stories from the academic world. We're asking the experts to bust the myths, explain the science and put the news headlines into context. Join us as we take a deep dive into the big ideas driving our world.
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Episodes
Politics Podcast: Tanya Plibersek on Labor's taxing times
June 27, 2018 10:36 - 22 minutes - 31.3 MBMick Tsikas/AAP Deputy opposition leader Tanya Plibersek talks on Anthony Albanese’s Whitlam oration, Bill Shorten’s unexpected announcement on rolling back company tax for medium sized firms, the “tough” Braddon and Longman byelections - and really fires up about mobile phones and over connected children. Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no re...
Politics Podcast: Attorney-General Christian Porter on a crowded agenda
June 20, 2018 08:37 - 27 minutes - 37.6 MBPaul Braven/AAP Attorney-General Christian Porter says the response to the consultations for the national apology to victims of child sexual abuse has been very strong with a total of 167 attendees at consultation sessions so far. “There are further consultations coming up in Ballarat, Melbourne, Bendigo, Newcastle and Sydney … it is a very important process and is going very well,” he said. Porter also says there’s “some level of common sense” to suggestions that former Prim...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: The explainer episode
May 31, 2018 16:37 - 29 minutes - 67.5 MBAfter this episode, you'll be able to explain how quantum mechanics affects everything from the way your jeans are cut to the headphones you use. Cindy Zhi/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SA Today on Trust Me, I’m An Expert, we’re bringing you the explainer episode - where we ask researchers to unpack some truly tricky topics. The University of Queensland’s James Sherlock explains what psychology can reveal about why people like pimple popping and ingrown hair removal videos. They’re mo...
Politics Podcast: Brotherhood of St Laurence's Conny Lenneberg on Newstart, poverty and inequality
May 31, 2018 07:10 - 19 minutes - 26.3 MBThe Brotherhood of St Laurence's "Share the Pie" campaign posters are appearing at Canberra bus stops. Brotherhood of St Laurence/supplied, CC BY-SA The Brotherhood of St Laurence has underway a campaign with the slogan “Share the Pie” highlighting the inadequacy of the Newstart allowance. The Brotherhood is also arguing the social safety net more generally is fraying. Executive Director of The Brotherhood Conny Lenneberg spoke to The Conversation about the inequality created by the low l...
Politics podcast: Michael McCormack on Barnaby's future, latte sippers and other matters
May 30, 2018 06:11 - 24 minutes - 33.8 MBMick Tsikas/AAP With yet another round of the Barnaby Joyce affair distracting the government, the next question will be whether the beleaguered MP runs again in his New England seat at the election. In this interview with The Conversation, Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack pointedly avoids saying Joyce should do so. “That’ll be a matter for him and that’ll be a matter for the National party in New England. That’ll be a matter for a branch to nomin...
Politics podcast: Anthony Albanese on Labor's National Conference
May 23, 2018 08:21 - 27 minutes - 38.4 MBDaniel Munoz/AAP Labor is facing tough tests in coming byelections in its narrowly held seats of Longman in Queensland and Braddon in Tasmania. Later on, managing the ALP national conference will be a challenge for Bill Shorten who will be anxious to avoid damaging displays of division over controversial issues. Labor Frontbencher Anthony Albanese is putting on a confident face about the byelections. On the conference, he predicts there will not be a “substantial change” in...
Politics podcast: Dean Smith on the pros and risks of new religious freedom protections
May 22, 2018 05:17 - 18 minutes - 25.8 MBLukas Coch/AAP The Liberal party is currently fighting fires on various fronts - from a revolt on the live sheep trade to preselection power struggles. Western Australia Liberal Senator Dean Smith is putting up another push, as he challenges the decision not to run Liberal candidates in the two WA byelections. In this podcast he also speaks about the need for rigorous debate on religious freedoms, diversity in the Liberal party, and his opposition to constitutional reform...
Politics podcast: Mathias Cormann and Jim Chalmers on Budget 2018
May 09, 2018 09:57 - 31 minutes - 43.3 MBoriginal With the government’s election focused budget released it’s now a tax showdown between the two sides. Finance minister Mathias Cormann says the government is committed to the whole of their seven-year personal tax relief plan and is determined the three-part package not be broken up. Meanwhile, shadow finance minister Jim Chalmers says Labor is disappointed with the government’s inflexibility on their tax plan. “It’s a real shame that they’re saying that they will hold those ...
