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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Fear and Greed Summer series. I'm Michael

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Speaker 1: Thompson and good morning Sean. Aylmer. Good morning, Michael, And

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Speaker 1: good morning Adam Lange.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Michael, Good morning Sean.

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Speaker 1: Today this might be my favorite category because it has

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Speaker 1: been a bumper year for politics in this country. So

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Speaker 1: we are looking back at the best political story of

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. Adam, would you like to kicks off

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Speaker 1: this morning?

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 2: It was extraordinary twenty twenty five and was the year

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Speaker 2: that Anthony Albanezi turned an incumbency into real authority, winning

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Speaker 2: the May election with a commanding new majority and reshaping

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Speaker 2: the Australian political landscape. Aged care and healthcare workers received

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Speaker 2: long fought pay rises after years of pressure and policy debate.

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Speaker 2: Environmental legislation with strengthened giving businesses clearer rules around project

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Speaker 2: approvals and emissions. Lower income tax cuts flowed through to households,

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Speaker 2: lifting dispose will income as costs of living pressures. Did

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Speaker 2: they ease? Maybe not. The final phase of higher superannuation

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Speaker 2: contributions was locked in accelerating the growth of retirement savings.

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Speaker 2: So we're now at twelve percent in our super and

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Speaker 2: student debt relief stripped billions from the balance sheets of

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Speaker 2: younger Australians, reshaping their lifetime earning capacity. Internationally, Albanesi elevated

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Speaker 2: Australia's diplomatic standing through really delicate relations with Trump and

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Speaker 2: the US orcus Pacific engagement and global trade partnerships. With

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Speaker 2: a dominant majority and reform momentum moving behind him, Albanizei

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Speaker 2: has positioned the government to push harder on productivity and

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Speaker 2: budget repair in twenty twenty six, in twelve months, that

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Speaker 2: is a very big political year by Albanzi.

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Speaker 1: I love how you take a big picture look at everything. Right,

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Speaker 1: the student debt relief, I've described it as reshaping lifetime

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Speaker 1: earning capacity. If I had just had that much of

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Speaker 1: my hex debth, wife would be a sweet bit more

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Speaker 1: money back in my pocket. As you were like, no, no,

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Speaker 1: this can change your entire lifetime of earning.

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Speaker 3: How many goon bags is that, Michael?

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Speaker 1: That's right. My clothesline is going to be weighed down

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Speaker 1: heavily when we play goon of fortune. Okay, let's get

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Speaker 1: going for mine, because I'm talking about the coalition and

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Speaker 1: I don't even know where to start with the Federal Coalition.

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Speaker 1: Actually you know what, the election is probably a good

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Speaker 1: place because that's where they got smashed. Peter Dutton was

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Speaker 1: the Liberal Party leader and absolutely decimated at the poll

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Speaker 1: in May. They lost seat after seat. The Nationals held

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Speaker 1: their own. The coalition, though, was seriously rattled and even

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Speaker 1: split for a week after the election when Susan Lee

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Speaker 1: was voted Liberal leader. The Nationals wanted a different direction

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Speaker 1: on nuclear power and supermarkets and all these other issues.

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Speaker 1: Since then, arguably it's actually gotten worse than that. You

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Speaker 1: wouldn't think kind of a split could actually get worse,

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Speaker 1: but it has. The Liberals haven't really been able to

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Speaker 1: figure out yet what they stand for and been largely

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Speaker 1: almost forced by the minor party to dump a commitment

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Speaker 1: to net zero. Then also by conservative parts within the Liberals.

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Speaker 1: Former Nationals leader and Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce quit

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Speaker 1: The party joined One Nation at a time when the

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Speaker 1: poll show record low support for the coalition and record

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Speaker 1: high support for Paul and Hanson's party. And all the while,

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Speaker 1: while all of this is going on, there are these

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Speaker 1: constant rumblings of a leadership challenge for Susan Lee, Andrew Hasty,

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Speaker 1: Angus Taylor and others waiting in the wings. This year,

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Speaker 1: we have witnessed the fall and the fall, and we

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Speaker 1: will see it into twenty twenty six. The fall of

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Speaker 1: the coalition.

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Speaker 3: Wow, that was a big time, didn't you think at

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Speaker 3: the end of the year somehow because of the expenses

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Speaker 3: scandal they just started to find a little tail hold somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 3: But I'm not taking away from your story.

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Speaker 1: I totally a no, no, no. I do agree with you

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Speaker 1: that that as soon as there is a flaw in

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Speaker 1: the government to get into that have been quite effective.

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Speaker 3: At they can do it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, when they're not tearing themselves apart. And you need

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Speaker 1: a strong opposition to hold government to account, and we

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Speaker 1: have probably actually seen that with these expenses scandals towards

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Speaker 1: the end of the year.

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Speaker 3: You're right, Sean, So I think the biggest political story

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Speaker 3: of the year probably will be in hindsight, the social

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Speaker 3: media band. The whole world is watching pretty much literally,

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Speaker 3: other nations already considering looking at similar legislations. In short,

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Speaker 3: users of Facebook, Instagram, kick, Reddit, snapchat, threads, TikTok, twitch

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Speaker 3: x and YouTube must be sixteen years or older. The

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Speaker 3: social media companies have implemented new rules and processes to

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Speaker 3: prevent children addressing social media site or accessing social media sites.

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Speaker 3: The onus is on the social media sites, not the parents,

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Speaker 3: to enforce the ban. If reasonable steps are not taken,

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Speaker 3: then they face fines up to forty nine and a

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Speaker 3: half a million dollars that have been court challenges from kids.

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Speaker 3: There could be other court challenges going forward. Ultimately, this

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Speaker 3: is a major, major, major social reform, and if it works,

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Speaker 3: I think there will be a flood of other companies

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Speaker 3: following on. If it doesn't, and particularly if it's overstrown

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Speaker 3: in court, then it's probably dead and buried.

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Speaker 1: I really do think it is that.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I think both your stories probably are more

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Speaker 3: pertinent to many people, but the social media band that's

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Speaker 3: pertinent to any parent of a fifteen or a fourteen

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Speaker 3: or a thirteen year old right now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I agree, Sean. I think it's been seismic.

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Speaker 2: You know, in a relatively short period of time, we've

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Speaker 2: seen the impact. Even in the amount of conversations we're

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Speaker 2: having about the impact of social media, it's incredibly big importance.

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Speaker 1: So right those ones, Look, you know, I think on

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Speaker 1: long term impact, probably right social media then the prime

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Speaker 1: minister and the mandate as long as the mandate actually

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Speaker 1: gets used for major reform. And we did actually kind

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Speaker 1: of see that, I suppose on occasion, and then the

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Speaker 1: coalition being third. How's that?

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Speaker 3: It's okay? I disagree, except I disagree with you. I

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Speaker 3: actually think that for twenty twenty five I would have

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Speaker 3: gone the coalition first, exactly the opposite, first, government, second,

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Speaker 3: social media third for twenty twenty five anyway, here, Look.

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to argue. If you're going to give

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Speaker 1: me the win, I will accept it with grace.

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Speaker 3: Is the story the win, Michael, not you.

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Speaker 1: Oh well, I completely disagree with.

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Speaker 3: You on that.

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Speaker 1: Thank you very much, Sean, thanks Michael, Thank you, Adam,

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Speaker 1: thank you sure, thank you, Michael. Don't forget to it.

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Speaker 1: Follow on the podcast. New episodes every day during our

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Speaker 1: summer series and regular shows are back from January twelve.

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Speaker 1: I'm Michael Thompson, and this is Fear and Greed