The Week on Wednesday

14/05/2025

07/05/2025

Van Badham and Ben Davison deliver an unmissable post-election edition of The Week on Wednesday, unpacking one of the most extraordinary federal election results in Australian history. With Anthony Albanese securing Labor’s biggest win since WWII, defeating not just Peter Dutton but also Greens leader Adam Bandt, Van and Ben bring deep analysis, biting wit, and raw insight into:
- What led to Labor’s sweeping mandate
- Why the Coalition suffered such a brutal collapse
- The spectacular fall of the Greens’ lower house ambitions
- How union campaigning and party discipline shaped the outcome
- The Trump effect—and how Australian voters emphatically rejected it
- The nuclear fantasy and the cost of out-of-touch ideology
- Why the "parliament of independents" myth finally imploded

Their signature candid discussion takes on democratic responsibility political fantasy and hope hope hope, this episode is a must-listen for anyone who cares about where Australia is headed next.
fans can always enjoy the show on Spotify Apple Podcasts or on Podbean

Links in comments & bio

02/05/2025

30/04/2025

Van Badham and Ben Davison dive into analysis of the Australian election campaign so far, with Ben barely emerged from a three-day strategy lockdown at his job but happily reunited with faithful hound, Germanicus.

Van has been keeping an eye on the election, and a couple of perturbing recent twists: parents from Catholic schools in key marginal seats received thinly-veiled “We’re not saying vote Liberal, but…” letters from the Catholic education authorities and publishing them on the internet, with horror. Van, a Catholic herself, delivers a righteous takedown:

Just when you thought it couldn’t get weirder—enter the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (aka Exclusive Brethren). Members of this secretive sect are popping up en masse at pre-poll booths as Liberal volunteers, particularly in teal and Labor marginals. Uniformly dressed, slogan-repeating, and cagey about their affiliations, Van explains their ultra-conservative, anti-worldly ethos: “No pets, no pop music, no pants for women—but apparently, private jets are fine.” The vibes, friends - are sus.

Ben gives a summary of the polling data this far, and what it’s telling us - but we end with liquid gold. Companies Peequal and NPK Recovery collected 1,000 litres of female runners’ p*e at the London Marathon and turned it into fertiliser for wheat—enough for 3,000 loaves of bread. Quote of the day: “It’s brilliant to think that the nervous wees of thousands of women are helping a good cause.”

Enjoy the show!
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23/04/2025

Van Badham and Ben Davison are back fans - with new tech, new producer (welcome, Casper!), and a jam-packed episode on everything that matters. After three debates and polling momentum seeming to flow to Labor, Van and Ben pick apart three defining (and revealing) policy conversations of the election campaign: housing, health and education. From the ideological shockwaves of Dutton’s Trump-flavoured Coalition to Albo’s pitch for a Big Labor Legacy, it’s the election campaign Australians have to pay attention to.

With the dog in Ben’s lap (and occasionally growling), Van and Ben break down the real differences between policies (hint: one builds houses, the other is more of a vibe), unpack the return of old Liberal tricks, and even find time to celebrate bobcats roaming free in New Jersey. It’s fierce, funny, forensic - and not to be missed.
Check comments for where to listen

12/04/2025

Labor is delivering more teachers, more support staff and more funding for every child in every school

Dutton’s Coalition have already said they don’t believe that the federal government has a role in “state education” and they’ll stick to funding elite, religious & discriminatory schools

If you support education, don’t risk Dutton

28/03/2025

This election is about:
Jobs- Who is creating & supporting them and who wants to smash them

Wages- Who raised them and who cut them

Education- From early childhood to school to TAFE to University to the debts you are or are not left with at the end

Health- Medicare, the cost of medicines, who do you trust to stand up against big US Pharma, who will look after our elderly, who will facilitate the needs of Australians with disability so they can participate in our nation

Taxes- who do you think will make sure ordinary people aren’t paying an extraordinary amount of tax and that multinational corporations & billionaires pay their fair share

Housing- Do you want to sacrifice your retirement to overpay for a house or do you want governments to build & encourage others to build more affordable homes

Power- Renewable energy which is dropping down the cost curve or continuing with coal, which is increasing in costs as the generators age, until the never never nuclear plan is finally scrapped after billions are wasted to determine there’s nowhere to put the reactors or the waste

Get those right and everything else will flow

26/03/2025

On her own today (yes, poor Ben is STILL unwell), Van Badham takes you through some highlights of Dr Jim's 2025-26 Australian budget, the insane, almost-unbelievable story of the Trump administration's "group chat" scandal, and some good news for African penguins.
Yes, the budget includes actual money for women's health (hello menopause clinics!), green iron, and schools.
Yes, a real journalist got added to a U.S. government Signal chat where they were planning airstrikes. And YES — for once — something good has happened for penguins.
It's a bananas world, but Van is here to help you make sense of it!
Please light candles and sing songs of magic that Ben can be back next week; we must not let the bananas prevail.
This is one for new fans & fans alike!
Check it out 👇