G'day, humans. Welcome to the safe space for dangerous ideas. Today's guest is one of the most

recognizable politicians in Australia. She's a federal member of parliament. And the uncomfortable

conversation, the dangerous idea, we are plumbing with Allegra Spender, is that the way that our

governments spend money and the way that they raise it in taxation

massively benefits older people, wealthier people, and massively disadvantages younger people

who are trying to build their wealth for the future, and that if we are going to hold society

together and keep liberal democracy robust.

We need root and branch reform of things that sound incredibly boring but are actually really

important and are fundamental to young humans building productive lives, basically

taxes and productivity.

As I mentioned, Allegra Spender is a member of parliament, but not just any member of parliament.

She's an independent federal member of parliament.

So to our American listeners, imagine a person unaffiliated with a political party running in a

congressional district against a Republican candidate and a Democratic candidate and beating both

of them and going to Washington as a member

of Congress. That's what Allegra Spender did with some help. She was part of a wave of independence

in the 2022 election that swept aside the moribund decade-old conservative party in Australia,

not through a massive victory from the left, but through a victory of these

centrist, centre-right independence called the Teals, who largely ran on climate change,

economic reform, political integrity and gender equality.

Allegra Spender recently was part of a big analysis of Australian taxation and Australian economic reform,

and she has emerged from that balancing with a spring in her step about the importance of economic reform,

...