Wonky Podcasts

Emma Davidson

Whether you listen on the work commute, while working out, or just as background listening while you go about your day, podcasts are like radio-on-demand. The one big downside is that it can be hard to find new podcasts that are worth listening to. Instead of just typing "politics" into your podcast app search bar, here's a few of my faves for politics wonks.

Follow the Money

From The Australia Institute, Follow the Money is irregular (last episode was back in May), but has a back catalogue with a long shelf life. Each episode addresses a different economic issue, explaining what it's all about in a way that normal human beings can understand. Superannuation, negative gearing, the mining boom (and its end), company tax, and income tax cuts are all covered. While they were all very much in the news in the week they were released, they're also issues that aren't going away anytime soon, so it's worth understanding the language economists use when they talk about these things.

Something Wonky

Listening to Dave Gaukroger and Jeremy Sear talk about the week's political news is a bit like listening to your two politically nerdy friends down at the pub on Friday night. They're unashamedly progressive, and suitably outraged when crazy stuff is happening in Australian politics. Also they actually understand the detail on a wide range of policy issues, so it's educational as well as entertaining. Go listen.

The Lowy Institute

Finding progressive perspectives on international politics is actually not easy, so this one is worth checking regularly. Some episodes are hour-long recordings from Lowy Institute events, like panel discussions or speeches by visiting experts. Others are short interviews with an expert on a specific topic. Either way, this is one where I pick what I want from their back catalogue based on whatever I'm worried about at the time. Check the Audio tab on their website multimedia page for all their past recordings.

Australian Politics Live

From Katharine Murphy and Lenore Taylor at The Guardian, this podcast was publishing new episodes weekly in the leadup to the 2016 Federal Election. I'm not sure how frequent it will be post-election, but there are clearly plans for it to continue. It's an interesting perspective on the week's political happenings.

The Party Room

Get your 8 cents worth from Aunty. The Party Room is a podcast produced by Radio National, with Fran Kelly and Patricia Karvelas as the regulars discussing the day's political news, and a full Ben Hur cast of ABC's political commentators dropping in.

Hack

If you don't get a chance to listen to Hack on Triple J on the drive home from work, you can catch up later. Not strictly politics, but frequently covers political news and does it in a way that you won't hear on most other radio networks.

Big Ideas

Look I know there's a lot of ABC podcasts in this list, but the fact is they produce a lot of content and you've already paid for it anyway. Big Ideas has a huge back catalogue, among them plenty of policy experts and politicians talking about issues within Australia and the wider world.

Society & Culture

Produced by the National Library of Australia, Society & Culture provides recordings of public lectures at the Library. Topics are varied, but include historical changes such as women's suffrage and reframing "the personal is political", as well as ideas for the future. Noteworthy for the high calibre of speakers and diversity of subjects.

Chat 10 Looks 3

Not an ABC production. You can tell because the audio production is challenging at times, but it's worth it. Annabel Crabb disses Leigh Sales for her mistreatment of books, and Sales is despairing of Crabb's lack of appreciation for musical theatre. While it's mostly book, film, and cooking reviews, it's done from the perspective of two very busy people whose interests are not dissimilar to your average political wonk. It's really about how much fun two people can have with lots of shared interests and a willingness to not take themselves too seriously.

Like I'm A Six-Year-Old

Tom Ballard is a funny guy, and he uses Like I'm A Six-Year-Old to have long chats (of varying length - sometimes a half hour, sometimes well over an hour) with interesting people who know more about a thing than he does. I'm guessing he got the podcast title from the Albert Einstein quote "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself". Many of the people he interviews have progressive views on political issues. 

The Wheeler Centre

The Wheeler Centre podcasts are audio recordings of interviews, panels, and other events. In between the authors and musicians, there is frequent coverage of current affairs and political events. If you like this, you'll probably also enjoy The Fifth Estate. Hosted by Sally Warhaft and produced by The Wheeler Centre, The Fifth Estate covers domestic and international issues.

Queers

Simon Copland and Benjamin Riley discuss current queer politics and culture topics in their independently produced Queers podcast in a way that makes each topic accessible to listeners beyond the LGBTIQ community.

London Review Podcasts

I used to feel bad about not being able to keep up with reading the London Review of Books. But now I just listen to the podcast and feel guilty anyway but not quite as much. My favourite so far has been Colm Tóibín on the story of the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916.

This is just a drop in the ocean of what's out there if you like listening to people talk about politics and culture. Hopefully there's something here to make your daily commute more interesting.