One week in, are the policies announced by Australia’s major parties resonating with voters? On this first episode of our new podcast series, Democracy Sausage, host Mark Kenny takes a look at the policies and politics of the first week of campaigning – from tackling cancer to tax cuts and all points in-between, and how those commitments might be playing out with voters. Mark and the panel – Bob McMullan, Shirley Leitch, and Andrew Hughes – also discuss how the parties are using social media to target voters, and whether Australians respond well to tax cuts or care more about inequality.

Mark Kenny is a Senior Fellow in the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.

Andrew Hughes is a lecturer in marketing in the Australian National University's Research School of Management, where he teaches marketing at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Shirley Leitch is a Professorial Fellow at The Australian Studies Institute at The Australian National University. She has written more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and held more than $5 million in national competitive grants. She has undertaken senior advisory roles for government and industry and contributed to numerous government reviews.

Bob McMullan is a Visiting Fellow at Crawford School, following a long and distinguished career in the Australian Parliament as one of Australia’s pre-eminent Labor politicians, during which time he held a number of Ministerial and Shadow Ministerial positions across a broad range of portfolios.

Show notes | The following were referred to in this episode:

‘Mediscare’ campaign in 2016 Election

Labor’s $2.3 billion cancer funding promise

Federal Budget 2019

Election polls

Bill Shorten’s Budget reply

Election 2019: The Battle For Queensland – Q&A episode

Is Captain GetUp a help or a hindrance to Tony Abbott? – Jacqueline Maley (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Indonesia’s elections face a disinformation crisis – William Chalk

The fear campaign about electric cars has hit a new level of utter shamelessness – David Crowe (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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