Show Notes
Join John in conversation with Helen Joyce for a measured and penetrating examination of gender ideology, the erosion of safeguarding principles, and the profound human rights concerns emerging across clinics, schools, and public institutions. Joyce warns that while the UK is returning to evidence-based practice, Australia continues to pursue practices driven by radical ideology such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-affirming surgery for children. Joyce is adamant that denying biological reality harms women, children, medical ethics, and public trust. She argues for renewed clarity, ethical courage, and respect for the rights of a child to a natural puberty and long-term wellbeing. Helen Joyce was Britain Editor at The Economist, where she worked for over 15 years before she joined the gender-critical campaign group Sex Matters as a director. She is the author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality.
More from John Anderson: Conversations
John sits down with Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD and a former Australian senator, for a wide-ranging conversation on the pressures facing advanced economies, from rising debt and ageing populations to housing affordability, migration and trust in institutions. They trace the OECD’s origins in the Marshall Plan and ask whether globalisation can be fixed rather than abandoned, before turning to the energy transition, defence spending and the war in Ukraine.Cormann warns that debt you do not pay down now means higher taxes or deeper cuts later, and urges governments to rebuild their fiscal buffers. He argues that Australia, once a leader on competition policy, is now in the middle of the pack, with regulation and corporate tax settings among the areas to fix. It is a candid conversation about the hard trade-offs leaders face, and why those choices only get harder the longer they are put off.Mathias Cormann is the Secretary-General of the OECD, a global policy forum/international organisation which groups 38 countries and works with more than 100 countries, promoting policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. He was Australia’s longest-serving Finance Minister (2013-2020), having also served as the Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate.
Nadia Schadlow joins John to discuss the fundamental shifts reshaping global geopolitics and the realities of modern statecraft. Together, they examine the return of great power competition, the evolving expectations surrounding alliance burden-sharing, and the complex challenge of managing relations with strategic competitors like China. The conversation breaks down the urgent need to address critical supply chain vulnerabilities, secure domestic energy supplies, and rethink defence industrial capacity. Schadlow also highlights how technological innovations and rapid adaptations on today’s battlefields, such as the widespread use of drones, are fundamentally altering the character of modern warfare.Dr. Nadia Schadlow is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, where she conducts research and analysis on a range of issues at the intersection of national security, technology, and strategy. She previously served as the US deputy national security advisor for strategy, leading the drafting and publication of the 2017 National Security Strategy of the United States. Her writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The Hill, Parameters, the Wall Street Journal and Philanthropy.
Alexandra Hudson joins John to explore the breakdown of modern public discourse and to unpack the crucial distinction between superficial politeness and genuine civility. Hudson argues that true civility is not merely adhering to polite etiquette, but an inner disposition that recognizes the inherent dignity of others, even when that requires having difficult, uncomfortable conversations.
John sits down with British historian and broadcaster Rafe Heydel-Mankoo to examine why the West has lost confidence in itself. Rafe argues that while individualism is the quality that set the West apart, generating the social trust, curiosity and appetite for risk that no other civilisation produced, it was only ever safe when held in check by strong institutions and the understanding that rights come with obligations. Once this balance fell away, individualism curdled into the narcissism and identity politics that we see in the present, and the institutions meant to restrain it have themselves been captured by a long march through universities and schools. Rafe contends that the time remaining to reverse this is limited. Rafe Heydel-Mankoo is one of North America’s leading royal commentators and appears regularly on TV, radio and in the print media, covering global royal events such as The Queen’s Jubilee and the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. An expert in Monarchy, protocol, honours and British traditions, Rafe is the author of the critically-acclaimed Burke’s World Orders of Knighthood & Merit and has advised various governments on policy matters. He is a Senior Fellow at the New Culture Forum, a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and a Trustee of the Canadian Royal Heritage Trust.
In partnership with Australian Dialogues, join host John Anderson for a compelling constitutional debate filmed at NSW Parliament House. Moderated by Professor Rosalind Dixon, the panel included former Australian High Court Justice Michael Kirby, US Circuit Judge Andrew Oldham, and legal scholar Professor Nicholas Aroney. Together, they tackle one of the most consequential questions in modern jurisprudence: should a constitution be interpreted through the lens of its original public meaning, or as a dynamic, "living" document that evolves with changing times?The panel examines the deep tensions between originalism and living constitutionalism, contrasting the necessity of objective judicial constraint against the realities of governing modern societies. Comparing the Australian and American legal systems, the speakers debate the role of democratic amendments, rights protection, and the decline of public trust in foundational institutions—offering a sharp, nuanced exploration of who ultimately holds the authority to shape the fundamental laws of a free nation.The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMGThe Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG served as a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1996 to 2009, following appointments as President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and President of the Australian Law Reform Commission. Renowned as one of Australia’s most influential legal thinkers, he has held prominent international roles with the United Nations and the International Commission of Jurists.Judge Andrew OldhamJudge Andrew Oldham serves as a United States Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018. Prior to his judicial appointment, he served as General Counsel to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Deputy Solicitor General of Texas, and an attorney-adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice. Judge Oldham is widely regarded as a leading voice in contemporary American jurisprudence and a steadfast advocate for public-meaning originalism and judicial constraint.Professor Nicholas AroneyNicholas Aroney is a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Queensland and a leading scholar in constitutional theory, comparative federalism, and legal history. He has held visiting positions at top global institutions, including Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris, and has authored over 100 books, chapters, and journal articles. Professor Rosalind DixonRosalind Dixon is a Professor of Law at UNSW Sydney and Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. A former associate to Chief Justice Murray Gleeson and a graduate of Harvard Law School, she is an internationally celebrated expert in comparative constitutional law, constitutional design, and democratic resilience.