Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at the Safeguard Mechanism - the government's main policy to manage down industrial emissions - and how it can be made more effective. How can it make miners and fossil fuel companies do more of the heavy lifting, and shouldn't the whole thing just be scrapped for an economy-wide price on carbon?

Maybe a focus on methane will help?

This episode carries a nerd alert, but we hope you will bear with us because it genuinely is so important.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Yassine consider the impact of AI on society, how we relate to each other as humans, how it is affecting education and learning, and what it means for our humanity. And because we care about policy, we consider what governments need to do to make sure humans stay in charge and harm is minimised and managed.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc

Janaline and Glenn look at the different ways in which AI is likely to affect the Australian economy and ask what, if anything, the government can do to ensure it delivers benefit to the people. Spoiler alert: we see a big role for government policy here.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠whycanttheyjust.com.au, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Yassine discuss what it's actually like in Australian public schools, what are the challenges for teachers and students and what policies might make things better. Philosophy for children might be an answer.

Good news: public schools in Australia are actually pretty good and fixing the roofs would go a long way to making them even better.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Welcome to Season 3, and welcome to our new co-host Yassine.

Janaline, Luke, Yassine and Glenn talk about school funding: why does the government give so much to private schools when public schools are under-funded, and what can be done to make education more equitable while improving academic standards?

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Luke are joined by special guest Yassine to talk about social media and its impact on Generation Z - the first generation to grow up entirely on line and the last generation not to be protected. They talk about what the infinite scroll and the outrage machine are doing to their peers and offer thoughts on how to keep people safe. Spoiler alert - we see a significant role for governments here.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Glenn look at different mechanisms to hold governments to account and discuss why every Australian should love the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act. They look at the difference between the public interest and what interests the public, and argue that access to decision makers doesn't necessarily mean influence over them.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at why the government can't just put dental into Medicare and make specialists affordable. Well, actually they can, but of course, as usual, it's complicated. They talk about different funding models and how the system can be made high quality and accessible while also being financially sustainable. Maybe looking at health care as joined up social policy - where medical treatment is just the last and most expensive bit - might be the answer?

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn are joined by former co-host William at the ALP National Conference in Adelaide, where they talk about how the policy sausage is made and debate the pros and cons of behind the scenes negotiations and public stoushes on the conference floor. Is the ALP too tame?

This episode was recorded on Friday 24 July, the second day of the 3-day conference.

Here is a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `[email protected]`. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music: "Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Glenn look at the government's aged care reforms and ask whether they will be sufficient to ensure the system is sustainable in the future, especially given the rate at which Australia's population is ageing. And given the devastating findings of the Aged Care Royal Commission, how does the government ensure that aged care delivers high quality outcomes for people to live in dignity and comfort?

Here's a transcript.

Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you.

Find out more about us and how you can support us at whycanttheyjust.com.au, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content.

Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us.

Music:"Insurrection"

Written by Pierre Chrétien

Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra

Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.