Samantha Maiden is an award-winning journalist who’s currently the political editor at news.com.au. In February, she broke the story of Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape in Parliament House in 2019, which has since sent shockwaves through Canberra and the Australian political class.

I wanted to ask Sam about what’s really been going on over the past couple of months: what we’re witness, what it means and why it’s different to the #MeToo moment from a couple of years ago. She reflects on Higgins’ bravery, people wanking on desks and the Morrison government’s attempt to respond to the ongoing crisis.

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My 2021 show WE ARE ALL IN THIS is on at the Melbourne Comedy Festival NOW!

WE ARE ALL IN THIS is coming to Sydney for two nights only in May

@SamanthaMaiden

Samantha’s writing at news.com.au

ARTICLE: Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins says she was raped at Parliament House 

ARTICLE: A new power has risen in Australian politics – and it’s not coming quietly by Annabel Crabb 

ARTICLE: PM caught in crusade of women journos by Aaron Patrick

Cause of the Week: Rape & Domestic Violence Services Australia (rape-dvservices.org.au)

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David Milner is an award-winning journalist who now regularly writes for The Shot – a “profound and profane” news site from The Chaser that is consistently pumping out sharp, angry rants about the state of Australian politics and the sinister influence of the Murdoch media.

This was a great conversation about how The Shot was born in the fires of Melbourne’s 2020 lockdown, what David learned from his time as a video journalist, just how toxic Newscorp is, how we could reject it, the ALP’s lack of a fight and why right now is “a depressing time for people who give a shit about things”.

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My 2021 show is called WE ARE ALL IN THIS – it’s on sale now at the Melbourne and Sydney Comedy Festivals

@DaveMilbo

theshot.net.au

Dave’s pieces at The Shot

The Shot Store

ARTICLE: How to eat the rich while social distancing

ARTICLE: When Murdoch’s tabloid failed Liverpool the people kicked it out of town for good. What’s stopping Melbourne?

80aday.org

Cause of the Week: March 4 Justice (march4justice.com.au)

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Jordon Steele-John is a disability and youth activist and has been a Greens senator for Western Australia since 2017, when he replaced Scott Ludlam in the Senate at just 23 years old.

Here I ask Jordon about how parliament actually works and how it feels to be inside it as a Millennial Green. He explains why he’s in parliament, his disappointment in the ALP, what being a socialist means to him, empowering young people, the fight for “ecological democracy” and the good and bad of the NDIS and the ongoing Royal Commission into the abuse and neglect of people with disabilities.

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My 2021 show is called WE ARE ALL IN THIS – it’s on sale now at the Adelaide Fringe and the Melbourne Comedy Festival

I’m joining the (awesome) line up for Tommy Little’s Big Comedy Show @ the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in March

@JordonSteele

jordon-steele-john.greensmps.org.au

ARTICLE: ‘Aussie Squad’ may be Labor’s worst nightmare by Janet Albrechtsen

ARTICLE: Tim Hollo on “ecological democracy” for The Green Institute

ARTICLE: “We are sexual beings”: why disability advocates want the NDIS to cover sexual services

ARTICLE: Stuart Robert condemned for plan to deny people with disability access to sex worker services

Cause of the Week: People With Disabilities Australia (pwd.org.au)

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Amy Remeikis is Guardian Australia’s political reporter who writes the Australian politics live blog, covering the thrills and spills of Australian politics as they happen.

Amy joined me after another crazy week in Canberra, to reflect on the “Remeikis experience”, why the political class sucks so much, what to make of the media bargaining code and Labor’s strategy to win back Queensland at the next election.

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My 2021 show is called WE ARE ALL IN THIS – it’s on sale now at the Adelaide Fringe

I’m joining the (awesome) line up for Tommy Little’s Big Comedy Show @ the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in March

@AmyRemeikis

Amy’s writing at The Guardian

ARTICLE: Facebook vs the media code: whoever wins, we lose by Lizzie O’Shea

ARTICLE: Be careful what you wish for: government-mandated theft backfires as tech giant pulls pin by Bernard Keane 

ARTICLE: Fine-tuning the message: federal Labor looks to Queensland as the electoral canary in the coalmine by Amy Remeikis 

ARTICLE: Labor’s wicked problem: how to win back Queensland by Christopher Wallace

You can read Amy’s powerful pieces sharing her reflections on being a survivor of sexual assault here

and here

Cause of the Week: Support your local florist! 

