The Party Line Podcast

Episode 55: The Party Line on how Modi conquered India It’s Anneke’s turn to have a week off, and she’s been replaced by our favourite temp, Jasmine Duff. Jasmine and Jordy go a little bit rogue during the headlines segment, and spend some time breaking down the horror of the catholic school system’s rampant sexual abuse against children, and the choice made by the Christian Brothers to artificial...

Episode 54: The Party Line on how AI is Destroying the World This week Omar was replaced by a megaphone - seems fitting! We were joined by Alma Torlakovic, NSW socialists Candidate for Granville and campaigner against data centres, to talk about the harmful community impacts of these huge centres. They emit noise, raise the heat of the surrounding area, and are storage centers for millions of litr...

Episode 53: The Party Line on how Pauline embraced her inner fascist This ep looks at two big events this week: the Victorian teachers rejecting the shitty deal pushed by the Labor government and their union stooges, and Pauline Hanson’s fascistic press club tirade. The teachers have voted 58/42 percent to reject Jacinta Allan’s offer, and the effort was a product of an enormous rank and file upsu...

This ep features Roz Ward, enemy #1 of the Murdoch Press circa 2016, the Antoinette Lattouf of her era. We talk about the recent polling about One Nation, as well as the important anti-Hanson actions that took place over the weekend (and respond to some of the criticisms from tiny groups of sectarians). We then take a bit of a deep dive into the World Cup, looking at how Trump, FIFA, and capitalis...

The Party Line on how socialism hit the mainstream in Argentina The crew are finally back together again, and start by reflecting on some of the listener feedback about the last episode with Jono Srinanganathan discussing the differences between the Greens and the Socialist Party. We then discuss the news, which is filled with mediocrity: Charlie Pickering chatting to a Nazi, Richard Marles celebr...

This episode is a special interview with two Victorian teachers and trade unionists about the state of play regarding their negotiations with the government. We talk about the fact that Victorian schools are the least funded in the country, despite nearly 26 years of Labor governments, and what that means for the conditions for both staff and students.  Reading Victorian teachers betrayed by...

The Party Line on Socialists, Greens and the Australian Left ft Jono Sriranganathan  This special episode is a response to an article written by former Greens councillor Jonathan Sriranganathan comparing the Queensland Socialists to the Greens. So we invited him on to discuss and debate strategies for taking the left forward. We discuss the role of election campaigns in relationship to broade...

This is a podcast by members of the Socialist Party in Naarm (Melbourne). We hope to bring a radical perspective to a podcast landscape dominated by insipid liberalism (looking at you, The Daily). The pod will come out weekly, and aims to breakdown news and current events from a socialist point of view. While a lot of what’s going on in the world is fairly bleak, The Party Line will try and highli...

Episode 47 - The Party Line on why the Teals are trash This week is dedicated to the leaning class, those parasites who earn income not by working but by possessing assets. These pampered whinging brats have been out in force across the media this last week, protesting that Jim Chalmers and Anthony Albanese’s move to tax asset-based income at the same rate as wages is an egregious attack on their...

Episode 46 - The Party Line on Labor’s Communist Budget This week’s ep is all about the state of Australian political life post-budget. We take look at Labor’s BIG NEW DEATH TAX ON AUSSIE BATTLERS and why they’re out to DESTROY our start-up culture, including #inspiring companies/merchants of death like ‘Drone Shield’. More importantly, we look at what the budget does not address - crumbling healt...

Episode 45 - The Party Line on Israel’s kidnapping and torture of flotilla activists For over 15 years, activists have been drawing attention to Israel’s barbaric siege on Gaza via a series of flotillas. These involve boats full of activists and desperately-needed aid sailing to Gaza and highlighting to the world the suffering Palestinians face. This year’s flotilla is the biggest yet, involving o...

Episode 44 - The Party Line on why Hanson and Reform UK keep winning This weekend saw two important elections take place, one in Farrer (not an important place), and one in the United Kingdom (only slightly more important). The results in both cases saw big swings to the far right and fascists. Hanson’s candidate in Farrer (a very populist, anti-system agribusiness executive) won a huge victory, w...

