In this episode of Socially Democratic:

🍎 Labor Premier Peter Malinauskas announces a policy of 150 minutes per week of ‘Active Learning’ for school aged children, plus free school camp and an expansion of sports vouchers.

🧩 South Australia Liberals struggle to get airtime and squander their opportunities with scattered policy announcements. Plus, how is Ashton Hurn’s leadership holding up?

🚑 A man’s tragic death brings renewed attention to the problem of long waits during ambulance ramping. How will it impact the remainder of the campaign?

🫣 How To Vote preferences deals were announced - and we ask, did the Liberals deal away metro Adelaide seats?

🔮 Will we ever see the end of AusPol’s corflute obsession?

🤡 Carston Woodhouse’s outrageous comments on feminism and homosexuality surfaced from a podcast last year, leading Hannah to question - do Liberals even bother to vet their candidates?

Plus all the category nomination you know and love.

Hey Social Democrats. We are back with our first of the 4-part series on the South Australia state elections.

Stephen Donnelly, along with special guests Hannah MacLeod and Matt Clemow, analyse the state of the race, including: 

✅ Peter Malinauskas's record as Premier, 

✅ Political messaging from the major parties, 

✅  The three cornered contests between independents, One Nation, and the Liberals in the crucial regional seats.

✅ The new campaign finance laws that are shaking up the election,

✅  and how South Australian Labor is adapting their strategy to this new climate. 

Plus all the categories you know and love. 

Socially Democratic is a Labor politics and campaigns podcast with expert guests and new episodes every Friday. 

📊 February brought fresh polling, a Liberal leadership shake-up, and renewed questions about where the conservative movement goes next.

With the opposition searching for economic credibility and flirting once again with culture-war politics, what does the path back to government actually look like for the Liberal Party of Australia?

🏗️ We also unpack the CFMEU controversy — including the media’s rush to amplify a back-of-the-envelope $15 billion figure — and what it means politically for the Victorian Allan Labor government. How can Labor get back on the front foot and tell a powerful, persuasive story about the infrastructure Big Build that resonates with voters?

All that, plus the month’s biggest narratives and category nominations.

This week on Socially Democratic, Stephen is joined by policy expert and Executive Director of the Chifley Research Centre, Emma Dawson.

Emma joins the show to talk about what Labor's clear majority actually means, what they can still achieve in their second term, and whether this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for structural reform.

Emma brings her wealth of knowledge to the vital questions of 2026, including:

📈 Can we ease the cost-of-living crisis without spiking inflation?

🤏  What is the difference between incremental reform and timid reform?

🧩 How has the fragmented media environment affected our ability to make lasting change?

🍎 🍊  What is the difference between “popular” policy and “populist” politics?

🥸 Does the Albanese government have a coherent political identity, and if so, what is it?

#AusPol #AustralianPolitics #LaborGovernment #AustralianLaborParty #ALP #AnthonyAlbanese #PublicPolicy #PolicyReform #EconomicReform #SocialDemocracy #Democracy #PoliticalStrategy #ProgressivePolitics #ThinkTanks #Chifley #Emma Dawson #AustralianEconomy #FutureOfDemocracy #MediaAndPolitics #ReformAgenda #PoliticalPodcast