Politics podcast: Tim Colebatch on the 2018 budget
May 08, 2018 11:30 - 9 minutes - 12.4 MBMick Tsikas/AAP From inside the lockup political and economic journalist Tim Colebatch speaks to Michelle Grattan about his assessment of the budget. He says the income tax cuts are “well targeted” and that he can’t see any “significant negatives” from the budget. However Colebatch is “surprised the government hasn’t made more effort to find other sources of compensating tax income or making bigger spending cuts in areas where they thought there was waste”. Michelle Grattan ...
Politics podcast: Chris Bowen on the budget and Labor's policies
May 03, 2018 01:16 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBJames Ross/AAP Ahead of Tuesday’s budget that will unveil the goverment’s tax cut plans, the Coalition is painting Labor as the big taxing party, while the ALP is attacking the government’s push to cut company tax for big business. Meanwhile the Business Council of Australia is taking its message to the public with a grassroots campaign. Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen tells The Conversation he accepts that big business will “lobby on their own path”. “Clearly we have a differen...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: 'Dancing out of depression' – how Syrian refugees are using exercise to improve mental health
April 30, 2018 20:17 - 29 minutes - 40.1 MBDr Simon Rosenbaum in Gaziantep, Turkey, with participants in an exercise program for Syrian refugees. Simon Rosenbaum , Author provided (no reuse) A growing body of research is drawing a link between mental and physical health – and the connection is much stronger than you might realise. Simon Rosenbaum, a senior research fellow in school psychiatry at UNSW, had been researching the role of exercise in mental health treatment for years when he teamed up with a colleague, Ruth Wells. ...
Politics podcast: Robert Kelly on the Korean summits
April 24, 2018 09:11 - 19 minutes - 27 MBYONHAP/EPA Professor Robert E Kelly from the Department of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan University is pessimistic about how much the upcoming Korean summits will achieve this Friday. He told The Conversation that the Trump-Kim summit is likely “to be a bust” because the Americans aren’t prepared for the negotiations, while the summit between the two Koreas is more important for issues of economic cooperation and military transparency. On the reunification of Ko...
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Clive Hamilton and Richard Rigby on Chinese influence in Australia
April 13, 2018 02:02 - 33 minutes - 46.3 MBDavid Crosling/AAP The Australia-China relationship is again in the headlines, with reports of strains between the two countries, resulting in federal ministers who want to visit finding it hard to get visas. China is reacting against the Australian government’s rhetoric and especially its legislation, now before parliament, to combat foreign interference in Australian politics. Malcolm Turnbull plays down the issue but admits “there is certainly some tension”, in the wake o...
Politics podcast: Michael Keating on a Fair Share
April 05, 2018 06:26 - 39 minutes - 54.4 MBThe economic credentials and plans of the two major parties are shaping up as a big election battleground. www.gotcredit.com, CC BY-SA With the debate about equality heating up ahead of the federal election, Dr Michael Keating, the former head of three federal government departments, warns that while past economic reforms have served Australia well, there’s a risk some people may be left behind if we don’t “change the debate”. A new book co-authored by University of Queensland Political ...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: Brain-zapping, the curious case of the n-rays and other stories of evidence
March 29, 2018 01:08 - 30 minutes - 70.4 MBEvidence isn't always as straightforward as it might first seem. Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SA You’ve had an x-ray before but have you had an n-ray? Of course not, because they’re not real. But people used to think they were. Scientists had shown they were. And the weird history of n-rays, explored in today’s episode of Trust Me, I’m An Expert, tells us a lot about people’s willingness to believe wrong information – but also how well-designed studies can debunk myths, reve...
Politics podcast: John Blaxland on Australia's expulsion of Russian spies
March 28, 2018 08:07 - 20 minutes - 28.4 MBAmbassador of the Russian Federation Grigory Logvinov speaks during a press conference at the Russian Embassy in Canberra. Lukas Coch/AAP As Russian Ambassador Grigory Logvinov and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop trade verbal blows, ANU professor John Blaxland says the expulsion of two Russian spies from Australia will have a significant effect on Russia’s espionage here. Blaxland told The Conversation that ideologically we’re not seeing a new Cold War but the interconnectedness of the worl...
