Who is Australia’s Zohran Mamdani?

2026-07-31

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In America, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has turned anger over rent, groceries and childcare into a powerful movement on the left. One with real momentum. In Australia, that same anger is increasingly being captured by Pauline Hanson and the populist right, while Labor retreats towards the centre. So attention is turning to who in Australia could make a Mamdani-style case for economic change, and to whether the Australian left has the organisation, discipline and ambition to build a movement around them. Today, freelance writer,...

In America, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has turned anger over rent, groceries and childcare into a powerful movement on the left. One with real momentum.

In Australia, that same anger is increasingly being captured by Pauline Hanson and the populist right, while Labor retreats towards the centre.

So attention is turning to who in Australia could make a Mamdani-style case for economic change, and to whether the Australian left has the organisation, discipline and ambition to build a movement around them.

Today, freelance writer, political commentator and host of RRR's Spin Cycle Rachel Withers, on the political figure the left is searching for, and whether the conditions exist to produce an Australian Mamdani.

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Guest: Writer and political commentator Rachel Withers

Photo: AP Photo/Heather Khalifa

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