Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Streptococcus pyogenes is a critical micro-organism for every doctor to know about.

It is a gram positive coccus that grows in chains and has the potential to cause significant morbidity and even mortality. It has taken us centuries to learn the significance of this infection and is a testament to modern day medicine that its complications are rare.

This is the story of Streptococcus Pyogenes.

Streptococcus pyogenes is a critical micro-organism for every doctor to know about.
It is a gram positive coccus that grows in chains and has the potential to cause significant morbidity and even mortality. It has taken us centuries to learn the significance of this infection and is a testament to modern day medicine that its complications are rare.
This is the story of Streptococcus Pyogenes.

Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.


Hosted by Dr. Travis Brown and Steve Davis, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession. From experience, we know that our audience extends beyond these fields and would like to welcome anyone to listen. The stories of those who came before us are nothing short of remarkable and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Production by Tim Whiffen

Design by Tom Buzz

Welcome to the This Medical Life podcast. Our mission is to share stories about the triumphs and tragedies of diseases and illnesses from ancient times up until what we know today. It is about those scientific and medical minds who came before us and how, every single day, we stand on the shoulders of giants. This is a podcast about the stories of medicine.
 Hosted by <a href="https://twitter.com/drtravisbrown">Dr. Travis Brown</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/stevedavis">Steve Davis</a>, our target audience is General Practitioners, medical students, and other health professionals. We hope to educate, inspire and celebrate those who choose to care for others in their profession. From experience, we know that our audience extends beyond these fields and would like to welcome anyone to listen. The stories of those who came before us are nothing short of remarkable and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do. Production by <a href="https://whimsyproductions.com/">Tim Whiffen</a> Design by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/tom.buzz/">Tom Buzz</a>

This Medical Life

Auscast Medical Channel is a podcast channel that provides a wide range of medical-related content. The podcasts feature interviews with experts in various medical fields, including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, as well as discussions on the latest medical research and treatment options. The channel covers a wide range of topics, including general health, mental health, and specific medical conditions. The podcasts are aimed at both healthcare professionals and the general public, and provide listeners with the latest information and insights on healthcare topics. Auscast Medical Channel is a great resource for staying informed about medical issues and trends, and for learning more about how to care for yourself and your loved ones.

Auscast Medical Channel is a podcast channel that provides a wide range of medical-related content. The podcasts feature interviews with experts in various medical fields, including doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, as well as discussions on the latest medical research and treatment options. The channel covers a wide range of topics, including general health, mental health, and specific medical conditions. The podcasts are aimed at both healthcare professionals and the general public, and provide listeners with the latest information and insights on healthcare topics. Auscast Medical Channel is a great resource for staying informed about medical issues and trends, and for learning more about how to care for yourself and your loved ones.

Auscast Medical

A weekly podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, news, interviews, chat and quizzes. 

Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. 

The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis and Nigel Dobson-Keeffe.

Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday (when we have published a new episode) with an overview of that week's show. Plus, consider joining our Inner Circle; a small group of passionate South Aussies who allow us to pick their brains and gain interviewee suggestions.

This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us each week as a co-presenter to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, ...

The Adelaide Show

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, and general news. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis, and ends with an original song by a South Australian artist. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday with an overview of that week's show. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

A podcast recorded in Adelaide that puts South Australian passion on centre stage with a featured guest who joins us to share how they're pursuing their passions. We venture across topics as diverse as history, wine, food, art, music, relationships, critical thinking, health, and general news. Every single interview, every single show, unlocks insights into what drives people to be doing what they're doing and what keeps them striving. The Adelaide Show is produced by Steve Davis, and ends with an original song by a South Australian artist. Please subscribe to our In Crowd list; you get an email each Friday with an overview of that week's show. This podcast began life as Another Boring Thursday Night In Adelaide from episodes 1-79.

Episode 22: Group A Streptococcus / Streptococcus Pyogenes | A Classical Killer

SA Drink Of The Week

Steve Davis and Steve Davis

Musical Pilgrimage

When Indian cricket fans unleash fury on Twitter about disputed LBW calls, host Steve Davis fields the abuse meant for someone else. This episode brings together both Steve Davises for the first time. The retired umpire who stood in 57 Test matches shares what it’s like to make split-second decisions in front of millions, survive a terrorist attack in Lahore, and maintain composure when Shane Warne announces his next delivery to the batter.

The SA Drink of the Week features Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars’ 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Langhorne Creek, tasted and endorsed by both Steve Davises. The wine presents an intriguing contradiction, its dark appearance suggesting heavy Barossa Shiraz, yet delivering a lighter, fruit-forward palette that Joe Evans recommends chilling for summer enjoyment.

The Musical Pilgrimage features Steve Davis and the Virtualosos with “From the Cathedral to the City End,” weaving together Test cricket, Adelaide Oval, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into a meditation on how this game brings us together.

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concise
page.

Running Sheet: Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:01:50 SA Drink Of The Week

The SA Drink Of The Week this week is a 2024 Ballycroft Montepelciano.

Joe Evans of Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars made an unexpected connection five weeks before this recording. During a Barossa wine tour for friends visiting from England, Steve Davis the umpire introduced himself at the cellar door. Joe mentioned knowing another Steve Davis from Adelaide, someone involved in cricket. The dots joined. Both Steve Davises then converged on this episode, linked by Langhorne Creek grapes and the patron saint of Adelaide.

The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano arrives in the glass looking deceptively heavy. Its dark colour suggests bold Barossa Shiraz, thick and commanding. Yet the first sip tells a different story. Light fruit dances on the palette, a brightness unexpected from that brooding appearance. Joe recommends chilling it slightly and serving through summer, perfect with Italian or Mexican food.

Steve the umpire remembers that 10:30am Sunday morning tasting at Ballycroft. When Joe poured this wine, Steve thought immediately of Barossa Shiraz. That’s his drink. But then came the taste, revealing something gentler yet structured. The wine builds as it sits on the palette, gaining weight and presence. Like a pitch heading into day three or four, settling into its rhythm rather than losing life.

The conversation meanders through wine, travel and cuisine. West Indies food has never won Steve’s heart, so more of this Montepulciano would help those meals considerably. Host Steve notes how the wine shifts from what seems like a marriage between Pinot Noir and rosé to something with genuine body and staying power. It’s not Pinot weight, not Grenache or Merlot either. The complexity reveals itself slowly, rewarding patience.

