In conversation: Martin McKenzie-Murray, Bhaskar Sunkara, and a 7am ep with Waleed Aly

Future Perfect, RRR

Martin McKenzie-Murray’s new book, Sirens, is an intimate and remarkably powerful portrait of three first responders – a paramedic, a police officer and a firefighter – who are motivated by a desire to serve the community, but they are drawn to their work by more complicated impulses as well. In telling their stories, McKenzie-Murray draws on his own experience and his research into trauma and recovery to ask profound questions about human motivation and survival. I spoke to him on 3RRR about the research and writing of his book.

McKenzie-Murray is The Saturday Paper’s associate editor, and a two-time Walkley finalist and winner of the Melbourne Press Club’s Quill Award for commentary. He has worked as a teacher, speechwriter, columnist for The Age and adviser to the chief commissioner of Victoria Police. His first book, A Murder Without Motive, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing. His second, The Speechwriter, won the Russell Prize for Humour Writing.

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Spin Cycle, RRR

Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor of Jacobin magazine, President of The Nation journal and a columnist for Guardian US. He was previously Vice Chair of the Democratic Socialists of America and in 2019 authored The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality.

In this interview on 3RRR, I spoke to Bhaskar about popular leftist politics in the US, and the significance of the rise of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who Bhaskar supported from early in his campaign. We also discussed the coming US midterms, the Democratic Socialists’ place in Democratic politics, and the fading power of Trumpism.

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7am podcast

Paul Brereton – the outgoing head of Australia’s National Anti-Corruption Commission – resigned recently. Brereton’s time leading the body charged with investigating serious corruption in the Commonwealth public sector has ended in a crisis of confidence – over Robodebt, his ongoing Defence links, and whether the watchdog properly managed conflicts of interest.

Brereton says he has become a distraction from the commission’s work. But his resignation raises the question: do the NACC’s problems end with him?

I spoke to host Waleed Aly about how Australia’s anti-corruption watchdog ended up in crisis – and whether it can recover.

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