Afternoon Light

How to Create a Middle-Class Economy | Abby Smith

How did inflation targeting and child endowment change Australia’s trajectory? And specifically, how did this create the middle-class economy we are familiar with today? 
Abby Smith talks to Georgina Downer about their chapter in the upcoming book Finding Menzies, how Menzies went about spearheading the Australian middle-class economy. 
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: . 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

The Philosophy of Aspiration, The Australian Dream | Priscilla Spalding

What does it mean to be aspirational as a person? And how did Menzies encourage Australians to be aspirational? 
Priscilla Spalding talks to Georgina Downer about their fascinating chapter in the book Finding Menzies: on how Menzies's political philosophy lifted a country after dark times, and let us all understand more about his character. 
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: . 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Andrew Kemp & Zachary Gorman on the 1949 Election: "There was an optimism, a confidence, about the Liberal pitch"

What does it take to win a federal election from Opposition?
On Afternoon Light #185 Georgina Downer speaks with Andrew Kemp and Zachary Gorman to discuss Robert Menzies’s watershed 1949 election victory. Drawing out its enduring impact on modern Australia, as well as the lessons it offers political campaigners in 2025.
Andrew Kemp is a Melbourne-based writer and a former economist at the Commonwealth Treasury and the Department of Treasury and Finance in Victoria. He conducted extensive research into the early Liberal Party’s fundraising and campaigning techniques, as part of a chapter he wrote for Unity in Autonomy.
The innovative radio advertisements of 'John Henry Austral' can be found here.

Enemy of my enemy? Australia and the Sino-Soviet split | Jesse Seeberg-Gordon

Where did our allegiances really lie between 1959-1964? 
Jesse Seeberg-Gordon talks to Georgina Downer about his chapter in the upcoming book Finding Menzies, on how fissures in international relations brought catalyzed debates on what friendly relations with surrounding countries could also entail. 
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Overprivileged: An Episode of High Political Drama | Patrick Irwin

Where was Menzies's limit when it came to free speech? 
Patrick Irwin talks to Georgina Downer about his chapter in the upcoming book Finding Menzies, on how Menzies’s struggle with the limits of free speech came to a fore that shone him in a new light in the public consciousness. 
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Summer Series 2024-5 Part 7: Charles Richardson, Stephen Loosley & Frank Bongiorno

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2024 conference entitled ‘The Final Chapter: Purpose, Endurance and Legacy 1961-66 and Beyond’. This final episode features Charles Richardson on 'Menzies’s Philosophical Legacy to his party', Stephen Loosley's paper 'A Horse With No Name: Federal Labor, 1954-1966' (begins at 19:50), and Frank Bongiorno's paper ‘"one of the world’s masterpieces"? Australian reaction to Menzies’s retirement, January 1966' (begins 33:15).
Charles Richardson has a law degree from Melbourne University and a PhD from Rutgers University, specialising in ethics and political philosophy. He has worked in a variety of positions in government and politics, and is a former director of Above Quota Elections Pty Ltd. His work has appeared in numerous publications and he has been featured as a commentator in newspapers, radio and television. Since 2012 he has written on world politics at his blog, The World is Not Enough, and does periodic consulting work on electoral matters. His research interests include the history of liberal democratic structures and the comparative study of European party systems.
Stephen Loosley is the former Council Chair at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Mr Loosley was the General Secretary of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party (1983–90), prior to being elected to the Australian Senate in 1990, where during his term he served as Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also served a term as ALP National President (1991–92).
Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University and President of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. His books include Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia (La Trobe University Press,2022) and (co-authored with Nick Dyrenfurth) A Little History of the Australian Labor Party (Second edition, NewSouth,2024). He contributed a chapter to Confusion: The Making of the Australian Two Party System (ed. Paul Strangio and Nick Dyrenfurth, Melbourne University Press, 2009). He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and recently completed a term as President of the Australian Historical Association.

The Arts’ Last Advocate: Menzies and the Cause of Liberal Education | Jacob Carson

What did Menzies have to do with the idea of Liberal Education?
Jacob Carson discusses with Georgina Downer how Menzies was at the centre of the push and pull between vocational and commercial understandings toward higher education, and how this debate still goes on today.
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series. ➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Freedom, Empire, and the ‘Ordinary Australian’ | Josh Woodward

What does the 'ordinary Australian' actually mean? 
Josh Woodward talks to Georgina Downer about how the idea of the 'Ordinary Australian' confronts notions of Empire, as well as the concept of individual freedoms.
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Popular Criticism of Menzies’ War Aims | Aaron Marston-Pattison

What was the public willing to support in wartime during Menzies's era? 
Aaron Marston-Pattison speaks to Georgina Downer about which aspects of Menzies's war aims the public was willing to support.
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute

Remembering the Anglo-Australian Relationship of the 20th Century | Scarlett Wakelin

How do we look back on the Anglo-Australian relationship when we look at the history of Australia? 
Scarlett Wakelin speaks with Georgina Downer on the nature of the Anglo-Australian relationship that persisted through the 20th century.
This episode of the Afternoon Light Podcast was recorded as part of our Menzies Early Career Network Series.
➡️ Support the Robert Menzies Institute: https://give-aus.keela.co/christmas-m... 📱 Follow the Menzies Institute on Social Media: X: https://x.com/rmenziesinst Facebook: / robertmenziesinstitute TikTok: / robert.menzies.in Instagram: / robertmenziesinstitute