Sub failures and Australia's gas crisis with Rex Patrick

On this episode of Democracy Sausage, independent Senator Rex Patrick joins Mark Kenny and Marija Taflaga to discuss Australia’s “total policy failure” on submarines, solving issues in the gas market, and why this parliament must be more transparent than the last.


How did Australia get to a point of policy failure in its Future Submarine program? Despite producing “more gas than you can poke a stick at”, why is Australia experiencing a ‘gas crisis’? And what comes next for the self-described “accidental senator”? Outgoing independent Senator for South Australia Rex Patrick joins Professor Mark Kenny and Dr Marija Taflaga to discuss these questions and more on this episode of Democracy Sausage.


Rex Patrick is an Independent Senator for South Australia, having held office since 2017.


Marija Taflaga is the Director of ANU Centre for the Study of Australian Politics and a Lecturer at ANU School of Politics and International Relations.


Mark Kenny is a Professor at ANU Australian Studies Institute. He came to the university after a high-profile journalistic career including six years as chief political correspondent and national affairs editor for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and The Canberra Times.


Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to podcast@policyforum.net. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or join us on the Facebook group.


This podcast is produced in partnership with The Australian National University.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.