Curtin's Cast Episode 16 - 11 June 2025 - Emma Dawson (Chifley Research Centre)
This week's Curtin's Cast is a cracker featuring the Chifley Research Centre's (official thinktank of the Australian Labor Party) new Executive Director Emma Dawson, one of the best and most forthright thinkers in social democratic circles. With Anthony Albanese giving his first major address to the National Press Club, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras chat to Emma about her background, from being born in Northern England, working as a political advisor, running the progressive Per Capita thinktank, her new role, and of course what's going on in Australian politics and what's next for the second term Albanese Labor government.
Emma Dawson is Executive Director of the Chifley Research Centre and former Executive Director of Per Capita. She has worked as a researcher at Monash University and the University of Melbourne; in policy and public affairs for SBS and Telstra; and as a senior policy adviser in the Rudd and Gillard Governments.
Emma has published reports, articles and opinion pieces on a wide range of public policy issues. She is a regular contributor to Guardian Australia, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, and a frequent guest on various ABC and commercial radio programs nationally. She appears regularly as an expert witness before parliamentary inquiries and often speaks at public events and conferences in Australia and internationally.
Emma is the co-editor, with Professor Janet McCalman, of the collection of essays What happens next? Reconstructing Australia after COVID-19, published by Melbourne University Press in September 2020. She is a Fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute of Australia and an Adjunct Professor at the UTS Business School.
--------
44:05
Curtin's Cast Episode 15 - 4 June 2025 - Michael Samaras
On this week's Curtin's Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras chat to Michael Samaras (no relation to the latter!), a Sydney-based researcher, writer and historian, who in 2022 uncovered the Nazi past of the founding benefactor of the Wollongong Art Gallery. Michael has just published a fascinating new book, Anti-Fascists : Jim McNeill and his mates in the Spanish Civil War (Connor Court).
Anti-Fascists : Jim McNeill and his mates in the Spanish Civil War by Michael Samaras
The Australians who fought against Franco in the Spanish Civil War were men and women of conscience. They were prescient in their understanding of fascism’s threat and convinced that taking up arms against it was the right thing to do. They were Australia’ s pioneers against fascism.
Jim McNeill, a Wollongong steelworker, stowed away in the bottom of a meat ship to get to Europe and join the famed International Brigades. He was a man of strong political convictions who fought fascism at home and abroad. He was friends with the charismatic hero Ted Dickinson, the conscientious Bill Morcom, the musical Jack Franklyn and the life-hardened Joe Carter. They became part of McNeill’s life. Their stories form part of his story and are told here with his.
This book ensures that the memory of these courageous Australians is not forgotten. Anti-Fascists explains why they went to Spain, what happened to them there, and what became of them after the war.
John Faulkner, Former Labor Senate Leader: This book is a deeply researched account of the history and motivation of a small band of courageous Australians who, without government approval or support, travelled to Spain in a vain attempt to defeat fascism. A great read for any history buff.
Paul Daley, Author and Guardian writer: With a meticulous historical eye and elegant prose, Michael Samaras brings to life the courage and commitment of Jim McNeill and other Australians who fought fascism in Spain. This remarkable book represents the long overdue historical remembrance of an overlooked group of extraordinary Australian women and men.
--------
51:10
Curtin's Cast Episode 14 - 28 May 2025 - Post-Election Fallout and What Comes Next
In the final post-election Curtin's Cast wrap Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth discussed the on-off again Coalition partyroom divorce, why the Liberals stand to gain from a trial separation from the Nationals, the hysterical opposition from some Liberals and right-wing commentators to Labor's tightening of multi-million dollar superannuation tax concessions, and Nick looks ahead to some of the big issues which will dominate the next term of parliament including Artificial Intelligence, while Kos gives us a rundown on the remaining hotly contested electoral contests.
--------
41:51
Curtin's Cast Episode 13 - 21 May 2025 - Prof Paul Strangio
With time and space for more considered reflection on the federal election that was, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth sat down with one of the doyens of political history and significant public intellectual in Australia, Monash University's Professor Paul Strangio. We deep dived into the election that was, why voters voted the way they did, where 2025 sits in the pantheon of Labor victories, ask is this finally the end of Howardism, and explore the depth of the Liberal Party's troubles especially in Victoria.
About Paul
Paul Strangio is Emeritus Professor of Politics in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. Paul specialises in Australian political history, with a particular focus on political leadership and political parties. He’s an author and editor of 11 books, including Keeper Of The Faith: A biography of Jim Cairns, studies of the Australian prime ministers, Neither Power Nor Glory: 100 Years of Political Labor in Victoria, 1856–1956 and, with Nick Dyrenfurth, edited Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two-Party System. He’s been a frequent commentator on Australian politics in the print and election media, including a regular column for The Age, and for a number of years has had a regular segment on ABC Radio Melbourne.
--------
47:41
Curtin's Cast Episode 12 - 14 May 2025 - Andrew Hastie MP
We've got a cracking episode of Curtin's Cast this week featuring Liberal Party rising star and MP for Canning in Western Australia, Andrew Hastie, who was their only metropolitan adjacent seat holder to record an increase in his primary and 2 party preferred vote. Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras chatted to Andrew about his early life and family as the son of a clergyman and grandson of soldiers, the importance of faith, his service in the Army's SAS, the battle of ideas and why he might be best described ideologically as a Red Tory, the life of West Australian MP and mates in politics including the much missed Senator Kimberley Kitching, the Liberal party's recent struggles and future leadership aspirations.
Welcome to Curtin’s Cast, the John Curtin Research Centre’s podcast of politics, culture and ideas brought to you by JCRC Executive Director Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge Director and former Victorian Labor assistant secretary Kos Samaras. Each fortnight we bring you the freshest and most challenging conversations from the world of Australian and global politics with leaders, activists, and thinkers.
Australia