Mark Kenny's Avatar

Mark Kenny

@markgkenny.bsky.social

Host, Democracy Sausage podcast. Director, Australian National University’s Aust Studies Institute. Columnist. Erstwhile chief political correspondent, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Canberra Times

3,215 Followers  |  14 Following  |  112 Posts  |  Joined: 15.11.2024  |  2.1348

Latest posts by markgkenny.bsky.social on Bluesky

Albanese’s subliminal message to British Labour government. Don’t do what we did.

Albanese’s subliminal message to British Labour government. Don’t do what we did.

05.10.2025 11:09 — 👍 24    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

Australias foreign policy is decided in Canberra, not Washington. To say these words at this time in that precise place was significant.

29.09.2025 04:31 — 👍 57    🔁 15    💬 8    📌 1
Democracy Sausage Episode: Universities in crisis | Australian Studies Institute

#AUListen #DemocracySausage 🎙️ Columnist Dr Jenna Price & economist Prof Sinclair Davidson join Dr @marijataflaga.bsky.social & Prof @markgkenny.bsky.social to dissect the crisis engulfing Australia's university sector and ask whether it can be fixed before it's too late.

Listen Now 👉 bit.ly/3ItV85C

25.09.2025 07:08 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 1    📌 1

Thanks Bruce!

17.09.2025 04:52 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Latest Democracy Sausage episode: Echo chamber politics | Australian Studies Institute

#AUListen #DemocracySausage 🎙️ Historian @frankbongiorno.bsky.social joins @markgkenny.bsky.social & @marijataflaga.bsky.social to dissect the Liberal Party's existential crisis and asks whether Australia's 'natural party of government' is heading for collapse.

🎧 ausi.anu.edu.au/news/latest-....

17.09.2025 03:20 — 👍 5    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 0

What do we want?
An uninterrupted, uniquely Australian and historically significant stream of literary consciousness.
When do we want it?
Now.
Protest against the closure of Meanjin. 9am, MUP Swanston St.

10.09.2025 22:15 — 👍 120    🔁 36    💬 4    📌 0
Post image

📣We are pleased to share that our Director, Prof @markgkenny.bsky.social, has been appointed the inaugural Australia in China Fellow.👏

Mark will visit China later this year to deliver public lectures and participate in academic & cultural exchange activities.

👉 fasic.org.au/Newsite/inde....

09.09.2025 03:14 — 👍 19    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0
Post image

I tossed around various headline ideas for this piece, ie: “No raucous in this caucus” or “All quiet in the ambition factory”. Who would have thought the largest ever Labor backbench would turn out to have its smallest voice.

08.09.2025 04:49 — 👍 133    🔁 52    💬 21    📌 7
Opinion: Labor is professionalised to the point of pointlessness. Its MPs need to find their voice | Australian Studies Institute

"Recent controversies suggest a government committing only to what it must while facing almost no internal pressure to aim higher or act faster."

#AUViews Read Now ausi.anu.edu.au/news/opinion... by @markgkenny.bsky.social via @canberratimes.bsky.social.

08.09.2025 02:57 — 👍 4    🔁 5    💬 0    📌 1
Post image 31.08.2025 11:57 — 👍 33    🔁 12    💬 2    📌 1
Preview
Democracy Sausage: In the dead centre Economist Richard Denniss joins Democracy Sausage and argues policies suffer because of our need to find the centre in any debate.

+ listen to this cogent conversation between @markgkenny.bsky.social & @richarddenniss.bsky.social

reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/...

23.08.2025 02:04 — 👍 12    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0
Preview
Democracy Sausage: In the dead centre Economist Richard Denniss joins Democracy Sausage and argues policies suffer because of our need to find the centre in any debate.

Just in time for your commute home! @richarddenniss.bsky.social and @markgkenny.bsky.social dig into the relationship between policy, evidence and politics in the latest episode of Democracy Sausage.

12.08.2025 06:01 — 👍 22    🔁 11    💬 1    📌 0
Preview
Democracy Sausage: In the dead centre Economist Richard Denniss joins Democracy Sausage and argues policies suffer because of our need to find the centre in any debate.

Absolutely 👍. Loads pithy political home-truths voters need to hear: eg: 21min - MK on 'post office honesty'; RD: 'don't want to wait 10y to read (polies) autobio to discover (they) agreed with me all along'.
@richarddenniss.bsky.social
@markgkenny.bsky.social
reporter.anu.edu.au/all-stories/...

19.08.2025 09:00 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

Because obviously the most significant aspect of this story is whatever utterly predictable commentary is offered by the Israeli ambassador.

