Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

Western liberal democratic capitalism has created more prosperity, and enabled more human flourishing, than any other social system. It is something we should be proud of. And yet, Jonah Goldberg argues it is under attack, both from illiberal progressive identity politics, and right-wing populism.

Jonah is one of America's most esteemed political pundits. He was the first editor of National Review Online, before founding The Dispatch - a digital media company providing engaged citizens with fact-based reporting and commentary on politics, policy and culture. He is a regular contributor to CNN and The Los Angeles Times, and a #1 New York Times bestselling author.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

There’s a common refrain when it comes to housing in Australia today: ‘it’s never been harder to enter the housing market’. Housing affordability has been labelled by politicians, the media, and aspiring homeowners as a historic crisis.

What if that’s just not the case? What if we’ve seen the same story countless times before? What the markets are doing what they have always done, and what they should be doing? Perhaps, as Cameron Murray suggests, the market isn’t the answer? Cameron is an economist and Australia’s leading expert on housing. His new book is titled, ‘The Great Housing Hijack: The Hoaxes and Myths Keeping Prices High for Renter and Buyers in Australia’.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

It’s easy to forget that journalists were once invested with immense trust by citizens. This is no longer the case. Journalists are amongst the least trusted members of society, and it has been largely self-inflicted. 

The rise of activist journalism over objective journalism, the rush for online clicks, and the narcissistic desire of too many to transition from being journalists to media personalities has blighted the profession. The question is, is journalism beyond saving? 

Anthony De Ceglie is well placed to answer the question. Anthony was the Deputy Editor at the Daily Telegraph, and is now Editor in Chief of West Australian newspapers, including The West Australian, and the editor in chief of Seven West Media’s new evening digital newspaper, The Nightly.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

Gen Z has developed quite a reputation. Lazy. Difficult to work with. Technology-addicted. And of course, insufferably woke. What if that reputation is ill-founded? What if, in fact, Gen Z is the most culturally conservative generation since World War Two? What if Gen Z are the saviours-in-waiting of western civilisation?

That’s the opinion of content creator, author and Gen Z-er, Isabel Brown. Isabel’s new book is titled, ‘The End of the Alphabet: How Gen Z Can Save America’.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

Sometimes it feels like the tidal wave of ‘wokeness’ (or identity politics) washed over the western world almost overnight. It has captured more or less every societal institution in a remarkably short period of time.

However, the intellectual roots of the movement can be traced back over fifty years. The best analysis on how it has achieved such incredible influence comes from the German-American political scientist, Yascha Mounk. Will and Yascha discuss his latest book, ‘The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time’.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

Politics is downstream from culture. To change politics, one must first change culture. The left intrinsically understands this in a way that the right simply does not. The arts have been captured by a toxic mixture of identity politics, social justice ideology, and cancel culture.

Matthew Marsden has seen this ideological takeover firsthand. He rose to fame from his role on the iconic British TV series Coronation Street, and has subsequently starred in a long list of Hollywood films, including Black Hawk Down, Resident Evil: Extinction, Rambo and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

There are two ways to look at American politics in 2024. There’s the prevailing pessimistic view. Many people think democracy is under threat, the economy is structurally vulnerable, the military is stretched, and for many, the looming election represents a choice between two geriatric evils.

There is another perspective. What incredible fun! American politics has never been so entertaining. And as we look forward to the election, no one knows what will happen.

If anyone can make sense of it all, it’s Charles C.W. Cooke. Charles is a senior writer at National Review, the host of the Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast, and the author of The Conservatarian Manifesto.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

It is now in vogue to celebrate non-Western cultures and disparage Western ones. Many well-meaning people have been fooled by hypocritical and inconsistent anti-West rhetoric.

It’s not just dishonest scholars who benefit from this intellectual fraud but hostile nations and human rights abusers hoping to distract from their own ongoing villainy.

If the West is to survive, it must be defended. In this very special episode, Will talks to the preeminent defender of western civilization alive today, Douglas Murray.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

We as a society are self-censoring at record rates. Say the wrong thing at the wrong moment to the wrong person and the consequences can be dire. 

When the truth is no defense and nuance is seen as an attack, self-censorship is a rational choice. Yet, our silence comes with a price. When we are too fearful to speak openly and honestly, we deprive ourselves of the ability to build genuine relationships, we yield all cultural and political power to those with opposing views, and we lose our ability to challenge ideas or change minds, even our own. 

Katherine Brodsky thinks it's time for principled individuals to hit the unmute button and resist the authoritarians among us who name, shame, and punish. Her new book is titled 'No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage—Lessons for the Silenced Majority'.

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Australiana is now Fire at Will - your safe space for dangerous conversations.

Australia is facing serious domestic and international challenges, all at a time when the political class has arguably never been so ill-equipped to address them. In fact, perhaps the only thing that nearly all Australians can agree on is that our leaders are not a patch on what they were in times gone by. 

At the same time, ‘she’ll be right, mate’ has served Australia well enough so far, and may yet still. To help us understand the state of the nation and our politics in 2024, Will is joined by one of Australia’s best-known and most insightful political journalists, Joe Hildebrand.

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