Podcasts about Australian National University

Dr Liz Allen is a demographer from Australian National University in Canberra and she speaks to Emile Donovan.

Acknowledgement of Country// Headlines:Updates from GazaQueensland Government's decision to freeze access to hormone treatments for transgender children faces court challengeNew South Wales Department of Justice forced to release footage of officer assault on a teenage girl in custodyTasmanian Government plans to delay closure of Ashley Youth Detention CentreUpdates from Kashmir We heard updates from an 'australian' activist currently in Palestine, who shared recent developments in the area of Masafer Yatta, a collection of herding communities in the West Bank. This dispatch includes reporting on settler intimidation and land-grab attempts and the steadfastness of Palestinian herders' efforts to stay on their land.// James Godfrey from Free Gaza Australia joined us to discuss the May 2nd drone attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla's ship the Conscience, which occurred just off the coast of Malta. The vessel was carrying humanitarian aid to thousands of starving people in Gaza facing famine after a total blockade on aid imposed by the state of Israel since March 2nd. Free Gaza Australia is a member of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a people-to-people solidarity movement of initiatives from all over the world, working to challenge Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza by the state of Israel using non-violent direct action.// Katrina Kiernan-Walker, one of two vice-president candidates for the Community and Public Sector Union or CPSU Victoria's A Voice for Members ticket, talked with us about the rank and file demand for a fighting union representing public sector workers. Katrina has been in the Victorian public service for five years, and has spent four of those as a CPSU Victoria delegate and health and safety representative. There are still a few tickets left for tonight's CPSU A Voice for Members Trivia Night with Tom Ballard - grab one here.// Dr Chris Taylor, Research Fellow at the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University, unpacked the state of native forest regeneration in Victoria after the end of native forest logging at scale with the closure of Vic Forests in July 2024. Chris is an environmental researcher with expertise in landscape analysis and spatial ecology, working on modelling forest conditions, disturbance regimes, and biodiversity priorities. Chris has led and co-authored studies examining forest regeneration failure, fire severity, and habitat fragmentation across Victoria. At the Fenner School, Chris is currently contributing to interdisciplinary research on forest dynamics, conservation prioritisation, and environmental policy. Chris acknowledges the First Peoples of the Countries he works on, the People of the Bunurong, Gunaikurnai, Taungurong and Wurundjeri nations and their Elders.// Kate Allingham, CEO of Economic Justice Australia, discussed a newly-released report by EJA analysing barriers to service delivery for women attempting to access and maintain social security entitlements in regional, rural, remote and very remote australia. The report is the first release in a series of three pieces of work by EJA spanning key service delivery, law and policy issues related to social security access, and making substantial recommendations for reform.//

Professor David Lindenmayer (pictured). from The Fenner School of Environment & Society at the Australian National University, was the guest on a May 1 webinar organised by the "Victorian Forest Alliance".Professor Lindenmayer discussed "Disturbance and flamability: how logging and burning makes forests more flammable".His understanding of Australian forests, their history and how our interference with them, along with the challenges with the quickly unfolding dilemma of climate change, makes them significantly more susceptible to fire,

Join the hosts of Democracy Sausage for a discussion about Labor's victory and what it means. What can we expect from Albanese's leadership approach the second time around? Can we expect Labor to continue to have the same level of unity? And how can the Liberals rebuild after their election defeat? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga discuss the outcome of the 2025 federal election. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Senior Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the final week before ballots are counted, Jill Sheppard and Frank Bongiorno join Democracy Sausage for a live discussion where they sink their teeth into the 2025 federal election. Who won the four debates, and do they even change people's minds? In a scenario where we end up with a minority government, what can we expect from the crossbench? And which questions still remain in our live audience's minds? On this live episode of Democracy Sausage, recorded at an ANU pub, Dr Jill Sheppard and Professor Frank Bongiorno join Dr Marija Taflaga and Professor Mark Kenny for a final rundown of the 2025 election. Jill Sheppard is a Senior Lecturer in the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. She is an investigator on several major survey studies of Australian public opinion and behaviour, including the Australian Election Study, World Values Survey, and Asian Barometer Survey. Frank Bongiorno is a Professor at the ANU School of History. He is President of the Australian Historical Association and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Australia heads into the final week of the federal election campaign, we explore groundbreaking new analysis from the Australian National University that identifies which electorates are the best sites for renewables. While renewable developers have long known where the best sites are, local communities have often been left in the dark. In this episode, we dive into how making this data public could shift the balance of power and give regional Australia a real say in the clean energy boom. With billions of investment and jobs on the table it could reshape the future of regional communities. Senior researcher Dr Cheng Cheng reveals that New England — the electorate of outspoken renewables critic Barnaby Joyce — could host enough clean energy to power half the country, unlocking $60 billion in investment and thousands of jobs.

Across the globe, many people see democracy retreating and authoritarianism on the rise. In places as diverse as India, Hungry, Niger, El Salvador, and even right here in the United States, people of all political background are concerned about the state of their democracy, even if their reasons for worry differ. From attacks on courts, to the accumulation of executive power, and the takeover of institutions, many countries have see their democracies weaken, while many others have seen their democracies completely overthrown (at least 32 coup d'état's since 2010, and many more attempts, around the world).  Freedom House has marked overall democratic decline for the past 19 years based on their global metrics, while countless articles have been written about democratic backsliding around the world.In this month's episode, we discuss the state of democracy around the world with Dr. Henry Thomson of Arizona State University. Throughout this conversation, we cover the pathways to democratic decline and dive into the trends that the world is currently experiencing, while putting this discussion in historical context. In addition, we talk about what lessons pro-democracy forces can learn from the transitions that other countries have made away from authoritarian styles of government. It is important to remember that at one point in time, all countries were under authoritarian forms of government. Dr. Henry Thomson is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and Global Studies at Arizona State University. He is a political economist with a research focus on economic development, authoritarian rule, and transitions to democracy.He is the author of two books, Watching the Watchers: Communist Elites, the Secret Police and Social Order in Cold War Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2024) and Food and Power: Regime Type, Agricultural Policy and Political Stability (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2019).Before joining ASU, Thomson was a Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. He completed his PhD in Political Science at the University of Minnesota. His doctoral dissertation won the 2015 Juan Linz Prize for the Best Dissertation in the Comparative Study of Democratization from the American Political Science Association. He has been a visiting scholar at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, at Australian National University, and at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies in Berlin.Professor Thomson teaches classes on Democratization, Political Economy, International Political Economy, and social science research design.

