The National Conservatism Institute of Australia Podcast

My guest today is Leah Blyth, federal Senator for South Australia and President of the Liberal Party of South Australia.

Today we discuss:

• What explains the decline in the Liberal Party's fortunes in her state?
• Whether the voters blame the Liberal Party for the deindustrialisation and loss of the car industry?
• Her views on trade policy, Andrew Hastie's comments on "neoliberalism", and what a new policy framework for the centre-right might look like
• The resurgent defense industry in South Australia
• Why current child care policy is not working and what to do about it?

And much more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leah_Blyth

https://www.aph.gov.au/Senators_and_Members/Parliamentarian?MPID=315170

https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/10/protectionism-free-trade-and-small-government/

Philip Pilkington is a Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (HIIA), where his focus is on macroeconomic and geo-economic issues, and he is also a visiting fellow at the Danube Institute in Hungary.

Today we discuss:

• What Viktor Orban's defeat means for Hungary, The Danube Institute, and post-liberalism in that country
• His book "The Collapse of Global Liberalism"
• What is wrong with liberalism and what the best way of getting liberals to question their ideology
• Whether liberalism is a Christian heresy

And much more

https://x.com/philippilk?lang=en

https://danubeinstitute.hu/en/authors/pilkington-philip

My guest today is Scott Challen, who is a successful businessman and founder of the "Australia Marches" organization and "Australian Lobby Group".

Today we discuss:

• The upcoming "Australia Marches" protests in Canberra and what they hope to achieve
• What sort of engagement he has had to date with political parties to date
• How the nationalist movement here is similar to and differs from those in the UK and USA
• A broader discussion about how we got here and why there is such disenchantment with the traditional mainstream parties

And much more

https://australiamarches.com/

https://auslobby.com.au/

https://x.com/shallowchal

My guest today is Alex McDermott who is a Melbourne-based historian, writer, and curator at the Robert Menzies Institute. He recently collaborated with Tony Abbott on his book "Australia: A History".

Today we discuss:

• His recent article entitled "Forgetting Federation" about why the formal establishment of the Australian nation state is ignored
• Whether centre-right appear to have a negative view of federation and whether modern neo-liberalism might help explain this
• Menzies' view of Federation and whether one can detect in his politics a one nation Disraelian conservatism as well as a Gladstonian classical liberalism
• The parallels between the Federation era and our own.

And much more

https://quadrant.org.au/magazine/history/forgetting-federation/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-mcdermott-000128309/

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/alex-mcdermott

https://substack.com/@alexmcdermott1?utm_source=top-search

My guest today is Drew Pavlou, a well-known Australian online influencer and activist. He is regularly retweeted by members of the Trump administration and recently attracted attention with his expose on the fraud and waste in the NDIS. Today we discuss:

• His political journey from the left to the new right and what explains the change
• His views on immigration and Angus Taylor's recent speech on the subject
• His views on foreign policy whether he considers himself a "neocon" and his views on the realists
• Whether being an influencer is a long-term career and his plans for the future

And much more

https://x.com/DrewPavlou

My guest today is Dr Simon Kennedy an Australian academic specialising in the history of legal, political and religious ideas.

He was a Visiting Fellow at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium in Budapest in early 2023, and is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Danube Institute, also in Budapest. His first book was published with Edinburgh University Press in 2022, and is entitled Reforming the Law of Nature: The secularisation of political thought, 1532-1689. His second book is on education, entitled Against Worldview, and published with Lexham Press.

Today we discuss:

- His recent paper entitled "Young Men in Crisis: What Can Australia Do?"

- The nature of this crisis, what its underlying causes are, and the extend to which the challenges facing young men are new and unprecedented

- The related issue of the feminisation of our institutions including the churches and the impact this is having on our politics and society, and

- What can be done about it.

And much much more.

https://www.ac.edu.au/faculty-and-staff/simon-kennedy/main/

https://about.uq.edu.au/experts/24133

https://www.page.org.au/2026/03/young-men-in-crisis/

My guest today is academic Salvatores Babones author of new book "Dharma Democracy: How India Built The Third World's First Democracy".

Today we discuss:

• The extent to which Narendra Modi and the BJP should be part of the global "new" right
• Is the BJP a nationalist party and how it differs from the traditionally dominant Indian National Congress
• How minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and others are treated by the BJP
• How western democracies should view modern India and the BJP and whether there are legitimate concerns regarding its power and influence

And much, much more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Babones

https://profiles.sydney.edu.au/salvatore.babones

https://www.amazon.com.au/Dharma-Democracy-India-Built-Worlds/dp/1923224735

My guest today is William Clouston, leader of the Social Democratic Party in the UK. Today we discuss:

- What the SDP believes, its history, and why it has not yet achieved the same prominence as parties like Reform UK and Restore Britain

- Why the current liberal consensus is failing - Why it is unsustainable position to be a social conservative and an economic liberal

- What changes the UK needs to see on housing, immigration, the nationalisation of utilities, trade, and a range of other policy measures

- What the SDP realistically hopes to achieve in the years ahead

And much much more

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Democratic_Party_(UK)

My guest today is the Hon John Anderson AC, who is amongst other things the former deputy Prime Minister of Australia, successful podcast host, and one of the founders of The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship.

Today we discuss:

• What explains the cratering of support for traditional centre-right parties across the western world?
• What he understands by the "new right" and what changes are need in policy and thinking from the Howard era
• Whether a re-evangilization of society is enough to solve our current societal problems
• Whether Donald Trump is a conservative and what lessons Australia can draw from the new ideological change in Washington

And much much more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Anderson_(Australian_politician)

https://www.arc-conference.com/

https://aspireconference.org.au/

My guest today is Misha Saul, who is a technology investor and co-founder of Dragonfly AI, an investment and advisory firm.

Today we discuss:

• Misha's recent article in the Manhattan Institute's City Journal on "How AI Will Reshape Society"
• What is likely to mean in selected industries and how likely change is going to occur
• Which demographics will be hit the hardest, what it means for our politics, and how it is likely to fundamentally change our understanding of what "work" is and our workdays
• The geopolitical implications and also what it means at a personal level

And much much more.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/misha-saul-6bb5b569/

https://www.kvetch.au/

https://www.city-journal.org/article/artificial-intelligence-society-future