Federal politics; Rutger Bregman overturns centuries of belief in the selfishness of humankind; Emma Shortis on US politics and widespread protests against racism and police violence

Uncommon Sense

Amy speaks with historian Rutger Bregman about his timely new book, Humankind: A Hopeful History. Rutger delves into the evidence for why and how most humans are actually pretty decent, and just how radical it is to believe this. Rutger last joined the show in July 2017 to talk about his book, Utopia For Realists. US politics expert Dr Emma Shortis from RMIT joins Amy to examine the protests occurring across North America (and the world) in response to the police killing of African-American man George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25. And Ben Eltham from New Matilda chats about the latest in federal politics, including the government’s announcement they will be refunding $721 million to people who were incorrectly told they owed money to Centrelink, the so-called 'robodebt' scheme.