The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars, endorsed by two Steve Davises, stands as this week’s South Australian drink.

00:10:25 Steve Davis and Steve Davis

INTRODUCTION:
So, I need to come clean about something. For years on Twitter, I’ve been fielding abuse meant for someone else. Indian cricket fans would see “Steve Davis” and unleash fury about a disputed LBW or a missed edge – and when I’d reply, mortified apologies would flood in. They’d meant the *other* Steve Davis. The one who stood in 57 Test matches, 137 ODIs, survived a terrorist attack in Lahore, and spent 25 years making split-second decisions in front of millions. Today, finally, I get to meet the bloke whose honour I’ve been accidentally defending. Steve Davis, welcome to The Adelaide Show.

NOTES:

The conversation begins with a revelation. Far from being retired, Steve Davis the umpire spends twelve months a year refereeing cricket across two continents. Every six months he travels to England for County Cricket, returning to Australia for Sheffield Shield and Big Bash matches. When he thought retirement from umpiring might leave him lost, the England and Wales Cricket Board offered him a lifeline that turned into a globe-trotting vocation.

His cricket origins trace back to Elizabeth, newly formed with perhaps eight houses when his parents arrived as ten-pound Poms. His father Dave Davis played for WRE Cricket Club alongside John Scarce, whose son Kevin Scarce kept wicket for Steve at Elizabeth High School and later became Governor of South Australia. Cricket in Adelaide was woven through family, friendship and those Saturday afternoons where you’d stand in as a sub fielder, watching your father’s team and falling deeper into the game’s rhythm.

The path to international umpiring began humbly in D Grade after finishing his playing career at West Torrens. Within two seasons he’d progressed to A Grade, and by November 1990 he was officiating his first Sheffield Shield match. His debut came partly through circumstance rather than genius. When Tony Crafter retired to become Australia’s first full-time umpire manager, a vacancy opened among South Australia’s two eligible international umpires. Steve joined Darryl Harper in that select group.

On 12 December 1992, exactly 33 years ago yesterday, he walked onto Adelaide Oval for his first One Day International. Pakistan versus West Indies. His home ground, but the nerves were overwhelming. Terry Prue, his Western Australian colleague, radioed from square leg to report that Richie Richardson had noticed Steve missing all of Wasim Akram’s no balls. In his nervousness, he’d forgotten to look down at the front foot. When he finally started calling them, Wasim’s response was gentlemanly: “Oh, come on, we’re all friends out here. Give me a bit of warning.”
The umpire’s process demands intense concentration. First, watch the front foot land. The moment it’s safe, eyes shoot straight to the bottom of the stumps, letting the ball come into view. As soon as the ball dies, switch off briefly, then begin again. Steve ran his counter one ball ahead, clicking after each delivery so the number five meant two balls remaining. This meant no clicking back for no balls, just not clicking forward. Tim May once stopped mid-delivery and demanded Steve stop clicking his counter during the run-up.

His Ashes Test debut at Adelaide Oval in 1997, just his second Test match, stands as one of his finest days. He got every decision right on a 44-degree day when England lost the toss and their bowlers were bowling one-over spells in the heat. Steve Bucknor, his partner that day, also had a flawless match. Alex Stewart still calls him “legend” when they meet at English grounds.

The Decision Review System arrived while Steve was umpiring, transforming the role completely. Some umpires, like Mark Benson, couldn’t handle seeing their decisions overturned repeatedly. Benson flew home after two days of a Test match in Australia and never returned to international cricket. Steve embraced DRS immediately. His philosophy was simple: we’re going to end up with the right decision. Better that than five days of a team reminding you about that first-ball error while the batter you gave not out compiles a century.

These days, third umpires call all no balls in televised matches. The technology highlights the foot crossing the line, removing that split-second judgment from the on-field umpire. Steve wonders if he’d survive in today’s game, his neural networks so hardwired to glance down then up that retraining might prove impossible.

The theatre of the raised finger remains cricket’s most iconic gesture. Steve took his time with it, though not as long as his late friend Rudy Koertzen, dubbed “Slow Death” for the excruciating journey his hand took from behind his back to above his head. Some umpires point at the batter instead of raising the finger, a practice Steve abhors. The law says raise the index finger above your head. The drama lies in that pause, that moment of tension before the finger rises.

He carried the essentials: a counter, a wallet-style kit with sprig tightener, pen and pencil, notepad for recording incidents, light meter readings, and lip balm. Some umpires packed their pockets with everything imaginable, but Steve kept it minimal. His process worked. He knew what every ball demanded of him.

Shane Warne’s deliveries would fizz through the air with such spin and accuracy that he’d announce his intentions to batters. “This is my wrong one. This one’s going on your leg stump.” It worked brilliantly, planting doubt even as batters wondered if he really meant it. Murali presented different challenges. Steve couldn’t predict where his deliveries would spin until he noticed Sangakkara’s gloves lining up behind the stumps. The great wicketkeeper knew exactly where every Murali ball was heading, providing Steve a crucial visual cue.

The conversation turns to safety. Fast bowlers send the ball down at 150 kilometres per hour. When batters connect with the full force of their bats, that ball can come back even faster. Steve got hit more than once. At St Lucia during a West Indies versus Pakistan match, he turned at the wrong moment and the ball struck him square in the backside. Looking up at the big screen, he saw himself mouthing the words that immediately came out, while David Boon and Paul Reiffel, his Australian colleagues that day, doubled over in laughter. The Pakistani batter complained that Steve cost him four runs. Steve’s reply: “Bad luck. You cost me a bruised bum.”

The smashing of glass still triggers something in him. Loud noises. Fireworks. His wife Annie says he didn’t get enough counselling after Lahore. She’s probably right. On 3 March 2009, terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team’s convoy in Lahore. Steve’s van, carrying the umpires, was the only vehicle left in the roundabout after the team’s bus escaped. Every window was shot out. The driver died instantly from a gunshot wound. All five security outriders were killed. Lying on the floor among broken glass, Steve thought: this is not the way I should die. Not here. Not on the way to umpire a Test match.