Politics podcast: Sarah Hanson-Young on the Greens' Batman setback
March 20, 2018 10:16 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBLukas Coch/AAP Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has strongly backed party leader Richard Di Natale’s push to purge those who leaked against candidate Alex Bhathal in the Batman byelection. Hanson-Young told The Conversation it was clear that party infighting played on voters’ minds. “I don’t think there’s a place for people who want to undermine our party like that. This selfish act by a small number of people in Victoria has ramifications for all of us … because of that th...
Politics podcast: the Batman byelection battleground
March 13, 2018 11:13 - 50 minutes - 69.2 MBJoe Castro/AAP Byelections are not just important in the obvious sense of their results, but also for the confidence of political players. On Saturday, Labor and Bill Shorten face a major test in the Melbourne seat of Batman – which is traditionally Labor but with the Greens now threatening the ALP’s hold. A Labor loss would be a blow to the morale of the opposition. It would also open some debate within the party about Shorten’s performance and what should be done to comba...
Politics podcast: the 'X factor' in the South Australian election
March 07, 2018 10:52 - 51 minutes - 71.3 MBSam Wundke/AAP The South Australian election will be held on March 17 – the same day as the federal byelection in Batman. Labor is pitching for a fifth term in South Australia, with former senator Nick Xenophon’s SA-Best party injecting a high element of unpredictability into the result. Jobs and power prices are at the front of voters’ minds, while the gambling industry is investing heavily to try to fend off the “X factor”. The Conversation spent two days in Adelaide; we...
Trust Me I'm An Expert: The science of pain
March 01, 2018 07:19 - 42 minutes - 58.7 MBPain lets us know when there is something wrong, but sometimes our brains can trick us. Mai Lam/The Conversation NY-BD-CC, CC BY-SA As many as one in five Australians suffer from chronic and recurring pain. But despite its prevalence, it’s not always easy to find the help you need to manage it. “When I went through medical school, we had about one hour on acute pain. And the whole concept of chronic pain and how it’s so very different from acute pain was not something that was ever on ou...
Politics podcast: Jacinda Ardern on her political life
March 01, 2018 02:24 - 28 minutes - 38.6 MBMick Tsikas/AAP Ahead of her second visit to Australia, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke to Michelle Grattan about the toughness of Australian politics, her ambitious policy plans, and the demands of being a young high-profile female leader that everyone wants to know about. On the New Zealand refugee offer, Ardern told The Conversation it “still obviously sits on the table but it’s absolutely Australia’s prerogative as to whether it is taken”. Michelle Gratta...
Politics podcast: Peter Dutton on balancing interests in home affairs
February 26, 2018 10:36 - 37 minutes - 51.6 MBMick Tsikas/AAP The recently created home affairs department, headed by Peter Dutton, is a behemoth that its critics fear will compromise civil liberties. But Dutton argues there is no basis for such concerns. “There are no greater laws or arrest powers that have been introduced or a lessening of protections that have been provided for under this new arrangement,” he tells The Conversation. On the growing area of cybersecurity, Dutton says there is a need to “get the balance...
Politics podcast: Brian Howe on revisiting Henderson, poverty and basic income
February 12, 2018 10:19 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBDave Hunt/AAP How to increase wages and tackle inequality are live political and economic debates. Many Australians are feeling the cost-of-living squeeze. Speaking ahead of a conference in Melbourne this week to revisit the landmark Henderson inquiry into poverty, conducted in the 1970s, former deputy prime minister Brian Howe says the targeted nature of Australia’s contemporary social security system goes hand-in-hand with stigmatising welfare recipients. Howe, a minister...
Politics podcast: Mark Dreyfus on changing the government's foreign interference bill
February 08, 2018 04:21 - 26 minutes - 36.5 MBMark Tsikas/AAP Introduced in the final hours of parliament sitting last year, the government’s foreign interference legislation has been criticised for being draconian and too broad. Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says Labor acknowledges the need to do more about espionage activity and foreign influence in Australia but argues changes need to be made to the “hastily” and broadly drafted bill. On the security legislation, he says that despite a narrow defence, journali...
