This week on the Policy Forum Pod, we put science and science policy under the microscope and wonder where it was in the recent Australian election campaign. We also take a look at whether the long-term vision needed to tackle the big science challenges of our time can ever stand up to the short-termism that dominates the country’s politics.

On this National Security Podcast, Samantha Ravich and Andy Kennedy join Katherine Mansted to talk about different aspects of the growing convergence between economics and security.

Nepal’s federal government is rapidly evolving, but the nation’s judiciary must do more to keep up. The powerful role of the courts offers an opportunity to change Nepali political culture and provide leadership, George Varughese and Iain Payne write.

As competition rises amongst major powers of the Indo-Pacific, so do concerns around China’s increasing involvement in small Pacific nations and their economies, Bahauddin Foizee writes.

How do we do democracy in a time when voters’ relationships with political parties are increasingly strained? And could a citizens’ assembly fix Brexit better than Boris?

While debates around freedom and security are crucial to democracy, there are bigger issues around the role and behaviour of Australia’s government at stake, James Mortensen writes.