Curtin’s Cast

Is Australian politics finally exiting the dead zone of managerialism and re-entering an era of genuine ideological conflict?

In Episode 57 of Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Australia’s "revered pollster” Kos Samaras unpack the political shockwaves from Labor’s 2026 budget — and why much of the legacy media may be completely misunderstanding what is happening.

As newspapers scream “political suicide” and compare the budget to the disastrous 2014 Hockey Budget, Nick and Kos explore why this is not 2001 or 2004 politics anymore. Millennials and Gen Z do not expect miracles — they want proof governments are finally willing to “touch the architecture” on housing, tax and intergenerational fairness.

Nick and Kos dive deep into:

why Labor now openly sees under-45s as its electoral base

the collapse of the old Howard-era political settlement

how this is the first serious reform battle in decades

Angus Taylor’s high-risk budget reply and the risks of chasing Pauline Hanson

why the Coalition’s proposal to strip non-citizens of welfare, NDIS and other benefits could detonate support among Chinese-Australian households

how “household voting” works politically in migrant communities

and why anti-Dan Andrews politics is a dead-end for the Victorian Libs

Plus: Kos hints at a bombshell new Redbridge/Australian Financial Review poll, predictions on Andrew Hastie and November's Victorian state election

For years politics and media have obsessed over angry young men, the manosphere and figures like Andrew Tate.

But what if the bigger political story is the radicalisation — and growing pessimism — of ‘Angry Young Women’?

This week Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by New Statesman staff writer Emily Lawford to discuss her major recent cover story on the rise of the Gen Z “femosphere” and the widening political divide between young men and women.

They discuss:

▪️ How young women are becoming more politically engaged, but more anxious and pessimistic

▪️ Why these young women are so down on young men, capitalism and animated by issues like Gaza
▪️ The rise of online feminist identity and activism
▪️ TikTok, social media and radicalisation pathways
▪️ Why young men and women are increasingly diverging politically
▪️ The impact on relationships, trust and social cohesion
▪️ What this means for Labor, the Greens and the future of democratic politics

Featuring Australian polling and focus-group insights from Kos Samaras and the team at RedBridge.

A serious conversation about one of the biggest — and least understood — political shifts reshaping the Anglosphere.

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

One year on from the 2025 federal election, the political landscape is shifting again — and not in ways either major legacy party can fully control.

In this episode, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth unpack the latest RedBridge/Accent/AFR  polling and the fallout from the Nepean by-election. Has One Nation’s surge peaked? And is there a “Trump dump” effect — where getting too close to Trump and MAGA begins to turn voters off?

Nick and Kos also explore Pauline Hanson’s emerging dilemma: a choice between battlers and billionaires, as her party draws support from working Australians while benefiting from the backing of right-wing figures like Gina Rinehart.

We also preview the looming Farrer by-election and examine what Nepean signals for both Labor and the Liberals — and the Victorian election ahead.

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.

On this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by leading scholars of nationalism and European politics expert Associate Professor Ben Wellings (Monash University) to unpack the forces reshaping the UK and Europe. From the collapse of the political centre to the rise of populists and Greens alike, this is a continent in flux. We cover:

▪️ The UK’s shift to five-party fragmentation with Greens and Reform surging
▪️ Trump Bump 2.0 reshaping European politics in real time
▪️ Hungary after Orbán — liberal reset or just a populist pause?
▪️ Scottish and Welsh elections and Keir Starmer’s future

Essential listening for anyone trying to understand where Western politics is heading — and why the old rules no longer apply.