Politics podcast: Bill Ferris on Australia's innovation mission
February 01, 2018 03:02 - 34 minutes - 46.8 MBLukas Coch/AAP Innovation has been a buzzword of Malcolm Turnbull’s government, but the public reception of this message has been less than enthusiastic. Innovation and Science Australia chair Bill Ferris launched a report this week setting out a plan over five key areas – education, industry, how government can be a catalyst for change, research and development, and culture and ambition – that seeks to put Australia into the top tier of innovation nations by 2030. Ministeri...
Trust Me I'm An Expert: Why February is the real danger month for power blackouts
January 29, 2018 12:47 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MBThere are ways we can stay cool in a heat wave without blasting air con at peak times. AAP Image/TRACEY NEARMY It’s been hot – and it’s going to get hotter. Australia has experienced some record hot days in recent weeks and scientists say Sydney and Melbourne need to prepare for 50℃ days by the end of the century, or sooner. In today’s episode of Trust Me I’m An Expert, we’re unpacking the research on why some of the most disadvantaged parts of our cities cop the worst of a heatwave. A...
Trust Me, I'm an Expert: Risk
December 31, 2017 14:18 - 33 minutes - 45.3 MBA time of change is upon us. How do you balance risk and reward? REUTERS/Laurent Dubrule Ah, the new year. A time for throwing off your shackles, following your bliss, quitting your job and abandoning your family to finally start the artisinal yak-butter-sculpture studio of your dreams. But big choices come with big risks. In this episode of Trust Me, I’m an Expert, Hassan Vally, an expert in epidemiology from La Trobe University, talks about “microlives”, which measure how much your lif...
Politics podcast: John Blaxland on new foreign interference laws
December 07, 2017 01:24 - 21 minutes - 29.3 MBjohn blaxland The government’s new foreign interference laws propose broad changes to political donations, counter-surveillance, and lobbying in Australia. ANU professor John Blaxland has some real concerns about the unintended consequences of the legislation for academic debate. He says there’s a real chance that good people engaging intellectually with issues might get caught up in the broader crackdown. On the controversy surrounding Sam Dastyari’s dealings with a Chinese businessman...
Marrying across Australia's Catholic-Protestant divide
November 30, 2017 19:05 - 19 minutes - 44.1 MBJohn and Helen Haynes on their wedding day in 1962. John, a Protestant, was cut out of three wills after marrying Helen, a Catholic. Siobhan McHugh, Author provided These days, when Australians of Irish Catholic descent have occupied the highest positions in the land, it may seem hollow to talk of them as marginalised. But right up to the 1970s the Catholic-Protestant divide was deeply entrenched – with painful and often lasting social consequences for those who dared to marry across it....
Politics podcast: Matt Canavan on divorce in the LNP and discipline in the Coalition
November 30, 2017 09:21 - 15 minutes - 22 MBLukas Coch/AAP The Liberal National Party’s loss in the Queensland election has sparked demerger talk, while at a federal level it has emboldened the Nationals to take a more independent line. Nationals cabinet minister Matt Canavan, who is a Queenslander, doesn’t agree that breaking up the LNP would solve any problems politically: “You can’t unscramble the egg”. Despite being an opponent of a royal commission into the banks, Canavan says the government’s change of tune to s...
Politics podcast: the Greens' Jordon Steele-John on being an 'accidental' senator
November 15, 2017 08:22 - 22 minutes - 31.2 MBoriginal New Greens senator Jordon Steele-John is the youngest person ever to sit in the Senate. He was sworn in this week with two other “accidental” senators who gained their seats from the citizenship crisis. He talks to Michelle Grattan about coming to Canberra for the first time since he was a baby, his political passion, and his commitment to promote his causes: youth and disability issues. Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any com...
