Curtin's Cast Episode 30 - 17 September 2025 - Dr Stephen Parnis
#CurtinsCast host Nick Dyrenfurth takes a well-earned spell from the microphone as John Curtin Research Centre board member and constitutional lawyer Dr Shireen Morris joins Kos Samaras to lead a searching conversation with "proud Westie" and emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis.
From the frontlines of emergency medicine to the fraught politics of end-of-life care, Dr Parnis reflects on the class politics of medical care, dealing with dying patents and what makes for a “good death,” the limits of autonomy, and why Victoria’s voluntary assisted-dying safeguards still trouble him.
The discussion widens to COVID’s class divides and the paradox of highly-educated, generally affluent anti-vax movement. It’s a candid, compassionate exploration of clinical ethics, public policy, and how we might rewrite the script on death and care in Australia.
This week’s Curtin's Cast features the excellent ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth explore her working-class upbringing in north-west Sydney, the parallels between the rise of One Nation in the 1990s and today’s hard-right, neo-Nazi currents, and whether her attraction to the labour movement was a matter of nature or nurture. We cover the cultural left milieu she emerged from, the eye-opening experience of being the first in her family to attend university, the ACTU’s pioneering Organising Works program, the influence of mentors like Tom Macdonald and Tas Bull, and her path to the top job leading a resurgent union movement through seismic challenges from Covid to AI and intergenerational inequality. And yes — we also dive into Sally’s lifelong obsession with martial arts and how it’s shaped her leadership. A rich and revealing conversation you won’t want to miss.
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Curtin's Cast Episode 28 - 3 September 2025 - Prof Sean Scalmer (Author of A Fair Day’s Work: The Quest to Win Back Time)
This week we’re joined by Professor Sean Scalmer — one of Australia's leading historians based at the University of Melbourne, Fellow of the Academy of Social Science, and author of A Fair Day’s Work: The Quest to Win Back Time.
We dive into:
⏳ The fight for the eight-hour day and Australia’s pioneering role
📉 How progress stalled from the 1980s onwards
👩👩👧👦 The hidden burden of unpaid work, especially for women
💻 Technology, productivity and the “always on” culture
🗳️ Why politics has failed to act on overwork
✨ What a fairer future — maybe even a four-day week — could look like
A revealing look at the crisis of work-life balance — and how we might win back our time. Grab a copy of Sean's book here:
https://www.mup.com.au/books/a-fair-day-s-work/9780522880816
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Curtin's Cast Episode 27 - 27 August 2025 - Former Liberal MP Keith Wolahan
This week’s Curtin’s Cast features the thoughtful and formidable former Liberal MP Keith Wolahan. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth discussed Keith’s Irish Catholic working-class roots in Dublin, his childhood in suburban Melbourne and education at Ringwood Secondary College, through to his academic achievements at Melbourne, Monash and Cambridge and career as a barrister.
Our conversation delved into his two decades of military service including the elite 1st Commando Regiment, deployments to East Timor and Afghanistan, and the loss of close friends in combat that shaped his reflections on leadership, sacrifice and ethics. We unpacked his pivotal preselection contest against Kevin Andrews in the seat of Menzies and his brief time in federal parliament, with Keith providing some raw and super interesting insights into modern political life.
We also explored the lessons of defeat after Menzies turned red in 2025, his honesty in taking responsibility, and his vision for a Liberal Party that must reconnect with urban voters – especially professionals, women, younger Australians and migrant communities. Keith spoke candidly about his family life, his values, and whether a political comeback might lie ahead alongside his work at the Bar.
This is a conversation not to be missed.
Check out a preview which is running in Nine Media's The Age and SMH:
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/canavan-leads-group-of-five-demanding-coalition-debate-now-on-scrapping-net-zero-20250826-p5mpvo.html
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Curtin's Cast Episode 26 - 20 August 2025 - South Australian Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas
In a competitive field we think this week's Curtin's Cast might be the best yet featuring the super impressive South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas. Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth discussed Peter's upbringing in Adelaide, his career as a unionist rising from the Woolies shopfloor to become state secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association representing retail, fast-food and warehousing workers, and journey from becoming SA Labor Opposition leader to Premier during the Covid years. Our conversation spanned artificial intelligence and productivity, housing, social media policy, the end of woke and anti-woke politics, Labor connecting better with disillusioned young men and Australians of faith, and the deteriorating geopolitical environment.
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.
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