Follow The Money

By The Australia Institute

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The Australia Institute Podcast.

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Summer special: Climate of ...

01.20.2021

In our summer special series, we bring you some of our favourite guests from the Australia Institute's webinar series in 2020. In this episode, Richie Merzian, Climate & Energy Program director at the Australia Institute speakers with Matt Kean, NSW ...

Follow The Money episodes:

01.20.2021 Summer special: Climate of the Nation with Matt Kean In our summer special series, we bring you some of our favourite guests from the Australia Institute's webinar series in 2020. In this episode, Richie Merzian, Climate & Energy Program director at the Australia Institute speakers with Matt Kean, NSW ...
01.18.2021 Summer special: The End of Certainty with Katharine Murphy In our summer special series, we bring you some of our favourite guests from the Australia Institute's webinar series in 2020. In this episode, Ben Oquist talks to The Guardian's chief political correspondent Katharine Murphy about her Quarterly Essay: The ...
01.14.2021 Summer special: The High Road with Laura Tingle In our summer special series, we bring you some of our favourite guests from the Australia Institute's webinar series in 2020. In this episode, Ben Oquist talks to ABC 730's chief political correspondent Laura Tingle about her new Quarterly Essay: ...
12.09.2020 An unprecedented year: reflecting on 2020 with Richard Denniss Let's face it, 2020 has been a bit of a nightmare. This week, in our final episode of the year, Ebony Bennett and Richard Denniss revisit some of the Australia Institute's predictions back in March 2020 and reflect on the ...
11.25.2020 Why tax electric vehicles but not heavy trucks? Politics The SA and VIC governments have announced a new electric vehicle tax - in other words, a great big new tax on clean air. In today's episode we explain why this EV tax is terrible idea and unpack some of ...
11.17.2020 The myth of Australia's gas supply shortage The 'gas-fired recovery' is supposed to help Australia's manufacturing industry by freeing up new supply. But the Australia Institute's research shows the days of cheap gas are over. www.tai.org.au Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett ...
11.12.2020 The US Election result and what it means for Australia In this episode we unpack what a Biden Administration means for climate and foreign policy in Australia, with Richie Merzian and Allan Behm. Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Guests: Richie Merzian, director Climate & ...
10.27.2020 Digital Giants, Market Power and Media Diversity Australia's news media is one of the most highly concentrated in the world. Since 2019, more than 157 newsrooms have closed in Australia and many local, community and rural newspapers have ceased printing or gone digital only. It was in ...
10.21.2020 What can we learn from the ACT election? The ACT is the home of progressive politics in Australia, leading the nation on climate policy, tax reform and truth in political advertising (among other things). In this episode we explore the broader implications of the ACT election results - ...
10.13.2020 The Most Secretive Budget Ever In this episode we explain what 'not for publication' (or 'nfp') means and why it appears so often in the Budget papers, with Australia Institute research director Rod Campbell. www.tai.org.au Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute // ...
10.07.2020 What you need to know about the federal budget The federal budget forked out billions in spending -- mostly on business tax write-offs and income tax cuts for high income earners -- but it was poorly targeted if the intention is to create jobs and lower the unemployment rate. ...
10.01.2020 Tax avoidance and why we can't have nice things President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax the year he was elected and in many years paid absolutely no income tax at all - and he's not the only millionaire to avoid paying tax altogether. So this ...
09.23.2020 Weapons of gas destruction Gas is promoted as a transitional fuel, but in this episode we explore just how polluting gas really is with Richie Merzian and Tom Swann from the Australia Institute's Climate & Energy program. The Australia Institute // @theAUSInstitute Host: Ebony ...
09.15.2020 Why bringing income tax cuts forward is a bad idea during Australia's first recession in 30 years The government has indicated it might bring forward income tax cuts in next month's budget, but as our senior economist Matt Grudnoff explains in this episode, income tax cuts for high income earners won't be effective at stimuluating the economic. ...
09.10.2020 A Plan for Planet A Fight for Planet A is the newest TV series from Craig Reucassel, a three-part documentary exploring the challenges of climate change, where our energy comes from, the health effects of transport and the carbon footprint of what we eat. It ...
09.08.2020 East Timor, Oil and Secret Prosecutions For over eighty years, Australia and East Timor have been joined together, mostly in conflict and struggle. The latest conflict is playing out in a secret court case and involves Australian lawyer Bernard Collaery and a former ASIS officer turned ...
