"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison

Episode 40: Scovid lockdown continues in Victoria, Harvey Norman as the face of corporate greed, economic growth for the few not the many and good news about airships!

Van Badham & Ben Davison look at how Scott Morrison's failure to rollout the COVID vaccine has created the #Scovid hashtag, left 98% of people in supported disability care accomodation unvaccinated and brought Australians a world of confusion. Meanwhile, a Morrison minister called aged care workers "dregs", another minister told locked-down casual workers to "go to Centrelink" and the Deputy PM thinks "a week isn't a long time to go without pay". Gerry Harvey volunteers to be the face of corporate greed by demanding wage suppression while economic growth leads to massive profits (hey, everyone, JOIN YOUR UNION), Van has a problem with capitalism, Ben restrains himself on the subject of convicted wage thief, Justin Hemmes, the dog tries to get out of the garage on his own and the good news involves Iron Maiden and the return of THE AIRSHIP! What a bumper week! Share this programme!

Weekend wrap May 30, 2021

Scovid outbreak locks down Victoria for seven days A mystery case in an aged care facility And Morrison’s ministers tell Victorians to go to Centrelink, where they won’t be eligible for any support at all!

Episode 39: Morrison's vaccine strollout puts Victoria under lockdown cloud, Canberra cover up culture continues & good news about plastic waste

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at how Morrison's failure on COVID vaccinations and quarantine might have blown Australia's head start and left Victoria facing another lockdown.

The Canberra cover-up culture continues as Morrison's three seperate investigations into the Brittany Higgins allegations devolve into farce, outright sabotage and total misdirection.  Meanwhile the senate estimates processes is being obfuscated by Liberal appointed senators trying to help Michaelia Cash and security advisors pretending that Morrison's QAnon mates being used as a pipeline for misinformation for Russia, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia isn't really a problem.

It is Sorry Day and we say sorry to first nations Australians for their mistreatment at the hands of successive Australian governments.

The good news is about a combined ANZAC effort on plastic waste.

Germanicus is super excited to have us back in the shed and we once again thank our show sponsor, Australian Unions. 

Weekend Wrap May 23, 2021

Ben Davison looks at: Gerry Harvey complains about being made to pay the taxes he asked for, Victoria makes big business pay for mental health Unemployment is down but there are fewer jobs Labor will scrap the privatised INDUE card Upper Hunter stays national and maybe there’s a deeper message about regional communities.

Episode 38:Vaccine "Stroll-out", the CEOs say profits are worth a few deaths, Morrison's university failure, gig workers win... and SEABIRDS!

Van Badham and Ben Davison analyse the dangers of Scott Morrison's too-slow COVID vaccine "rollout", budget cuts to the university sector aren't smart thinking, gig economy workers have a win at last... and there's also good news about seabirds. 

Also, we have some exciting news about *this very podcast!!!*, Van sniffles and the dog gets upset about worker exploitation. Enjoy!

Weekend Wrap May 16, 2021

Weekend Wrap! (With new sound quality!) Hidden budget nasties Albo’s powerhouse budget reply Frydenberg makes clear Morrison supports wage cuts and exposes the sham of “tight labour market = wage growth” Wage thieves want more temporary migrant workers Tas Labor changes leader Hawke commemoration NSW restrictions to lift #Idahobit day

Episode 37: The big breakdown of Morrison's band aid budget and good news about fish!

Van Badham and Ben Davison breakdown the Morrison government's latest budget offering and get under the headlines into what is really happening with aged care, childcare, wages, training, climate change and the secret cuts.

The so called "women's budget"  doesn't actually have much for women.

There's some tinkering with superannuation, some pre-election sweeteners and a lot of ignoring experts while praying that "technology" saves us from climate change while allowing multinationals to extract even more of our gas.

So tune in for a detailed breakdown of what's in the budget and what it actually means.

Plus the good news is that 60,000 fish have been released back into the Darling river system!

Weekend Wrap May 9, 2021

It’s budget week! Morrison claims economy “not as bad as it could be” but is that really good enough? We look behind the headline numbers on unemployment, the NDIS, Super, Aged Care and wages to see how power is shaping our nation. And Abetz is relegated to an i winnable spot but is it a payout ploy?

Episode 36: Is Morrison preparing for an early election? Sabre rattling on China and The Winter of COVID.

Van Badham and Ben Davison look at the Morrison government clearing the decks, appointing their mates, pumping the budget with watered down Labor policy and ask the question; Is Morrison preparing for an election in 2021?

Dutton keeps rattling his sword in the direction of China but is he setting us up to be the chicken killed to scare the Monkey?  Van and Ben talk about our relationship with China, trade, geo-politics and why going to war with a country who has nukes and an army larger than the population of Brisbane is probably a bad idea.

Covid is burning through India and now there is a mystery community case in Sydney.  With only 2.5% of the NSW population vaccinated is the Winter of COVID about to hit?  Van and Ben get fired about how Morrison has failed to keep Australian's safe, has undermined generations of rights and might be about to lead us in a catastrophe.

The good news is about solar boats that eat plastic!

And Germanicus tries to get into the TimTams

Weekend Wrap May 2, 2021

Morrison threatens 9,000 Australians with prison if they come home Gutwein wins re-election in Tasmania It’s budget week so the Liberals are trying on mangled versions of Labor policy And a happy May Day to everyone