The Australia Institute presents Barrie, Bowers & Friends for an evening of political insight, laughs, and a bit of sass. From the election, to what the Albanese government is doing and what is the point of the Coalition - it will all be covered by some of the smartest minds in Australian politics, led by two of Australia's best political aficionados.

With decades of experience between them, this lineup brings a mix of humour, candour, and analysis that cuts through the spin and makes politics not just understandable, but entertaining.

SPEAKERS

Barrie Cassidy

Barrie Cassidy is one of Australia’s most respected political analysts. He has worked as a Political Correspondent for ABC News and 7.30, served as a foreign correspondent in global political capitals such as Brussels and Washington, and been the creator and host of the ABC’s political discussion program, Insiders, for 18 years. Barrie also worked as Press Secretary and political advisor to former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. He currently has a podcast, Back to Back Barries, on Guardian Australia.

Mike Bowers

Mike Bowers is a photographer and regular commentator on ABC Radio and host of Talking Pictures on Insiders, currently airing on ABC News. Mike has spent 39 years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery working for a number of publications including The Australian, The Canberra Times, The Age, The Bulletin, The Australian Financial Review, BRW, Time, The Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He has covered thirteen federal election campaigns and has accompanied ten prime ministers on assignments around Australia and overseas.

Amy Remeikis

Amy is renowned for her incisive political commentary and extensive experience as a journalist, author, and former Guardian Australia political reporter. Amy regularly appears in national media and is celebrated for her powerful writing on gender, politics, and social justice. Her work continues to influence public debate and policy discussions across Australia.

Sean Kelly

Sean Kelly is the author of The Game: A portrait of Scott Morrison, an award-winning columnist for the Nine papers and regular contributor to The Monthly and a former adviser to Labor prime ministers.

Narelda Jacobs OAM

Narelda Jacobs OAM is a Whadjuk Noongar journalist, presenter and author. Her career at Network 10 spans a quarter of a century. Narelda presents the daily one-hour national news bulletin 10 News: Lunchtime, and 10 News: Afternoons. You'll also find her on NITV and SBS, the ABC, podcast airwaves, appearing in documentaries and Australian dramas, hosting events around the country and internationally, on stages sharing her lived experience, and giving back to her community through various ambassadorial and board roles. Together with her wife Karina Natt, Narelda has authored an adult satirical picture book called “If Queers Weren’t Meant to Have Kids…”.

Dr Emma Shortis

Dr Emma Shortis is Director of the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program. Emma is historian and writer, focused on the history and politics of the United States and its role in the world. She uses her expertise in history to interpret and explain what is happening in the world today, and what it means for Australia, in a compassionate and accessible way. In a conversation often dominated by the same voices, Emma offers a fresh perspective on international relations grounded in moral questions about how we might imagine a post-American future.

Emma’s first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. She writes regularly for Australian and international outlets, and appears regularly on Australian radio and television. Before joining the Australia Institute, Emma was a Lecturer at RMIT University, where her academic work focused on international relations and climate transition. Before that, she spent a year in the United States as Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University, where she finished her PhD in History.

Nick Bryant

During his career with the BBC, Nick Bryant came to be regarded as one of its finest foreign correspondents and also its leading authority on the United States. He covered all the US presidents from Donald Trump back to Bill Clinton. The Washington Post has described him as "A genuine rarity: a Brit who understands America." He is the author of five books, including the critically-acclaimed When America Stopped Being Great: A History of the Present, which made it onto Joe Biden's desk in the Oval Office, The Rise and Fall of Australia: How a Great Nation Lost its Way and The Forever War: America’s Unending Conflict with Itself.

He is now the host of ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra programme. In addition to his broadcast work, he has written for the Sydney Morning Herald, Melbourne Age, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Spectator, The Atlantic, The Independent, and The New Statesman. He is a history graduate from Cambridge University, and holds a doctorate in US politics from Oxford University. He now lives in Sydney with his wife and three children.

Cathy Wilcox

Sydney-based cartoonist and illustrator Cathy Wilcox has been drawing cartoons since 1989. Her work appears almost daily in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She is the president of the Australian Cartoonists Association. She is also an award-winning illustrator of children's books. Wilcox received Stanley Awards for her cartoons in 1994, 1997, 2014, 2015 and 2019, and a Gold Stanley in 2021. She was MoAD's Political Cartoonist of the Year in 2009, 2016 and 2020.

Fiona Katauskas

Fiona Katauskas has been cartooning since 1997, and her work appears in The Guardian. Her cartoons have also featured in a wide range of publications, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Age, New Matilda and Eureka Street. She was MoAD's Political Cartoonist of the Year in 2023. She is the author and illustrator of the children's books The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made (2015) and Hi from Outer Space (2024).

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