Socially Democratic

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Australian writer, activist, and co-host of the weekly podcast Week on Wednesday, Van Badham.  Van discusses her time in student politics and how these wild experiences influenced her evolution into a successful activist,  playwright, and journalist. She chats about her work researching conspiracy theories and, in celebrati...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by the National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union, Michael Kaine.  Qantas is regarded as a cultural icon and for many a source of national pride. However, under the leadership of Alan Joyce, the red roo’s reputation has been tarnished with cuts to staff, outsourcing to labour hire, all the while taking pandemic payments...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by the director of the Sydney Policy Lab at the University of Sydney, Kate Harrison Brennan.  Does Labor have a “religion” problem? And does the Church have a problem with politics? Kate draws from her experience in public policy and leading christian organisations to unpack these questions and explore the historic and at time...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Associate Professor in the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy at La Trobe University, Dr Andrea Carson.  Andrea returns to the show to break down the Australian Media's performance and its role within the Federal Election, as she did back in 2019, except this time after a victory.  Andrea shares her expertise...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Senator for Victoria, Jana Stewart. Jana shares her story, from growing up in Swan Hill to working with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Nat Hutchins. The Senator explains how her life experiences and family influences shaped her into the proud Mutthi Mutthi and Wamba Wamba...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Democratic campaign strategist and organizer, Katie Parsons.  Katie calls in from Chicago, IL to breakdown the last few months of politics in the United States. Starting with the Supreme Court’s latest Dobbs v Jackson ruling, she unpacks the reversal of Roe v Wade and the national response, including the amazing turn out of...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by the freshly re-elected member for MacNamara, Labor’s Josh Burns.  Josh joins Stephen to give a brief post election debrief, mainly how the close race for the seat of MacNamara was won and how he correctly predicted Labor winning the seat of Higgins, followed by a recap of the first sitting week of parliament under the Alban...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by two former Victorian ALP branch secretaries, Erik Locke and David Feeney.  Erik and David break down the findings and recommendations from the Bracks/Macklin review into branch stacking, cultural and structural reform and where Labor failed to act. They unpack last week’s final report by the IBAC/Ombudsman and their public...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Betoota Advocate and Decode’s Wendell Hussey. Wendell chats about the Betoota Advocate and their rise from rural conservative newspaper to national media juggernaut. He discusses how Betoota’s new podcast, “Decode”, aims to break down federal politics for everyday Australians who want something a little bit different. Wende...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Chairwoman for the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA), Esther-Mirjam Sent.  Esther shares how she was raised in a political household, her parents sharing their passion for activism with her, as well as how exploring her interest in economics led to a career in the Dutch government and into the role of Chairwoman of the PvdA.  Esthe...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Leader of the Irish Labour Party, Ivana Bacik.  Ivana shares her story, from student activism fighting for women’s abortion rights, teaching law, to her entry into politics and her recent election to Leader of the Labour Party.  She remarks on the poignant progressive changes Ireland has taken in recent years, such as the s...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by former WA Labor Assistant Secretary and Senior Partner at Newgate, Lenda Oshalem, for our final post election breakdown; this time tackling the great state of Western Australia. Lenda reflects on the major structural and cultural changes WA Labor undertook years ago that laid the foundations for the successes on election ni...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by SA Labor Secretary, Aemon Bourke, and Managing Director of Defiance, Jack Milroy.  In the penultimate episode of our state by state Federal Post Election Breakdowns, Aemon and Jack join Stephen in covering the results in South Australia and Tasmania.  First up, Aemon unpacks the great results in SA, where Labor won the elus...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Director at Hawker Britton, Elliot Stein.  In the next chapter of our 2022 federal election breakdowns, we head to New South Wales, where Elliot unpacks Labor’s gains and the Liberal’s losses.   Elliot also discusses voter fatigue with Morrison and Covid and the role that played in their voting habits, the impact of the Gre...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director of the McKell Institute, Ryan Batchelor.  Continuing our state by state breakdown of the 2022 federal election, Ryan joins the show to unpack the results in Victoria, and how the Massachusetts of Australian politics achieved an even higher watermark for Labor seats. Ryan discusses the key to Labor’s gains...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Director of Acanta Strategies and former Secretary for Queensland Labor, Evan Moorhead.   As part of a state by state breakdown of the election, Evan joins the show to unpack what happened in the sunny state of Queensland, how voters voted and why, and where to from here for Labor.  Evan analyses the wins and loses, why Lab...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney. After 6 weeks of covering the Federal Election, Emma and David return one last time to unpack Labor’s victory, election day itself and all the events surrounding it.  Stephen, Emma, and David, in true organiser style, break d...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s FINAL weekly recap of the 2022 federal election campaign. For the last time before E-Day, David and Emma unpack the latest events in the campaign, starting with the Liberal Party’s campaign launch in...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser, Stephen Donnelly, was joined by a panel of political campaign experts including Lenda Oshalem, Elliot Stein, Linus Power MP, and David Feeney for this special Federal Election bonus episode to break down the key battleground seats that are Labor’s pathway to government. This is the form guide you will need for election night. What seats do Labor need to...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s weekly recap of the 2022 federal election campaign. Once again Emma and David dive into the week that was, starting with the final two leader debates (or lack thereof), unpacking channel 9 and 7’s co...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by digital campaigner and Managing Director of Defiance, Jack Milroy. With both parties shifting significant campaign dollars to beef up their online presence, Jack draws on his online campaign experience with leading progressive organisations in Australia and Canada, to discuss the digital campaign at this federal election. J...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s weekly recap of the 2022 federal election campaign.  It was a big week with Labor officially launching their campaign, new policy announcements made, a federal interest rate rise, and a Treasurers de...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by fellow podcasters, Labor activist, Ben Davison and Guardian columnist, Van Badham, for a special crossover episode: Socially Democratic meets The Week On Wednesday.  Ben, Van, and Stephen join forces to unpack the midpoint of the 2022 Federal Election campaign, sharing their thoughts on the campaign so far, the performance...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s third weekly recap of the 2022 federal election campaign.  From record high inflation figures to the Solomon Islands policy disaster, this week Emma and David discuss the terrible week of campaigning...

Dunn Street founder and Community Organiser Stephen Donnelly was joined by Executive Director for Per Capita, Emma Dawson, and former Federal Member for Batman, David Feeney, for Socially Democratic’s second weekly recap of the 2022 federal election campaign.  Emma and David unpack the week that was including the first leaders debate which was held in Queensland on Wednesday night. They discuss th...