Afternoon Light

Why has the Liberal Party long outlived its predecessors? 16 October 2024 marked 80 years since the close of the Canberra Unity Conference, widely considered to be the 'birth date' of the Liberal Party of Australia. To mark the occasion, we broadcast our first-ever 'Afternoon Light Live', an interactive webinar which allowed the audience to become directly involved in the discussion between host G...

Are modern denunciations of Empire anachronistic, and how does the shame they propagate hinder the West's ability to defend itself? On Afternoon Light #173 Georgina Downer speaks with Nigel Biggar, author of  Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning , to discuss how demonising the past has real-world consequences for the present. Unpacking the moral ambiguities of the British Empire, as a series of conquest...

Are Western Australians a bunch of secessionists, and what else makes the politics of our most isolated state unique? In the tenth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor Sherry Sufi t...

Why did leading centre-right Queenslanders absent themselves from the Unity Conferences that helped spawn the Liberal Party, and did this slight separation from the Liberal fold presage the later Queensland Liberal merger with the Nationals? In the ninth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of...

How did NSW go from being the home of Liberal icons like Henry Parkes, George Reid & Joseph Carruthers, to being described as a natural Labor state? In the eighth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks wi...

Why did the Country Party not join in Menzies’s push for centre-right unity? In the seventh episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event,  Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor Terry Barnes to explore how and why the federal Coa...

How did Victoria become ‘the jewel in the Liberal crown’? In the sixth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event,  Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor Stephen Wilks, about how and why Victoria became the quintessential Libe...

Has Australia’s political system lost the art of compromise? On Afternoon Light #167 Georgina Downer speaks with Damien Freeman, author of The End of Settlement: Why the 2023 referendum failed , about how Australian politics was once marked by broad agreement on a range of core issues. He unpacks why this is no longer the case, and the negative consequences this poses for the nation. Damien Freema...

Should the public know the brutalities of war? On Afternoon Light #166 Georgina Downer speaks with Stephen Dando-Collins, author of a new book covering the remarkable story of how two World War II photographers defied Australian censors to depict the realities of the Pacific conflict. In doing so, they demonstrated that the truth would not lead to demoralisation, but actually help galvanise suppor...

What goes into creating a successful political party? In the fifth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor Andrew Kemp on how the Liberal Party’s early organisers laid a platform for e...

If changing a constitution proves too difficult, what’s the problem with judges taking on the responsibility of evolving with the times? On Afternoon Light #164 Georgina Downer speaks with Judge Amul Thapar to discuss differing approaches to constitutional interpretation, and why he believes that upholding the original meaning of the words is the only way to keep power where it belongs - in the ha...

If a Labor Party is conservative enough to produce Joseph Lyons, what space does that leave for their centre-right opponents? In the fourth episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event,  Unity in Autonomy , Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor Ste...

Why was South Australia the only State with a centre right government as of 1944? And how did the success of its Liberals act as a model for the formation of the nationwide Liberal Party? In the third episode of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Au...

Why did it take until 1943 for a woman to be elected to federal parliament? And how did that momentous event feed into the emergence of the Liberal Party the following year? In the second of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Autonomy, Georgina Down...

What does it mean to be a ‘Liberal’ Party? In the first of a special series of the Afternoon Light Podcast, marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Liberal Party and the release of the new book on the history of that event, Unity in Autonomy, Georgina Downer speaks with chapter contributor David Kemp AC to explore how Menzies deliberately set out to form a ‘party with a philosophy’. It...

Did the West sell-out Poland during and after World War II? On Afternoon Light #159 Georgina Downer speaks with Gosia Klatt to tell the remarkable tale of how Australia came to diplomatically represent Poland in Moscow in the early 1940s. A story which highlights how even at the height of the War, the USSR was a highly ‘problematic’ ally, having invaded and massacred the very nation Britain and Au...

Have you heard the story of how Australian pilots helped to defeat the Nazis? On Afternoon Light #158 Georgina Downer speaks with Tony Brady to explore the remarkable tale of the Empire Air Training Scheme. A policy which drove a massive expansion in the Royal Australian Air Force that was perhaps the greatest logistical achievement of Australia’s war effort – leaving airfields dotted all around t...

What would you do if you felt Australia faced an imminent invasion? On Afternoon Light #157 Georgina Downer speaks with Ann Howard to explore how Australian families dealt with the very tangible threat of war on Australian soil. Mass child evacuations are a little-remembered aspect of war on the home front, but one which those who were sent away will never forget. Ann Howard came out from London i...

How did the concept of ‘His Majesty’s Loyal Opposition’ emerge, and what advantages does it offer a democratic system? On Afternoon Light #156 Georgina Downer speaks with Scott Prasser to unpack the purpose and utility of Parliamentary Oppositions. An understudied yet vital aspect of Westminster governance, Oppositions are expected to go beyond mere criticism to provide the electorate with genuine...

Is migration a one-way street, or does its cultural impact flow both directions? On Afternoon Light #155 Georgina Downer speaks with Professor Denis Byrne to discuss the China-Australia migration corridor. A phenomenon which saw Australian money, ideas, objects and people shape areas of the Chinese mainland from the 1840s onwards. Denis Byrne is professor of archaeology and heritage studies at the...

When did the concept of ‘peacekeeping’ emerge? And have its successes outweighed some glaring failures? On Afternoon Light #154 Georgina Downer speaks with Dr Peter Londey to discuss 77 years of Australian peacekeeping efforts. Never envisaged in the UN charter, the episode reveals how Australia has been at the forefront of how the practice first began and has continued to evolve. Dr Peter Londey...

Could Papua New Guinea have become Australia’s seventh state? And would that have saved us money on an NRL franchise? On Afternoon Light #153 Georgina Downer speaks with Dr Brad Underhill to discuss how PNG was once an Australian territory. After years spent trying to foster development and ‘prepare a nation’, independence came suddenly, reluctantly and possibly prematurely. Dr Bradley Underhill i...

When did Australia become a multicultural nation? On Afternoon Light #152 Georgina Downer meets with Dr Jeff Kildea to unpack how ‘White Australia’ was never quite as homogenous as many now assume. As tensions between the Protestant majority and an Irish Catholic minority produced sharp, longstanding, but never quite universal divisions. Jeff is an honorary professor in Irish Studies at the Univer...

Compulsory voting is as Australian as the ‘democracy sausage’, but how did its introduction reshape the way our elections are fought? On Afternoon Light #151 Georgina Downer meets with Dr Chris Monnox to explore how different polling day was a century ago. Back when our political parties used to focus on getting people out to vote - often quite literally in providing them with transportation - rat...

Dive into the personalities and politics that shaped Australia-India relations during the Menzies era!   On Afternoon Light #150 Georgina Downer meets with Teesta Prakash to explore the structural and personal factors that complicated Robert Menzies’s diplomatic relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru.   The two question the extent to which the complexities of India’s independce possibly contributed to...