With voting now underway for the 2025 federal election, we take a look at the legislative and constitutional requirements governing our electoral processes, the quirks of the Australian system, and what – apart from the beloved “democracy sausage” – makes the Australian way special. In this episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, host Jerome Doraisamy speaks with Professor Donald Rothwell of the Australian National University about his work in international law, how our electoral system came to be at the time of Federation, the advantage for the incumbent prime minister of the day, major changes we've seen to our electoral laws, and how Australia ended up with a preferential voting system. Professor Rothwell also reflects on whether our current legislative and constitutional frameworks are fit for purpose with our elections, the appetite or otherwise for reform, the recent saga of MPs who were dual nationals, whether job-sharing MPs will be a thing of the future, the laws and processes governing minority government, whether such governments are truly representative of our democracy, and other interesting and quirky features of our system. If you like this episode, show your support by  rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (The Lawyers Weekly Show) and by following Lawyers Weekly on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@lawyersweekly.com.au for more insights!

Data analyst Simon Jackman joins Democracy Sausage to chat about the polls, swing seats and how the global uncertainty is impacting this election. When did Labor's recovery start? How has uncertainty in the US influenced the framing of this election and left the Coalition vulnerable? And does this election cycle point to any changes in how the major parties operate? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Simon Jackman joins Professor Mark Kenny to talk about polling data and the AUS-US relationship. Join us Monday 28 April at Badger&Co on the ANU campus for a recording of Democracy Sausage in the pub. More information here: https://www.anu.edu.au/events/democracy-sausage-2025-live-election-special Simon Jackman is an independent data scientist and strategist. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and the Society for Political Methodology. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever pondered the fact that the universe is expanding? And not only that, it's expanding at an increasing speed - meaning everything around us is getting further and further away? If that isolating thought makes you feel slightly panicked, don't worry: this programme also contains wine!Brian Schmidt is a Distinguished Professor of Astrophysics at the Australian National University, known for his work on supernovae: massive explosions that take place when stars come to the ends of their lives. They are among the most energetic events in the universe and incredibly difficult to find; but that's what his High-Z Supernova Search Team did, identifying enough of these rare and distant explosions to measure just how fast they were moving away from us.This led them to the realisation that, contrary to long-held belief in cosmology, the expansion of the universe was speeding up; a discovery which earned Brian a share of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics. As if that wasn't enough, he's gone on to discover one of the earliest stars in the universe; run a university; and become a winemaker, at his very own vineyard just outside Canberra.In a conversation spanning the genius phraseology of writer Douglas Adams, the importance of pisco sours, and the similarities between astronomy and viticulture, Brian tells Professor Jim Al-Khalili how his supernovae breakthrough paved the way for a revolution in astronomy - and where the field needs to go next...Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced for BBC Studios by Lucy Taylor

Australians love a ‘battler’. Images of shearers, Anzacs, and gold diggers are deeply entrenched in our history. Politicians know that too. Why else do we see them in hard hats and high visibility vests? But a couple of moments in this election campaign have hit a nerve. They came from a blue blood Liberal candidate in Melbourne, and the opposition leader’s son in a press conference in Brisbane. Today, Frank Bongiorno, professor of history at the Australian National University, on what happens when members of the political class play down their wealth, in order to commune with the common people. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australians love a ‘battler’. Images of shearers, Anzacs, and gold diggers are deeply entrenched in our history. Politicians know that too. Why else do we see them in hard hats and high visibility vests? But a couple of moments in this election campaign have hit a nerve. They came from a blue blood Liberal candidate in Melbourne, and the opposition leader’s son in a press conference in Brisbane. Today, Frank Bongiorno, professor of history at the Australian National University, on what happens when members of the political class play down their wealth, in order to commune with the common people. Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week I welcome Dr. Una McIlvenna, historian and senior lecturer at the Australian National University, to dismantle the myths surrounding one of Renaissance Europe's most iconic women: Catherine de Medici. We delve into the misconceptions that have plagued Catherine's legacy, particularly the myth of her "flying squadron" of seductive ladies-in-waiting.Episode Highlights:Introducing Dr. Una McIlvenna: Una shares her journey from her doctoral thesis on the French court of Catherine de Medici to her current research on execution ballads as news media.The Myth of the Flying Squadron: Una passionately debunks the myth that Catherine de Medici employed a troupe of seductive women to manipulate noblemen for political gain, arguing that it is a sexist and reductive fantasy.Catherine's True Political Influence: Discover how Catherine navigated the treacherous waters of French politics, exercising power through relentless negotiation and strategic marriages, despite the constraints of Salic Law.The Medici Legacy: Explore why the Medici family, with their rapid rise to power and influence, became the subject of so many conspiracies and myths, rivalling even the infamous Borgias.Art Patronage and Legacy: Catherine's contributions to art and architecture, including the magnificent spectacles she organized, are highlighted as part of her enduring legacy.Join us as we peel back the layers of myth and uncover the true story of Catherine de Medici, a woman whose political acumen and relentless dedication have been overshadowed by centuries of historical distortion.Connect with Dr. Una McIlvenna:Purchase her book "Scandal and Reputation at the Court of Catherine de Medici"Twitter: @UnaMcIlvenna and Bluesky: @unamcilvenna.bsky.socialSupport the ShowIf you're fired up by this episode, consider joining the 'Angry Mob' on Patreon at patreon.com/historyrage for exclusive content, early access, and the iconic History Rage mug.Follow the Rage:- Twitter: @HistoryRage- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/historyrage/- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HistoryRage- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/historyrage.bsky.socialStay Angry, Stay Informed - History Rage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political communications expert Andrea Carson joins Democracy Sausage to discuss social media, misinformation and disinformation and what ideas, if any, are actually landing with a disengaged electorate. Which campaign messages are cutting through in both traditional and social media? Are mis- and disinformation seducing the electorate any more than in the past? And are we now seeing social media impact not only how campaigns are run, but also how policy is designed? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Andrea Carson joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss the ‘subterranean' election campaign – the crackpot memes, AI videos and Gen Z-courting content that could shape votes and policy. Andrea Carson is a is Associate Dean, Research, Industry and Engagement with the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Political Communication in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University. She is also an award-winning former journalist. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political marketing expert at the Australian National University, Dr Andrew Hughes, thinks the song is a smart political move by the Liberal Party.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity (Mariner Books, 2024) is a book for anyone interested in understanding the economic forces that have shaped our world. Its blend of historical insight and contemporary relevance makes it a valuable addition to your bookshelf. This small book indeed tells a big story. It is the story of capitalism – of how our market system developed. It is the story of the discipline of economics, and some of the key figures who formed it. And it is the story of how economic forces have shaped world history. Why didn't Africa colonize Europe instead of the other way around? What happened when countries erected trade and immigration barriers in the 1930s? Why did the Allies win World War II? Why did inequality in many advanced countries fall during the 1950s and 1960s? How did property rights drive China's growth surge in the 1980s? How does climate change threaten our future prosperity? You'll find answers to these questions and more in How Economics Explains the World. Andrew Leigh is an Australian economist, author, and politician currently serving as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, as well as the Assistant Minister for Employment. A member of the Australian Labor Party, he has represented the electorate of Fenner in the House of Representatives since 2010. Before entering politics, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University, specialising in public policy, inequality, and economic reform. Leigh is a prolific writer, having authored several books on economic and social issues, and is known for his commitment to evidence-based policymaking and fostering competition in the Australian economy. “If you read just one book about economics, make it Andrew Leigh's clear, insightful, and remarkable (and short) work.” —Claudia Goldin, recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics and Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity (Mariner Books, 2024) is a book for anyone interested in understanding the economic forces that have shaped our world. Its blend of historical insight and contemporary relevance makes it a valuable addition to your bookshelf. This small book indeed tells a big story. It is the story of capitalism – of how our market system developed. It is the story of the discipline of economics, and some of the key figures who formed it. And it is the story of how economic forces have shaped world history. Why didn't Africa colonize Europe instead of the other way around? What happened when countries erected trade and immigration barriers in the 1930s? Why did the Allies win World War II? Why did inequality in many advanced countries fall during the 1950s and 1960s? How did property rights drive China's growth surge in the 1980s? How does climate change threaten our future prosperity? You'll find answers to these questions and more in How Economics Explains the World. Andrew Leigh is an Australian economist, author, and politician currently serving as the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury, as well as the Assistant Minister for Employment. A member of the Australian Labor Party, he has represented the electorate of Fenner in the House of Representatives since 2010. Before entering politics, he was a professor of economics at the Australian National University, specialising in public policy, inequality, and economic reform. Leigh is a prolific writer, having authored several books on economic and social issues, and is known for his commitment to evidence-based policymaking and fostering competition in the Australian economy. “If you read just one book about economics, make it Andrew Leigh's clear, insightful, and remarkable (and short) work.” —Claudia Goldin, recipient of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics and Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University One of The Economist's Best Books of the Year Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian Frank Bongiorno joins Democracy Sausage to tell us what we can learn from precedent, and what's unusual about this federal election. How will Trump's tariffs sway this campaign and Australia's relationship with the US? Has Labor flipped the worldwide incumbency disadvantage trend? And how much campaigning is landing with a disengaged populace? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Frank Bongiorno joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss elections past and present. Frank Bongiorno is a Professor at the ANU School of History. He is President of the Australian Historical Association and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode host Ellie Woodacre interviews Noel Cox about his upcoming book: The Coronation and the Constitution: The political, legal and theological functions of the ceremony in the British tradition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). We discuss a range of topics including what makes British coronations distinctively different, the political, legal and theological functions of a coronation, and what changes we might expect in future ceremonies. If you enjoyed this episode or are interested in coronations, see also our previous episodes on British coronations featuring Alice Hunt and Jose Manuel Cerda. GUEST BIO: Noel Cox was Professor of Law, Department of Law and Criminology, Aberystwyth University (UK) and previously taught in New Zealand. His main fields of research interest are constitutional law, and law and religion. He has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge (Wolfson College) and The Australian National University. He previously taught at the Auckland University of Technology, where he was head of the department of law. He is a barrister of the Inner Temple (UK) and admitted to practice law in New Zealand. Since 2015 he has been a priest in the Anglican Church in New Zealand but continues to write. He has published several hundred scientific works. Principal books include "Technology and Legal Systems" (2006); "Constitutional Paradigms and the Stability of States" (2012); "The Royal Prerogative and Constitutional Law" (2020); and "Priest of the Church or priest of a church: the ecclesiology of ordained local ministry" (2021).   

