Curtin’s Cast

Curtin’s Cast Episode 55 - 6 May 2026 - Has One Nation Hit Its Ceiling?

One year on from the 2025 federal election, the political landscape is shifting again — and not in ways either major legacy party can fully control.
In this episode, Kos Samaras and Nick Dyrenfurth unpack the latest RedBridge/Accent/AFR  polling and the fallout from the Nepean by-election. Has One Nation’s surge peaked? And is there a “Trump dump” effect — where getting too close to Trump and MAGA begins to turn voters off?
Nick and Kos also explore Pauline Hanson’s emerging dilemma: a choice between battlers and billionaires, as her party draws support from working Australians while benefiting from the backing of right-wing figures like Gina Rinehart.
We also preview the looming Farrer by-election and examine what Nepean signals for both Labor and the Liberals — and the Victorian election ahead.

Curtin’s Cast Episode 54 - 29 April 2026 - AI, Jobs & the Coming Political Reckoning

In this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down why AI anxiety is already political — not hypothetical — and why governments are at risk of repeating the biggest mistake of the last economic transition. We’ve seen this movie before. It didn’t end well. Over 70% of Australians think AI will cost jobs — and this time, the fear hits before the impact. Based off new Redbridge polling and the John Curtin Research Centre's new policy report, 'For All of Us: Making Artificial Intelligence Work for Working People', the argument is simple: if workers don’t share in the gains, they won’t accept the change. And if they don’t accept it, they’ll vote against it.

Curtin's Cast Episode 53 - 22 April 2026 - Europe’s Political Upheaval

On this episode, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by leading scholars of nationalism and European politics expert Associate Professor Ben Wellings (Monash University) to unpack the forces reshaping the UK and Europe. From the collapse of the political centre to the rise of populists and Greens alike, this is a continent in flux. We cover:
▪️ The UK’s shift to five-party fragmentation with Greens and Reform surging ▪️ Trump Bump 2.0 reshaping European politics in real time▪️ Hungary after Orbán — liberal reset or just a populist pause?▪️ Scottish and Welsh elections and Keir Starmer’s future
Essential listening for anyone trying to understand where Western politics is heading — and why the old rules no longer apply.

Curtin’s Cast Episode 52 – 15 April 2026 – How Left and Right Populism Are Reshaping Australia

Australia isn’t experiencing one populist surge, but two. In this episode of Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack new RedBridge and Accent Research polling revealing a striking political reality: under the same economic pressures, different generations are breaking in completely different directions.
Among financially stressed Gen X voters, One Nation is surging. Among Gen Z voters under that same pressure, the Greens are rising just as sharply. Same system. Same frustration. Completely different political outcomes.
This isn’t just volatility — it’s something deeper. The unravelling of the class-based political system that has defined Australia for more than a century.
But here’s the paradox: as the system fragments, Labor remains dominant. Why? Drawing on Nick’s ‘Trump Bump 2.0’ thesis, the episode explores how voters are shifting from blaming governments to asking a different question — who looks like the “adult in the room” in an age of global instability. Nick and Kos break down:
Why Australia now has two competing populisms
The generational divide reshaping politics
Why One Nation is insurgent but not a governing force
The Coalition’s accelerating collapse
How Labor is holding on amid fragmentation
Is class politics is being replaced by generation and education
This is a conversation about a political system coming apart — and what might replace it.

Curtin's Cast Episode 51 - 8 April 2026 - Misha Zelinsky on World War 3

Has World War 3 already begun — just without a declaration?
This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by the excellent Misha Zelinsky — Fulbright Scholar, economist, lawyer, and national security expert — to unpack a confronting idea: We may already be living through the early stages of the third great global conflict of modern times.
From Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine to chaos in the Middle East and rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, Misha argues we are witnessing an unevenly distributed, undeclared world war — driven by a loose but dangerous alignment of authoritarian powers.
On episode 51 we cover:
Why historical analogies (1930s, WWI, Cold War) only go so far
Why defence experts now see a 20–30% chance of global conflict this decade
The rise of a “bad guys club”: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea
How Western democratic deterrence failed — slowly, then all at once
How modern warfare contains multiple overlapping theatres — military, economic, cyber — along with the familiar use of proxies
Whether democracies are strong enough — including internally — to prevail
This is a serious, sobering conversation about power, geopolitics, and whether the world has already crossed a threshold we don’t yet recognise.