They survived. The terrorists realised the Sri Lankan team had escaped and stopped firing. Steve returned to umpiring but never went back to Pakistan. He did return to other parts of the subcontinent, to other places that required trusting local security. During the drive back to the hotel after the attack, past kids playing cricket on dust bowls, he knew Pakistan wouldn’t see international cricket for years. Those kids who loved the game wouldn’t see their heroes. The political and ideological conflicts would keep cricket away.

Asked which game he’d relive for eternity, Steve chooses that second Test match at Adelaide Oval. The Ashes. England versus Australia. His home ground. Forty-four degrees. Every decision correct. Recognition from players like Alex Stewart who still speak warmly of his performance. It represents everything he worked towards: getting it right when it mattered most, on the ground where he grew up watching cricket, in the series that defines the sport.

He umpired with characters who became dear friends. Ian Gould, whose father was also named Cyril George, just like Steve’s dad. An impossibly unlikely pairing of names that bonded them immediately. In Calcutta, when Gould was being carted off to hospital with dehydration, he had to fill out a form listing his father’s name while smoking and drinking black tea. Steve looked over his shoulder and saw “Cyril George” written there. On Gould’s final stint umpiring in Birmingham, Steve was the referee. They spent every evening walking the canals with a few pints, the only four-day match where Steve never filed a meal claim. Rudy Koertzen. Steve Bucknor. These were the colleagues who made the profession worthwhile.

The spirit of cricket exists, though interpretation varies. Steve recalls Andrew Strauss making a fair point during the Steve Finn incident at Leeds. Finn had a habit of knocking the bails off at the bowler’s end with his knee during his delivery stride. Both batsmen, Graeme Smith and Alvaro Petersen, complained it was distracting. When Finn did it again and Smith edged to Strauss for a catch, Steve had already signalled dead ball. Strauss came over and said quietly: “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to do that?” Steve acknowledged it was a fair point. He probably should have warned the captain. The laws changed after that Test. If stumps are dislodged at the bowler’s end, it’s now a no ball. Cricket people sometimes call it the Steve Finn Steve Davis law change.

Cricket’s hierarchy remains clear. Test cricket stands at the pinnacle. Always has, always will. Ask any umpire who the best officials are, and they’ll list those who’ve done the most Tests. Steve’s 57 Tests mean everything to him. The 137 ODIs are nice, but Tests define an umpiring career. The Hundred in England draws families beautifully, but Test cricket is where greatness lives.

At the end of play, Steve would call “Time, gentlemen. That’s time.” A simple phrase marking the end of another day’s combat, another day of split-second decisions, theatre, and that noble spirit that still runs through cricket despite everything that tries to corrupt it.

02:00:15 Musical Pilgrimage

In the Musical Pilgrimage, we listen to From The Cathedral To The City End by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos.

IThe Cathedral looms over Adelaide Oval, watching cricket unfold from the city of churches. Steve Davis and the Virtualosos have woven together Test cricket, the Cathedral End, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into “From the Cathedral to the City End.” The song opens with the Prayer of Humble Access rewritten: “We do not presume to come to this thy over trusting in our own righteousness.”

Host Steve explains his childhood love for that beautiful English language, attending Church of England services where those words embedded themselves in his memory. The prayer’s cadence and dignity stayed with him. When writing this song, he wanted to capture three elements: Test cricket, Adelaide Oval’s special significance through Bradman and Bodyline, and that cathedral presence overlooking the ground.

The question arises: have you ever stood as an umpire and thought a captain made a terrible decision bringing on a particular bowler at the wrong end? Steve the umpire smiles. Sure, sometimes you think it’s surprising, maybe even adventurous under your breath. But someone who knows better than you made that choice, usually the bowler themselves selecting their preferred end. Most decisions are sound, even if they don’t prove successful. You can’t roll your eyes. You can’t show any reaction.

Commentators now need special accreditation to enter certain areas. The hierarchy maintains that barrier. Umpires can visit the press box, but commentators can’t come into the umpires’ area without risking trouble. It’s a good separation. Before play they chat on the field, saying hello to the numerous commentators modern broadcasts require. Steve never worried about Tony Greig sticking his key into the pitch. Didn’t seem to do much damage.

The song plays, capturing that ritual: hours before proceedings commence, sandwiches thoughtfully made, pushing close to the fence, ladies and gentlemen on the village green putting down their glasses. Two thousand balls, two thousand trials, each one potentially a wicket or hit for miles. Concentration demanded because no two are the same. From the Cathedral to the City End, making cricket bring us together again, forever and ever and ever.

