Episode 158: Tasmanian election lessons, narrative wars, its the economy and good news about airships

Baby, we are BACK! Van and Ben return after a super frustrating hiatus to discuss the issues of the day in their inimitable style. The recent Tasmanian election has thrown up a complex and divided result, delivering more crossbenchers to the parliament than opposition members, and the Liberals forming minority government with nothing to guarantee the passage of legislation but wild hope. Ben and Van discuss this in the context of Tasmania’s unusual electoral system and the politics of independent representation more broadly. The analysis continues as Ben breaks down the ongoing good news about the Australian economy, with the unsurprising if excellent news that union members are seeing significant pay increases as the result of the newly legislated frameworks for improved collective bargaining. (If you want in, join your union right now via Ben peeling back the obfuscations of the Liberals and works through why Labor’s successes aren’t more broadly known. The distraction politics of Peter Dutton and the Amazing Modular Nuclear Reactors That Don’t Actually Exist is placed in the context it so duly deserves. Finally, the good news is about airships. This is at least the third time this show has celebrated airship initiatives, as Van is obviously obsessed with them, everyone should Be, they are the jewels of the air and the future of all humanity! (It is possible that Van wrote this). We’d like to thank all of our listeners for their continued support and solidarity with us over this period of Ben’s illness. It means more to this household than you could possibly know. You can become a supporter and leave us a message at

You can listen to Episode 158: Tasmanian election lessons, narrative wars, its the economy and good news about airships online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Episode 158: Tasmanian election lessons, narrative wars, its the economy and good news about airships is an episode from "The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison by Ben Davison.

This episode is 77:48 long.

This episode was published on Apr 7, 2024.

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