Cut Through

With the fragmentation and loss of belief in the Liberal Party, the future of liberalism itself these days doesn’t look bright. But what would a “post-liberal” world look like?

This week on Cut Through, Tim Dean, resident philosopher at The Ethics Centre, joins Rachel Withers to talk about why liberalism is worth fighting for despite its flaws, and the ways that the left and the right can join together to fight disillusion, division and dismay. Plus, the moral erosion of the Trump administration’s short-lived promise of a livestreamed execution.

Today’s episode covers:
The threats to liberalism
What are the problems with liberalism today?
What should the left be doing differently?
What should the right be doing differently?
The perversions of neoliberalism
The immorality of public executions
What does public execution signal to a population?
How technology disseminates violence

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.
Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:
The only thing worse than liberalism is everything else
What’s wrong with public executions?

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Parliament is back in session, and there’s a new Greens leader on the scene to cause trouble for Anthony Albanese. Crikey’s politics reporter Anton Nilsson and journalist Tina Quinn discuss how Labor’s agenda is holding up against attacks from all sides.

Plus, Josh Frydenberg’s incredible comeback story gets better every time, and how the scourge of “drops” to favourable journalists weakens the media and lets politicians off scot-free.

Today’s episode covers:
Digital Duty of Care bill and the Liberal Party’s picky relationship with “free speech”
America’s “extraordinary” intervention in Australian tech legislation
Can Labor and David Shoebridge get along?
Will Angus Taylor’s “war on small business” attack lay a glove on Labor?
(Another) great Josh Frydenberg comeback story
The scourge of political drops and “horse race journalism”

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.
Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:
‘Addicted to drops’: Insiders spill on why Australian media is silent on One Nation’s press ban

‘People are human’: David Shoebridge on leadership rival tensions, a Labor alliance, and the Greens’ future

Debt-king Josh Frydenberg was a terrible treasurer — but he’s right on GST

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/

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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.
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In a special Q&A episode of Cut Through, Rachel puts your questions to long-time Crikey contributors, climate analyst Ketan Joshi and Dr Ben Eltham, about the unfortunate topic de jour: the rapid proliferation of data centres. What are they? Do we actually need them? And what is the benefit — if any — of having them operate on Australian soil?

Plus, the AI wins we’ve had so far, and how this is a critical time in the battle against the normalisation of energy-guzzling, slop-producing data warehouses.

Today’s episode covers:
What exactly is a data centre and do we need them?
Artificial intelligence, energy use and personal responsibility
Does Australia actually benefit from housing data centres?
“Sovereignty-washing” and the lie of frontier models
How the rest of the world is dealing with data centres
The best-case scenario

Read the transcript here, watch or listen to the episode above.
Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here.

Read more:
Canberra is ‘drinking the Kool-Aid’ on AI. Where will it take us?
Doomsday AI cultists aren’t just good marketers — they’re capturing governments
What Ireland’s cautionary tale on data centres can teach Australia
NVIDIA’S AI Climate hoax

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/
Subscribe to Crikey now to get 60% off your annual subscription!
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Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.
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It’s been a busy month for our tips hog, Cochon Truffier. The intrepid pig snooped out some internal discussions between NACC staffers which probably should have been had at the pub, investigated the backlash to Mia Freedman’s comments about the Ed Sheeran/Macklemore saga, and dug into why student politicians at Sydney Uni were getting their knickers in a knot over allegations involving horse meat and bribery in Kazakhstan.

Plus, we take you behind the scenes of Barnaby Joyce’s run-in with a neo-Nazi at Canberra Casino, and look at how One Nation candidates in Victoria just can’t get their resumes right.

Today’s episode covers:
Why Barnaby went to “friendly” media rather than respond to Crikey over casino saga
One Nation candidates and their sometimes inaccurate bios
Mia Freedman feels the heat from Mamamia’s Facebook fans over Palestine
Locker room chat at the NACC
The saga of Sydney Uni politics, horse meat and Kazakh bribes

Read more:
Crikey asked Barnaby Joyce about a neo-Nazi encounter at a casino. His response shows how politics and media work
A star One Nation candidate said he was a criminal lawyer. There’s no record of that
The Snoop: News24’s unfortunate uniform, Mamamia’s audience backlash on Gaza, and more
The Snoop: NACC’s internal messages revealed, 7.30’s foreign policy ‘bias’, and more
The Snoop: One Nation candidate claims ‘witch hunt’, NFL’s play for Blinky Bill, and more

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/
Subscribe to Crikey now to get 60% off your annual subscription!
Sign up to Crikey’s free newsletter: https://bit.ly/crikey-newsletter

Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul Keating was prime minister of a very different Australia, in a very different geopolitical environment from that of today. How does his ambition for Australia hold up 30 years later? Crikey politics editor Bernard Keane and Professor James Curran from the University of Sydney discuss Keating’s legacy, and whether his approach to foreign policy suffered from the curse of being “right, but too early”.

Today’s episode covers:
Shaping foreign policy in a post-Cold War world
Winston Churchill’s influence on Keating
Australia and Asia under Keating
Indonesian President Suharto’s impact on Keating
Reimagining Australia’s national identity
Keating’s view of the US alliance: then and now
Sliding doors: The 1996 election loss

Read more:
Grand Ambition: Paul Keating's global vision for Australia by James Curran
Paul Keating and a very present past raise hard questions for a country of decidedly modest ambition

Want to ask us a question? Send an email to letters@crikey.com.au or contact us using the secure methods detailed here: https://www.crikey.com.au/tip-off-crikey/.

Subscribe to Crikey now to get 55% off your annual subscription!
Sign up to Crikey’s free newsletter: https://bit.ly/crikey-newsletter

Crikey’s independent journalism is supported by readers — 98% of our revenue comes from our subscribers. We’re not accountable to billionaires; we’re accountable to you.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.