"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison

This week, Van Badham and Ben Davison juggle a chaotic dog incident while discussing multi‑employer bargaining and planned industrial action by local government workers in Victoria. The dogs calm down enough for Van and Ben to get into the details of the spike in fuel prices driven by Middle East and Ukraine conflicts - and the related misinformation about this online. The discussion around Australia’s fuel reserves and policy responses naturally escalates into critiques of U.S. military action in Iran and its global geopolitical fallout. The good news is that it’s Easter, and bilbies are involved! TASTY, TASTY bilbies! Enjoy!

In robust form, Van and Ben discuss South Australian election - Labor’s emphatic win, One Nation’s vote versus their actual seats and how Liberal collapse is about a specifically right‑wing fragmentation, whatever fantasy alternative scenario the online and offline commentariat prefers to entertain. They get into the meaty detail of the new Australia-EU trade agreement (good news for wine lovers AND people who love democracy) and Van gets excited about a British “megahedge” while new dachshund puppy Miccius brings some, uh, aural texture to discussion. It may be a Thursday but it will always be the Week on Wednesday!

Van Badham (on her own while Ben’s away!) explores Australia’s new parliament, a record-breaking Labor majority, and freshly shuffled cabinet - but the real news? Susssssan Ley may be the Liberals’ new leader, but is she flying the Liberal plane straight into the glass cliff? Meanwhile, the Greens are fighting amongst themselves (again) about putting the “landlord” into “leadership” and Captain Carry On - aka, Andrew Hastie - role plays as the Aussie Pete Buttigieg… if Pete were right-wing, allergic to universities and not very fun at a party. Van also asks: if a National Party leadership challenge is taking place, does it make a sound? And the answer appears to be no. No, it does not. 

 

Meanwhile, there’s a surge in diversity on Labor’s benches worth celebrating as well as - YES, OMG - real wage growth that’s outpacing inflation as the actual business of government somehow manages to roll on. And if that weren’t enough good news, there’s been a breakthrough in the breakdown of forever chemicals, by jiminy!

 

It may be one woman talking to herself for 45 minutes, but we hope you enjoy it!

Van Badham and Ben Davison deliver an unmissable post-election edition of The Week on Wednesday, unpacking one of the most extraordinary federal election results in Australian history. With Anthony Albanese securing Labor’s biggest win since WWII, defeating not just Peter Dutton but also Greens leader Adam Bandt, Van and Ben bring deep analysis, biting wit, and raw insight into:

- What led to Labor’s sweeping mandate
- Why the Coalition suffered such a brutal collapse
- The spectacular fall of the Greens’ lower house ambitions
- How union campaigning and party discipline shaped the outcome
- The Trump effect—and how Australian voters emphatically rejected it
- The nuclear fantasy and the cost of out-of-touch ideology
- Why the "parliament of independents" myth finally imploded

Their signature candid discussion takes on democratic responsibility political fantasy and hope hope hope, this episode is a must-listen for anyone who cares about where Australia is headed next.

Van Badham and Ben Davison launch into analysis of the Australian election campaign so far, with Ben barely emerged from a three-day strategy lockdown at his job but happily reunited with faithful hound, Germanicus. 

Van has been keeping an eye on the election, and a couple of perturbing recent twists: parents from Catholic schools in key marginal seats received thinly-veiled “We’re not saying vote Liberal, but…” letters from the Catholic education authorities and publishing them on the internet, with horror. Van, a Catholic herself, delivers a righteous takedown:

Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder—enter the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (aka Exclusive Brethren). Members of this secretive sect are popping up en masse at pre-poll booths as Liberal volunteers, particularly in teal and Labor marginals. Uniformly dressed, slogan-repeating, and cagey about their affiliations, Van explains their ultra-conservative, anti-worldly ethos: “No pets, no pop music, no pants for women—but apparently, private jets are fine.” The vibes, friends - are sus.

Ben gives a summary of the polling data this far, and what it’s telling us - but we end with liquid gold. Companies Peequal and NPK Recovery collected 1,000 litres of female runners’ pee at the London Marathon and turned it into fertiliser for wheat—enough for 3,000 loaves of bread. Quote of the day: “It’s brilliant to think that the nervous wees of thousands of women are helping a good cause.”

Enjoy the show!