In the first sausage sizzle of this federal election campaign, pollster Shaun Ratcliff gives Democracy Sausage an update on the state of the campaign. Is Labor bouncing back in the polls? How likely is it that Will Peter Dutton pull off his appeal to voters in the outer suburbs? And will the question ‘are you better off than you were three years ago' sway voters this election? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Dr Shaun Ratcliff joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss the 2025 federal election. Shaun Ratcliff is a political scientist, survey researcher and data scientist. He is the principal at Accent Research. He is also an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How could frozen Russian assets be used and what are the legal and geopolitical implications? Head of CFS Europe, Kinga Redlowska, is joined by Anton Moiseienko, CFS Associate Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Law at the Australian National University, along with Tom Keatinge, Director of CFS. They explore the ongoing debate about the future of frozen Russian assets, examining their potential uses and the legal, political and economic consequences for EU sanctions policy and international law.

Economist Kristen Sobeck joins Democracy Sausage to break down the budget – the goods, the bads and the ‘X factor' unknowns. Will the budget do enough to deal with cost-of-living concerns? Is Treasurer Jim Chalmers playing economic chess or political checkers? And how can we engineer a tax system that creates a more equitable ‘good life' in Australia? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, economist Kristen Sobeck joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss the budget and the lingering tax reform issues influencing our economy. Kristen Sobeck is a Research Fellow at the ANU Tax and Transfer Policy Institute. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Trump administration insists there's been real progress towards a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine, but is Donald Trump being played by Vladimir Putin?Talks continue this week in Saudi Arabia, but it's questionable whether Russia's conditions can ever be accepted by the Ukrainians. Today, Matthew Sussex from the Centre for European Studies at the Australian National University on where the talks are up to and what Putin really wants.  Featured: Associate Professor Matthew Sussex, Centre for European Studies at the Australian National University

Today's headlines include: The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1% in February, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Australia’s environment is “showing signs of improvement,” according to the latest report card from the Australian National University. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accepted the terms of a 30-day ceasefire with Russia. And today’s good news: A village in India has launched Diwali-like celebrations following the safe return of NASA astronaut Sunita Williams. Hosts: Emma Gillespie and Billi FitzSimonsProducer: Emma Gillespie Want to support The Daily Aus? That's so kind! The best way to do that is to click ‘follow’ on Spotify or Apple and to leave us a five-star review. We would be so grateful. The Daily Aus is a media company focused on delivering accessible and digestible news to young people. We are completely independent. Want more from TDA?Subscribe to The Daily Aus newsletterSubscribe to The Daily Aus’ YouTube Channel Have feedback for us?We’re always looking for new ways to improve what we do. If you’ve got feedback, we’re all ears. Tell us here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Michael De Percy is a Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Canberra. He graduated from both the Australian National University and the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He was also appointed to the Australian Research Council's College of Experts in 2022. Sound interesting? I can only say that if he'd been my lecturer at ANU, I might well have chosen a different career path. We have an excellent Mailroom with Mrs Producer and finish with a critique of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, courtesy of Amy Brooke. File your comments and complaints at Leighton@newstalkzb.co.nz Haven't listened to a podcast before? Check out our simple how-to guide. Listen here on iHeartRadio Leighton Smith's podcast also available on iTunes:To subscribe via iTunes click here See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Migration expert Alan Gamlen joins Democracy Sausage to unpack the arguments and misconceptions around immigration. What is it about immigration that makes voters so anxious? What are the misconceptions we have about migration? And with Peter Dutton mulling over a referendum to give ministers the power the ability to strip dual nationals of citizenship will migration be a key issue in the upcoming election? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Alan Gamlen joins Professor Mark Kenny to discuss the politicisation of migration and what it means for this election. Alan Gamlen is the Director of the Migration Hub at the ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the Coalition wins the federal election, Peter Dutton wants to appoint his own Elon Musk to cut government spending. Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price is now the shadow minister for government efficiency, a title that echoes the Department Of Government Efficiency in the United States. So, what will be on the chopping block? And do Australians really want a Trump-style DOGE?Today, Mark Kenny, director of the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University, on whether slashing the public service really saves money in the end. Featured: Mark Kenny, director of the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University and host of ‘Democracy Sausage' podcast

