The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Compute in Australia: Announcing my new podcast series

   https://josephnoelwalker.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 16, 2026·7min
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   Number 2: How Australia Actually Selects and Integrates Migrants — Mike Pezzullo [Immigration Series]

   Part 3 of a three-part immigration series this week. Martin Parkinson (economics) available here; Mark Cully (history) available here. Mike Pezzullo ran the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (2013-2014), then the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (2014-2017), then the Department of Home Affairs (2017-2023). For more than a decade across those three roles, he was responsible for how Australia selects migrants, screens for risk, and thinks about social cohesion under stress. We discuss the central but underappreciated fact about how Australia selects migrants: the diversity of our intake is a happy accident of global migration flows, not engineered policy. We also walk through how the visa system actually screens for security and character, why Pezzullo doubts the Bondi terrorist's father would have been refused a student visa in 1998 even with today's tools, what a 2027 China-Taiwan blockade would mean for the Australian migration system in real time, and a never-aired proposal for fixing Australia's "permanent temporaries" problem — a constitutional amendment Pezzullo calls "the Pezzullo special." We finish with: should "populate or perish" return as defence policy? (Episode recorded on 16 March 2026.) Sponsors Eucalyptus: the Aussie startup providing digital healthcare clinics to help patients around the world take control of their quality of life. Euc is looking to hire ambitious young Aussies and Brits. You can check out their open roles at eucalyptus.health/careers. Vanta: helps businesses automate security and compliance needs. For a limited time, get one thousand dollars off Vanta at vanta.com/joe. Use the discount code "JOE". To sponsor a future episode, go to https://josephnoelwalker.com/sponsor/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   May 21, 2026·3h 23min
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   Number 3: Australia's Plan to Turn Compute Into Sovereign AI — Dr Andrew Charlton MP [Compute Series]

   This is the first episode in a multi-part series called 'Compute in Australia'. Series announcement here. More episodes to follow over the coming month. [Recorded 7 August 2026.] Dr Andrew Charlton MP is an Australian economist, entrepreneur and politician. As Cabinet Secretary and Australia's Assistant Minister for Science, Technology and the Digital Economy, he is one of the key leaders shaping the Australian government's AI strategy. Andrew shares his internal model for how AI plays out economically and what a middle power like Australia should do about it. We discuss whether data centres will yield large economic rents, the geostrategic case for a compute industry, and how the government plans to use compute to climb the stack to "sovereign AI". Sponsors e61: a non-partisan economic research institute focused on Australian public policy. To receive a copy of the new essay I co-authored with e61 on data centres and the compute economy, go to https://www.e61.in/joewalker. Vanta: helps businesses automate security and compliance needs. For a limited time, get one thousand dollars off Vanta at https://www.vanta.com/joe. Use the discount code "JOE". To sponsor a future episode, go to https://josephnoelwalker.com/sponsor/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 16, 2026·2h 1min
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   Number 4: "Just because I consulted doesn't mean I didn't dominate": How prime ministers really govern — Patrick Weller

   Patrick Weller is emeritus professor of politics and public policy at Griffith University and the author or editor of some forty books. Pat wrote what was the first (and may still be the only) Westminster-system equivalent to Robert Caro's epic meditation on Lyndon Johnson: a detailed study of how Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser wielded power. First published in 1989, it's a fascinating study of how one individual climbed into the hermit-crab-shell that is the prime ministership and made it his own. Pat is also the author of two other detailed studies of Australian political leaders, and the definitive history of cabinet government in Australia. Pat's work offers a picture of how human institutions – in this case, Westminster cabinets – work in practice and on a day-to-day level. Understanding the messiness, the beautiful malleability of the institutions, and their human bottlenecks has helped me build a more accurate model of the world – useful for predicting how governments may both respond to and utilise powerful new technologies. Sponsors Effective Altruism Australia: how Australians give to GiveWell's top charities — tax-deductibly, and with 100% pass-through. Until June 30, 2026, EAA is matching new donations up to $300,000. Donate at https://www.eaa.org.au/joewalker. e61: a non-partisan economic research institute focused on Australian public policy. To receive a copy of the new essay I co-authored with e61 on data centres and the compute economy, go to https://www.e61.in/joewalker. To sponsor a future episode, go to https://josephnoelwalker.com/sponsor/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   June 23, 2026·1h 37min
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   Number 5: Why I'm doing an Immigration Series

   A short intro to my three-part immigration series. Episodes with Martin Parkinson, Mark Cully, and Mike Pezzullo are out this week. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   May 19, 2026·6min
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