Pollie Bites Podcast

We are back for another recap with our co-host Tosh, who you can find online here .  In this episode we cover plenty of political developments, including the federal election announcement, how Labor in Victoria may impact the outcome, whether we'll get a new Premier by Christmas and as the cherry on top - the VEC confirming voter fraud in some areas from the Council Elections in 2024. Support...

We're back - with a new (familiar) face! Welcoming Tosh-Jake Finnigan to the Pollie Bites Podcast as the co-host for 2025. Weekly recap episodes will be returning, with special guest episodes and new Q+A style segments.  This week we catch up for an extra long episode to cover what's happened over the last few months; from Pesutto vs Deeming, the new Liberal leader, Victorian election sh...

We're bringing the podcast back for a special guest episode with arguably one of the most well known figures in Australian politics - Glenn Druery, also known as 'The Preference Whisperer'. In this episode we go through where politics really started for Druery, some of his biggest headlines in the media, how minor parties go about hiring his services, who he will and won't work...

*Note: This episode is an upload of an Instagram live recording. In this episode, I am again joined by Dean Hurlston, President of Council Watch, to host an online info session event for people who want to understand their local council operations better and may be thinking about running in the upcoming Victorian council elections in October 2024.  This online event covered topics such as: The str...

In this episode I am joined by Damian Scattini, partner at Quinn Emanuel and the lawyer on record for the Hotel Quarantine Class Action. In this class action, Damian is representing thousands of businesses that suffered losses because of the months long lockdown following the State of Victoria’s botched operation of hotel quarantine. In this episode we go through many of the frequently asked quest...

In this episode, Council Watch president Dean Hurlston joins the podcast again to talk about the latest news with councils, the growth of Council Watch as an organisation and most importantly, the upcoming council elections in Victoria in October. If you want to learn more about Dean and Council Watch you can visit the website www.councilwatch.com.au Support the show

This week I was joined by David Limbrick MP, who sits as a member of the crossbench in the upper house of the Victorian Parliament and became known in recent years for his advocacy of human rights during the lockdown era.  In this episode we go into his unexpectedly hard-left beginning in politics and how he developed into a Libertarian, what government is like now with soaring debt and a new Prem...

This week's podcast guest is Leo Puglisi, the founder and chief newsreader of 6 News online. Over the past few years Leo has successfully taken a passion project started in his garage and developed it into a fledgling digital media empire - entirely run by teenagers. Having interviewed two Prime Ministers and a wide range of high profile guests in business and politics (all before he was old...

The Pollie Bites podcast is back for 2024 with the first guest episode featuring Victoria's newest member of Parliament, Richard Welch. Selected by the Liberal Party to fill the upper house vacancy in the North Eastern Metro Region after Matt Bach resigned at the end of 2023, this was a rare 'golden ticket' opportunity to join Parliament mid-term without a by-election being required...

We're closing out 2023 with a catch up episode with Matt Wong from Discernable. It's been a while since we co-hosted an episode and so we had an informal catch up talking about politics, platforms and what the new year brings. If you're looking for more from Matt, you can find him at discernable.io . Support the show

In this urgent special guest episode I am joined by Ken Philips from Self Employed Australia to talk about the major industrial relation law changes the federal government is currently trying to get through Parliament. An unexpected and sneaky deal in the last week of Parliament saw two crossbenchers, Pocock and Lambie, suddenly do a deal with the government to smash through half of this legislati...

Ian Cook, best known for his business being at the center of the 'slug gate' saga joins the podcast for this special guest episode to talk about his ongoing court cases and his time running as an independent candidate for the seat of Mulgrave in both the 2022 state election and recent by-election.  As mentioned in the episode, links to previous interviews with Ian Cook relating to the sl...

In this record-length podcast episode I am joined by Tosh Finnigan,  the ex-Labor staffer, red shirts whistleblower and one of the founders of the 'Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews' Party from 2022. **Content warning - swearing & adult themes**   In this episode we go through in detail, from start to finish, Tosh's journey in the Labor party and how the red shirts scandal and...

This week on the podcast I am joined by a familiar face, Ken Phillips from Self Employed Australia. In this episode we discuss what happened with his highly publicised "Not Above The Law" case where an attempt was made by SEA to have Work Safe do their job and investigate the Hotel Quarantine failure in Victoria. We also go through what's next for Self Employed Australia, including...

In this weeks episode I'm joined by Dean Hurlston, Vice President of Council Watch, a not-for-profit organisation that made headlines recently for publishing a full list of Council CEO's outrageous salaries.  Council Watch's website state that they are the 'peoples watchdog' for councils and act to research, investigate and publish information to ensure accountability.   I...

This week I'm joined by Nicole Werner, who will shortly represent the Liberal Party on the ballot at the upcoming Warrandyte by-election after an intense and competitive preselection process. In this episode we talk about why Nicole joined the Liberals, how she has found being a young, ethnically diverse candidate, her response to the claims she is a conservative, whether she agrees with the...

This week we are joined by special guest James Catlin, a previous journalist and political advisor turned barrister who has particular expertise and interest in protected disclosures (whistleblowing). In addition to working as a solicitor, he has worked as a finance journalist with Australia’s two leading news entities The Herald and Weekly Times and Fairfax. He was a Press Secretary and Advisor t...

The Pollie Bites podcast returns with special guest Brad Rowswell MP , shadow treasurer for Victoria, to talk about the upcoming Victorian state budget. In this episode we go through the basics of; what a budget is, where the money comes from and why people should care about it. After that we delve into more detailed questions, including a number submitted by the audience, such as how long it will...

It's the final episode for 2022 and Matt joins the podcast as usual to discuss the Victorian upper house election results, the new Liberal shadow cabinet and how many Victorian's now believe corruption is an issue. Victoria's upper house results New Liberal shadow cabinet More Victorian's believe corruption is an issue Watch Victorian Parliament sitting live  Support the show

The recaps are back and this week Matt and I discuss the additional data that has come to light about how narrow some of the election results were, the new Liberal leader being Pesutto and what we think the next 4 years will look like in Victoria. If you want to hear more from Matt you can find him in his Locals community here - https://discernable.locals.com/   Support the show

We're back with the recap podcasts and of course we kick off with a special episode looking at what's happened with the state election results.  Support the show

One of the most-requested interviews on the platform, I got to sit down very briefly with Jeff Kennett in between his busy schedule and the campaign trail to talk about the current performance of the two major parties, what he would do differently if he were still in the ring, Victoria's outrageous state debt level and what he thinks the election outcome will be. Support the show

It's a special episode this week as we record this live to an audience at the first ever Pollie Bites dinner with Discernable and Voice for Victoria. In this episode we talk about the train wreck media that Dan has been receiving, including the doctor that saved his life speaking out about a failure to receive hospital funds, Lydia Thorpe's latest scandal and where it looks like the stat...

We are back with Matt for another week talking about politics in Victoria as things continue to ramp up in the final few months before the state election. This week we discuss Kaushaliya's ongoing battle with WorkSafe over her bullying claims, Shane Pattons' crocodile tears over VicPol's pandemic policing and how both parties are performing. Love the podcasts? Listen to them live! N...

We are back with Matt to discuss what's going on in politics as we get past the grand final long weekend, which means the media attention on politics will be ramping up for November. This coincides with the states finally dropping the isolation requirement for positive covid cases for most people and just in time for the government to have their proposed policy platform publicly leaked the sa...