Dr Kate Flaherty is Senior Lecturer in English and Drama at the Australian National University. She researches how Shakespeare's works play on the stage of public culture. Her insights have been published in Contemporary Theatre Review, New Theatre Quarterly, Australian Studies and Shakespeare Survey. She is also the author of the book ‘Ours as we play it: Australia Plays Shakespeare' and of the latest volume of the ‘ Cambridge Elements' series - 'Ellen Terry, Shakespeare and Suffrage in Australia and New Zealand'.So today Justin and Belle are going to be speaking with Kate about how enchantment shows up in the iconic works of Shakespeare. Kate Flaherty: https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/persons/kate-flahertyFor Re-Enchanting: https://www.seenandunseen.com/podcastThere's more to life than the world we can see. Re-Enchanting is a podcast from Seen & Unseen recorded at Lambeth Palace Library, the home of the Centre for Cultural Witness. Justin Brierley and Belle Tindall engage faith and spirituality with leading figures in science, history, politics, art and education. Can our culture be re-enchanted by the vision of Christianity? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Researcher Nicholas Biddle joins Democracy Sausage to discuss new research on Australia's optimism (or lack thereof), what's driving it, and what it means for the election. What's the current mood in Australia and how is it impacting votes? Can our pessimism drive support for any particular policy, party or candidate? And will we see populist support grow in Australia? On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Professor Nicholas Biddle joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss research on the erosion of hope and Australia's mood as we move closer to a federal election. Nicholas Biddle is the Head of the School of Politics and International Relations. His latest research on the Erosion of Hope is available here. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shiho Kagasaki is an Associate at MinterEllison based in Australia. We hear from Shiho why she loves working in the law so much and how her recent passion for ballet contributes to her pursuit of grace and poise in her work life, too. If you are also an up and coming associate wanting to hear from a sempai (more experienced co-worker) then this is the episode for you. If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we'd love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we'd love it if you would leave us a message here!In this episode you'll hear:Why Shiho enjoys the multifaceted work of being a lawyerThe importance of networking and what Shiho believes is important when building a networkThe parallels between ballet and the lawHer favourite podcast and other fun facts About ShihoShiho Kagasaki is an Associate at MinterEllison, presently based in Australia.  After obtaining her Bachelor of Laws at Griffith University and completing her Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at The Australian National University, she was admitted as a lawyer in Australia in 2017.  She has since practiced in various areas of law, including Plaintiff Personal Injury, General Insurance and Class Actions in her previous roles. Corporate Risk & Insurance is her current area of focus at MinterEllison. Shiho currently specialises in the management of non litigated and litigated matters and works for both Australian, Japanese and International Insurers as well as Australian and International Corporations.Connect with ShihoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shiho-kagasaki-4072a4118/ LinksNyorosuke Ungai restaurant: https://kiwa-group.co.jp/nyorosuke_ginza/ Legal High: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_High_(Japanese_TV_series) The Balanced Ballerinas podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3vPmGkYbpsvo8JAaytJf1s?si=481f054555724b27 Connect with Catherine Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/in/oconnellcatherine/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawyeronairYouTube: https://youtube.com/@lawyeronair 

