G'day, humans. I'm on the road this week. If I sound a little muffled, it's because I'm sitting on a dusty bed in a cheap motel room in the nation's capital of Canberra.

The Australian Capital Territory, the Bush Capital, they call it. And I know you probably think that my travel habits are somewhat more glamorous than that.

You probably have images of me stepping off a private jet into a stretched limousine to whisk me to my four-season suite.

And yes, I do that sometimes.

But this weekend, I'm in the nation's capital to bring you a special episode about whether or not it's possible to still

have big ideas in politics.

I'm speaking with the man who tried to drag Australia into the 21st century and failed

about the fate of the truly radical and visionary attempt to reform the political system, to reform the economic system,

whether we should aspire to such things, and if we're going to, how best to pull them off.

This is a conversation that is timely, and it's interesting, that is pressing, even here in Canberra, and that is yes,

still, perhaps now more than ever, uncomfortable.

It's a big show this week, as I mentioned, it's the man who's been called the best Prime Minister Australia never had.

In 1993, for a bit of background.

The government of the time, the ruling Labour Party, was fighting for its life.

It was going into an election that would give it a fifth

consecutive term with the Prime Minister Paul Keating going up against the only liberal leader

ever to have never had a cabinet-level political position. John Houston was his name. He was an

economics professor. Australia was emerging from the recession

of the late 80s and early 90s, so it seemed a perfect time for an economics professor to take

over the helm from a very long-serving Labor government. It was called the unloosable election

for John Hewson. And yet, he lost it.

Labor won re-election and then didn't win another election for another 14 years.

...