09.02.2020 Effective diplomacy and getting Australia's relationship with China back on track Australia's relationship with China has been turbulent of late, so this week we speak to Allan Behm, head of the Australia Institute's International and Security Affairs Program about what we really want out of our relationship with China and how ...
08.27.2020 Electrifying our Roads - Norway's Way There are so many reasons for Australia to transition to electric vehicles, but despite warnings that Australia could be left behind without stronger policy direction regarding EVs, little progress has been made. In contrast, Norway is a world leader in ...
08.26.2020 How Neoliberalism is Spreading Covid-19 In this episode we talk to Dr Richard Denniss about the role of neoliberalism in spreading Covid-19 and how decades of privatisations, outsourcing and cuts to government spending have left Australia vulnerable during this pandemic. The Australia Institute // @theAUSInstitute ...
08.21.2020 Our 100th episode In this, our 100th episode of Follow the Money, we celebrate with a special look back at some of our special guests, some of our favourite highlights, worst jokes and some of the interesting topics we've covered in the past ...
08.21.2020 The View From ICU One of the main goals of public health around the world has been to prevent the number of severe cases from overwhelming the hospitals and the health system. We know that severe cases of Covid require intensive care and respirators, ...
08.18.2020 Backfire part 2: why a "gas fired recovery" would increase emissions and energy costs and squander Australia's COVID-19 recovery spending In this second of our two-part episode on gas, we explore the flaws in the cost benefit analysis of the Santos' Narrabri gas project in NSW and why it doesn't stack up economically, environmentally or to create jobs, with Rod ...
08.17.2020 Why TAFE is critical to economic recovery The Morrison government has said it will increase investment in skills and training if the states and territories sign up to an overhaul of the Vocational Education and Training sector. ACTU President Michele O'Neil, Correna Haythorpe, federal president of the ...
08.12.2020 United in a Global Crisis with UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris In this episode UN chief economist Elliott Harris talks about why it's risky to withdraw fiscal stimulus too soon and why a clean green recovery makes sense for the long term, in conversation with Richie Merzian, director of the Australia ...
08.12.2020 Backfire part 1: why a "gas fired recovery" would increase emissions and energy costs and squander Australia's COVID-19 recovery spending In this first of a two-part episode on gas, we explore why subsidising the gas industry is a poor option for economic recovery and explore the issues related to Santos' Narrabri gas project in NSW with Mark Ogge, Principal Advisor ...
08.05.2020 Julia Gillard on the pandemic, mental health and beyond Julia Gillard, chair of Beyond Blue and the former Prime Minister of Australia talks about mental health, women in leadership, the importance of government and she looks back on the legacy of the carbon price implemented by her government ten ...
08.04.2020 ANZUS and Australia's security In this episode we discuss if two Australian Ministers really need to travel to the United States for the AUSMIN talks in the midst of a global pandemic and also ask the question: how much does the ANZUS treaty really ...
07.31.2020 The war on populism and the fight for democracy with Thomas Frank Author of the new book 'People without Power' Thomas Frank explains why everything you think you know about populism is wrong. [Note: language warning, a mild one] Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director at the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Guests: Wayne ...
07.30.2020 Winning a Fair Share: Rebuilding Australia's Manufacturing Base \| Paul Bastian & Jim Stanford As the pandemic interrupted global supply chains a lot of focus has shifted back onto Australia's domestic manufacturing capabilities and what Australia has the capacity to make and manufacture onshore and research shows we're lagging behind. In this episode we ...
07.28.2020 Let it rip Some economists have renewed calls to lift restrictions and simply 'let it rip', that is to let Covid-19 rip through the population in order to protect the economy. But are economist the right people to ask about this? In this ...
07.25.2020 Unpacking the Mini-Budget: What you need to know In this episode, Richard Denniss and Matt Grudnoff, chief and senior economists at the Australia Institute unpack what you need to know about the Mini-Budget delivered by the Treasurer and answer your questions. The Australia Institute // @theausinstitute Host: Ebony ...
07.22.2020 Unpacking JobSeeker The Morrison government announced it will cut the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement, which had lifted a whopping 425,000 people out of poverty. We talk to Matt Grudnoff, senior economist at the Australia Institute to understand the impact this cut will have ...
07.15.2020 Treaty & Sovereignty As part of the National Treaties Summit, this episode we bust some of the myths about Sovereignty and Treaty and the relationship between the two with Jamie Lowe, Michael Mansell and Professor Megan Davis, in conversation with the Australia Institute's ...