Politics podcast: swinging into the Sunshine State's election
November 09, 2017 09:39 - 55 minutes - 76.1 MBDave Hunt/AAP The pundits are reluctant to place bets on who will win Queensland’s November 25 election. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls both carry a good deal of baggage. A lot of attention is focused on Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, which has been polling strongly and might end up holding the balance of power in the new parliament. The Adani coal mine project has been centre-stage early in the campaign, with the Labor government saying it wo...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: Competition
November 02, 2017 03:04 - 27 minutes - 62.4 MBSibling competition may have played a bigger role in human evolution than you thought. Flickr/Dmitry Boyarin, CC BY-SA Did you fight with a brother or sister when you were little? Do you still? According to Rob Brooks, professor of evolutionary ecology at UNSW, sibling competition has played a more important role in human evolution than many of us realise. “Siblings compete with one another for the love and affection of their parents but even more importantly for the investment of their...
Politics podcast: Kevin Rudd on avoiding Donald Trump
October 30, 2017 06:24 - 13 minutes - 18.8 MBPerry Duffin/AAP Not For The Faint-Hearted, the first volume of Kevin Rudd’s massive autobiography, is out, and the former prime minister is on the publicity circuit. Rudd now spends much of his time in the US, where he is president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, and keeps a close eye on the unfolding Trump presidency. He argues Australia should minimise direct engagement with Donald Trump in favour of dealing with “sane people” in his administration. “As...
Politics podcast: Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott on a national energy plan
October 27, 2017 02:00 - 23 minutes - 32.4 MBMick Tsikas/AAP The government’s long-awaited energy plan rejected Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s clean energy target, which focused on subsidies for renewables, in favour of a National Energy Guarantee. The government has promised affordability and reliability, as well as compliance with Australia’s international climate obligations. Energy Security Board chair Kerry Schott headed a group of energy experts charged with developing a scheme, the details of which are now being...
Politics podcast: Tiernan Brady and Cory Bernardi reflect on the marriage postal ballot
October 19, 2017 05:27 - 24 minutes - 34.3 MBSam Mooy/AAP There are still a few weeks left to run in the same-sex marriage postal ballot campaign, and millions of votes are yet to be returned – or not returned. With 67.5% of ballots now in, Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady says the high turnout shows the importance of a “yes” vote to people’s lives and dignity. He says tyranny of distance in Australia has made campaigning difficult, compared to his experience during Ireland’s marriage referendum. De...
Politics podcast: Gareth Evans on being an Incorrigible Optimist
October 18, 2017 06:24 - 1 hour - 85.3 MBLukas Coch/AAP This podcast is a recording of an In Conversation with Gareth Evans, former foreign minister and currently chancellor of the Australian National University, which took place on October 12 in Canberra at a dinner of university chancellors from around Australia. The occasion was hosted by University of Canberra Chancellor Tom Calma in collaboration with ANU. Evans talks with Michelle Grattan about his new book, Incorrigible Optimist, in which he writes of his de...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: a lawyer, a biblical scholar and a fact-checker walk into the same-sex marriage debate...
October 05, 2017 05:26 - 35 minutes - 81.9 MBOur first episode of Trust Me, I'm An Expert tackles the debate unfolding as Australia contemplates changing the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couple to marry. Axel Heimken/dpa Where should the line fall between protecting people’s right to hold religious beliefs and the right to be free from discrimination? It’s a question that’s emerged several times as the same-sex marriage debate has unfolded in Australia. “Freedom of religion is not absolute. And neither is anti-discrimination la...
Politics podcast: Darren Chester on the infrastructure spending spree
October 04, 2017 23:42 - 23 minutes - 31.6 MBMick Tsikas/AAP Jokes about the satirical program Utopia aside, managing the rollout of infrastructure programs in Australia is a formidable task. Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester says there is too much hyper-partisanship in Australian politics. “I think that the tone of debate in Australia has deteriorated in recent years and we’ve shown ourselves incapable of having a good, rational debate on significant issues and its lead to some poor policies.” The challenge of pr...
Politics podcast: Rob Sitch on Utopia and political satire
September 27, 2017 06:22 - 32 minutes - 45.1 MBAAP/ABC, Hwa Goh Canberra politics often seems beyond satire. So it’s perhaps not surprising that Working Dog’s TV show Utopia has more than once foreshadowed reality in its hilarious depictions of life in a federal authority. Rob Sitch, Utopia’s co-writer and star, says he’s had no need to draw on covert leaks and insights from bureaucrats for material. “90+% of what we find is sitting in front of everybody. It’s on the front pages.” And he’s had plenty of feedback from insi...
