Just in time for a federal election campaign, the April Monthly is full of stories of politics and protest – the ways both inside and outside the system we can have a stake in our democratic outcomes. The man Annabel Crabb once dubbed “Australia’s explainer-in-chief”, George Megalogenis, offers a valuable insight into the election, and he places the budget promises, and the back and forth of the Albanese and Dutton camps, in the context of trends and traditions that might explain much about the likely outcomes. But overwhelmingly, he argues, the determining factors this May are going to be external influences and shocks. More than anything else, the effect of Donald Trump’s chaotic second term in the US will play a part in deciding what kind of government we have next.
Richard Denniss also offers his insights, asking why it is that the major parties seem unwilling or unable to engage with the issues that the electorate are most concerned with. Is the further rise of independents and minor parties inevitable?
Among those issues, the environment and the climate crisis continue to exercise voters, without the level of engagement from federal politics that concerned citizens want to see. Jo Chandler looks at what drives people from climate anxiety to direct action, with a surprisingly hopeful story of civic engagement and dedicated protest.
Elsewhere in the issue, we have John Stephenson on nuclear policy, Jenny Sinclair on bullying, Madison Griffiths on medical misogyny and Ashley Hay on Tropical Cyclone Alfred. Plus the usual mix of film, TV, music and book criticism, a new short story from Alex Miller and more. All in the April Monthly.