07.15.2020 How to make electricity bills cheaper In this week's episode we explain how two changes to the rules of the National Electricity Market (NEM) will help reduce electricity bills, cut emissions, pave the way for more renewable energy and storage in the grid AND improve grid ...
07.08.2020 Big Little Political Lies Each election, tens of millions of dollars is spent on political advertising and currently it is perfectly lawful for political parties to lie to citizens in political ads. In today's episode we unpack why momentum is building to pass truth ...
07.06.2020 Navigating the Australia-China relationship with Jane Golley Australia's relationship with China is rocky at the moment, how can we navigate it better? Part of our 'Economics of a Pandemic' webinar series. Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director of the Australia Institute // @ebony_bennett Guests: Jane Golley, economist and ...
06.30.2020 A bargain at twice the price If Australia had the same labour participation rate of Nordic countries, our economy would be $60 billion larger. In today's episode, we unpack why free childcare would not only be good for Australian women and their workforce participation, but would ...
06.25.2020 The success of the Aboriginal-led health response to the pandemic Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are amongst the most vulnerable to the threat of Covid-19, but the Aboriginal-led community controlled health response has been a huge public health success. How did they do it? Host: Ebony Bennett, deputy director ...
06.24.2020 The Reconstruction - building back better with Richard Denniss The Australia Institute's chief economist Richard Denniss launched The Reconstruction Memorandum, to step back and look at the big picture on how Australia can put people first and create an economic reconstruction that delivers lasting benefits as we recover from ...
06.23.2020 HomeBuilder and jobs for the boys The government's Homebuilder program is designed to help the construction sector, but construction is not labour intensive and it's dominated by blokes, when we know women are bearing the brunt of this recession. So this week Follow The Money talks ...
06.18.2020 War is not a metaphor with Allan Gyngell Using war as a metaphor has crept into how we talk about public policy. Misrepresenting policy issues as security problems does not solve them, yet many public policy issues are framed using this lens. We've had a war on drugs, ...
06.18.2020 The Deficit Myth with Stephanie Kelton Anyone familiar with Australian political debate will know that while we can always afford tax cuts and defence spending, somehow we can never afford to raise Newstart, or to build social housing because we have to "live within our means" ...
06.16.2020 The case for red tape The PM has announced big plans for deregulation, but is 'red tape' or 'green tape' really impeding economic growth or is it necessary to protect us and our environment? In this episode we talk to Executive Director of the Australia ...
06.14.2020 Safeguarding Democracy with Helen Haines There can be no trust in government without accountability, yet its been two years since the Coalition government promised to implement a Commonwealth Integrity Commission and there's still no draft legislation in sight. Join Independent Member for Indi Helen Haines ...
06.09.2020 The pink collar recession The Morrison government this week announced that from mid-July childcare would no longer be free and that childcare workers would be stripped of access to JobKeeper. Overall, during the pandemic women have seen faster job losses than men, while men ...
06.04.2020 Protecting workers as the Economy Re-Opens with Sally McManus The pandemic exposed a lot of the problems with our labour market, including the risks of the rise of precarious and insecure work. Today we're bringing you another guest from our 'Economics of a Pandemic' webinar series: Sally McManus, Secretary ...
06.02.2020 Why a public sector wage freeze would cost jobs The proposed NSW public sector wage freeze was supposed to ease pressure on the budget, but Australia Institute research shows it would cost jobs and harm regional economies. NOTE: This episode was recorded just hours before the NSW Upper House ...
05.27.2020 Renewing Australia with a Green New Deal with Adam Bandt Featuring Greens Leader Adam Bandt in conversation with chief economist Richard Denniss about what a Green New Deal means and how it would work. The audio was recorded live on May 27 2020 as part of the Australia Institute's 'Economics ...
05.26.2020 Black holes and Keynesians The government has been talking as if it understood Keynesian economics, but its reaction to the $60 billion JobKeeper black hole shows they clearly do not think or act like Keynesians. Richard Denniss unpacks the spectacular failure of policy and ...
05.21.2020 The role of climate action in rebuilding after the pandemic with Zali Steggall In this episode we talk to Zali Steggall, the independent member for Warringah, about the role of climate action in rebuilding after the pandemic, with Richie Merzian the director of the Australia Institute's Climate & Energy program. Visit tai.org.au for ...

