The Party Line Podcast

Episode 30 - The Party Line on Trump and Israel’s war on the Middle East Anneke is sick this week, so Jordy and Omar decided to ditch her in favour of our Footscray candidate, Jasmine Duff. Is it an upgrade? You decide. (But seriously, send Anneke some love in the comments section please). This episode is all about the murderous war of choice that the US and Israel have initiated on Iran and now L...

Episode 29 - The Party Line on why misogyny is big business To celebrate International Working Women’s Day, the crew start by talking about why cupcakes with pink icing - while nice - are not sufficient to end millennia of systematic sexism (yes, it’s true). We then look at how pop culture, corporate media, advertising and beauty industries all profit at the expense of women’s self-worth and happi...

Episode 28 - The Party Line Live The Party Line's first ever live show was all set to go, packed with hilarity, interactivity and lots and lots of bullshit, before it was rudely interrupted by a brazen act of US and Israeli imperialism. As such we spent the first half of the ep discussing the very non-funny war, and how the left should oppose the US aggression without becoming defenders of a react...

Episode 27 - The Party Line on how Melbourne defeated Hanson last time  Jerome Small joins the crew again to discuss the rise and fall of Hanson last time. Jerome was involved in the movement in Melbourne where people protested from Geelong to Echuca and everywhere in between. We discuss the political context in the 90s and what’s changed from them to now.  Huge thanks to our tireless ed...

This week the crew talks to Jerome Small, a former construction worker and union militant about the bogus claims that the CFMEU stole $15 billion from the public purse. We discuss the lack of rank and file control in the union movement, due to both the leadership of the unions and the government attacks on union rights. In the headlines we look at the “economist community” and the highs and lows o...

Episode 25 - The Party Line on how the Palestine movement turned the tables on Herzog and Albanese The gang brought Jasmine Duff back on to talk about the incredible week of protest that we’ve just had. Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong and co thought they could tour around the President of Israel as if he hadn’t just been involved in a genocide, but they were proven wrong, thanks to the actions of ten...

Episode 24 - The Party Line on the horrible history of Angus Taylor Australia’s “most qualified idiot” has just become the leader of the Coalition, and a lot of people are wondering who he is. The Party Line is here to help. We do a deep dive into the history of this man, including his lowly upbringing on an enormous sheep station, the many challenges he overcame as a boarder at Kings College and...

Episode 23 - The Party Line on Minns’ police riot in Sydney We know we just released an episode but politics in Australia is moving fast. Anneke attempts to take on Jordy’s role as the tech director (and fails).  NSW police conducted a riot in Sydney at the demonstration against Israeli President Isaac Herzog. People were battered, punched, pepper spayed, charged and arrested. It was a violen...

Episode 22 - The Party Line on the resistance to Herzog visit and The Epstein Files  Omar is looking dashing this episode, with a bright vest to cheer us up. Speaking of cheer, we take a look at the excellent fighting skills of young kids in America against a racist MAGA man. With Herzog touching down in Australia on Monday, the crew discuss the repression coming from NSW police, the massive...

Episode 21 - The Party Line on Herzog’s visit and the resist-able rise of One Nation ft Jasmine Duff This ep starts by returning to the US rebellion against ICE, which has now expanded to the national scale via the January 30 day of action. Cities across the country were shut down due to street protests, student walkouts, and various types of legal and wildcat (that is, illegal!) strike actions ag...

Episode 20 - The Party Line on Hanson’s Invasion day antics and the Minneapolis uprising against ICE Bullshit has been confirmed as an essential part of the pod by popular acclaim, and so this ep begins with a healthy serving. So we start by exploring Omar’s first experience of Jordan’s fame, the quality of flooring in the office, and other essential issues facing the nation. The headlines take an...

Episode 19 - The Party Line on the murder of Kumanjayi Walker: A conversation with Kate Wild, author of The Red House This special episode of The Party Line features award winning journalist and author Kate Wild talking about her new book, The Red House: Kumanjayi Walker and Zachary Rolfe . Together we explore the fatal 2019 shooting of Warlpiri teenager Kumanjayi Walker by Constable Zachary Rolfe...

Episode 18 - The party line on Invasion day, deaths in custody, and creeping fascism Omar made his glorious return this week, though quickly made it clear he hadn’t bothered listening to the last ep. (Probably for the best, he was easily replaced.) This ep is an Invasion day special, and looks at the past present and future of Aboriginal oppression and resistance in Australia. To help us go throug...

