Education is possibly the third pillar of the cost of living crisis, in that it impacts young people and their families at almost every stage of life before the age of 30.  Elana going to take you through the suite of policies we’ve developed for each stage of education, and then, because she's nothing if not a completionist, she's going to add art, science, and civics to the curriculum.

Show notes

Our early childhood education and care platform

Our schooling platform

Our higher education platform

Our arts platform

Our science platform

Our platform on reforming the constitution

Article on the S44 problems a Greens candidate ran into in Tasmania

Our platform on lowering the voting age to 16

6 News Australia WA Senate Debate

Picking up from our last episode, Elana will take you through what is essentially the other half of the cost of living crisis - health, and access to healthcare.  The growing inequality in Australia is exacerbated by the increasingly difficult access to quality healthcare that the electorate is experiencing.  Poor physical, mental and dental health has profound impacts on people’s economic security and ability to live productive and fulfilling lives.  So let’s explore the suite of policies that the Australian Democrats have developed to address these increasingly urgent issues facing Australia.

Content warning: several of the policies in this episode reference suicide, anxiety, depression, and violence. Listener discretion advised. You can contact LIfeline on 13 11 14.

Show Notes

Our good health policy platform

Our youth mental health platform

Our platform to reduce gambling harm

Our platform to address family violence.

The first in a series of episodes where Elana takes listeners through the logical groupings of 30+ Australian Democrats policy platforms. This episode covers the cost of living crisis – cost of living and a fair economy, income support, and housing security.

Credit to the redoubtable @gomichild on X for the episode quote.

Show notes

Our policy platforms on the cost of living and a fair economy

Income support

Housing security

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Elana is back, and is joined by co-host Steve Baty and Victorian Senate candidate Heath McKenzie to review the 2025 budget, in the wake of the 2025 federal election finally being called. Thanks to the election rendering the budget yesterday's news, there's a fair bit of reviewing the budget through an election lens, which is unavoidable with one previous and two current candidates having the discussion.

Show Notes

"A deficit is just money the government has invested in the economy that they haven't taxed back yet." The TikTok on the US economy that Elana referred to.

Our policy platforms on income support and housing security, in the wake of Elana's rants on both issues.

Greg Jericho’s excellent Dollars and Sense episode on Australia’s sick housing joke.

The Democracy Sausage podcast episode with Marija Taflaga’s housing renovation analogy.

After an accidental hiatus, Elana is back to discuss her very excellent, totally accurate, very good prediction about the US election.

Oh wait, we’re getting an update…

Show notes:

The very disappointing fact check about the Danish Government’s response to Donald Trump’s offer to buy Greenland

The current iteration of our defence platform, which thanks to current events is now in need of an update.

Keep the Bastards Honest is one of the top 100 accountability podcasts for 2025, according to Million Podcasts!

The Australian Democrats now have a Substack: subscribe to Radically Sensible for free.