Curtin’s Cast

We've got a cracking episode of Curtin's Cast this week featuring Liberal Party rising star and MP for Canning in Western Australia, Andrew Hastie, who was their only metropolitan adjacent seat holder to record an increase in his primary and 2 party preferred vote. Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras chatted to Andrew about his early life and family as the son of a clergyman and grandson of soldiers,...

The 2025 Australian federal election has been won - in a big and history-making way by Anthony Albanese's Labor Party - and lost in a humiliating manner for the Liberal-National Coalition led by Peter Dutton, who lost his own seat on May 3. On episode 11,  Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack virtually every element of the campaign that was - what Labor did well, why the Libs tanked, the disastr...

Curtin's Cast MEGA federal election preview! On tomorrow's episode of our podcast with Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras we are joined by psephological superstar Shaun Ratcliff of Accent Research. We discuss all things democracy sausage including who will win and why, the key seats to watch, does it matter whether party leaders know how much a carton of eggs cost, what respective campaign HQs will b...

We have a fantastic episode of Curtin's Cast this week featuring Professor Drew Westen , well-known US political psychologist and author of the super influential 2007 book, 'The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation'. We spoke to Drew about his book – including receiving praise from Bill Clinton (which he initially thought was a hoax!) - why feelings trump facts e...

On Episode 8 of Curtin's Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kosmos Samaras take the pulse of the federal election halfway through the campaign. Kos gives us an update on what the polls are telling us drawing on his decades of experience, how campaign launches work, key seats watch from across the continent, what's behind Peter Dutton's seeming implosion and competing party machines, while Nick and Kos trad...

We have a powerful, compelling episode of Curtin's Cast Episode 7 for your listening pleasure this week featuring the Independent MP for Fowler in in Sydney's outer southwestern suburbs, Dai Le Co-Hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras chatted to Dai about her arresting back story, from her dramatic departure from Vietnam in April 1975, life as a refugee family first in the Philippines and then Aus...

On Episode 6 of Curtin's Cast,   Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack Week One of the federal election. Kos tells what to take from the avalanche of new polling, key seats to watch in the outer suburbs and inner-cities, Liberal woes and the "Trump bump", plus they deep dive into a major research project the John Curtin Research Centre and RedBridge Group are undertaking on right-wing populism. ...

On this week's episode of Curtin's Cast Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras deep dive into the looming federal election, what the polls are telling us, Donald Trump's tariff wars, the future of the two-party system in Australia and the 2025 Budget. Listen to Curtin's Cast Episode 5 at your favourite streaming service!

We have an amazing new episode of Curtin's Cast with the the brilliant Minister for Housing and Homelessness, Clare O'Neil MP. Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras yarned with Clare about family including her convict relatives, her childhood raised by publisher parents, modern life and being a working Mum of three in politics, and plenty of policy focusing (not surprisingly!) on housing. Some say if yo...

Episode 3 of the John Curtin Research Centre's Curtin's Cast podcast has landed and it's a cracker! JCRC Executive Director Nick Dyrenfurth and RedBridge Director Kos Samaras yarn with Lord Glasman . We deep dive into Maurice's Blue Labour project, discuss the rise of Trump and his recent chat with MAGA 'Godfather' Steve Bannon, the follies of unchecked globalising capitalism and modern left-wing...

On Episode 2 of the John Curtin Research Centre's Curtin's Cast podcast JCRC Executive Director Nick Dyrenfurth and RedBridge Director Kos Samaras chat to the Treasurer of Australia and Member for Rankin in suburban Brisbane, Jim Chalmers . We deep dive into what makes Jim tick and his passions, including what he does outside of the cut and thrust of political life, how he takes inspiration from L...

JCRC Executive Director Nick Dyrenfurth and Redbridge Director Kos Samaras look at the year ahead in Australian politics, deep diving into recent opinion polling, Trump and the global right-wing anti-establishment insurgency, how men and women are heading in different voting directions, upcoming West Australian election, and much more.