This episode has three chapters. Each one answers a key question, and, bottom line, it all adds up to action steps directly and indirectly for many, including plan sponsors probably, community leaders, and also hospital boards of directors. Here's the three chapters in sum. For a full transcript of this episode, click here. If you enjoy this podcast, be sure to subscribe to the free weekly newsletter to be a member of the Relentless Tribe. Chapter 1: Are commercial insurance premiums rising faster than the inflation rate? And if so, is the employee portion of those premiums also rising, meaning a double whammy for employees' paychecks (ie, premium costs are getting bigger and bigger in an absolute sense, and also employees' relative share of those bigger costs is also bigger)? Spoiler alert: yes and yes. Chapter 2: What is the biggest reason for these premium increases? Like, if you look at the drivers of cost that underpin those rising premiums, what costs a lot that is making these premiums cost a lot? Spoiler alert: It's hospitals and the price increases at hospitals. And just in case anyone is wondering, this isn't, “Oh, chargemasters went up” or some kind of other tangential factor. We're talking about the revenue that hospitals are taking on services delivered has gone up and gone up way higher than the inflation rate. In fact, hospital costs have gone up over double the amount that premiums have gone up. Wait, what? That's a fact that Dr. Vivian Ho said today that threw my brain for a loop: Hospital costs have gone up over double the amount that premiums have gone up. Chapter 3: Is the reason that hospital prices have rocketed up as they have because the underlying costs these hospitals face are also going up way higher than the inflation rate? Like, for example, are nurses' salaries skyrocketing and doctors are getting paid a lot more than the inflation rate? Stuff like this. Too many eggs in the cafeteria. Way more charity care. Bottom line, is an increase in underlying costs the reason for rising hospital prices? Spoiler alert: no. No to all of the above. And I get into this deeply with Dr. Vivian Ho today. But before I do, I do just want to state with three underlines not all hospitals are the same. But yeah, you have many major consolidated hospitals crying about their, you know, “razor-thin margins” who are, it turns out, incentivizing their C-suites to do things that ultimately wind up raising prices. I saw a PowerPoint flying around—you may have seen it, too—that was apparently presented by a nonprofit hospital at JP Morgan, and it showed this nonprofit hospital with a 15.1% EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in 2024. Not razor thin in my book. It's a, the boards of directors are structuring C-suite incentives in ways that ultimately will raise prices. If you want to dig in a little deeper on hospital boards and what they may be up to, listen to the show with Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA (EP404). Vivian Ho, PhD, my guest today, is a professor and faculty member at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine. Her most major role these days is working on health policy at Baker Institute at Rice University. Her work there is at the national, state, and local levels conducting objective research that informs policymakers on how to improve healthcare. Today on the show, Professor Vivian Ho mentions research with Salpy Kanimian and Derek Jenkins, PhD. Alright, so just one quick sidebar before we get into the show. There is a lot going on with hospitals right now. So, before we kick in, let me just make one really important point. A hospital's contribution to medical research, like doing cancer clinical trials, is not the same as how a hospital serves or overcharges their community or makes decisions that increase or reduce their ability to improve the health and well-being of patients and members who wind up in or about the hospital. Huge, consolidated hospital networks can be doing great things that have great value and also, at the exact same time, kind of harmful things clinically and financially that negatively impact lots of Americans and doing all of that simultaneously. This is inarguable. Also mentioned in this episode are Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy; Baker Institute Center for Health Policy; Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA; Salpy Kanimian; Derek Jenkins, PhD; Byron Hugley; Michael Strain; Dave Chase; Zack Cooper, PhD; Houston Business Coalition on Health (HBCH); Marilyn Bartlett, CPA, CGMA, CMA, CFM; Cora Opsahl; Claire Brockbank; Shawn Gremminger; Autumn Yongchu; Erik Davis; Ge Bai, PhD, CPA; Community Health Choice; Mark Cuban; and Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA. For further reading, check out this LinkedIn post.   You can learn more at Rice University's Center for Health Policy (LinkedIn) and Department of Economics and by following Vivian on LinkedIn.   Vivian Ho, PhD, is the James A. Baker III Institute Chair in Health Economics, a professor in the Department of Economics at Rice University, a professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and a nonresident senior scholar in the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Ho's research examines the effects of economic incentives and regulations on the quality and costs of health care. Her research is widely published in economics, medical, and health services research journals. Ho's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the American Cancer Society, and Arnold Ventures. Ho has served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Health Statistics, as well as on the NIH Health Services, Outcomes, and Delivery study section. She was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2020. Ho is also a founding board member of the American Society for Health Economists and a member of the Community Advisory Board at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Ho received her AB in economics from Harvard University, a graduate diploma in economics from The Australian National University, and a PhD in economics from Stanford University.   05:12 Are insurance premiums going up? 05:59 What is the disparity between cost of insurance and wage increases? 06:21 LinkedIn post by Byron Hugley. 06:25 Article by Michael Strain. 06:46 How much have insurance premiums gone up for employers versus employees? 09:06 Chart showing the cost to insure populations of employees and families. 10:17 What is causing hospital prices and insurance premiums to go up so exponentially? 12:53 Article by (and tribute to) Uwe Reinhardt. 13:49 EP450 with Marilyn Bartlett, CPA, CGMA, CMA, CFM. 14:01 EP452 with Cora Opsahl. 14:03 EP453 with Claire Brockbank. 14:37 EP371 with Erik Davis and Autumn Yongchu. 15:28 Are razor-thin operating margins for hospitals causing these rising hospital prices? 16:56 Collaboration with Marilyn Bartlett and the NASHP Hospital Cost Tool. 19:47 What is the explanation that hospitals give for justifying these profits? 23:16 How do these hospital cost increases actually happen? 27:06 Study by Zack Cooper, PhD. 27:35 EP404 with Suhas Gondi, MD, MBA. 27:50 Who typically makes up a hospital board, and why do these motivations incentivize hospital price increases? 30:12 EP418 with Mark Cuban and Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA. 33:17 Why is it vital that change start at the board level?   You can learn more at Rice University's Center for Health Policy (LinkedIn) and Department of Economics and by following Vivian on LinkedIn.   Vivian Ho discusses #healthinsurance #premiums and #hospitalpricing on our #healthcarepodcast. #healthcare #podcast #changemanagement #healthcareleadership #healthcaretransformation #healthcareinnovation   Recent past interviews: Click a guest's name for their latest RHV episode! Chris Crawford (EP465), Al Lewis, Betsy Seals, Wendell Potter (Encore! EP384), Dr Scott Conard, Stacey Richter (INBW42), Chris Crawford (EP461), Dr Rushika Fernandopulle, Bill Sarraille, Stacey Richter (INBW41)  

Deep Chandh Raja, MBBS, MD, PhD, Australian National University, Kauvery Hospital, is joined by Dhiraj Gupta, MBBS, MD, Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, and Dominik K Linz, MD, PhD, Maastricht University Medical Center, to discuss a international position paper, developed by the Working Group of the Signal Summit, highlights the challenges in understanding and treating atrial fibrillation (AF), the most common arrhythmia in adults. Despite technological advancements in pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), progress in understanding AF mechanisms, structural changes, and phenotypic differences has been limited due to inconsistent terminology, suboptimal mapping techniques, and the complex nature of AF itself. The paper aims to establish clearer definitions, promote standardized approaches, and propose research pathways to improve AF therapies and patient outcomes.  https://www.hrsonline.org/education/TheLead https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(24)03564-1/fulltext Host Disclosure(s): D. Raja: Nothing to disclose.   Contributor Disclosure(s): D. LInz: Nothing to disclose. D. Gupta: Research: Medtronic Bakken Research Center, Biosense Webster, Inc., Boston Scientific   This episode has .25 ACE credits associated with it. If you want credit for listening to this episode, please visit the episode page on HRS365: https://www.heartrhythm365.org/URL/TheLeadEpisode94

Complex problems cannot be solved if examined only through a narrow lens. Enter interdisciplinarity. It is now widely accepted that drawing on varied expertise and perspectives is the only way we can understand and tackle many of the most challenging issues we face, as individuals and as a species. So, there is a growing movement towards more cross disciplinary working in higher education but it faces challenges. Interdisciplinarity requires a shift of mindset in an academy built upon clear disciplinary distinctions and must compete for space in already overcrowded curricula. We speak to two leadings scholars in interdisciplinary research and teaching to find out why it is so important and how they are encouraging more academics and students to break out of traditional academic silos. Gabriele Bammer is a professor of integration and implementation sciences (i2S) at the Australian National University. She is author of several books including ‘Disciplining Interdisciplinarity' and is inaugural president of the Global Alliance for Inter- and Transdisciplinarity. To support progress in interdisciplinarity around the world, she runs the Integration and Implementation Insights blog and repository of theory, methods and tools underpinning i2S. Gabriele has held visiting appointments at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center at the University of Maryland and the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. Kate Crawford is an international scholar of the social implications of artificial intelligence who has advised policymakers in the United Nations, the White House, and the European Parliament on AI, and currently leads the Knowing Machines Project, an international research collaboration that investigates the foundations of machine learning. She is a research professor at USC Annenberg in Los Angeles, a senior principal researcher at MSR in New York, an honorary professor at the University of Sydney, and the inaugural visiting chair for AI and Justice at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Her award-winning book, Atlas of AI, reveals the extractive nature of this technology while her creative collaborations such as Anatomy of an AI System with Vladan Joler and Excavating AI with Trevor Paglen explore the complex processes behind each human-AI interaction, showing the material and human costs. Her latest exhibition, Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power 1500-2025, opened in Milan, November 2023 and won the Grand Prize of the European Commission for art and technology. More advice and insight can be found in our latest Campus spotlight guide: A focus on interdisciplinarity in teaching.