When Indian cricket fans unleash fury on Twitter about disputed LBW calls, host Steve Davis fields the abuse meant for someone else. This episode brings together both Steve Davises for the first time. The retired umpire who stood in 57 Test matches shares what it&rsquo;s like to make split-second decisions in front of millions, survive a terrorist attack in Lahore, and maintain composure when Shane Warne announces his next delivery to the batter.
The SA Drink of the Week features Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars&rsquo; 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Langhorne Creek, tasted and endorsed by both Steve Davises. The wine presents an intriguing contradiction, its dark appearance suggesting heavy Barossa Shiraz, yet delivering a lighter, fruit-forward palette that Joe Evans recommends chilling for summer enjoyment.
The Musical Pilgrimage features Steve Davis and the Virtualosos with &ldquo;From the Cathedral to the City End,&rdquo; weaving together Test cricket, Adelaide Oval, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into a meditation on how this game brings us together.
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We&rsquo;re here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for&nbsp;Best Interview Podcast in Australia&nbsp;at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for&nbsp;Best News and Current Affairs Podcast&nbsp;in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It&rsquo;s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we&rsquo;ll add you to the list:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review&nbsp;</a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We&rsquo;d greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page.</a>
Running Sheet: Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis
00:00:00&nbsp;Intro
Introduction
00:01:50&nbsp;SA Drink Of The Week
The SA Drink Of The Week this week is a 2024 Ballycroft Montepelciano.
Joe Evans of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ballycroft.com/">Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars</a>&nbsp;made an unexpected connection five weeks before this recording. During a Barossa wine tour for friends visiting from England, Steve Davis the umpire introduced himself at the cellar door. Joe mentioned knowing another Steve Davis from Adelaide, someone involved in cricket. The dots joined. Both Steve Davises then converged on this episode, linked by Langhorne Creek grapes and the patron saint of Adelaide.
The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano arrives in the glass looking deceptively heavy. Its dark colour suggests bold Barossa Shiraz, thick and commanding. Yet the first sip tells a different story. Light fruit dances on the palette, a brightness unexpected from that brooding appearance. Joe recommends chilling it slightly and serving through summer, perfect with Italian or Mexican food.
Steve the umpire remembers that 10:30am Sunday morning tasting at Ballycroft. When Joe poured this wine, Steve thought immediately of Barossa Shiraz. That&rsquo;s his drink. But then came the taste, revealing something gentler yet structured. The wine builds as it sits on the palette, gaining weight and presence. Like a pitch heading into day three or four, settling into its rhythm rather than losing life.
The conversation meanders through wine, travel and cuisine. West Indies food has never won Steve&rsquo;s heart, so more of this Montepulciano would help those meals considerably. Host Steve notes how the wine shifts from what seems like a marriage between Pinot Noir and ros&eacute; to something with genuine body and staying power. It&rsquo;s not Pinot weight, not Grenache or Merlot either. The complexity reveals itself slowly, rewarding patience.
The 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano from Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars, endorsed by two Steve Davises, stands as this week&rsquo;s South Australian drink.
00:10:25&nbsp;Steve Davis and Steve Davis
INTRODUCTION: So, I need to come clean about something. For years on Twitter, I&rsquo;ve been fielding abuse meant for someone else. Indian cricket fans would see &ldquo;Steve Davis&rdquo; and unleash fury about a disputed LBW or a missed edge &ndash; and when I&rsquo;d reply, mortified apologies would flood in. They&rsquo;d meant the *other* Steve Davis. The one who stood in 57 Test matches, 137 ODIs, survived a terrorist attack in Lahore, and spent 25 years making split-second decisions in front of millions. Today, finally, I get to meet the bloke whose honour I&rsquo;ve been accidentally defending. Steve Davis, welcome to The Adelaide Show.
NOTES:
The conversation begins with a revelation. Far from being retired, Steve Davis the umpire spends twelve months a year refereeing cricket across two continents. Every six months he travels to England for County Cricket, returning to Australia for Sheffield Shield and Big Bash matches. When he thought retirement from umpiring might leave him lost, the England and Wales Cricket Board offered him a lifeline that turned into a globe-trotting vocation.
His cricket origins trace back to Elizabeth, newly formed with perhaps eight houses when his parents arrived as ten-pound Poms. His father Dave Davis played for WRE Cricket Club alongside John Scarce, whose son Kevin Scarce kept wicket for Steve at Elizabeth High School and later became Governor of South Australia. Cricket in Adelaide was woven through family, friendship and those Saturday afternoons where you&rsquo;d stand in as a sub fielder, watching your father&rsquo;s team and falling deeper into the game&rsquo;s rhythm.
The path to international umpiring began humbly in D Grade after finishing his playing career at West Torrens. Within two seasons he&rsquo;d progressed to A Grade, and by November 1990 he was officiating his first Sheffield Shield match. His debut came partly through circumstance rather than genius. When Tony Crafter retired to become Australia&rsquo;s first full-time umpire manager, a vacancy opened among South Australia&rsquo;s two eligible international umpires. Steve joined Darryl Harper in that select group.
On 12 December 1992, exactly 33 years ago yesterday, he walked onto Adelaide Oval for his first One Day International. Pakistan versus West Indies. His home ground, but the nerves were overwhelming. Terry Prue, his Western Australian colleague, radioed from square leg to report that Richie Richardson had noticed Steve missing all of Wasim Akram&rsquo;s no balls. In his nervousness, he&rsquo;d forgotten to look down at the front foot. When he finally started calling them, Wasim&rsquo;s response was gentlemanly: &ldquo;Oh, come on, we&rsquo;re all friends out here. Give me a bit of warning.&rdquo; The umpire&rsquo;s process demands intense concentration. First, watch the front foot land. The moment it&rsquo;s safe, eyes shoot straight to the bottom of the stumps, letting the ball come into view. As soon as the ball dies, switch off briefly, then begin again. Steve ran his counter one ball ahead, clicking after each delivery so the number five meant two balls remaining. This meant no clicking back for no balls, just not clicking forward. Tim May once stopped mid-delivery and demanded Steve stop clicking his counter during the run-up.
His Ashes Test debut at Adelaide Oval in 1997, just his second Test match, stands as one of his finest days. He got every decision right on a 44-degree day when England lost the toss and their bowlers were bowling one-over spells in the heat. Steve Bucknor, his partner that day, also had a flawless match. Alex Stewart still calls him &ldquo;legend&rdquo; when they meet at English grounds.
The Decision Review System arrived while Steve was umpiring, transforming the role completely. Some umpires, like Mark Benson, couldn&rsquo;t handle seeing their decisions overturned repeatedly. Benson flew home after two days of a Test match in Australia and never returned to international cricket. Steve embraced DRS immediately. His philosophy was simple: we&rsquo;re going to end up with the right decision. Better that than five days of a team reminding you about that first-ball error while the batter you gave not out compiles a century.
These days, third umpires call all no balls in televised matches. The technology highlights the foot crossing the line, removing that split-second judgment from the on-field umpire. Steve wonders if he&rsquo;d survive in today&rsquo;s game, his neural networks so hardwired to glance down then up that retraining might prove impossible.
