Policy, power and who pays.
Follow The Money treats budgets, alliances and prices as evidence of who holds power. Led by Ebony Bennett, it moves quickly from headline events to the policy choices beneath them, with a strong focus on Australia’s place in a volatile world.
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Follow The Money is built around a simple premise: public money reveals public values. The show follows that premise through Australian politics, global conflict, household costs and the industries that profit when policy fails. It is serious without being obscure. It is partisan in the sense that it argues from a clear view of power, but its best episodes work by tracing the practical chain from decision to consequence. Petrol prices are not just petrol prices. They become a way to talk about the US-Israel war on Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, global fuel markets and Australia’s vulnerability to shocks it does not control. Gas prices are not just a consumer complaint. They become an argument about export dependence, tax design, fossil fuel profits and whether a wealthy resource country can afford services that improve ordinary lives. AUKUS is not treated as a defence brand. It is examined as a possible surrender of future Australian decision-making to an American administration. That gives the show its shape: start with the news, name the interests, follow the money. Ebony Bennett’s role is central. She introduces the stakes sharply, places guests inside a larger policy argument, and keeps the conversation moving toward what governments could do differently. Recent episodes bring in figures such as Yanis Varoufakis on austerity and resistance, Gary Stevenson on inequality and housing, and Niki Savva on the Liberal Party’s modern crisis. The range is broad, but the through-line stays tight. Wealth inequality, fossil fuel subsidies, foreign policy, climate, housing affordability and party strategy all return to questions of who benefits and who misses out. The show’s language is accessible, with enough policy detail to keep the argument grounded. It does not pretend every side is equally persuasive. That bluntness is part of its appeal. Follow The Money is for listeners who want Australian political economy explained with urgency, evidence and moral clarity, especially when the topic is framed by war, climate pressure or the cost of living.
Made for: For listeners who want Australian politics explained through money, markets, public choices and global pressure. It especially suits people drawn to serious, reform-minded analysis of energy, defence, inequality and party politics.
What sets it apart: The show connects daily political arguments to concrete economic consequences, then asks who gains from the arrangement. Its edge comes from combining plain-English explanation with a firm editorial stance on vested interests and government choices.
Economics and politics explained in plain English
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Australian policy becomes concrete through interviews that track political choices into their economic consequences and effects on national independence.
Follow The Money turns Australian policy disputes into pointed conversations about power, incentives and consequences. Adam Gottschalk, Ebony Bennett and Alice Grundy lead guest interviews that connect immediate political arguments to the structures beneath them, from…
Australia's big promises meet the awkward question: who pays, and who profits?
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brisk, grounded look at how AUKUS turns military commitments into questions of Australian sovereignty.
Follow The Money frames AUKUS as a sovereignty question, asking how the submarine deal could draw future Australian governments closer to the United States and Israel's war on Iran.
A clear look at how asset prices and housing policy turn wealth inequality into everyday economic pressure.
Wealth inequality is framed through the pressure of rising asset prices, with housing doing most of the work. The clearest stretch is the argument that a five percent deposit scheme might widen access for a moment, then risk feeding higher prices and leaving buyers carrying…
Polling on an export gas tax sharpens the Liberal Party's struggle to make policy mean something politically.
The Liberal Party's worst result in modern history gives the episode its pressure, but the real question is whether the party can still make a coherent political case.
A sharp look at how culture-war politics can reveal doubts about economic credibility.
Follow The Money's summer book club takes up Bad Cop, Peter Dutton's strongman politics, and uses it to examine the shape of Dutton's political appeal.
A clear climate-policy review of Australia's energy choices and the political will needed to change them.
Australia's climate choices come through here as a question of policy nerve rather than abstract concern. The Summer Book Club conversation turns climate failure into a case for changing the country's energy direction, with the guest arguing that new gas and coal approvals…
Combative Canberra commentary with an Australia-first edge.
Australian policy pressure, tested daily.
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This episode discusses how the Trump administration's actions are undermining global security and straining the US-Australia alliance.
Yanis Varoufakis discusses his experience as Greek finance minister, resistance to austerity, and the potential for a different economic future.
This episode discusses how the US-Israel conflict with Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are causing global fuel price spikes, but major shortages in Australia are unlikely.
This episode discusses how implementing a gas export tax in Australia could generate significant revenue to fund social programs like free childcare and education, while addressing the country's energy crisis and reliance on expensive gas exports.
This episode of Follow the Money discusses Australia's fossil fuel subsidies and the living standards crisis, highlighting the disconnect between government support for mining companies and the struggles of ordinary Australians.
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Gary Stevenson says wealth taxes are popular with Conservative voters and Labour still refuses to engage.
Nikki Savva tells Ebony Bennett that the Liberal Party is “on the brink of extinction” after catastrophic election defeats in 2022 and 2025.
Former Labor senator Doug Cameron criticizes the AUKUS submarine deal for its secrecy, cost, and lack of democratic oversight, arguing it undermines Australian sovereignty.
Richard Denniss discusses how the obsession with the 'sensible center' in Australian politics prevents decisive action on issues like climate, gambling, and corruption.
This episode of Follow the Money discusses the Orca submarine deal as a symptom of Australia's uncritical alignment with US wars, and analyzes the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites under Trump.
This episode discusses the threat to ancient Aboriginal rock art in Murujuga from industrial pollution and gas expansion.