Democracy Sausage: The not-so-wasted years
On this episode of Democracy Sausage, Historian Dr Joshua Black joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss his special issue of the Australian Journal of Politics and History on the Fraser years. They cover the dismissal and the question of legitimacy, Vietnamese refugees and multiculturalism, and the Liberal Party's uneasy relationship with its own past.
Why has the Fraser government been so overlooked, by Labor and the Liberals alike? What did a government with progressive, conservative and reactionary wings get done in a time of global upheaval? Why does Malcolm Fraser’s era sound so familiar in 2026?
Dr Joshua Black is a Lecturer in Australian Political Studies at the University of Canberra’s Vice-Chancellor’s Centre for Public Ideas. He guest-edited the Australian Journal of Politics and History special issue on the Fraser government and is the author of Performance Politics, a book about Australian political memoirs.
Mark Kenny is the Director of the Australian Studies Institute. He came to the Australian National University after a high-profile journalistic career culminating in 6 years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.
Dr Marija Taflaga is a lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations and Director of the Centre for the Study of Australian Politics.
Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on YouTube, 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 on the lands of the Ngunnawal, Ngambri and the Ngarigu peoples.
Top image: Crystal Li/ANU
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