11.08.2025 05:41 — 👍 82    🔁 11    💬 10    📌 2
Preview
As scholars of genocide, we demand an end to Israel’s atrocities | Open letter Within weeks, 400 colleagues joined our organization. We say: it is not too late to save lives. End the genocide now

Srsly what would 400 scholars of genocide and Holocaust studies know about genocide

29.07.2025 10:25 — 👍 144    🔁 73    💬 4    📌 3
Preview
Latest Democracy Sausage episode: Speaking loud and soft Security expert John Blaxland joins Democracy Sausage to talk Trump, Australia and taking a strategic approach to the relationship. As parliament returns and a new opposition leader in place, what ca...

#ICYMI On the latest #DemocracySausage ep🎙️Professor John Blaxland joins @markgkenny.bsky.social and @marijataflaga.bsky.social to discuss the tone in new parliament, the US-Australia relationship and AUKUS.

#AUListen 🎧 bit.ly/40wZ1MV.

25.07.2025 05:01 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
Post image

I concur.

19.07.2025 23:21 — 👍 67    🔁 19    💬 5    📌 2
Preview
Democracy Sausage Episode: Pressure to act Historian Frank Bongiorno joins Democracy Sausage talk about political independence, and the pressure to be agile and take action.Is Albanese’s John Curtin Oration pivot-point speech on the level of C...

On the latest #DemocracySausage ep🎙️historian @frankbongiorno.bsky.social joins @markgkenny.bsky.social & @marijataflaga.bsky.social to unpack the current political environment and discuss how you cannot stand still in response to uncertainty. #auspol

#AUListen 🎧 bit.ly/3THTz5Z.

17.07.2025 00:01 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

A straightforward recitation of the Trump administration sounds completely deranged and implausible.
Australian journalist Mark Kenny
bsky.app/profile/mark...

16.07.2025 14:16 — 👍 13    🔁 4    💬 1    📌 0
Preview
Pressure to act Podcast Episode · Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny · 15/07/2025 · 46m

"My prediction is that #AUKUS will be one of the *great* defence debacles, in terms of cost blowouts, and so-called deliverables.
And strategic risks: it's meant to deliver security, but potentially makes Australian bases targets in a war." @markgkenny.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/p...

15.07.2025 21:34 — 👍 19    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
Preview
Democracy Sausage Episode: The pendulum swing The numbers are in. Pollster Shaun Ratcliff joins Democracy Sausage to dissect the latest election data and what it means for the future of #auspol.What do the numbers tell us about when the shift to ...

What happened at the 2025 election? When did the race turn in Labor's favour, and what do the results mean for Australian politics in the future?

Recently, I had the pleasure of joining Marija Taflaga and @markgkenny.bsky.social to answers these questions, and more

ausi.anu.edu.au/news/democra...

14.07.2025 23:43 — 👍 7    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0
Post image 13.07.2025 12:45 — 👍 40    🔁 15    💬 6    📌 2
Preview
Obama and Bush call Trump’s USAID closure a ‘travesty’ as report warns of 14 million extra deaths Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush and singer Bono send emotional message to staff as organisation closes

A new study in the Lancet says the closure of USAID could lead to the premature deaths of more than 14 million people in less than five years, including 4.5 million children under the age of 5.

Donald Trump chose this. www.theguardian.com/...

03.07.2025 06:36 — 👍 54    🔁 28    💬 3    📌 4
Preview
Opinion: Major questions facing Australia and the West By Mark KennyA version of this article was originally published by The Canberra Times.How did you feel when Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, removed aid from the poorest people on the planet?I...

"In this, the age of impunity, Sir Major invites us to consider whether we are different from Trump's Americans or merely distant." #AUViews

bit.ly/4nBkKNo by @markgkenny.bsky.social via @canberratimes.bsky.social.

07.07.2025 05:39 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
Post image 06.07.2025 00:42 — 👍 40    🔁 13    💬 7    📌 3
Post image

Excellent piece this. What a tragedy.

04.07.2025 06:01 — 👍 44    🔁 16    💬 4    📌 3
Preview
Bending the knee Podcast Episode · Democracy Sausage with Mark Kenny · 01/07/2025 · 43m

"We need to put #AUKUS to a parliamentary inquiry - subject it to some democratic scrutiny.
...the Albanese govt has the political space to do it, and it would allow us to rebalance our relationship with the US."
@emmashortis.bsky.social & @markgkenny.bsky.social.
podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/b...

02.07.2025 05:47 — 👍 65    🔁 26    💬 0    📌 1

My 95 year old mother hated Dutton and Morrison even though she is a conservative but googled Ley’s press club speech and was quite impressed.

29.06.2025 07:05 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 0
Post image 29.06.2025 05:11 — 👍 36    🔁 8    💬 9    📌 0

@markgkenny is following 14 prominent accounts