The Review of 2025 Part 4: AUKUS, cancel culture and how Labor governs

The Review of 2025 Part 4: AUKUS, cancel culture and how Labor governs

Australia enters 2026 facing deep strategic uncertainty: AUKUS costs have blown out to $1.3 billion with little clarity about what Australia is actually buying, while fear-driven national-security politics – from Richard Marles’ exaggerated warnings about a Chinese “flotilla” to unconstitutional anti-protest laws in NSW and creeping police-state powers in Victoria – continue to erode democratic accountability. As governments amplify threats, expand surveillance and silence dissent, the mainstream media has drifted further into PR and censorship, from the National Press Club cancelling Chris Hedges to the Sydney Morning Herald publishing misleading reporting used to attack Anthony Albanese. And despite its historic 2025 landslide, Labor still governs cautiously, clinging to bipartisanship, avoiding bold reforms on climate, housing and integrity, and remaining wary of collaboration with the Greens even where their agendas align. With Australia bound tightly to US security interests, distracted by culture wars and hollow media coverage, and hesitant to use its political dominance for meaningful change, the question heading into 2026 is whether the country can shift from fear and dependency towards genuine strategic independence and confident, democratic governance. #AUSPOL

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Song listing:
  1. ‘Let Me Entertain You’, Robbie Williams.
  2. ‘Swing For The Crime’, Ed Kuepper.
  3. ‘Satellite Anthem Icarus’, Boards of Canada.
  4. ‘Off The Grid’, Beastie Boys.
  5. ‘Yesterday’s Gone’, Beth Orton & William Orbit.

Episoder(305)

That Sinking Feeling of Falling Polls and a Drunk in Parliament

That Sinking Feeling of Falling Polls and a Drunk in Parliament

The federal government and its best friend – the NSW Government – are sinking in the polls because of one key issue: the mismanagement of the pandemic. Qualitative and quantitative research is showing...

6 Aug 202141min

Vested Interests in NSW and Leaders Who Want To Be Loved

Vested Interests in NSW and Leaders Who Want To Be Loved

There are too many vested interests in Sydney and it makes it difficult for the NSW Government to act in the public interest and, because of this, the city is now in a nine-week lockdown, with no end ...

30 Jul 202140min

The Sydney COVID Disaster And Olympic Dramas

The Sydney COVID Disaster And Olympic Dramas

Political games are never far away when it comes to COVID-19 management in Australia and, of course, it’s across the political divide: the Liberal Party of NSW and the federal government on one side, ...

23 Jul 202141min

Ignoring COVID Lessons From The Past And Who Is The Real Prime Minister?

Ignoring COVID Lessons From The Past And Who Is The Real Prime Minister?

Australia has become lockdown central, with its two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, going into two different types of lockdowns – Sydney has a modified version where shops are still open and peo...

16 Jul 202141min

Spinning In The Face Of A Crisis And The Modern Liberal Party

Spinning In The Face Of A Crisis And The Modern Liberal Party

The Sydney lockdown continues into its third week and the Gladys Berejiklian show moves into the full public relations mode and spin cycle to get itself out of political trouble. It’s almost as though...

9 Jul 202144min

The Lockdown Schadenfreude in NSW And A Two Jobs Failure: Vaccination and Quarantine

The Lockdown Schadenfreude in NSW And A Two Jobs Failure: Vaccination and Quarantine

The NSW Government’s ‘gold standard’ in COVID management has soured into a more tarnished puce colour, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian’s reluctance to shut down Sydney a week earlier, resulting in a m...

2 Jul 202145min

Pfizer Phuck-Up, Failure Of The G7 Meeting, Locking Up Journalists

Pfizer Phuck-Up, Failure Of The G7 Meeting, Locking Up Journalists

Australia could have been close to reaching herd immunity but a poor Australian government decision to turn its back on an excellent Pfizer deal means the national level of vaccination is at 3%, one o...

23 Jun 202144min

Quarantine Fiasco Continues, Media Clampdown, The Beast Of The NSW Labor Right

Quarantine Fiasco Continues, Media Clampdown, The Beast Of The NSW Labor Right

Victoria will complete a two-week lockdown soon but if the Morrison government had done its job properly on quarantine management and the vaccination rollout, the lockdown – which will cost around $2 ...

9 Jun 202153min

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