The theatre of the raised finger remains cricket&rsquo;s most iconic gesture. Steve took his time with it, though not as long as his late friend Rudy Koertzen, dubbed &ldquo;Slow Death&rdquo; for the excruciating journey his hand took from behind his back to above his head. Some umpires point at the batter instead of raising the finger, a practice Steve abhors. The law says raise the index finger above your head. The drama lies in that pause, that moment of tension before the finger rises.
He carried the essentials: a counter, a wallet-style kit with sprig tightener, pen and pencil, notepad for recording incidents, light meter readings, and lip balm. Some umpires packed their pockets with everything imaginable, but Steve kept it minimal. His process worked. He knew what every ball demanded of him.
Shane Warne&rsquo;s deliveries would fizz through the air with such spin and accuracy that he&rsquo;d announce his intentions to batters. &ldquo;This is my wrong one. This one&rsquo;s going on your leg stump.&rdquo; It worked brilliantly, planting doubt even as batters wondered if he really meant it. Murali presented different challenges. Steve couldn&rsquo;t predict where his deliveries would spin until he noticed Sangakkara&rsquo;s gloves lining up behind the stumps. The great wicketkeeper knew exactly where every Murali ball was heading, providing Steve a crucial visual cue.
The conversation turns to safety. Fast bowlers send the ball down at 150 kilometres per hour. When batters connect with the full force of their bats, that ball can come back even faster. Steve got hit more than once. At St Lucia during a West Indies versus Pakistan match, he turned at the wrong moment and the ball struck him square in the backside. Looking up at the big screen, he saw himself mouthing the words that immediately came out, while David Boon and Paul Reiffel, his Australian colleagues that day, doubled over in laughter. The Pakistani batter complained that Steve cost him four runs. Steve&rsquo;s reply: &ldquo;Bad luck. You cost me a bruised bum.&rdquo;
The smashing of glass still triggers something in him. Loud noises. Fireworks. His wife Annie says he didn&rsquo;t get enough counselling after Lahore. She&rsquo;s probably right. On 3 March 2009, terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team&rsquo;s convoy in Lahore. Steve&rsquo;s van, carrying the umpires, was the only vehicle left in the roundabout after the team&rsquo;s bus escaped. Every window was shot out. The driver died instantly from a gunshot wound. All five security outriders were killed. Lying on the floor among broken glass, Steve thought: this is not the way I should die. Not here. Not on the way to umpire a Test match.
They survived. The terrorists realised the Sri Lankan team had escaped and stopped firing. Steve returned to umpiring but never went back to Pakistan. He did return to other parts of the subcontinent, to other places that required trusting local security. During the drive back to the hotel after the attack, past kids playing cricket on dust bowls, he knew Pakistan wouldn&rsquo;t see international cricket for years. Those kids who loved the game wouldn&rsquo;t see their heroes. The political and ideological conflicts would keep cricket away.
Asked which game he&rsquo;d relive for eternity, Steve chooses that second Test match at Adelaide Oval. The Ashes. England versus Australia. His home ground. Forty-four degrees. Every decision correct. Recognition from players like Alex Stewart who still speak warmly of his performance. It represents everything he worked towards: getting it right when it mattered most, on the ground where he grew up watching cricket, in the series that defines the sport.
He umpired with characters who became dear friends. Ian Gould, whose father was also named Cyril George, just like Steve&rsquo;s dad. An impossibly unlikely pairing of names that bonded them immediately. In Calcutta, when Gould was being carted off to hospital with dehydration, he had to fill out a form listing his father&rsquo;s name while smoking and drinking black tea. Steve looked over his shoulder and saw &ldquo;Cyril George&rdquo; written there. On Gould&rsquo;s final stint umpiring in Birmingham, Steve was the referee. They spent every evening walking the canals with a few pints, the only four-day match where Steve never filed a meal claim. Rudy Koertzen. Steve Bucknor. These were the colleagues who made the profession worthwhile.
The spirit of cricket exists, though interpretation varies. Steve recalls Andrew Strauss making a fair point during the Steve Finn incident at Leeds. Finn had a habit of knocking the bails off at the bowler&rsquo;s end with his knee during his delivery stride. Both batsmen, Graeme Smith and Alvaro Petersen, complained it was distracting. When Finn did it again and Smith edged to Strauss for a catch, Steve had already signalled dead ball. Strauss came over and said quietly: &ldquo;Why didn&rsquo;t you tell me you were going to do that?&rdquo; Steve acknowledged it was a fair point. He probably should have warned the captain. The laws changed after that Test. If stumps are dislodged at the bowler&rsquo;s end, it&rsquo;s now a no ball. Cricket people sometimes call it the Steve Finn Steve Davis law change.
Cricket&rsquo;s hierarchy remains clear. Test cricket stands at the pinnacle. Always has, always will. Ask any umpire who the best officials are, and they&rsquo;ll list those who&rsquo;ve done the most Tests. Steve&rsquo;s 57 Tests mean everything to him. The 137 ODIs are nice, but Tests define an umpiring career. The Hundred in England draws families beautifully, but Test cricket is where greatness lives.
At the end of play, Steve would call &ldquo;Time, gentlemen. That&rsquo;s time.&rdquo; A simple phrase marking the end of another day&rsquo;s combat, another day of split-second decisions, theatre, and that noble spirit that still runs through cricket despite everything that tries to corrupt it.
02:00:15&nbsp;Musical Pilgrimage
In the Musical Pilgrimage, we listen to From The Cathedral To The City End by Steve Davis &amp; The Virtualosos.
IThe Cathedral looms over Adelaide Oval, watching cricket unfold from the city of churches. Steve Davis and the Virtualosos have woven together Test cricket, the Cathedral End, and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into &ldquo;From the Cathedral to the City End.&rdquo; The song opens with the Prayer of Humble Access rewritten: &ldquo;We do not presume to come to this thy over trusting in our own righteousness.&rdquo;
Host Steve explains his childhood love for that beautiful English language, attending Church of England services where those words embedded themselves in his memory. The prayer&rsquo;s cadence and dignity stayed with him. When writing this song, he wanted to capture three elements: Test cricket, Adelaide Oval&rsquo;s special significance through Bradman and Bodyline, and that cathedral presence overlooking the ground.
The question arises: have you ever stood as an umpire and thought a captain made a terrible decision bringing on a particular bowler at the wrong end? Steve the umpire smiles. Sure, sometimes you think it&rsquo;s surprising, maybe even adventurous under your breath. But someone who knows better than you made that choice, usually the bowler themselves selecting their preferred end. Most decisions are sound, even if they don&rsquo;t prove successful. You can&rsquo;t roll your eyes. You can&rsquo;t show any reaction.
Commentators now need special accreditation to enter certain areas. The hierarchy maintains that barrier. Umpires can visit the press box, but commentators can&rsquo;t come into the umpires&rsquo; area without risking trouble. It&rsquo;s a good separation. Before play they chat on the field, saying hello to the numerous commentators modern broadcasts require. Steve never worried about Tony Greig sticking his key into the pitch. Didn&rsquo;t seem to do much damage.
The song plays, capturing that ritual: hours before proceedings commence, sandwiches thoughtfully made, pushing close to the fence, ladies and gentlemen on the village green putting down their glasses. Two thousand balls, two thousand trials, each one potentially a wicket or hit for miles. Concentration demanded because no two are the same. From the Cathedral to the City End, making cricket bring us together again, forever and ever and ever.

