Curtin’s Cast

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

This week it’s a one-on-one Kos vs Nick deep dive. No guests. No niceties. Just a hard look at the polling — and some of the rubbish floating around. We unpack:
📊 The latest federal and state polls — what’s real and what’s noise🔵 The new Liberal leadership — and why it’s not generational renewal🗳️ The same free-market fundamentalism dressed up with culture-war garnish📰 The same campaign/media tactics including obligatory News Corp sit-down🏙️ A leader who doesn’t hold an urban metropolitan seat💥 And the deeper truth: the problem isn’t just the leader — it’s the party
We also dig into:
📍 Victorian and South Australian polling🎤 The Mally campaign launch: One Nation is the real threat⚠️ How One Nation can eat into Labor’s base especially in Victoria
Then:
🏗️ Why issues like the CFMEU saga are viewed by voters as intra-elite squabbles🧍‍♂️🧍‍♀️ The widening gender divide and growing generational fracture — Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z — and how each tells a different political story
If you want to know where Australian politics is actually heading — beyond the hot takes — this is the episode for you!

🎙️ New Curtin’s Cast: Alastair Campbell on democracy in the age of Trumpism
Politics everywhere feels simultaneously stuck and combustible — in the US, the UK and here in Australia. This week Nick Dyrenfurth and Kos Samaras are joined by Alastair Campbell — former Director of Communications and Strategy to Tony Blair, co-host of The Rest Is Politics, and one of the sharpest observers of modern democratic politics — for a wide-ranging and unsparing conversation. We explore:
Why UK Labour PM Keir Starmer governs with a commanding majority yet struggles to project purpose
How Anthony Albanese’s Australian Labor and Canada’s Mark Carney are resisting the right-wing populist surge
The global ecosystem of right-wing media, influencers and big money amplifying grievance and normalising transgressive politics of the MAGA, Reform UK and Aussie One Nation variety
Why figures like Donald Trump, Nigel Farage and Pauline Hanson can get away with behaviour mainstream politicians cannot
What New Labour got wrong - namely the downsides of globalization 
Housing, intergenerational equality and climate are the means by which the social democratic centre-left can beat back the populist Alt-Right
Alastair also speaks candidly about his own reaction to Trump — even joking about how he has “Trump Derangement Syndrome” — and what that reveals about the emotional intensity of contemporary politics 🎧 Listen to episode 44 wherever you get your podcasts.