Curtin's Cast Episode 50 - 1 April 2026 - Prof Frank Bongiorno on Bob Hawke

This week, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by arguably Australia’s finest historian and public intellectual, Professor Frank Bongiorno, for our landmark 50th episode — and a big question at the heart of Australian politics:
Is Bob Hawke really the “gold standard”… or a myth we can’t escape?
Our conversation is anchored in the new book Gold Standard? Remembering the Hawke Government, edited by Frank, Carolyn Holbrook and Joshua Black — a major reassessment of Hawke’s record and reputation.
We unpack:
▪️ Why Hawke still dominates how we judge governments▪️ What actually made the Hawke model work▪️ Why reform feels harder today▪️ Whether Labor is misreading its own history
What matters now is what Albanese Labor can realistically learn from Hawke — and what his record tells students of Australian politics about the limits and possibilities of reform today.

Curtin’s Cast Episode 49 - 25 March 2026 - South Australian Election Review

A seismic election result in South Australia — but was it a Labor landslide, or a structural collapse of the Liberals? Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras unpack:
The Liberals finishing third and fourth across large parts of the state
One Nation’s 22% surge and what it really means
The critical importance of SA Premier Peter Malinauskas
Why this could be a warning shot for Victoria 2026
This is a deep dive into fragmentation, realignment, and the future of the two party system. Check out episode 49 wherever you get your podcasts.

Curtin's Cast Episode 48 - 18 March 2026 - Is the two-party system dead?

This week on Curtin’s Cast, Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras break down the most striking polling shift in a generation — and what it means for Australian politics.
 
Victoria is no longer a conventional contest. Both major parties are struggling to reach 30%. One Nation is now polling in the mid-20s. The next Victorian election won’t be one election at all. It’ll be eighty-eight by-elections happening simultaneously across the state.
 
In this episode we explore:
 
📊 RedBridge/Accent Victorian state election polling
👥 Generational and class realignment playing out in real time
🗳️ Check in on South Australia ahead of March 21
🌍 Whether Middle East conflict influences domestic voting behaviour
 
This is a deep dive into the end of the old electoral map — and what replaces it.

Curtin's Cast Episode 47 - 11 March 2026 - Dr Kylie Gilbert-Moore

This week co-hosts Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Dr Kylie Gilbert-Moore — Middle East scholar, columnist and former political prisoner in Iran. After spending 804 days jailed in Tehran’s Evin Prison, Kylie offers a rare perspective on how the Iranian regime works and how ordinary Iranians see the world. In this episode we unpack:
• Iran’s widening war in the Middle East• The death of Ali Khamenei and rise of his son• Whether authoritarian regimes are stronger or more fragile during war• What Iranians actually think about the conflict• How the region might change if Iran’s regime falls
🎧 Listen now via Apple, Spotify or YouTube

Curtin's Cast Episode 46 - 4 March 2026 - Peter Khalil MP

This week Curtin's Cast is joined in the studio by Peter Khalil — Labor member for the federal seat of Wills in Melbourne, Assistant Minister for Defence, former Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, ex-national security adviser to Kevin Rudd, and previously the government’s former Special Envoy for Social Cohesion. From public housing in Melbourne’s north to junior tennis glory, from working as an executive with SBS to the frontline of Australia’s national security debate — Peter’s story is as global as it is grounded. And Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras go deep with Peter, exploring:🎾 Growing up in Melbourne’s north to immigrant parents — and what a good working-class boy was doing playing tennis✝️ Who are the Egyptian Copts? Peter gives us a history lesson — one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, tracing their lineage back to the early Church, shaped by centuries of survival, faith and minority resilience in the Middle East🧭 Why Peter chose the brutal occupation of parliamentary politics over a a successful and comfortable executive career 🏘️ On the ground in Wills — what voters are actually saying at the doors🤝 Social cohesion beyond the slogan — what happens when trust frays?⚠️ Extremism — left and right — protest, grievance, and social media accelerant🌏 Geo-political volatility — what does middle-power strategy look like now?All killer, no filler. Catch Episode 46 wherever you get your podcasts.