This week the Honorable Dr Andrew Leigh MP, and philosopher Peter Singer, join host Lloyd Vogelman on the couch for an unfiltered conversation that digs into the personal side of the Principle of Charity.Peter Singer - BioPeter Singer is emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He has a background in philosophy and works mostly in practical ethics. He is best known for Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty.In 2021, Peter received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The prize comes with $1 million, which Peter donated to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.Peter is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name.His writings in this area include the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, in which Peter argues for donating to help the global poor, and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009, 2nd edition 2019) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015).Andrew LeighAndrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.His books include Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), Fair Game: Lessons From Sport for a Fairer Society and a Stronger Economy (2022) and The Shortest History of Economics (2024).Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life.CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Political scientist Shaun Ratcliff joins Democracy Sausage to discuss election polls, influential demographics, and whether foreign politics are at the forefront of voter's minds.How will Donald Trump's hostile meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy affect diplomatic ties between Australia and the United States? What are the key issues influencing Australian voters in the upcoming federal election? And what factors are driving Peter Dutton's political gains?On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Dr Shaun Ratcliff joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss our current political landscape on both a domestic and world stage.Shaun Ratcliff is a political scientist, survey researcher and data scientist. He is the principal at Accent Research. He is also an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney's US Studies Centre. Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations. Mark Kenny is the Director of 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. Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au. This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This past week has seen what some have argued are the first big mobilisations of the new Prabowo government, with coordinated student protests across 12 cities under the banner of Indonesia Gelap, or “Dark Indonesia”. The students list a number of demands, from human rights to environmental issues, but the trigger for these protests lie in deep budgetary cuts initiated across the public service, to the tune of US$44 billion. The worst ministries and agencies, including the Ministry for Manpower and the Ministry for Public Works, have proposed cuts of up to 55%. The National Consumer Protection Agency is being cut a whopping 73%. Meanwhile, the police, the Ministry for Defence and the Supreme Court are seeing cuts of around 15-16%. The government is selling these cuts as efficiency dividends for a sluggish and unproductive bureaucracy, and the savings will be directly diverted to fund Prabowo's policy promises. This includes of course, Prabowo's signature investment in human capital, the MBG, or Free Nutritious Meals program. But around half of these savings, US$20 billion, will be diverted to a a new sovereign wealth fund, known as Danantara, which stands for Daya Anagata Nusantara. Danantara is a super-holding company for state enterprises, modelled on Singapore's Temasek, which will be used to invest in mega projects like food estates, renewables and nickel. What is Prabowo's economic agenda? How will reshape the country and confront the key challenges in the years ahead? Will Prabowo's economic plans take the country closer to its grand plans for Golden Indonesia 2045? To help us unpack Prabonomics is Riandy Laksono, a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies or CSIS in Jakarta and Australia-Awards PhD candidate at The Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at the Australian National University.

We Are New Britain's Anna McShane joins Democracy Sausage to talk British politics, the return of President Trump, and the power of visible change in uniting public support.With the Australian federal election on the horizon, what can we learn from the leadership styles of politicians across the world?Should UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer take on a ‘Trumpist' approach to wielding executive power? And why are quick wins so important for building long-term support for a political agenda?On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Anna McShane joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss the flow-on effect of a Trump presidency on foreign affairs.Anna McShane is the Director of We Are New Britain, an independent progressive think tank focused on bringing in more women and front-line voices into policy making.Marija Taflaga is the Director of the ANU Australian Politics Studies Centre and a Lecturer at the ANU School of Politics and International Relations.Mark Kenny is the Director of 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.Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We'd love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au.This podcast is produced by The Australian National University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A casino offers you a game. A coin will be tossed. If it comes up heads on the first flip you win $2. If it comes up on the second flip you win $4. If it comes up on the third you win $8, the fourth you win $16, and so on. How much should you be willing to pay to play?The standard way of analysing gambling problems, ‘expected value' — in which you multiply probabilities by the value of each outcome and then sum them up — says your expected earnings are infinite. You have a 50% chance of winning $2, for '0.5 * $2 = $1' in expected earnings. A 25% chance of winning $4, for '0.25 * $4 = $1' in expected earnings, and on and on. A never-ending series of $1s added together comes to infinity. And that's despite the fact that you know with certainty you can only ever win a finite amount!Today's guest — philosopher Alan Hájek of the Australian National University — thinks of much of philosophy as “the demolition of common sense followed by damage control” and is an expert on paradoxes related to probability and decision-making rules like “maximise expected value.”Rebroadcast: this episode was originally released in October 2022.Links to learn more, highlights, and full transcript.The problem described above, known as the St. Petersburg paradox, has been a staple of the field since the 18th century, with many proposed solutions. In the interview, Alan explains how very natural attempts to resolve the paradox — such as factoring in the low likelihood that the casino can pay out very large sums, or the fact that money becomes less and less valuable the more of it you already have — fail to work as hoped.We might reject the setup as a hypothetical that could never exist in the real world, and therefore of mere intellectual curiosity. But Alan doesn't find that objection persuasive. If expected value fails in extreme cases, that should make us worry that something could be rotten at the heart of the standard procedure we use to make decisions in government, business, and nonprofits.These issues regularly show up in 80,000 Hours' efforts to try to find the best ways to improve the world, as the best approach will arguably involve long-shot attempts to do very large amounts of good.Consider which is better: saving one life for sure, or three lives with 50% probability? Expected value says the second, which will probably strike you as reasonable enough. But what if we repeat this process and evaluate the chance to save nine lives with 25% probability, or 27 lives with 12.5% probability, or after 17 more iterations, 3,486,784,401 lives with a 0.00000009% chance. Expected value says this final offer is better than the others — 1,000 times better, in fact.Ultimately Alan leans towards the view that our best choice is to “bite the bullet” and stick with expected value, even with its sometimes counterintuitive implications. Where we want to do damage control, we're better off looking for ways our probability estimates might be wrong.In this conversation, originally released in October 2022, Alan and Rob explore these issues and many others:Simple rules of thumb for having philosophical insightsA key flaw that hid in Pascal's wager from the very beginningWhether we have to simply ignore infinities because they mess everything upWhat fundamentally is 'probability'?Some of the many reasons 'frequentism' doesn't work as an account of probabilityWhy the standard account of counterfactuals in philosophy is deeply flawedAnd why counterfactuals present a fatal problem for one sort of consequentialismChapters:Cold open (00:00:00)Rob's intro (00:01:05)The interview begins (00:05:28)Philosophical methodology (00:06:35)Theories of probability (00:40:58)Everyday Bayesianism (00:49:42)Frequentism (01:08:37)Ranges of probabilities (01:20:05)Implications for how to live (01:25:05)Expected value (01:30:39)The St. Petersburg paradox (01:35:21)Pascal's wager (01:53:25)Using expected value in everyday life (02:07:34)Counterfactuals (02:20:19)Most counterfactuals are false (02:56:06)Relevance to objective consequentialism (03:13:28)Alan's best conference story (03:37:18)Rob's outro (03:40:22)Producer: Keiran HarrisAudio mastering: Ben Cordell and Ryan KesslerTranscriptions: Katy Moore