Trust Me, I'm An Expert: a new podcast from The Conversation
September 27, 2017 03:51 - 3 minutes - 4.16 MBOn this podcast, academic experts separate the signal from the noise, the data from the anecdotes, explain the science, look at the peer-reviewed evidence and ignore the media hype. The Conversation, CC BY-ND Trust Me, I’m An Expert is a new monthly podcast from The Conversation, where we bring you the most fascinating, surprising stories from the academic world. On this show, we ask the experts to bust the myths, explain the science and put the news headlines into context – and to do it...
Politics podcast: AGL chief economist Tim Nelson on what to do with Liddell
September 21, 2017 03:53 - 30 minutes - 42.2 MBDan Himbrechts/AAP In the eye of the storm over energy policy is Liddell, an ageing coal-fired power station owned by energy giant AGL. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has twisted the arm of AGL chief executive Andy Vesey to take to the company’s board the proposition that it should extend the plant’s life beyond its scheduled 2022 closure, or alternatively sell it to an operator that would carry it on. AGL chief economist Tim Nelson says the company is running the rule ove...
Politics podcast: Judith Brett on The Enigmatic Mr Deakin
September 18, 2017 08:18 - 20 minutes - 28.6 MBEliza Berlage It is popular to look at today’s political challenges through the prism of prime ministers past. But when it comes to former liberal leaders it’s usually Robert Menzies, not Alfred Deakin, who comes to mind. However, Judith Brett, emeritus professor of politics at La Trobe University and author, says we have much to learn from Australia’s second prime minister. Her new biography, The Enigmatic Mr Deakin, reveals the intense inner world of one of the most importa...
Politics podcast: Mark Butler on energy uncertainty
September 12, 2017 05:10 - 29 minutes - 40.9 MBDavid Mariuz/AAP Pressure is mounting on the government to put an end to energy uncertainty as an Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) report warns of looming power shortages over the next few years. Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Mark Butler has written about the toxic divisions on energy policy in his recent book, Climate Wars. He recognises there are challenges in the Coalition party room over the Finkel report, but says Labor will negotiate with the go...
Politics podcast: Nick Xenophon on media reform
September 04, 2017 12:11 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBMick Tsikas/AAP As the leader of a Senate crossbench party, Nick Xenophon’s position on contentious legislation – currently media reform – is crucial for the government. He says it’s “not for lack of trying” that the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT) has not yet reached an agreement with the government on media ownership rules. He is pushing for tax breaks for smaller organisations to promote media diversity. He also opposes concessions that the government has made to Pauline Hanso...
Politics podcast: Mathias Cormann on the same-sex marriage postal survey
August 21, 2017 02:00 - 20 minutes - 27.7 MBKim Britten/Shutterstock.com When the government didn’t get the numbers to pass legislation for a same-sex marriage plebiscite it put the wheels in motion for its second-best plan: a postal survey. Since announcing that the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) would be responsible for carrying out the postal survey, Acting Special Minister of State Mathias Cormann has had no shortage of questions from journalists and on social media. In the absence of normal protections off...
Politics podcast: Derryn Hinch on surviving the Senate
August 11, 2017 00:26 - 17 minutes - 23.6 MBMick Tsikas/AAP After spending a year immersed in the parliamentary machine, broadcaster-turned-senator Derryn Hinch is keen to see a more efficient Senate. His suggestions include shortening the length of speeches – and thus the opportunity for filibusters – and trimming supplementary questions. He’s frustrated by the government’s “Dorothy Dixers”. “It’s a waste of time,” he says. As the debate around same-sex marriage continues to affect the government, Hinch has made cle...
Politics podcast: Tiernan Brady on the same-sex marriage showdown
August 03, 2017 09:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBWolfgang Kumm/dpa The issue of same-sex marriage is derailing the government’s attempts to promote its agenda, as tension mounts ahead of a special Liberal Party meeting on Monday and parliament’s resumption on Tuesday. The executive director of The Equality Campaign, Tiernan Brady, a leader of the successful “Yes” campaign for same-sex marriage in Ireland, has been working with activists in Australia to get marriage equality over the line. He says the majority of Coalition ...