This episode features the universally loved Jerome Small, an organiser and educator with decades of experience in the union movement and wider socialist . We talk about why parliament is such a dead end for people trying to change the world, but why its still useful for socialists to contest elections when it’s possible. We then take a walk through the radical history of socialist MPs, from the Bo...

We start by looking at the terrible situation in Lebanon and Iran, after America and Israel’s war on the region continues into its third month. Including stories about Iranian kids being murdered in double-tap strikes. This sets the scene for a discussion about the disgraceful Royal Commission that has now entered its second phase, a topsy-turvy world where victims of genocide (and their supporter...

Oskar and Anneke discuss the nature of modern Indigenous oppression and the rich history of the Pilbara strike, including what lessons we can draw from Australia's longest industrial action.  Hosted by Jordan van den Lamb (@purplepingers), Anneke Demanuele and Omar Hassan. Huge thanks to our tireless editors Charlie Wardrop and Persephone Waxman, and our content editor Charlotte Tavan. While...

Episode 40 - The Party Line on Labor’s savage NDIS cuts This week we are joined by friend of the pod Simone, who has been a social worker for 25 years to discuss the savage cuts to NDIS Labor has announced this week. The NDIS ushered in a pro-market perspective on health. The market operates in the disability sector, meaning people with disabilities are shunted around and providers make bank. Labo...

Episode 39 - The Party Line on how Pauline Hanson is not a populist  We don’t like Pauline Hanson. Like, really really really don’t like her. In fact, we think she’s scum. So this ep goes through some of her statements on migrants, muslims, Indigenous people, unions, and welfare. TLDR; she’s terrible on all of it. So we discuss all that and why, given those facts, she still gets described as...

Episode 38 - The Party Line on Victor Orban’s defeat in Hungary ft Rob Narai A short and sharp one this time, as the Party Line debriefs the spectacular defeat of Viktor Orban in Hungary. As the leader of Hungary since 2010, Orban has been one of the key figures strengthening and promoting far right politics across the world. His government promoted antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-migrant tropes agg...

Episode 37 - The Party Line on Trump’s blockade of Iran’s blockade  The pod crew are happy to be back in the studio after the massive Marxism conference over Easter. We discuss the AI-isation of Mark Zuckerberg and Trump’s false idol worship. Angus Taylor has announced his first major policy position, and surprise, it’s just what Hanson has been arguing for.  The war on Iran and Lebanon...

The crew went to Marxism 2026, alongside MANY others. We broke the mould of smart and serious talks to present a bullshit heavy episode of the party line. Join us for a game of “defamation or definitely”, where we guess if Anneke has made up stories or if rich men are actually just psychos. Then we do some myth busting (exactly like the TV show) where we take up some commonly held positions on soc...

Episode 35 - The Party Line on the fuel crisis + the far right in France Omar was out sick so “friend” of the pod Luca Tavan joined us. Luca has “an internet connection and a library card” and has been doing a lot of research into the left and far right across Europe. Following the death of a fascist activist who attacked a left wing MPs meeting, the far right have been normalised and the politica...

On Tuesday the 24th, 30,000 teachers and education support workers went on strike demanding higher pay and better conditions. This was the first strike of AEU members since 2013. Teachers in Victoria are among the worst paid in the country. They’re expected to work full weeks and do marking and lesson planning for free, in their own time. Anneke and Omar (with a brief cameo from Jordan) interviewe...

This pod was recorded just after Trump gave the Iranians 48 hours to avoid the destruction of their entire electricity network, and Iran responded by threatening the water and energy infrastructure of the entire Middle East. So hopefully by the time you’re listening to this ep the internet still exists and World War 3 has not yet begun. In that case, we try and break down what the hell is going on...

Episode 32 - The Party Line on why capitalism needs war and empire We had a request for more socialist theory, so this ep delivers some classic marxist content in classic party line style (which is not very theoretical). The concept of imperialism has been widely discussed following Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the more recent US-Israeli assault on Iran and Lebanon. We argued last week that it wa...

Anneke is back, baby! And she brings with her a certain sniffly charm and a week of pent up bullshit (including a review of Louis Theroux’s new documentary about the manosphere). Headlines look at Canavan’s call for (white) women to have more babies, the interminable and predictable racism of the Queensland police force, and how One Nation candidates are being drawn and funded from the political a...