Democracy Sausage: The future of us with Liz Allen

Political leaders often pitch Australia as the land of ‘a fair go’. But with real social mobility so hard to come by for many Australians, is this more national myth than reality?

What can policymakers do to ensure demography doesn’t equal destiny for Australians experiencing disadvantage? And is the COVID-19 crisis creating a ‘perfect storm’ for demographic trouble in Australia?

On this Democracy Sausage, Professor Mark Kenny is joined by demographer Dr Liz Allen to talk about what demography reveals about Australia’s democracy, why economic uncertainty might be preventing a COVID-19 baby boom and her new book, The Future of Us. 

Liz Allen is a demographer and social researcher with quantitative and qualitative expertise at The Australian National University and author of The Future of Us: Demography gets a makeover.

Mark Kenny is a Professor at the ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the University after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times.

Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback on this series, so send in your questions, comments or suggestions for future episodes to democracysausage@anu.edu.au.

This podcast is produced by The Australian National University.