Curtin’s Cast

Three Shocks: The Australia Politics Hasn’t Caught Up With

One of Australia's finest political journalists and authors, "demography whisperer" George Megalogenis, joins Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras to discuss the three forces reshaping Australia: migration, the changing workforce and a more uncertain international order. In Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century, George argues that Labor adapted more successfully to these changes while the Coalition remained attached to assumptions inherited from the Howard era. The conversation explores what these shifts mean for Australian identity, the changing electoral map and the future of both major parties.

📘 Buy George’s book: https://www.penguin.com.au/books/three-shocks-9780143789994

Labor has hit record-low favourability ratings as One Nation again tops the primary vote in the latest RedBridge/Accent poll.

Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack what the numbers really mean, whether the “Albo Derangement Reflex” obscures genuine voter anger, and why the Coalition’s dramatic immigration cuts may simply pour more fuel on the One Nation bonfire.

Plus: One Nation’s Victorian campaign launch, the promise to have Dan Andrews and Jacinta Allan “in prison by Christmas”, and whether Australia is importing a more Trumpian style of politics.

India’s Gen Z Revolt: Meet the Cockroach Janta Party

India’s young people are increasingly questioning whether education, hard work and competitive exams will deliver the secure future they were promised. Out of that frustration has emerged one of the world’s most unusual youth movements: the satirical Cockroach Janta Party.

Kos Samaras speaks with Viren Naidu, journalist and author of the New Statesman feature The facts of India’s Gen-Z revolt, about the movement’s origins, India’s youth unemployment crisis, the NEET scandal and the growing postponement of home ownership, marriage and family formation.

They discuss whether it makes sense to speak of a distinct Indian “Gen Z” across vast differences of class, caste, religion, gender and region; how memes and deliberately unserious language can carry serious political anger; and whether online mobilisation can develop into durable political organisation.

The conversation also explores why established parties have struggled to represent younger Indians, how economic disillusionment can coexist with support for Narendra Modi and the BJP, and what India’s generational revolt might tell us about Gen Z politics elsewhere — including Australia and its large Indian diaspora.

Read Viren Naidu’s New Statesman article ($):

https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/07/the-facts-of-indias-gen-z-revolt

Can Labor Hold Back the Orange Tide? Emma Dawson and Kos Samaras talk Vic and NSW elections, Gen Z and Australia’s AI Future

With Nick away, Kos is joined by Curtin’s Cast veteran Emma Dawson, Executive Director of the Chifley Research Centre, to take the pulse of Australian politics.

They check in on the Victorian election campaign before taking a first look at the 2027 NSW election, where another One Nation orange tsunami threatens both major parties.

Then Kos and Emma unpack Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ new Intergenerational Report and its vision of Australia in 2066: a population of 39.3 million, record-low fertility, deaths overtaking births, an ageing population and mounting pressure on health and aged care. Does a report promising future prosperity offer Generation Z anything now—particularly on housing, wealth and economic security?

Finally, they tackle the immense opportunities and risks posed by artificial intelligence and the data-centre boom. Does Labor’s historic mission now require it to ensure that AI serves working people rather than allowing working people to serve the machines?

Listen now to Episode 70 of Curtin’s Cast.

NZ in Revolt: Leadership Chaos, Fragmentation and the Election Ahead

Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Neale Jones, Managing Director of Capital and former chief of staff to Jacinda Ardern, to unpack the turmoil reshaping New Zealand politics ahead of the 7 November election.

With Christopher Luxon weakened by another leadership challenge, Labour and National struggling to command much more than 30 per cent of the vote, smaller parties surging and economic discontent biting, is New Zealand entering a new era of political fragmentation? We discuss Luxon’s leadership, Chris Hipkins and Labour’s path back to government, Winston Peters and David Seymour, the strains of MMP coalition politics, the rise of Opportunity — and what New Zealand tells us about the wider global age of political disruption.