Episode 17 - The party line on ICE, Adelaide Writers Week and Hate Speech This week the gang voted Omar off the Island. Producers had a surprise up their sleeves, with Josh Lees as a special guest. We discussed the violent killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agents, and the full throated support for the murderer from JD Vance, Trump and the US regime. We then discussed the fallout from the removal...

Episode 16 - The party line on the Bondi Royal Commission, Venezuela and Iran A big one this week. The unhinged attacks on the Palestine movement and Anthony Albanese have continued for another week, and so your faithful hosts do their duty to take up the cudgels against the lies once again. Our highlight is a Canberra Times editorial calling for “rabble rousers” to be forcibly brought before a Ho...

Episode 15 - The party line on how Bondi is being weaponised against Palestine ft Amy Remeikis As the dust settles on the horrific Bondi shooting, the nature of the bigoted onslaught has become clearer. This episode starts by looking at the tirade of lies and far-right propaganda spread by The Australian and other media outlets. Given Jillian Segal’s prominence, we do a little digging into her fam...

Episode 14 - The Party Line Christmas Special This episode begins with a rambling exploration of Christmas-themed inanities including the merits of home alone 2, papal bulls, and the crucial question of whether or not Jesus was a communist. We then (finally) respond to your listener questions! Merry Xmas and happy holidays from the team at The Party Line. Content: When the guns fell silent for Chr...

Episode 13 - The Bondi massacre and the right-wing backlash  The massacre in Bondi struck the heart of decent people across Australia. It was shocking to see the murder of 15 Jewish people by suspected gunmen with links to ISIS. This special episode was recorded in the first days after the event, and tries to unpack the first responses by the media, the ALP, LNP, Pauline Hanson and Bob Katter...

Episode 12 - The Party Line on Venezuela, US Imperialism, and NUS Big news this week: Anneke has been adopted! By her big sister that is. We discuss all that before moving on to headlines, including what the Annika Wells expense scandal reveals about the culture of entitlement that runs through Parliament. The main breaking story that was unfolding as we were recording was the US hijacking of a Ve...

Episode 11 - The Party Line on the NDIS, migration and the Liberals The team start this ep with a bold marketing ploy: attacking our listeners. We then discuss Jordy’s invitation to attend am allegedly anticapitalist forum hosted by SBS (turns out, it wasn’t). We then discuss the disgraceful comments made by Zack Polanski in relation to migrant workers in the UK, and what it reveals about the limi...

Episode 10 - The Party Line on Rising Tide and the Greens’ climate capitulation (ft Zack Schofield) Who wants to be a millionaire is a somewhat surprising focus of our first segment, as Anneke and her friend fight for the right to participate in the toxic reality TV industry. We then interview Rising Tide community organiser Zack Schofield, who is one of the wonderful people that have just organis...

Episode 9 - The Party Line on the Mamdani-Trump meetup, social media ban (with Channel 6’s Leo Puglisi) and Pauline Hanson  Anneke kicks off the episode with a sad story about alleged police harassment - and the risk of not paying fines promptly. We then examine the decision by Vic Pol to designate the entire CBD and surrounds as a zone where they can stop and search anyone without reason, fo...

Episode 8 - The Party Line on Socialist Unity, Epstein, and Gough Whitlam Inspired by last week’s detour into pop culture, this ep starts with a debate about the relative virtues of Monchichi’s vs Labubu’s. We then take a quick look into AI, the Epstein files, and a bunch of fairly insane headlines (see below). Anneke explains what’s been going on with the interstate Socialist Party conferences, a...

We kick off this week on a theoretical note, exploring the dialectic relationship between the Gallagher brothers being pricks and yet making such brilliant music. The team then takes a quick look at a few major headlines from the week, including Coles’ plan to play classical music to deter shop lifting. Then we welcome Anticop activist Tom Raue onto the platform to discuss Victorian Labor’s decisi...

Warning: huge session this week. The team start by celebrating two significant developments in US politics, the death of super-villain Dick Cheney and the defeat of billionaire sex-pest Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani’s victory was unfolding as the show was being recorded, but we took the time to bask in the fear and hatred of the American right-wing twitter. We analyse the troubles the Coalition is having...