Scientific Sense ® by Gill Eapen: Professor David Lindenmayer is Professor at the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. He currently runs 5 large-scale, long-term research programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily associated with developing ways to conserve biodiversity in farmland, wood production forests, plantations, and reserves. Please subscribe to this channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ScientificSense?sub_confirmation=1

US President Donald Trump insists that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would allow peacekeepers into Ukraine as part of a deal to end the war.But how would that work and would it be risky having soldiers from European nations on Russia's doorstep?Today, Russia expert Matthew Sussex on the three-year anniversary and what version of peace the US and Russian leaders are aiming for. Featured: Matthew Sussex, associate professor at the Centre for European Studies at the Australian National University

In this episode we're joined by Federal Member for Fenner, the Honorable Dr Andrew Leigh MP, and philosopher and emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University, Peter Singer, to consider if we should value the lives of unborn future generations, more than we value those of us alive today. The consideration of lives unborn sits at the heart of ‘existential risk'. It asks us to take seriously all the future generations who, if humanity gets it right, could end up far far more numerous than every life lived to date. We could in fact, be just at the beginning of our beautiful journey as a species. But we do face a number of very real risks that could literally destroy us all - biowarfare, climate change and AI to name but a few.So, should we spend our limited resources helping the poorest and most in need today, wherever they live? Or should we divert resources to reduce the sorts of risks which, if left unchecked, could prevent countless generations from coming into existence at all?Peter Singer - BioPeter Singer is emeritus professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He has a background in philosophy and works mostly in practical ethics. He is best known for Animal Liberation and for his writings about global poverty. In 2021, Peter received the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture. The prize comes with $1 million, which Peter donated to the most effective organizations working to assist people in extreme poverty and to reduce the suffering of animals in factory farms.Peter is the founder of The Life You Can Save, an organization based on his book of the same name. His writings in this area include the 1972 essay “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”, in which Peter argues for donating to help the global poor, and two books that make the case for effective giving, The Life You Can Save (2009, 2nd edition 2019) and The Most Good You Can Do (2015).Andrew LeighAndrew Leigh is the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment, and Federal Member for Fenner in the ACT. Prior to being elected in 2010, Andrew was a professor of economics at the Australian National University. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard, having graduated from the University of Sydney with first class honours in Arts and Law. Andrew is a past recipient of the Economic Society of Australia's Young Economist Award and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences.His books include Innovation + Equality: How to Create a Future That Is More Star Trek Than Terminator (with Joshua Gans) (2019), Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook (with Nick Terrell) (2020), What's the Worst That Could Happen? Existential Risk and Extreme Politics (2021), Fair Game: Lessons From Sport for a Fairer Society and a Stronger Economy (2022) and The Shortest History of Economics (2024).Andrew is a keen Ironman triathlete and marathon runner, and hosts a podcast called The Good Life: Andrew Leigh in Conversation, about living a happier, healthier and more ethical life. CREDITSYour hosts are Lloyd Vogelman and Emile Sherman This podcast is proud to partner with The Ethics CentreFind Lloyd @LloydVogelman on Linked inFind Emile @EmileSherman on Linked In and XThis podcast is produced by Jonah Primo and Sabrina OrganoFind Jonah at jonahprimo.com or @JonahPrimo on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Popular English-language discourse about Taiwan often contains tropes like how “Taiwan is the real China” or how Taiwan “split with China in 1949”. Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison's book Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order (Cambria, 2024) argues that such tropes dangerously oversimplify Taiwan's national narrative, especially after its democratization in the late 1980s/early 1990s.  Through chapters centered around examples easily accessible to layperson audiences, Revolutionary Taiwan aims to help readers understand how Taiwanese people conceptualize their self-identity, and why Taiwan's democratization process encompasses a series of “revolutionary” transformations. Catherine Lila Chou is an Assistant Professor of World History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She previously taught at Grinnell College in Iowa and, besides writing about Taiwan, has a background in early modern British and European history. Mark Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania, and specializes in Taiwanese politics and society. He is also an expert associate of the National Security College at the Australian National University, and also works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Taiwan-related issues. Anthony Kao is a writer who intersects international affairs and cultural criticism. He founded/edits Cinema Escapist—a publication exploring the sociopolitical context behind global film and television—and also writes for outlets like The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Eater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Popular English-language discourse about Taiwan often contains tropes like how “Taiwan is the real China” or how Taiwan “split with China in 1949”. Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison's book Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order (Cambria, 2024) argues that such tropes dangerously oversimplify Taiwan's national narrative, especially after its democratization in the late 1980s/early 1990s.  Through chapters centered around examples easily accessible to layperson audiences, Revolutionary Taiwan aims to help readers understand how Taiwanese people conceptualize their self-identity, and why Taiwan's democratization process encompasses a series of “revolutionary” transformations. Catherine Lila Chou is an Assistant Professor of World History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She previously taught at Grinnell College in Iowa and, besides writing about Taiwan, has a background in early modern British and European history. Mark Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania, and specializes in Taiwanese politics and society. He is also an expert associate of the National Security College at the Australian National University, and also works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Taiwan-related issues. Anthony Kao is a writer who intersects international affairs and cultural criticism. He founded/edits Cinema Escapist—a publication exploring the sociopolitical context behind global film and television—and also writes for outlets like The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Eater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Popular English-language discourse about Taiwan often contains tropes like how “Taiwan is the real China” or how Taiwan “split with China in 1949”. Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison's book Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order (Cambria, 2024) argues that such tropes dangerously oversimplify Taiwan's national narrative, especially after its democratization in the late 1980s/early 1990s.  Through chapters centered around examples easily accessible to layperson audiences, Revolutionary Taiwan aims to help readers understand how Taiwanese people conceptualize their self-identity, and why Taiwan's democratization process encompasses a series of “revolutionary” transformations. Catherine Lila Chou is an Assistant Professor of World History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She previously taught at Grinnell College in Iowa and, besides writing about Taiwan, has a background in early modern British and European history. Mark Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania, and specializes in Taiwanese politics and society. He is also an expert associate of the National Security College at the Australian National University, and also works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Taiwan-related issues. Anthony Kao is a writer who intersects international affairs and cultural criticism. He founded/edits Cinema Escapist—a publication exploring the sociopolitical context behind global film and television—and also writes for outlets like The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Eater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Popular English-language discourse about Taiwan often contains tropes like how “Taiwan is the real China” or how Taiwan “split with China in 1949”. Catherine Lila Chou and Mark Harrison's book Revolutionary Taiwan: Making Nationhood in a Changing World Order (Cambria, 2024) argues that such tropes dangerously oversimplify Taiwan's national narrative, especially after its democratization in the late 1980s/early 1990s.  Through chapters centered around examples easily accessible to layperson audiences, Revolutionary Taiwan aims to help readers understand how Taiwanese people conceptualize their self-identity, and why Taiwan's democratization process encompasses a series of “revolutionary” transformations. Catherine Lila Chou is an Assistant Professor of World History at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. She previously taught at Grinnell College in Iowa and, besides writing about Taiwan, has a background in early modern British and European history. Mark Harrison is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Tasmania, and specializes in Taiwanese politics and society. He is also an expert associate of the National Security College at the Australian National University, and also works with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on Taiwan-related issues. Anthony Kao is a writer who intersects international affairs and cultural criticism. He founded/edits Cinema Escapist—a publication exploring the sociopolitical context behind global film and television—and also writes for outlets like The Guardian, Al Jazeera, The Diplomat, and Eater. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies

China's Heritage through History employs a longue durée approach to examine China's heritage through history. From Imperial to contemporary China, it explores the role of practices and material forms of the past in shaping social transformation through knowledge production and transmission. The art of collecting, reproducing, and reinterpreting the past has been an enduring force shaping cultural identity and political legitimacy in China. Offering a unique, non-Western perspective on the history of heritage in China, Zhu considers who the key players have been in these ongoing processes of reconfigured pasts, what methods they have employed, and how these practices have shaped society at large. The book tackles these questions by delving into the transformation of practices related to heritage through examples such as the book collection at Tianyi Private Library, the reproduction of the Orchid Pavilion Preface calligraphy and its associated sites, and the dynamics of exchange within the Liulichang antique market. Zhu reveals how these practices, once reserved for elites, have become accessible to the broader public. These processes of transformation, embodied in various forms of reconfigured pasts, have given rise to modern approaches to preservation, digitisation, museums, and the burgeoning heritage tourism industry. China's Heritage through History will be an invaluable resource for academics, students, and practitioners working in the fields of heritage, museum studies, and art history. Yujie Zhu is an associate professor at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University in Australia. He obtained his PhD in anthropology from Heidelberg University, Germany. His research focuses on the cultural politics of the past within diverse heritage and memory spaces. Lauren Fonto is a Master's student in the program Heritage and Cultural Sciences: Heritage Conservation at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is also a collections management intern in the public sector. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

China's Heritage through History employs a longue durée approach to examine China's heritage through history. From Imperial to contemporary China, it explores the role of practices and material forms of the past in shaping social transformation through knowledge production and transmission. The art of collecting, reproducing, and reinterpreting the past has been an enduring force shaping cultural identity and political legitimacy in China. Offering a unique, non-Western perspective on the history of heritage in China, Zhu considers who the key players have been in these ongoing processes of reconfigured pasts, what methods they have employed, and how these practices have shaped society at large. The book tackles these questions by delving into the transformation of practices related to heritage through examples such as the book collection at Tianyi Private Library, the reproduction of the Orchid Pavilion Preface calligraphy and its associated sites, and the dynamics of exchange within the Liulichang antique market. Zhu reveals how these practices, once reserved for elites, have become accessible to the broader public. These processes of transformation, embodied in various forms of reconfigured pasts, have given rise to modern approaches to preservation, digitisation, museums, and the burgeoning heritage tourism industry. China's Heritage through History will be an invaluable resource for academics, students, and practitioners working in the fields of heritage, museum studies, and art history. Yujie Zhu is an associate professor at the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at the Australian National University in Australia. He obtained his PhD in anthropology from Heidelberg University, Germany. His research focuses on the cultural politics of the past within diverse heritage and memory spaces. Lauren Fonto is a Master's student in the program Heritage and Cultural Sciences: Heritage Conservation at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. She is also a collections management intern in the public sector. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Verbal aspect in the Greek language has been a topic of significant debate in recent scholarship. The majority of scholars now believe that an understanding of verbal aspect is even more important than verb tense (past, present, etc.). Yet there still are no alternative accessible textbooks, both in terms of level and price. In the second edition, Constantine R. Campbell investigates the function of verbal aspect within the New Testament Greek narrative in light of the last fifteen years of the latest scholarship.  In Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, Second Edition, Campbell has done a marvelous job in this book of simplifying the concept without getting caught up using terms of linguistics that only experts can understand. The book includes expanded and updated discussion, revised exercises, an answer key, a glossary of key concepts, an appendix covering space and time, and an index of Scriptures cited. Professors and students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, will use this is as a supplemental text in both beginning and advanced Greek courses. Pastors that study the Greek text will also appreciate this resource as a supplement to their preaching and teaching. Constantine Campbell is Professor and Research Director at the Sydney College of Divinity, and previously served as Professor of New Testament studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago and Moore Theological College in Sydney. His first doctorate is in ancient Greek language and linguistics (Macquarie University, 2007). Campbell is the author of 19 books, with focus on ancient Greek, New Testament interpretation, and the apostle Paul. His book Paul and Union with Christ was the 2014 Christianity Today Book of the Year in Biblical Studies. His latest releases are Reading Paul as Christian Scripture (Baker Academic, 2024) and Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek, second edition (Zondervan Academic, 2024). Campbell was co-chair of the Biblical Greek Language and Linguistics section of the Society of Biblical Literature, and is an Associate Editor of the Zondervan Exegetical Commentary series. He is an elected member of the preeminent scholarly guild, Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas. Campbell is also a highly regarded jazz saxophonist and is a visiting instructor at The Australian National University School of Music. His second doctorate explores the fusion of jazz and traditional Greek urban music (Australian National University, 2024). He is the presenter of two documentary series on the apostles Paul and Peter. Campbell lives in Canberra, Australia. Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

As wildfires continue to cause devastation in Los Angeles, Madeleine Finlay speaks to Albert van Dijk, professor of water science and management at the Australian National University, about how rising temperatures are causing rapid swings in extreme weather. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod

First up this week, Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox talks with host Sarah Crespi about truffle hunting for science. Wilcox accompanied Heather Dawson, a Ph.D. student at the University of Oregon, and her sister  Hilary Dawson, a postdoctoral researcher at Australian National University, on a hunt for nonculinary truffles—the kind you don't eat—with the help of a specially trained dog. These scientists and their dog are digging up many new species of these hard-to-find fungi with the ultimate aim of cataloging and conserving them.    Next, producer Ariana Remmel talks with R. Keller Kopf, an ecologist and lecturer at Charles Darwin University, about the importance of conserving older plants and animals. For example, as certain fish age they produce many more eggs than younger fish. Or in a forest, older trees may provide different ecosystem services than saplings.   This week's episode was produced with help from Podigy.   About the Science Podcast   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Christie Wilcox; Ariana Remmel  About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast