"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison
Channel Details
"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison
Join notorious Guardian columnist Van Badham and her labour activist co-host (and partner!) Ben Davison. As they deep-dive into the big news themes of the week and provide fresh, irreverent analysis about what's really going on in Australia and around the world.
Recent Episodes
200 episodes
Episode 169: New Cabinets, Old Wounds, and Wacky Ted: This Week on Wednesday
Van Badham (on her own while Ben’s away!) explores Australia’s new parliament, a record-breaking Labor majority, and freshly shuffled cabinet - but th...
Episode 168: Landslide! Labor's Historic Victory and the Lessons for the Right
Van Badham and Ben Davison deliver an unmissable post-election edition of The Week on Wednesday, unpacking one of the most extraordinary federal elect...
Episode 167: Brethren, Robes, and Ballot Box Shenanigans
Van Badham and Ben Davison launch into analysis of the Australian election campaign so far, with Ben barely emerged from a three-day strategy lockdown...
Episode 166: Housing, health and education: The debates we all have to have, and the bobcats we deserve
Van Badham and Ben Davison are back - with new tech, new producer (welcome, Casper!), and a jam-packed episode on everything that matters. After three...
Episode 165: Dr Jim's Australian budget box of delights, Donald Trump's group chat gone wild and African penguins forever
On her own today (yes, poor Ben is STILL unwell), Van takes you through some highlights of Dr Jim's 2025-26 Australian budget, the insane, almost-unbe...
Episode 164: Dutton plays at being Temu Trump to avoid explaining his policies for the election and good news about electric cars
Van Badham and Ben Davison devote an episode to pulling apart the world’s most uncharismatic populist, Peter Dutton, as well as his energetic attempt...
Episode 163: Auspol in 2025, Australia's economic position, disinformation and good news about renewables
Van Badham and Ben Davison are FINALLY back! Today, they take "Auspol 2025" head-on. As a federal election looms, the episode explores reality versus...
Episode 162: Trump's Debate Meltdown and the Scourge of Disinformation
Van Badham and Ben Davison (and Germanicus the dog) HAVE RETURNED!
As Ben recovers from twelve months of illness, this long overdue return to Th...
Episode 161: Dr Chalmers Keynesian budget remedy
Van Badham and Ben Davison journey into the heart of Australia's Federal Budget 2024.
Our hosts dissect Dr Jim’s reintroduction of nation buildi...
Episode 160: Stopping male violence, the education budget we have to have and big batteries
Van Badham and Ben Davison have rescheduled Wednesday to a Monday this week, to delve into the labyrinth of policy complexities surrounding the fight...
Episode 159: A future made in Australia, the disinformation wonderland & solar cars
Van Badham and Ben Davison start their Wednesday on a Thursday with discussion of the federal government’s “Future Made in Australia” policy suite, an...
Episode 158: Tasmanian election lessons, narrative wars, its the economy and good news about airships
Baby, we are BACK! Van and Ben return after a super frustrating hiatus to discuss the issues of the day in their inimitable style.
The recent T...
Weekend Wrap 3 December 2023: Employment services reforms, the grind of government and the media circus
Ben Davison returns to take a look at a week in parliament that saw the Closing Loopholes bill pass the lower house, the greens and coalition team up...
Episode 157: Generational economic divide, Loopholes closer to closing & good news on renewables
Van Badham and Ben Davison give and update on the For Every Child public school funding campaign (www.foreverychild.au/postcard) , the Maritime Union...
Weekend Wrap 19 November 2023: Profiteers cash in, school funding needs fix and why Albo went to APEC
Ben Davison returns with the weekend wrap to look at how corporate share buy backs are further evidence of profiteering driving inflation and why the...
Episode 156: Wages rise, Duttons dangerous disinformation, why school funding is a targeted use of the surplus and good news for stone workers
Van Badham and Ben Davison dig into the best wage rise numbers in more than 20 years, discuss why many people will still be going backwards and, as th...
Episode 155: Optus outage chaos, new RBA is just like the old RBA and good news from America
Van Badham and Ben Davison dish the latest on the Optus outage chaos that has swept across Australia - and argue why key national infrastructure shoul...
Episode 154: Corporates fight to keep loopholes, Be that teacher for every child, Medicare boost and good news about spiders
Van Badham and Ben Davison shine on a spotlight on the attempts by corporate giants BHP, Qantas and Doordash to keep the labour hire, forced casualisa...
Weekend Wrap 29 October 2023: Albo goes to Washington, Insiders misses context and the rules based order
Ben Davison gives a breakdown of Anthony Albanese's successful state visit to the United States and places it in the context of what has been happenin...
Episode 153: Unions ban deadly dust, Profits fuel inflation pain, World Teachers Day and good battery news
Van Badham and Ben Davison are back with a new podcast episode that tackles why anyone would want to keep making a product that kills the workers who...