Host Steve Davis chats with retired international cricket umpire Steve Davis about split-second decisions, surviving the 2009 Lahore terrorist attack, and the theatre of raising that iconic index finger, while sampling Ballycroft Vineyard’s 2024 Small Berry Montepulciano over a conversation that reveals the noble spirit running through cricket.

424 - Steve Davis Talks Cricket With Former Umpire Steve Davis

Robert Godden

Political commentator Robert Godden returns to The Adelaide Show with a thesis that cuts to the bone: The South Australian Liberal Party has no realistic chance of winning the forthcoming election. But his essay raises an even more unsettling question: can they realistically ever win another one?

This episode doesn’t feature an SA Drink of the Week, allowing more time for a forensic examination of what’s gone wrong with liberalism itself, and the party that bears its name.

In the Musical Pilgrimage, Steve shares “Spring Gully Road”, his song chronicling four generations of the Webb family’s beloved pickle company, from Edward McKee’s small brown onions in 1946 to the recent appointment of administrators, drawing a tenuous but poignant parallel to the Liberal Party’s own decline.

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concise
page.

Running Sheet: Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election?

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week

No SA Drink Of The Week this week.

00:05:07 Robert Godden

Before diving into party politics, Steve and Robert tackle a fundamental question: what is liberalism itself? Drawing on American political philosopher Patrick Deneen’s work (as sampled from the glorious podcast, Econtalk, episode July 9, 2018), they explore how liberalism originally meant self-governance within community, where individuals held themselves accountable within the framework of church and society. Deneen argues that modern liberalism, both classical and progressive, has fractured into two economic camps: classical liberals claiming government interferes with freedom, and progressive liberals arguing that economic inequality prevents people from achieving liberty.

Robert offers his working definition: liberalism has always been about “the bigger pie theory”. Classical liberals like John Locke, Adam Smith and John Stewart Mill championed free markets as the path to prosperity for all. But as Robert notes, these philosophers wrote their treatises while people lived in gutters within ten miles of them, suggesting their definitions had blind spots about who they actually represented.

The conversation turns to neoliberalism, which Robert describes as taking the apple of classical liberalism and focusing on its core: free market capitalism, fiscal austerity, individual responsibility, and globalisation. The problem? Many neoliberals benefited from generous government support before pulling up the ladder behind them. As Robert puts it, they’re “more like a wild jackal in a wolf’s clothing”, presenting themselves as something more palatable whilst pursuing fundamentally conservative ends.

When Steve asks about the overlap between liberalism (lowercase L) and the Liberal Party (uppercase L), Robert’s answer is stark: “The Venn diagram of liberalism and the Liberal Party is not a perfect circle. It’s more like a third overlap.” John Howard’s famous declaration that the Liberal Party is “a broad church” marked both the high point and the beginning of the end. Where Howard allowed diverse opinions united by shared values, today’s party demands conformity. Robert observes you could “literally interchange” Angus Taylor with five other Liberal members and several Nationals, they’ve become so ideologically uniform.

Robert shares a revealing personal story from his childhood in Whyalla. At age 12 or 13, he wagged school to attend a lunch where Malcolm Fraser was speaking. After enduring mumbled warnings about Bill Hayden, young Robert lined up afterwards and asked the Prime Minister where he could find out what the government would actually do if re-elected. The dismissive response and perfunctory policy booklet were Robert’s first disillusionment with political rhetoric over substance.

This leads to a broader discussion about accountability’s erosion in Australian politics. Robert identifies a turning point: when Jay Weatherill wasn’t held responsible for abuse discovered in South Australian schools because “nobody had told him”. This represented a complete rewriting of Westminster conventions about ministerial responsibility. Compare that to Barry O’Farrell resigning as New South Wales Premier over failing to declare a $300 bottle of wine, or John Howard’s principled approach to the GST, admitting he was wrong, explaining why he’d changed his mind, and taking that position to an election.

The discipline of the Fraser and Howard years came from a culture where the party room would discuss issues on merit, then Fraser or Howard would determine the right course, and the party would follow with discipline, not through fear but through shared purpose. Today’s Liberal Party has abandoned that model for something closer to authoritarianism without the competence to make it work.

When discussing South Australia specifically, Robert doesn’t hold back about Vincent Tarzia’s challenges. Beyond policy positions, there’s the fundamental problem of presence. Robert recalls a body language seminar by Alan Pease where five people were cast for different film roles based purely on appearance. We can’t help making these visual judgements. Tarzia, Robert notes, is “one of the 5% of the population that never blinks”, creating an unfortunate vampire quality. He looks like “a Muppet version of Dracula”. Combined with a voice lacking joy, he presents as “the joyless undead” when facing off against Peter Malinauskas’s considerable charisma.

Robert’s assessment of the Malinauskas government is admirably even-handed for someone with Liberal roots. He calls it “the best government in Australia” whilst adding the qualifier “a totalitarian dictatorship that makes you feel good”. Everything is done Malinauskas’s way, but unlike Putin or Trump, he’s careful never to say anything that isn’t actually true. He might make predictions that don’t pan out, but he won’t barefaced lie, and if an idea isn’t popular, he simply doesn’t voice it. The result is what Robert calls “preshrunk jeans” of political messaging.

Robert’s father, a lifelong Liberal voter and member, has only been impressed by two political figures: Gough Whitlam, whose charisma was “absolutely off the chart” despite taking four people to dinner when a Whyalla event was mistakenly under-attended, and Peter Malinauskas, who regularly visits the Whyalla Men’s Shed. This speaks to something fundamental about political success. As Robert observes, great Labor leaders have consistently been better communicators and sellers of vision because their message is easier: “you’re being ripped off by the system, and we’re going to sort it for you” beats “if we govern ourselves, all will be great” in almost any contest.

The federal picture offers one glimmer of hope: Victoria’s new opposition leader, Jess Wilson. In her thirties, a lawyer and former business advisor to Josh Frydenberg and the Business Council of Australia, she represents exactly the kind of moderate Liberal who should have been in the party all along but whom the party’s rightward drift has made anomalous. As Robert puts it, “the idea that Jess Wilson should be in the Liberal Party is an idea that is eight years out of date. She should be a teal.” The teals, after all, are liberal party people who haven’t gone down the right-wing rabbit hole.

