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Community Forum: Professor David Heilpern, Dean of Law at Southern Cross University
David Heilpern is an Australian legal trailblazer, author, and former NSW Magistrate who served on the bench for over two decades before retiring in 2020. Throughout his distinguished judicial career, he presided over thousands of cases in regional and metropolitan courts, earning a reputation for his compassionate approach and commitment to social justice. Before his…
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Video Podcast: A Week of Bizarre Politics in Australia
In this week’s episode of Australia Asks, we ask: “What the hell is wrong with the Australian media?” Is it Australian politics, or Australian entertainment? This week, we watched Barnaby Joyce command a dog to “sit down” during a serious television interview, Anthony Albanese stumble on an escalator and drop an F-bomb, and political figures…
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Video Interview: Tom McIlroy, The Guardian’s Political Editor
In this week’s episode of Australia Asks, we interview Tom McIlroy, Political Editor at The Guardian (Australia). In it, he reveals some secrets from behind the scenes in Canberra. Tom McIlroy is the political editor for Guardian Australia, based at Parliament House in Canberra. With over a decade of experience in the federal parliamentary press…
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Video Interview: Senator David Shoebridge, Greens for NSW
This week’s guest on the Australia Asks video podcast is Senator David Shoebridge. He is an Australian Greens Senator representing New South Wales. First elected to the Senate in 2022 after serving over a decade in the NSW Legislative Council, he currently acts as the party’s spokesperson for Justice, Defence, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, and…
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Video Interview: Allegra Spender MP and Zali Steggall MP About Their New Political Party, Community Strong
This week’s guests on the Australia Asks video podcast are Allegra Spender MP and Zali Steggall MP, talking about their new political party, Community Strong. Allegra Spender MP is the Federal Member for the Sydney electorate of Wentworth, first elected to the House of Representatives in 2022 and re-elected in 2025. Before entering politics, she…
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Video Podcast: The Cost of Living, Housing Affordability and Taxation
This week’s episode of the Australia Asks video podcast asks the question: ““What are the facts about the cost of living, housing affordability, and the changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax?” The cost of living has become the biggest political issue in Australia because it affects everyone. Whether you’re a student, a young…
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Community Forum: Senator Steph Hodgins-May, Greens for Victoria
Senator Steph Hodgins-May is the Australian Greens Senator for Victoria, bringing a deep background in environmental law and human rights advocacy to Federal Parliament. Before her parliamentary tenure, she worked as an adviser to the United Nations and as a director at Greenpeace, fighting for strong climate action and sustainable food systems. Sworn in to…
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Video Interview: David Ettershank, Member of the Legislative Council in Victoria for Legalise Cannabis Party
This week’s’s guest on my Australia Asks Video Podcast is David Ettershank, a Member of the Legislative Council in Victoria for the Legalise Cannabis Party. He was elected to the Victorian Parliament in 2022. His political mission is to legalise, de-stigmatise, and reform cannabis laws across Victoria. As a long-term recreational and therapeutic cannabis user…
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Video Podcast: Pauline Hanson at the National Press Club
Welcome to this week’s episode of Australia Asks. This week we are asking: “What is the truth behind Pauline Hanson’s claims?” We’ll take a close look at Pauline Hanson’s recent address to the National Press Club. During that speech, Hanson made a series of claims about immigration, multiculturalism, climate change, the economy, energy policy and…
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Video Podcast: Australians Standing With Albania
Welcome to this week’s edition of Australia Asks, and this week we are asking: “What the hell is going on in Albania, and what can we in Australia do about it?” Today, we’re talking about a story unfolding on the other side of the world that has implications far beyond the borders of Albania. Protests…
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Never Give Up: A Message of Support for Albania’s Protest Movement
As we come to the end of this discussion, I want to leave you with a lesson I’ve learned firsthand: never give up the fight. When I became involved in the campaign against the proposed Trump Tower project on the Gold Coast, there were plenty of people who told us not to bother. They said…
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How Australians Are Supporting Albania’s Protest Movement
As these protests have continued in Albania, a number of us here in Australia have been asking a simple question: what can we do to help without speaking over the very people whose voices deserve to be heard? The first step has been to listen and learn. We’ve been contacting experts in Albanian politics and…
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Could Albania’s Resort Protests Derail Its European Union Membership Bid?
One of the reasons these protests have attracted attention beyond Albania’s borders is because they unfold against the backdrop of Albania’s long-standing ambition to join the European Union. For decades, EU membership has been a major national goal, representing not only economic opportunity but also a commitment to shared democratic values and closer integration with…
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Why Sazan Island Matters: Albania’s History, Nature and Resort Controversy
To understand why Sazan Island has become such a focal point in this debate, you first have to understand that this isn’t just another beautiful Mediterranean island. Sazan Island sits at the entrance to the Adriatic Sea, where the Adriatic meets the Ionian. For centuries, whoever controlled this stretch of water held an important strategic…
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What Is Affinity Partners Doing in Albania? Jared Kushner’s Plans Explained
To understand why these protests have attracted so much attention, it’s important to understand the company at the centre of the controversy: Affinity Partners. Affinity Partners is a private investment firm founded in 2021 by Jared Kushner after he left the White House. Kushner, of course, is best known not only as a businessman, but…
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Who Is Organising Albania’s Protests? Activists Behind the Movement
One of the most important things to understand about these protests is that there isn’t a single organisation or political party directing them from the top down. Instead, this is a broad-based movement made up of people from many different backgrounds who share common concerns about Albania’s future. Among those involved are environmental campaigners worried…
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Why I Became Involved In The Albanian Protests
I want to take a moment to explain why this issue in Albania matters to me personally, and why Australians have become involved in a movement taking place thousands of kilometres from our shores. Not long ago, I found myself as the public face of the campaign against the proposed Trump Tower project on the…
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Why Are The Protests In Albania Happening?
At the centre of these protests is a proposal that supporters describe as an opportunity for investment and tourism, but critics see as a threat to Albania’s future. The most high-profile of these projects involves plans for luxury resort developments on Sazan Island and Narta Lagoon. Sazan is a strategically located island at the entrance…
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Video Interview: Dr Gordon Reid MP, Federal Labor Member for Robertson, NSW
This week’s’s guest on my Australia Asks Video Podcast is Dr Gordon Reid MP, the federal member of parliament for Robertson in the ACT. Dr Gordon Reid MP is an Australian medical practitioner and politician who serves as the Federal Member for Robertson in New South Wales. A proud Wiradjuri man with deep roots on…
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Community Forum: Clare O’Neil MP, Australia’s Minister for Housing, Homelessness and Cities
Clare O’Neil is the Federal Member for Hotham and Australia’s Minister for Housing, Minister for Homelessness, and Minister for Cities. Her path into politics started in Melbourne’s south-east, where she grew up and later studied law and history at Monash University. While still at university, she entered local government and became the youngest female mayor…