In this special episode of Unparliamentary, we unpack the federal budget with journalist Rachel Withers, as well as our chief economist Greg Jericho and senior economist Matt Grudnoff.

Speakers

Rachel Withers — Editor-in-Chief of The Politics

Rachel Withers is the editor-in-chief of The Politics, a new independent media outlet offering commentary and criticism on Australian politics. She was previously a contributing editor at The Monthly, where she helmed the daily auspol newsletter, as well as writing essays for print. She has a Master’s degree in Cultural Reporting and Criticism from NYU and has freelanced for Slate, Vox, Crikey, and The Saturday Paper.

Greg Jericho – Chief Economist at the Australia Institute

Dr Greg Jericho is the Chief Economist at the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work. He holds an Honours Degree in Economics from Flinders University.

Greg also writes a weekly column on economics and politics for Guardian Australia – a position he has held since 2013. In 2016 he won the Walkley Award for Commentary, Analysis, Opinion & Critique, and in 2018 he was a Walkley Award finalist with Gareth Hutchens for their report on the crisis of wages in Australia in the Best Industrial Reporting category.

He has also written for ABC, SBS and Meanjin with a focus on policy and journalism coverage of Australian politics. Prior to working at the Australia Institute, Greg lectured in journalism and political communication at the University of Canberra and from 2006 to 2011 he worked in the Australian Public Service predominantly in the arts and film portfolios.

Matt Grudnoff – Senior Economist at the Australia Institute

Matt Grudnoff is senior economist at the Australia Institute.

He has published widely on a diverse range of subjects including taxation & tax concessions, the federal Budget, poverty and inequality, retirement incomes, free trade agreements, housing affordability, energy economics and climate change.

Prior to coming to the Australia Institute, he worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Department of Climate Change.

Ebony Bennett — Deputy Director of the Australia Institute

Ebony Bennett is deputy director of the Australia Institute and host of its popular webinar series and Follow the Money podcast.

Beginning her career as a journalist in the Canberra press gallery for the Sydney Morning Herald and Australian Financial Review, Ebony has worked in federal politics in a variety of roles for almost 20 years and has published research on climate change and energy, gender and street harassment and contributed a chapter to Morrison’s Miracle: The 2019 Australian Federal Election (ANU Press 2020) and The Nordic Edge: Policy Possibilities for Australia (MUP 2021).

Ebony is a regular commentator and contributor across broadcast and print media, she appears regularly as a commentator on ABC and Sky News and has a fortnightly column in The Canberra Times.