This raises the central question: are there eight to ten members of parliament the federal Liberals could have had? Yes, the teals. “All of those teal candidates could have been Liberal Party candidates and would have been 15 or 20 years ago if they had not wilfully taken this blindness about the climate.”

Speaking of climate, Robert dissects Susan Ley’s recent positioning as if she’s discovered that abandoning net zero and embracing fossil fuels will bring electoral victory. The polling suggests otherwise. Among diverse Australians, Labor’s primary vote sits at 46%, the Coalition at 17%. Gen Z voters break 51% Labor, 10% Coalition. The Liberals are “aiming at the wrong target”, trying to chip 10% from groups with 10% when they should be targeting Labor’s 46%. They should be saying “your ideas are great, it’s a pity you’re not smarter, we’re going to get to where you want to get but we’ll do it better.” Instead, they get their facts from Facebook.

The cognitive dissonance is staggering. National Party MPs stand up claiming farmers don’t want renewable energy whilst farmers lead the way with innovative approaches: solar panels in fields that collect water, provide shade for sheep grazing underneath, and generate income. Farmers don’t want bushfires or floods, they want to make money. Watch ABC’s Landline, Robert suggests, though the Nationals would dismiss it as left-wing propaganda.

Looking ahead, Robert sees no Liberal victory on any horizon in the next five to six years. More likely? “No Liberal Party, or let me put it another way: the Liberal Party not being the opposition.” They’re seriously under threat of other parties overtaking them. Federally, if you separate the Coalition partners, the numbers are nowhere near the historical imbalance where Nationals made up numbers for the Liberals. Now those numbers are close. A One Nation-National coalition would be numerically viable.

Victoria represents the critical test. If Jess Wilson’s woeful Liberals manage to topple a deeply unpopular Victorian government by picking the right leader, “that’ll be a critical moment for the Liberals to take that lesson.” Robert’s prediction? “The only reason we have to think they’re incapable of learning is all the evidence.”

Robert’s father once said that Don Dunstan’s departure horrified him, not because of policy agreement, but because Dunstan was a strong leader with ideas who made the state feel good about itself. That’s what’s missing from the contemporary Liberal Party: ideas that inspire rather than divide, leaders who build rather than tear down, and the humility to recognise when the world has changed and they haven’t.

The conversation closes with Winston Churchill’s 1920s quote distinguishing socialism from liberalism. Robert agrees it was “100% correct” for about 1924, when those ideologies were genuinely competing and distinct. But it’s become a caricature over the intervening century. The quote doesn’t really apply to 2025, when the ideologies have mingled, adapted, and in the case of the Australian Liberal Party, lost their way entirely.

01:14:33 Musical Pilgrimage

In the Musical Pilgrimage, we play Spring Gully Road, a song written by Steve Davis and performed by Steve Davis & The Virtualosos, chronicling the four-generation story of Spring Gully, one of South Australia’s most beloved food companies.

The story begins in 1946 when Edward McKee returned from the war and started growing small brown onions outside his back door on Spring Gully Road. His pickled onions became a South Australian staple. The company expanded under Allen and Eric, then weathered storms under Ross and Kevin’s leadership, before Russ and Tegan faced the modern challenge of cheap imports and changing market appetites.

Steve reveals a personal connection: his colleague Domenic at Funlife Fitness in Ingle Farm remembers his father growing small onions and cucumbers, taking sacks to Spring Gully weekly to be weighed and paid. It was simply part of the fabric of South Australian life.

In full disclosure, Steve is friends with Russell Webb, who along with Tegan led the company through its recent challenges before administrators were appointed. Most believe it’s written off and gone, but Steve holds hope for a way forward. They were doing innovative things to fight back against retailers bringing in cheap overseas alternatives, gutting the market for local sovereign food production capability.

The song’s folk-influenced simplicity captures something essential about generational enterprise, family legacy, and the challenge of maintaining local production in a globalised economy. The repeated refrain, “Turn the earth, turn the earth when it’s harvest time, pick the bounty and preserve it in your sweetly seasoned brine”, becomes a meditation on the cycles of growth, harvest, and preservation that sustained Spring Gully through good years and hard years.

Steve offers a tenuous but poignant link to the episode’s political discussion: the Liberal and Country League, precursor to the modern Liberal Party in South Australia, formed in 1932 and became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party in 1945. Spring Gully started in 1946. Now in 2025, we have administrators appointed for Spring Gully, and Robert Godden suggesting you might as well call them in for the Liberal Party as well.

Both represent South Australian institutions facing existential questions about their future in a changed world. Both have served their communities for generations. Both are confronting the reality that what worked for decades may not work anymore. And both deserve more than a quiet fade into history.

