What’s the Point? with Richard Denniss
Sep 21, 2026 · 24 min · 8 segments
The Prime Minister said he wants to promote ‘progressive patriotism’ – but his policies tell a different story. In this episode of What’s the Point?, Richard explains the dangers of centrism and what…
Richard DennisHost
Anna ChangHost
Well, it sounds like there's a lot that Australians actually agree on, but if you look outside or if you look in the media or social media, it feels like people are at each other's throats.
Unfortunately, for decades, the media has kind of reported on Parliament in a very narrow way, really saying only a handful of issues really matter and emphasising the disagreement about those issues.
So if you think about the amount of time in Australia we've seen parliamentary fights about industrial relations laws or company taxes or certain things that the Labor Party and Liberal Party actually like arguing with each other about.
But actually the Labor and Liberal Party, the Labor, Liberal, Green and One Nation parties all actually agree on a whole bunch of things that we rarely talk about, that the media find almost boring to talk about and that social media rarely discuss because the outrage algorithm is doesn't really reward.
So again, things like our pharmaceutical benefit scheme, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the American system.
I don't think you'll find many politicians in Australia saying, oh, we should just have the American system.
Similarly, protecting copyright in Australia is not a left-wing thing or a right-wing thing.
So I think there's lots of things that unite Australians, you know, gas tax being another one, you know, proper gambling reform.
But the way our parliament has worked and the way our media has focused on the way the parliament works keeps reminding people, look, we can't agree on anything.
But as the Canadians have found, as the Scottish have found, as most Australians know if they stop and think about it, there's a lot of things that we unite around.
There's a lot of problems we would like to fix, but the media finds find it easier and the algorithm finds it more profitable to keep saying, look, look how people disagree with you.
Well, it sounds like there's a lot that Australians actually agree on, but if you look outside or if you look in the media or social media, it feels like people are at each other's throats.
Unfortunately, for decades, the media has kind of reported on Parliament in a very narrow way, really saying only a handful of issues really matter and emphasising the disagreement about those issues.
So if you think about the amount of time in Australia we've seen parliamentary fights about industrial relations laws or company taxes or certain things that the Labor Party and Liberal Party actually like arguing with each other about.
But actually the Labor and Liberal Party, the Labor, Liberal, Green and One Nation parties all actually agree on a whole bunch of things that we rarely talk about, that the media find almost boring to talk about and that social media rarely discuss because the outrage algorithm is doesn't really reward.
So again, things like our pharmaceutical benefit scheme, it's not perfect, but it's a lot better than the American system.
I don't think you'll find many politicians in Australia saying, oh, we should just have the American system.
Similarly, protecting copyright in Australia is not a left-wing thing or a right-wing thing.
So I think there's lots of things that unite Australians, you know, gas tax being another one, you know, proper gambling reform.
But the way our parliament has worked and the way our media has focused on the way the parliament works keeps reminding people, look, we can't agree on anything.
But as the Canadians have found, as the Scottish have found, as most Australians know if they stop and think about it, there's a lot of things that we unite around.
There's a lot of problems we would like to fix, but the media finds find it easier and the algorithm finds it more profitable to keep saying, look, look how people disagree with you.
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