Politics with Michelle Grattan

By The ConversationNews Government Politics

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Politics with Michelle Grattan episodes

May 31, 2016 The Indi Project
The battle for the Victorian seat of Indi is shaping up as a three-way contest. Independent Cathy McGowan is trying to fend off the former member Sophie Mirabella and the Nationals' Marty Corboy.
McGowan tells Michelle Grattan the election will come down to preferences.
“I’m hoping that the National Party people will consider giving me their second preference and I’m hoping that Liberal Party people … certainly the ones in Wodonga – don’t see their answer in the National Party and they will consider giving me their preferences,” she says.
In this special election podcast, Michelle Grattan interviews McGowan, Corboy, as well as the Greens' candidate Jenny O'Connor and Labor’s Eric Kerr. Sophie Mirabella was unwilling to be interviewed.
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The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
44 min
May 23, 2016 Sam Dastyari on the ‘Bill Bus’
The Labor Party has been driving a campaign bus from Cairns to Canberra. On Sunday night senator Sam Dastyari, leader of the “Bill Bus”, told supporters at a Canberra pub they had raised enough money to extend its journey through to Melbourne and would be leaving the next morning.
After giving a speech to the faithful, Dastyari tells Michelle Grattan they have been getting a lot of local media in small towns and that the reception has been “quite positive”.
“The irony of all this is what is old is new. And what we’re really doing is taking on board some really 1950s/1960s great Labor campaigns, great political campaigns. This is how we campaigned. And why did we campaign this way? Because people felt engaged, people felt like they were part of it. It helped tell a story,” he says.
While warning Labor can’t afford to be complacent in any state or territory, Dastyari emphasises the importance of New South Wales and Queensland for Labor at this election.
“In 2010, we lost a bunch of Queensland seats and in 2013, we lost a bunch of New South Wales seats. If we’re not picking up the bulk of the seats we need to win government out of New South Wales and Queensland, we will not be forming government.”
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
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21 min
May 16, 2016 The Battle for New England
This is The Conversation’s first election podcast, where we visit the New South Wales seat of New England. The electorate is held by deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, who is under challenge from former independent member Tony Windsor.

Joyce predicts the government will “take a haircut” at the election, and talks about New England becoming a net exporter of renewable energy in future years. Windsor says if there was a hung parliament he would not go into an alliance, as he did with the Gillard government, and is coy about where his vote would end up.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
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38 min
May 07, 2016 Andrew Leigh on Labor’s budget reply
In response to the government’s pre-election budget, Labor’s Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh, a former professor of economics, describes an alternative economic plan.
Leigh tells Michelle Grattan that a Labor government would have delivered a budget that faced down Australia’s big economic challenges.
“They include declining living standards: income per capita in real net terms has declined 4% since the government came to office; flagging innovation, which has seen too few Australian firms develop ‘new to the world’ innovations; and rising inequality where the gap between rich and poor now is as high as it’s been in three-quarters of a century,” he says.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
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13 min
May 05, 2016 In Conversation with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
On the cusp of calling the election, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sat down with Michelle Grattan to talk about the budget.
When the discussion turned to political trust, Turnbull said it’s critical to be very upfront about issues, to explain what the problems are, and to explain how you propose to resolve them.
“I think there is a gotcha culture in the media and perhaps in the political discourse overall where, for example, any change in policy is seen as a backflip or an admission of failure.”
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
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25 min
May 04, 2016 Mathias Cormann on the government's economic plan
Sleep is at a premium in Canberra this week. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann is one of those doing the post-budget heavy lifting, with 22 media interviews on Wednesday. He sat down with Michelle Grattan to discuss the government’s long-term economic plan.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
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13 min
May 03, 2016 John Daley on the budget big picture
From the Parliament House lockup, Grattan Institute CEO John Daley joins Michelle Grattan to give an overall picture of the government’s pre-election budget.
Mentioned in this episode:
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Support non-profit journalism you can trust.
Donations 2025
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
10 min
April 27, 2016 Robert Simms on the evolution of the Greens
The future of Senator Robert Simms, one of the freshest faces in the Greens team, may hang on whether he is first or second on his party’s ticket. In his home state of South Australia, where the Nick Xenophon Team looks to be strong, the Greens face a particularly tough battle.
But Simms tells Michelle Grattan he thinks the Greens have a chance of retaining their two seats.
“There’s no question it’s going to be a lot of work for us in South Australia but I do think we can do it,” he says.
He also discusses the appeal of the Greens' to new groups of voters.
“I think one of the really good things about the Greens and our evolution as a political party is that we’ve really smashed that dichotomy that used to exist between the environment and the economy,
“We’ve really been able to say that what is good for the environment is good for the economy,” he says.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
Your support matters
Support non-profit journalism you can trust.
Donations 2025
32 min
April 20, 2016 Sarah Ferguson on The Killing Season uncut
In 2015, the ABC aired a gripping documentary series covering the tumultuous Rudd-Gillard era. This week, the series’ writer and interviewer Sarah Ferguson has released a book developed from the documentary.
Ferguson tells Michelle Grattan she longed for a single villain or a single narrative that she could pursue to the ends of the earth.
The widely acclaimed journalist talks about the difficulties of getting past the defensive mechanisms of Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, both expert media operators, during her interviews.
“What nobody is prepared for is what happens over hours and hours of interviews. As we know, our politicians are highly trained in answering, not answering questions. Delivering messages, delivering lines. But none of them are prepared for what happens over ten hours,” she says.
“You can’t consistently tell a story that is not entirely true or is a version of a story or is shaped to suit you over a long period of time. Eventually inconsistencies, if there are any, will creep in. You can’t maintain the facade you use in a studio interview over ten hours.”
Ferguson also discusses Bill Shorten’s reluctance to participate in the documentary and to keep himself out of the story.
“He just wants to step away from the centre of the events and remain in the cloisters, underneath the arch, half in shadow,” she says.
Mentioned in this episode:
Your support matters
Support non-profit journalism you can trust.
Donations 2025
The Making of an Autocrat
Search: "The Conversation Weekly" for our new series.
Is America watching its democracy unravel in real time? In The Making of an Autocrat from The Conversation, six of the world’s pre-eminant scholars reveal the recipe for authoritarian rule. From capturing a party, to controlling the military, Donald Trump is borrowing from the playbook of strongmen thoughout history. This is the story of how democracies falter — and what might happen next.
28 min
April 19, 2016 Angus Taylor on cities and digital transformation
In his ministerial reshuffle earlier this year, Malcolm Turnbull made Angus Taylor, an up-and-coming Liberal MP, the assistant minister for cities and digital transformation.
Taylor tells Michelle Grattan there needs to be agreement across all three levels of government to meet the challenges of jobs growth, transport and housing affordability faced by the nation’s cities.
“We have already said we’re going to use the mechanism of “city deals”, which is an agreement across federal, state and local governments on a strategy for each of our individual cities, recognising that no two solutions will be the same.”
Taylor also says Australia will need to find “innovative ways of financing increased investment in our cities”.
“We won’t be able to finance the very significant investments required in our cities just on budget. We’ll have to look off the budget. We’ll have to look to use our balance sheet,” he says.
33 min