Freya Leach is joined by the MRC's new policy director and chief economist Nico Louw in this fascinating discussion covering the biggest public policy challenges of our time, from the Covid pandemic through to our current economic challenges. Nico, who was senior adviser to Scott Morrison and did several quarantine stints with the former PM, reflec…

Brendan Nelson’s career path would confound any career counsellor. Over three decades he has been a general practitioner; President of the Australian Medical Association; a parliamentarian; Education and Defence Minister; Leader of the Opposition; Ambassador; and Director of the War Memorial. He is currently President of Boeing Global. Across all h…

In this special edition of the Menzies Research Centre Watercooler podcast, Senator Jacinta Price joins Freya Leach to address the concerns of young Australians about enshrining an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice in the Constitution. Senator Price, known for her work on Indigenous issues, provides her insights as a Shadow Minister for I…

In this series of Watercooler podcasts, we’re attempting something big: to define the virtues that unite Australian Liberals in the 21st century. Our starting point is the We Believe statement issued to mark the 10th anniversary of the Liberal Party in 1954. Each episode examines one of the 17 We Believe statements to discover the abiding Liberal v…

In the True Believers podcast series, Nick Cater revisits the 1954 We Believe statement which attempted to articulate the key Liberal Party virtues. In this episode, he is joined by Australia's 28th Prime Minister, The Hon Tony Abbott, AC, to discuss the influence of government policy on character, individual freedom and the confidence needed to re…

In this episode of the Watercooler podcast, David Hughes welcomes Scott Yung, an education entrepreneur and advocate for Robert Menzies' vision for Australia. Scott shares his inspiring story of starting from humble beginnings in Sydney's Waterloo, growing up in a Housing Commission, and attending a public selective school. He worked his way up the…

In the True Believers podcast series, Nick Cater and Freya Leach revisit the 1954 We Believe statement which attempted to articulate the key Liberal Party virtues. In this episode, they are joined by Keith Wolahan, MP, a former military veteran, the consider the importance of patriotism and a belief in the capability of Australia. Nick Cater is Sen…

In this special series of Watercooler podcasts, we’re attempting something big: to define the virtues that unite Australian Liberals in the 21st century. The True Believers podcasts are the start of what we hope will become a wider conversation about the ideas that bind members of the Liberal Party as it approaches its 80th birthday. Our starting p…

With Nick Cater, Freya Leach and Georgina Downer. In this special series of Watercooler podcasts, we’re attempting something big: to define the values that unite Australian Liberals in the 21st century. The True Believers podcasts are a forum for free-ranging discussion that we hope will promote a wider conversation about the things we really belie…

Liberalism does not have a use-by date. Its principles are tuned to the abiding human condition, rather than the particular circumstances of the day. But the telling of the Liberal story has to evolve to suit the language and temperament of the new millennium. The Liberal agenda must be constantly refreshed to address contemporary policy challenges…

Australians face the prospect of a referendum here in Australia in as little as six months time where they’ll be asked to decide there should be a new institution to represent the views of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people in the corridors of power. It will be known as the Voice, its members will be unelected, and its existence will be…

For the Liberal Party of Australia, the loss of government in May after nine years was dispiriting, but hardly a novel experience. It was the nature of the loss that shocked - the loss of seats not just to their old rival, the Labor Party, but the loss of once-safe conservative seats in wealthy inner metropolitan districts to a new socially progres…

The modern world’s dependence on hydrocarbons won’t be ending any time soon, says Mark P. Mills. He says it is physically impossible to switch from coal, oil and gas to solar, wind and batteries in any meaningful time frame. “It is a dangerous delusion to base policies on the idea that such a transition is possible,” he says. “A different understan…

The election of a Labor government in Australia has dramatically raised the stakes in the energy debate. Labor’s 2030 target requires the closure of 60% of our coal generation capacity over the next eight years, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator. If we cannot replace this with reliable and affordable fuel sources, the consequences …

Fifty years ago in December, a Labor government led by Gough Whitlam signed an historic agreement with Communist China establishing diplomatic relations between Canberra and Beijing. The price China demanded was that Australia agreed to the One China policy, which demoted the independent nation of Taiwan to the status of a renegade Chinese province…

The intergenerational wealth gap, driven partly by rising property values, is changing expectations and limiting life-style choices for younger Australians. The security of home ownership is arriving later in life, if it is achieved at all. Family formation is delayed as the 2021 Census shows through a sharp rise in single people aged under 35s. Em…

Malcolm Fraser is Australia’s fourth-longest prime minister, taking office in controversial circumstances amid the turmoil of Gough Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975 and exiting seven and a half years later when Labor’s Bob Hawke thwarted his ambition to gain a mandate for a fourth term. Yet the manner in which he came go power, and the disputes with his…

Australia has benefitted greatly from the two-way trans-Tasman trade in policy ideas in the last 40 years. In the early 1980s, a New Zealand Labour government led by David Lange and his remarkable treasurer Roger Douglas introduced deregulatory economic reforms later adopted by the Hawke government. Thirty years later, the incremental reforms and p…

John Howard experienced both the highs and lows of politics during 33 years in Parliament, 14 of which were in Opposition. In this Watercooler Conversation with Nick Cater, Australia's second longest-serving prime minister draws lessons from the Liberal Party's 2022 election defeat and urges unity and a focus on Liberal principles and policy. Email…

The Liberal Party has been ejected from government in Canberra on only four occasions. Paul Kelly has reported on all four, starting with the It's Time election of 1972 through to the defeat of Scott Morrison's government at the May 2022 federal election. In this Watercooler conversation with Nick Cater he draws from the lessons of history to asses…

The question, “What is a woman?” has become the barbecue stopper of the 2022 election, thanks in part to the pre-selection of a courageous and outspoken candidate in the seat of Warringah in Northern Sydney. Katherine Deves’ campaign for the rights of biological females not to compete against transgender women in sport has generated a level of medi…

Mick Mulvaney describes the sledgehammer approach to Covid-19 that shut down global economies for months as one of the biggest mistakes of the 21st Century. Mulvaney was President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff when the pandemic hit. He says the withholding of information by China and the poor advice Trump was receiving from key advisors incl…

Malcolm Fraser led a Liberal Party Government for seven years and 122 days. When he lost to Bob Hawke at 1983 election, no prime minister except Robert Menzies had occupied the job for longer. Yet his reputation has been overshadowed by the controversy about the way he came power and quarrels with his own party after leaving it. Six years after his…

Benny Peiser has been following the climate policy debate for more than a century. In this Watercooler Conversation, he joins Nick Cater to discuss how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has exposed Europe’s chronic energy insecurity and reframed the climate policy debate. Europe is dealing with a full-blown energy crisis, forcing western nations to r…

It might seem strange to be debating the question of what is a woman in an election campaign in which so much is at stake. But the controversy over the choice of a Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Warringah has turned this into one of barbecue-stoppers of the election so far. The rising cost of living and health concerns arising from the pan…