Weekend Wrap 22 October 2023: Middle East, Fee free TAFE, Worker actions, Parental leave, state tax bonfire
Ben Davison takes a look at some of the stories form this week that Insiders missed given their focus on the Middle East. While the situation in Isra...
Weekend Wrap 15 October 2023: Voice referendum lost, misinformation campaigning and workplace reforms
Van Badham joins Ben Davison for this post referendum special edition of the Weekend Wrap.
Our co-hosts look at what the results of the refere...
Episode 152: Republicans implode, referendum prepoll opens, rates on hold and good news about bears
Van Badham and Ben Davison take a deep dive into the murky waters of American politics as the Republican Party conspires to unseat one of its own from...
Weekend Wrap 1 October 2023:the No misinformation campaign, disability royal commission report, Pezzullo and public service
Ben Davison looks at the established research which shows the NO campaign is leveraging misinformation and a global network of disinformation campaign...
Episode 151: Dan departs as Allan ascends, a job for everyone who wants one, a referendum update and good news about kites
Van Badham and Ben Davison open by congratulating the workers who won their struggle with Inghams chicken, the artists in NSW who won restored funding...
Weekend Wrap 24 September 2023: No rallies, price gouging inquiry, workers take action
Ben Davison RETURNS with his weekend wrap!
Instead of breaking down Insiders he compares and contrasts the difference the Walk for YES last week...
Episode 150: Referendum disinformation, NSW budget, Victorian homes, worker rights and good news on seaweed
Van Badham and Ben Davison are BACK! Having, almost, recovered from their illnesses Van and Ben dissect the disinformation that is swamping the Voice...
Weekend Wrap 10 September: Pearson makes YES case on Insiders, Dutton delays billions in wages, unions win for workers
Ben Davison takes a look at Noel Pearson's Insiders interview and how he managed to cut through the misinformation, fear mongering and misdirection to...
Episode 149: Corporations fight secure work and better pay, Joyce leaves Qantas burning, economic growth and good news on solar glass
Van Badham and Ben Davison examine the government's bill to close the loopholes that are letting corporations take $9 billion from workers through for...
Weekend Wrap 3 September 2023: New rights for casuals, gig and labour hire workers, Qantas profiting from failure and you are the Voice
Ben Davison dives into the detail of the new workplace reforms that will give more rights to everyday working people who are casuals, gig workers or e...
Episode 148: The referendum is October 14, misogyny tars football and infects young men, inflation slows and good news about wind
Van Badham and Ben Davison discuss the official announcement of the Voice referendum date, October 14th, while taking a look at the campaigns, the mes...
Weekend Wrap 27 August 2023: Insiders review, intergeneration report and Dutton attacks democracy
Ben Davison is BACK from a week off with the latest Weekend Wrap. Insiders discussed productivity, taxes, industrial relations and education with mos...
Episode 147: Naplan shows need for school funding, CPAC goes full racist, ACTU report a rip off wins government taskforce and good news about micro plastics
Van Badham and Ben Davison take a look at how the release of NAPLAN results highlights the need for our public schools to get the MINIMUM FUNDING that...
Episode 146: Matildas mania, Trumps troubles, new deal on housing as wages reset plus wind in Wollongong
Van Badham and Ben Davison are all in with the Matildas, Till its done, so take a look at the cultural phenomena that has become the Australian Women'...
Weekend Wrap 13 August 2023: Littleproud on Insiders exposes how much Coalition policy is driven by lobbyists
Ben Davison, voice croaky from celebrating the Matildas win, breaks down why the leader of the Nationals, and senior member of the Coalition, would go...
Episode 145: Matildas and billion dollar Barbie recasting the role of girls, ACTU price gauging inquiry, Dutton diverted community safety funds and good news about Quolls
Van Badham and Ben Davison discuss how the on and off-field success of The Matildas are making us rethink traditional limitations about the role of gi...
SPECIAL Weekend Wrap: Dutton’s Garma dishonesty, parliament wrap , bosses bemoan worker rights, teachers and truck drivers take a stand
Van Badham joins Ben Davison for an extended Weekend Wrap to look at Dutton's dishonesty about Garma being exposed on Insiders, the bosses pamphlet (A...
Van Badham in conversation with Miles Taylor, former Trump National Security Advisor and author of Blowback
Welcome to our first “The Week On Wednesday presents Van Badham in Conversation With…”. And it is A CORKER.
Miles Taylor is a former national se...
Weekend Wrap 30 July 2023: Education, economic management, workplace reforms, housing, The Voice
Ben Davison is BACK after a two week break with a deep dive on the FIVE big issues that should be dominating the national debate.
98% of our pub...
Episode 144: Murdoch and the NO campaign, inflation falls as neo-liberalism fails, the end of forced casualisation and good news about trees
Van Badham and Ben Davison look at how actors, screen writers and even NRL players are getting organised because they need the power of standing toget...