Why Australian leaders are avoiding in-depth political podcasts

Why was Anthony Albanese a guest on a UK politics podcast last week? Maybe because Australians prefer general news podcasts instead of a deep dive into political banter.

Anthony Albanese with The Rest Is Politics UK hosts Alastair Campbell, left, and Rory Stewart.

With less than one week until election day, and a focus on new media from all the major parties this year, there is perhaps one hole in the media space.

Where are the spirited long-form podcast debates between current or former politicians defending their parties and tearing down their opponents?

In the US and UK there are chart-topping political podcasts pulling big crowds and filling stadiums when they do live tours.

The UK has The Rest is Politics (UK and US editions) and The Newsagents featuring the likes of former UK Labour strategist Alastair Campbell and former Tory MP Rory Stewart on the former and one-time BBC star reporters John Sopel and Emily Maitlis on the latter.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was a guest on the UK edition of The Rest is Politics just last week.

In the US, the Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson podcasts rank in the top 20, as does Pod Save America hosted by aides of former president Barack Obama.

The biggest podcast in the world is The Joe Rogan Experience and he doesn’t shy away from three-hour debates with politicians.

Australian listeners prefer news with their political diet, which is why the likes of The Australian’s daily podcast, The Front, does so well. It sits inside the Podcast Ranker top 40 with 180,000 monthly listeners.

Also performing with similar numbers is LiSTNR’s twice-daily news podcast, The Briefing, and the ABC’s Politics Now, which publishes five episodes a week on different days with different hosts including Patricia Karvelas, Fran Kelly and David Speers.

While politicians have been making a beeline for podcast studios, they tend to favour lifestyle interviews as opposed to facing tough questions.

Both The Briefing and The Daily Aus have expressed frustration at getting leaders to visit for an interview.

The Australian’s The Front is hosted by Claire Harvey. She explained they do talk about Canberra, but added: “We try not to bombard the audience with too much politics. It is a different audience from The Australian’s print and digital readers.

“There is some overlap, but they’re not necessarily the same politics and business junkies who are reading The Australian.”

First broadcast in March 2022, Harvey noted the podcast is free for all listeners. As one of the few things not behind the newsbrand’s paywall it is a way into the newspaper and website for many.

The five weekday episodes are complemented by the weekend episode, which features arts and culture.

Harvey speaks with a journalist from the paper each day, often using audio from interviews they have done for their stories.

Episodes are also published on YouTube. The most-watched video is last year’s report on tribal warfare in Papua New Guinea with over three million views.

Of the podcast’s place on the Podcast Ranker chart, Harvey grinned and said: “I would like it to be number one, but I don’t know if we’re going to knock off Hamish and Andy anytime soon.”

Clair Weaver is SCA’s head of factual at its on-demand and live audio platform LiSTNR, and looks after The Briefing. She recently signed Natarsha Belling for the afternoon edition and the weekend feature interview is conducted by Antoinette Lattouf.

“Australian audiences like to get their politics from news podcasts,” she explained. “On The Briefing we cover the headlines and then do a deep dive on one subject, sometimes politics.

“We have noticed how the political leaders manage to find time for lifestyle podcasts hosted by influencers, they are less keen to come on news podcasts.”

Other daily podcasts based on news updates include Squiz Today, The Daily Aus, 7am, Mamamia’s The Quicky, The Guardian’s Full Story and Nine’s The Morning Edition.