Why Can't They Just...

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at migration policy, what all the political parties are saying about it and whether the narrative actually matches reality. Are migrants essential for Australia’s economic prosperity or a drain on national resources? And how is it possible that there are too many migrants except in pretty much every economic sector? Should Australian citizenship be conditional on good behaviour, and if so, does that only apply to some people and not to others? Maybe it’s actually not about economic reality and more about culture wars and political expediency? Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Yassine, Luke and Glenn ask why countries bother with multilateralism and the United Nations, particularly when the big powers don’t seem to care and there is no enforcement of international law. The bottom line is that it is actually in countries’ interests to cooperate and international law doesn’t just constrain them but also their partners and international rivals. And the biggest losers from a big country’s withdrawal from multilateral processes are actually the people of that country… Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Yassine and Glenn ask why Australians lose more to gambling than any other nationality in the world and what can be done to stop gambling harm. Turns out a lot can be done, so they then ask why the Government isn’t doing it. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn ask why Australian Prime Ministers spend so much time with very tiny island countries, and why Australian governments spend so much development aid in the region. Short answer - geography matters. We make the case for development assistance as an investment in global stability and for delivering it in a way that is less colonial and more collaborative (eg ask people what they need). Also Pacific island governments are full of smart people with a clear idea of their national interest and a clear ability to pursue it. Focusing on US-China rivalry totally misses this point. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at the history of international climate negotiations and ask why has it all been so hard? Maybe we are asking for the wrong thing - instead of asking countries to give something up (fossil fuel use), what if we asked them to build something new instead, in the form of decarbonised heavy industry supply chains? Something less vulnerable to other people’s wars… Here's a transcript. Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at the Safeguard Mechanism - the government's main policy to manage down industrial emissions - and how it can be made more effective. How can it make miners and fossil fuel companies do more of the heavy lifting, and shouldn't the whole thing just be scrapped for an economy-wide price on carbon? Maybe a focus on methane will help? This episode carries a nerd alert, but we hope you will bear with us because it genuinely is so important. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Yassine consider the impact of AI on society, how we relate to each other as humans, how it is affecting education and learning, and what it means for our humanity. And because we care about policy, we consider what governments need to do to make sure humans stay in charge and harm is minimised and managed. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc

Janaline and Glenn look at the different ways in which AI is likely to affect the Australian economy and ask what, if anything, the government can do to ensure it delivers benefit to the people. Spoiler alert: we see a big role for government policy here. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠ whycanttheyjust.com.au , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Yassine discuss what it's actually like in Australian public schools, what are the challenges for teachers and students and what policies might make things better. Philosophy for children might be an answer. Good news: public schools in Australia are actually pretty good and fixing the roofs would go a long way to making them even better. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Welcome to Season 3, and welcome to our new co-host Yassine. Janaline, Luke, Yassine and Glenn talk about school funding: why does the government give so much to private schools when public schools are under-funded, and what can be done to make education more equitable while improving academic standards? Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/⁠ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Luke are joined by special guest Yassine to talk about social media and its impact on Generation Z - the first generation to grow up entirely on line and the last generation not to be protected. They talk about what the infinite scroll and the outrage machine are doing to their peers and offer thoughts on how to keep people safe. Spoiler alert - we see a significant role for governments here. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Glenn look at different mechanisms to hold governments to account and discuss why every Australian should love the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act. They look at the difference between the public interest and what interests the public, and argue that access to decision makers doesn't necessarily mean influence over them. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at why the government can't just put dental into Medicare and make specialists affordable. Well, actually they can, but of course, as usual, it's complicated. They talk about different funding models and how the system can be made high quality and accessible while also being financially sustainable. Maybe looking at health care as joined up social policy - where medical treatment is just the last and most expensive bit - might be the answer? Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn are joined by former co-host William at the ALP National Conference in Adelaide, where they talk about how the policy sausage is made and debate the pros and cons of behind the scenes negotiations and public stoushes on the conference floor. Is the ALP too tame? This episode was recorded on Friday 24 July, the second day of the 3-day conference. Here is a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at `whycanttheyjust@gmail.com`. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠ https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ ⁠, which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music: "Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Glenn look at the government's aged care reforms and ask whether they will be sufficient to ensure the system is sustainable in the future, especially given the rate at which Australia's population is ageing. And given the devastating findings of the Aged Care Royal Commission, how does the government ensure that aged care delivers high quality outcomes for people to live in dignity and comfort? Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at whycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at whycanttheyjust.com.au , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at the history of child care in Australia and ask why you might want people to be qualified to look after your children. It won't surprise anyone that we disagree that mothers should just be made to stay home to look after their children (not least because it means a lot of women just won't have them). We also look at how child care is funded and delivered and make the case for a public option, and how to design incentives for the industry to focus on the welfare of children rather than the welfare of shareholders. Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at whycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Luke are joined by special guest and disability advocate Andy Shim, a member of the National Autism Strategy Oversight Council, to discuss the government's proposed changes to the NDIS. Why are they so controversial and are they actually going to work? Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at whycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/⁠ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline, Luke and Glenn look at the AUKUS program and ask why the government can't just ditch it. And given the erratic decisions coming out of the current US administration, they ask why we wouldn't just extract ourselves from the US alliance while we are at it. Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us atwhycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at ⁠https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ , which includes a link to our Patreon site where you can sign up for exclusive content. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Renewable energy is really taking off in Australia, but is it fast enough to meet the Government's target of 82% by 2030? The McKell Institute and the Electrical Trades Union have recently released a report calling for a publicly-owned renewable energy entity to provide affordable, reliable renewable electricity to large industrial projects to accelerate the transition of Australia's industrial and export base from fossil fuels to clean energy. Janaline, Luke and Glenn discuss the pros and cons of publicly owned energy generation, and the opportunities it can present for Australia's industrial future. Spoiler alert - we think this is a terrific proposal. Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at whycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Find out more about us and how you can support us at https://whycanttheyjust.com.au/ Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.

Janaline and Luke discuss human rights and why you should care about it. They look at what citizenship means and the importance of not having 'conditional' citizens. They also discuss the importance of the three fundamental principles underlying the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - that they are universal, individual and inalienable - and why if one person or group of people doesn't have human rights, then ultimately nobody does. Here's a transcript . Please leave a comment, particularly if you have your own "Why can't they just..." question, or email us at whycanttheyjust@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you. Please also feel free to rate and review us, as it does help people to find us. Music:"Insurrection" Written by Pierre Chrétien Performed by the Soul Jazz Orchestra Courtesy of Do Right Music Inc.