Older episodes

Follow The Money

What's Follow The Money about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Follow The Money episodes:

Summer special: Climate of the Nation with Matt Kean

Summer special: The End of Certainty with Katharine Murphy

Summer special: The High Road with Laura Tingle

An unprecedented year: reflecting on 2020 with Richard Denniss

Why tax electric vehicles but not heavy trucks? Politics

The myth of Australia's gas supply shortage

The US Election result and what it means for Australia

Digital Giants, Market Power and Media Diversity

What can we learn from the ACT election?

The Most Secretive Budget Ever

What you need to know about the federal budget

Tax avoidance and why we can't have nice things

Weapons of gas destruction

Why bringing income tax cuts forward is a bad idea during Australia's first recession in 30 years

A Plan for Planet A

East Timor, Oil and Secret Prosecutions

Effective diplomacy and getting Australia's relationship with China back on track

Electrifying our Roads - Norway's Way

How Neoliberalism is Spreading Covid-19

Our 100th episode

The View From ICU

Backfire part 2: why a "gas fired recovery" would increase emissions and energy costs and squander Australia's COVID-19 recovery spending

Why TAFE is critical to economic recovery

United in a Global Crisis with UN Chief Economist Elliott Harris

Backfire part 1: why a "gas fired recovery" would increase emissions and energy costs and squander Australia's COVID-19 recovery spending

Julia Gillard on the pandemic, mental health and beyond

ANZUS and Australia's security

The war on populism and the fight for democracy with Thomas Frank

Winning a Fair Share: Rebuilding Australia's Manufacturing Base | Paul Bastian & Jim Stanford

Let it rip

Unpacking the Mini-Budget: What you need to know

Unpacking JobSeeker

Treaty & Sovereignty

How to make electricity bills cheaper

Big Little Political Lies

Navigating the Australia-China relationship with Jane Golley

A bargain at twice the price

The success of the Aboriginal-led health response to the pandemic

The Reconstruction - building back better with Richard Denniss

HomeBuilder and jobs for the boys

War is not a metaphor with Allan Gyngell

The Deficit Myth with Stephanie Kelton

The case for red tape

Safeguarding Democracy with Helen Haines

The pink collar recession

Protecting workers as the Economy Re-Opens with Sally McManus

Why a public sector wage freeze would cost jobs

Renewing Australia with a Green New Deal with Adam Bandt

Black holes and Keynesians

The role of climate action in rebuilding after the pandemic with Zali Steggall

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