Richie Merzian is the Director of the Climate & Energy Program at The Australia Institute.

With Australia embarrassing itself on the global stage when it comes to setting actual reduction targets that might actually do something, this was a great chance to check in with where the climate debate is at. Richie lays out just how lacking our commitments are, what they should be and what other countries are doing, as well giving me the rundown on electric vehicles, carbon accounting tricks, just transition models, fossil fuel subsidies and the (relatively straightforward) path to addressing this existential crisis.

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Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

My 2021 show WE ARE ALL IN THIS is on at the Melbourne Comedy Festival NOW – just 6 shows left!

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

Or you can see WE ARE ALL IN THIS at the Newcastle Comedy Festival on May 

I was on the latest episode of the Confessions of the Idiots podcast and it was great fun

Support Shane Bazzi’s legal fund because he’s being sued by Peter Dutton 

This was a great article on my friend Naser Moradi, a brilliant artist who has been in Australian immigration detention for more than six years

@RichieMerzian

australiainstitute.org

Hot Mess – Richie’s summary of Morrison’s performance at Biden’s climate summit

The US is charging ahead on climate action, so where the bloody hell is Australia? by Richie Merzian

ARTICLE: Labor backs coal beyond 2050

RESEARCH: Australian fossil fuel subsidies hit $10.3 billion in 2020/21 

Cause of the Week: The Juice Media (thejuicemedia.com) 

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Hello! Sorry for the radio silence – I have been busy being too hot for TV and annoying Andrew Bolt. Apologies.

This week’s ep is a slice of a conversation I had with socialist councillor Stephen Jolly and Leftist intellectuals (and previous LIASYO guests) Alison Pennington, Jeff Sparrow and Guy Rundle for Stephen’s new podcast, Melbourne Calling. 

We had a wide-ranging chat about the state of the Australian Left in the wake of COVID, the sexual assault crisis in Canberra, workers’ power and ideology.

You can watch the full chat here.

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 WE ARE ALL IN THIS is on at the Melbourne Comedy Festival NOW – just 6 shows left!

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

Please watch my lip sync tribute to Greta Thunberg at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. We put a lot of work into it lol 

@StephenJolly99

@ak_pennington

@Jeff_Sparrow

MelbourneCalling.com.au

The Melbourne Calling YouTube page

Cause of the Week: Pay The Rent (paytherent.net.au)

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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.

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 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”.

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 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.

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 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.

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

@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.

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

@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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