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Luke Savage is a Canadian socialist and staff writer for Jacobin magazine whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Atlantic and The New Statesman.

I’ve always really enjoyed Luke’s writing about US politics and political economy and was stoked that he joined me from Toronto to chat about Canada, the neoliberalism of Trudeau and the politics of Jimmy Kimmel’s horrific “Goodbye Trump” animation video. I asked Luke about what the Obama years might tell us about the un-radical promise of a Biden presidency, the failure and limits of liberalism, why bipartisanship sucks and what might become of the Big Cheeto President now.

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Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

My 2021 show is called WE ARE ALL IN THIS – it’s on sale now at the Adelaide Fringe

I’m joining the (awesome) line up for Tommy Little’s Big Comedy Show @ the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in March

@LukeWSavage

Luke’s podcast Michael and Us on Patreon

Democratic Socialists of America

Luke’s writing at Jacobin magazine

ARTICLE: Liberalism in Theory and Practice

ARTICLE: In 2009, Pundits Predicted a New Progressive Era. It Never Came. 

ARTICLE: Joe Biden Wants to Make Health Care “Secure For All.” He Should Just Make it Free.

Jimmy Kimmel’s Goodbye Trump video

Cause of the Week: The Workers’ Action Centre Toronto (workersactioncentre.org)

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Doug Cameron is a former AMWU trade unionist who served as a Labor senator from 2008 to 2019. He’s now retired to Hobart, but still regularly tweets out exactly what he thinks about Australian politics and the state of the ALP.

After a week of leadership speculation, a shadow cabinet reshuffle and a lot of chatter about how progressive people should just shut up and vote Labor no matter what, I found it refreshing to talk to an old-school class warrior like Doug who articulates bold, socialist politics. We talked about his experience as a socialist working in the trade union movement and the ALP, why the party should grow a spine, the Corbyn moment and why he thinks joining the Greens is the “easy way out”.

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

My 2021 show is called WE ARE ALL IN THIS – it’s on sale now at the Adelaide Fringe

I’m joining the (awesome) line up for Tommy Little’s Big Comedy Show @ the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in March

@DougCameron51

Footage of Doug Cameron’s valedictory speech

Transcript of the speech

ARTICLE: Doug Cameron was right all along by Bernard Keane

Floodcast’s episode on the state of Albo and the ALP, Damp Warm Lettuce

Cause of the Week: Everybody’s Home Campaign (everybodyshome.com.au)

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It’s the final ep for 2020! Thank heavens etc.

JR Hennessy is a Sydney-based writer whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Monthly and The Outline. He’s the current editor for Business Insider Australia and he is smart and funny.

I wanted to take to James about his thoughts on the wonders of 2020 and what (if anything) we can take from it. We discuss it all: people who consider politicians and health experts their friends, winning fights on the computer, “experts”, OnlyFans, “dropshipping”, logging off, whether the Millennial socialism moment is over and finding some hope for the Left in a post-COVID world.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/It’s Over, everyone.

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I’m performing at the Corner Hotel tonight (Tuesday) alongside Dilruk Jayasinha and Lehmo

I’m coming to Brunswick Heads for a bunch of shows with Sam Taunton & Nikki Britton in January

@jrhennessy

JR’s substack

jrhennessy.com

businessinsider.com.au

JR’s writing at The Outline

JR’s writing at The Monthly 

ARTICLE: Who the hell cares what old people think about climate change?

ARTICLE: World will be the same but worse after banal virus says Houellebecq

Cause of the Week: Foodbank (foodbank.org.au)

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Simon Copland is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the Australian National University (ANU) who is currently studying the online “manosphere” on Reddit. He’s written for the BBC, The Guardian, Fairfax and News Corp. and he co-hosted the Queers podcast with Benjamin Riley.

Here Simon lays out what the “manosphere” is and why it exists. We discuss incel violence, male alienation, Jordan Peterson, the material conditions that leads to this stuff and the challenges of trying to understand it. Scrubbing the internet clean of these ideas clearly isn’t working and neither is joking about killing all men; so what’s the alternative?

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I was on the “What’s Left?” podcast with Aimee Terese & Oliver Bateman

I’m coming to Brunswick Heads for a bunch of shows with Sam Taunton & Nikki Britton in January

@SimonCopland

simoncopland.com

queerspodcast.com

ARTICLE: What are we talking about when we talk about a crisis in masculinity? by Simon Copland

Simon’s review of the politics of Joker

Cause of the Week: MensLine Australia (mensline.org.au)

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