Post-Growth Australia Podcast

This episode centres on a presentation given by Michael Bayliss to postgraduate students in April 2026 on the topic of Degrowth, as part of the Global Futures and Just Transformation course at Curtin University in Western Australia.

For this episode of the Post Growth Australia Podcast (PGAP) co-hosts Mark Allen and Michael Bayliss explore the emotional impact of becoming disconnected from home and place, an experience that can too often be a downstream consequence of the rapid pace of our growth-based culture. Michael and Mark share their own experiences and are joined by two special guests. Ron Birch is a long-time activist based in the Forest of Dean, UK, who among many achievements coordinated the Stratford Park Trees protest in Stroud in the late 1980’s. Jeannie Steed, a current resident of Albany who was born in the UK, shares her experience of feeling disconnected from her home country during a recent visit.

PGAP returns with a live community forum from the Albany Public Library, where host Michael Bayliss joins architect Julie de Jong and town planner Paul Kotsoglo to explore how Albany can manage rapid growth within ecological limits. The panel tackles big‑picture questions about planning, population, and whether continued expansion is compatible with protecting the region’s natural and social amenities. Strong audience engagement revealed a real appetite for deeper conversations on growth, and all three talks — plus supporting materials — are now available on PGAP. This episode also celebrates PGAP’s milestone of 40,000 downloads and acknowledges the support of Sustainable Population Australia and its “Live Within Limits” campaign.

In this episode of PGAP, host Michael Bayliss welcomes special guest Peter Tait, convenor of the Canberra Alliance for Participatory Democracy. Peter discusses the critical importance of citizen participation in the democratic process and how citizen assemblies have great potential in building momentum on issues such as planned Degrowth and population policy.

This year, the New Economy Network Australia (NENA), launched a new podcast, ‘Voices of the New Economy’ hosted by Dr Tiyana Jovanovic. For this very special episode of PGAP, we catch up with Tiyana to tell us more about ‘Voices of the New Economy’ and how podcasting is an important storytelling tool to encourage and facilitate change.