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Keep the Bastards Honest
Keep the Bastards Honest episodes
- Special Announcement - Victorian State Election
We are thrilled to announce that we are registered with the Victorian Electoral Commission, and will contest the Victorian state election in November 2026.
If you live in Victoria join or donate to us here:
www.vic.democrats.org.au
Outside of Victoria? Join or donate to us here:
www.democrats.org.au
Change politics. Together.
3 min - Martin Bella and The Gherk
We are thrilled to welcome Martin Bella of the Sensible Centre and The Gherk of Snarky Gherkin fame to Keep the Bastards Honest!
Show Notes:
Want more of Martin Bella? Like and subscribe to him on Facebook and Instagram.
Want more of The Gherk? Like and subscribe to him on Facebook, Instagram and Substack.
Want to know more about the Australian Democrats? See what we value, what we stand for, and what our policy positions are at our website. Join us, donate to us, or check out our Substack Radically Sensible.
39 min - 41. All things Victoria
Join National Vice President Elana Mitchell and Victorian Vice President Heath McKenzie as we whip off the dust covers on the podcast and crank up the commentary engine once more. On this episode we cover all things Victoria in the lead up to the Victorian state election and the Democrats' fight to be registered so we can contest it.
Show Notes:
Support the team in Victoria
Not from Victoria? Support your state division
Back to Back Barries: Fallout from a Victorian Coup
Democracy Sausage: You Win You Lose More
Australian Democrats policy on gambling reform
1 hr 27 min - Seasons Greetings 2025At this point in the year, just past the solstice – a turning point recognised across cultures – we are reminded that light does endure, and that seasons do change. It is a time for reflection: on who we are, what we stand for, and the kind of country we continue to believe Australia can be and will be. In the spirit that has guided the Australian Democrats since 1977, may we meet difference with respect, hold fast to fairness and compassion, take on challenges together and find better ways forward, and carry those values with us into the year ...6 min
- 40. An election result for the agesWell… no one was expecting that result, not even the Labor Party. Join Elana, Steve and a rehabilitated former Liberal as they consider the immediate aftermath of the election, while they wait for the very complicated count to be completed and the results finalised. Show Notes That final YouGov MRP that every sensible election watcher guffawed at and immediately dismissed as wildly overstated, but ultimately proved to be slightly understated for Labor, but overstated for the Greens, Coalition and Independents… The two party preferred poll trend that Elana referred to as the reason why every sensible election watcher guffawed at ...2 hr
- 39. The education election
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
56 min - 38. The health election
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.
29 min - 37. The cost of living election
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
Subscribe to our substack, Radically Sensible.
See how to vote for us in this election
33 min - 36. The election budget we had to have
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.
1 hr 33 min - 35. The state of... everything
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.
16 min
About Keep the Bastards Honest
From the publisher's feed
Keep the Bastards Honest is the podcast of the Australian Democrats political party. KTBH is where we join the political conversation in #auspol, and explore not just our policy positions and values,…
but with relevant experts the science and evidence that underpins possible policy solutions for the challenges facing Australia today.