Curtin's Cast Episode 24 - 6 August 2025 - Liberals' Existential Crisis (Kung Fu Kos Is Back!)
The great 'Kung Fu' Kos Samaras is back with Curtin's Cast co-host Nick Dyrenfurth discussing the post-election environment and the crisis of the Liberal-National Party.
This week's Curtin's Cast is a ripper featuring Gautam Raju, Global Director, Policy & Advocacy – Programs with Movember. Gautam, as listeners will discover is a ripper bloke talking about an issue Australian society is slowly but surely confronting - bloke's health, whether mental or physical well-being. Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge's Simon Welsh covered a smorgasbord of topics from Gautam's work co-leading the United Nations Secretary General campaign response to combat misinformation on COVID-19 which has reached over 1 billion people to big topics from the state of play in 2025, the usefulness of terms such as toxic masculinity, sport and male role models, the online world and social media influencers including right-wing populist types, and what political progressives and those on the left of politics need to do better in these spaces. A big thanks to Simon for filling in for Kos Samaras these past few weeks. Enjoy episode 23!
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Curtin's Cast Episode 22 - 23 July 2025 - Ronnie Hayden (Australian Workers Union Victorian Branch Secretary)
This week's Curtin's Cast is a powerful, at times moving episode featuring Ronnie Hayden, Australian Workers Union Victorian Branch Secretary. Hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge's Simon Welsh chatted to Ronnie about his upbringing in Ireland, diverse working life as a cafe owner and construction worker, life as a Dad to five children and fostering 55 (!) kids, personal challenges he has overcome on the way to leading the Victorian AWU and the issues facing working people which fire him up.
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Curtin's Cast Episode 21 - 16 July 2025 - Liam Byrne (Author of No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia)
History nerds and labour movement aficionados we have a cracker of a Curtin's Cast for you this week! Nick Dyrenfurth was joined by Redbridge's Simon Welsh to yarn with historian and author Dr Liam Byrne, discussing his new book, No Power Greater: A History of Union Action in Australia. Liam is a distinguished biographer of the great John Curtin and another Labor prime minister Jim Scullin - his first book was Becoming John Curtin and James Scullin: the Making of the Modern Labor Party (Melbourne University Press, 2020) so we naturally traversed his earlier studies of these Labor icons, Liam's own Irish-Scottish family background and attraction to labour history and union activism, why people came together to form unions and purpose of unionism itself, the progression of unionism in Australia over nearly two centuries, the big and lesser known heroes of his story, and just how crucial unions have been in shaping modern Australian society - especially the struggles of women workers, culturally and linguistically diverse and First Nations' workers, and more recently LGBTIQA+ toilers, as well as how unions are enjoying something of a resurgence especially amongst younger people. No Power Greater is fascinating and compelling history - enjoy the pod and make sure to buy Liam's book. Read an extract and secure a copy here:
https://byrnel.substack.com/p/no-power-greater?
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Curtin's Cast Episode 20 - 9 July 2025 - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
This week's Curtin's Cast is a special edition featuring Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's 2025 Curtin Oration in Sydney on Saturday 5 July on the 80th anniversary of John Curtin's passing and the PM's expansive Q and A which followed with our centre's Chair, Sam Almaliki.
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