Political commentator Robert Godden returns to The Adelaide Show with a thesis that cuts to the bone:&nbsp;The South Australian Liberal Party has no realistic chance of winning the forthcoming election. But his essay raises an even more unsettling question: can they realistically ever win another one?
This episode doesn&rsquo;t feature an SA Drink of the Week, allowing more time for a forensic examination of what&rsquo;s gone wrong with liberalism itself, and the party that bears its name.
In the Musical Pilgrimage, Steve shares &ldquo;Spring Gully Road&rdquo;, his song chronicling four generations of the Webb family&rsquo;s beloved pickle company, from Edward McKee&rsquo;s small brown onions in 1946 to the recent appointment of administrators, drawing a tenuous but poignant parallel to the Liberal Party&rsquo;s own decline.
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We&rsquo;re here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for&nbsp;Best Interview Podcast in Australia&nbsp;at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for&nbsp;Best News and Current Affairs Podcast&nbsp;in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It&rsquo;s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we&rsquo;ll add you to the list:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review&nbsp;</a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We&rsquo;d greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page.</a>
Running Sheet: Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election?
00:00:00&nbsp;Intro
Introduction
00:00:00&nbsp;SA Drink Of The Week
No SA Drink Of The Week this week.
00:05:07&nbsp;Robert Godden
Before diving into party politics, Steve and Robert tackle a fundamental question: what is liberalism itself? Drawing on American political philosopher&nbsp;<a href="https://www.econtalk.org/patrick-deneen-on-why-liberalism-failed/">Patrick Deneen&rsquo;s work (as sampled from the glorious podcast, Econtalk, episode July 9, 2018)</a>, they explore how liberalism originally meant self-governance within community, where individuals held themselves accountable within the framework of church and society. Deneen argues that modern liberalism, both classical and progressive, has fractured into two economic camps: classical liberals claiming government interferes with freedom, and progressive liberals arguing that economic inequality prevents people from achieving liberty.
Robert offers his working definition: liberalism has always been about &ldquo;the bigger pie theory&rdquo;. Classical liberals like John Locke, Adam Smith and John Stewart Mill championed free markets as the path to prosperity for all. But as Robert notes, these philosophers wrote their treatises while people lived in gutters within ten miles of them, suggesting their definitions had blind spots about who they actually represented.
The conversation turns to neoliberalism, which Robert describes as taking the apple of classical liberalism and focusing on its core: free market capitalism, fiscal austerity, individual responsibility, and globalisation. The problem? Many neoliberals benefited from generous government support before pulling up the ladder behind them. As Robert puts it, they&rsquo;re &ldquo;more like a wild jackal in a wolf&rsquo;s clothing&rdquo;, presenting themselves as something more palatable whilst pursuing fundamentally conservative ends.
When Steve asks about the overlap between liberalism (lowercase L) and the Liberal Party (uppercase L), Robert&rsquo;s answer is stark: &ldquo;The Venn diagram of liberalism and the Liberal Party is not a perfect circle. It&rsquo;s more like a third overlap.&rdquo; John Howard&rsquo;s famous declaration that the Liberal Party is &ldquo;a broad church&rdquo; marked both the high point and the beginning of the end. Where Howard allowed diverse opinions united by shared values, today&rsquo;s party demands conformity. Robert observes you could &ldquo;literally interchange&rdquo; Angus Taylor with five other Liberal members and several Nationals, they&rsquo;ve become so ideologically uniform.
Robert shares a revealing personal story from his childhood in Whyalla. At age 12 or 13, he wagged school to attend a lunch where Malcolm Fraser was speaking. After enduring mumbled warnings about Bill Hayden, young Robert lined up afterwards and asked the Prime Minister where he could find out what the government would actually do if re-elected. The dismissive response and perfunctory policy booklet were Robert&rsquo;s first disillusionment with political rhetoric over substance.
This leads to a broader discussion about accountability&rsquo;s erosion in Australian politics. Robert identifies a turning point: when Jay Weatherill wasn&rsquo;t held responsible for abuse discovered in South Australian schools because &ldquo;nobody had told him&rdquo;. This represented a complete rewriting of Westminster conventions about ministerial responsibility. Compare that to Barry O&rsquo;Farrell resigning as New South Wales Premier over failing to declare a $300 bottle of wine, or John Howard&rsquo;s principled approach to the GST, admitting he was wrong, explaining why he&rsquo;d changed his mind, and taking that position to an election.
The discipline of the Fraser and Howard years came from a culture where the party room would discuss issues on merit, then Fraser or Howard would determine the right course, and the party would follow with discipline, not through fear but through shared purpose. Today&rsquo;s Liberal Party has abandoned that model for something closer to authoritarianism without the competence to make it work.
When discussing South Australia specifically, Robert doesn&rsquo;t hold back about Vincent Tarzia&rsquo;s challenges. Beyond policy positions, there&rsquo;s the fundamental problem of presence. Robert recalls a body language seminar by Alan Pease where five people were cast for different film roles based purely on appearance. We can&rsquo;t help making these visual judgements. Tarzia, Robert notes, is &ldquo;one of the 5% of the population that never blinks&rdquo;, creating an unfortunate vampire quality. He looks like &ldquo;a Muppet version of Dracula&rdquo;. Combined with a voice lacking joy, he presents as &ldquo;the joyless undead&rdquo; when facing off against Peter Malinauskas&rsquo;s considerable charisma.
Robert&rsquo;s assessment of the Malinauskas government is admirably even-handed for someone with Liberal roots. He calls it &ldquo;the best government in Australia&rdquo; whilst adding the qualifier &ldquo;a totalitarian dictatorship that makes you feel good&rdquo;. Everything is done Malinauskas&rsquo;s way, but unlike Putin or Trump, he&rsquo;s careful never to say anything that isn&rsquo;t actually true. He might make predictions that don&rsquo;t pan out, but he won&rsquo;t barefaced lie, and if an idea isn&rsquo;t popular, he simply doesn&rsquo;t voice it. The result is what Robert calls &ldquo;preshrunk jeans&rdquo; of political messaging.
Robert&rsquo;s father, a lifelong Liberal voter and member, has only been impressed by two political figures: Gough Whitlam, whose charisma was &ldquo;absolutely off the chart&rdquo; despite taking four people to dinner when a Whyalla event was mistakenly under-attended, and Peter Malinauskas, who regularly visits the Whyalla Men&rsquo;s Shed. This speaks to something fundamental about political success. As Robert observes, great Labor leaders have consistently been better communicators and sellers of vision because their message is easier: &ldquo;you&rsquo;re being ripped off by the system, and we&rsquo;re going to sort it for you&rdquo; beats &ldquo;if we govern ourselves, all will be great&rdquo; in almost any contest.
The federal picture offers one glimmer of hope: Victoria&rsquo;s new opposition leader, Jess Wilson. In her thirties, a lawyer and former business advisor to Josh Frydenberg and the Business Council of Australia, she represents exactly the kind of moderate Liberal who should have been in the party all along but whom the party&rsquo;s rightward drift has made anomalous. As Robert puts it, &ldquo;the idea that Jess Wilson should be in the Liberal Party is an idea that is eight years out of date. She should be a teal.&rdquo; The teals, after all, are liberal party people who haven&rsquo;t gone down the right-wing rabbit hole.
This raises the central question: are there eight to ten members of parliament the federal Liberals could have had? Yes, the teals. &ldquo;All of those teal candidates could have been Liberal Party candidates and would have been 15 or 20 years ago if they had not wilfully taken this blindness about the climate.&rdquo;
Speaking of climate, Robert dissects Susan Ley&rsquo;s recent positioning as if she&rsquo;s discovered that abandoning net zero and embracing fossil fuels will bring electoral victory. The polling suggests otherwise. Among diverse Australians, Labor&rsquo;s primary vote sits at 46%, the Coalition at 17%. Gen Z voters break 51% Labor, 10% Coalition. The Liberals are &ldquo;aiming at the wrong target&rdquo;, trying to chip 10% from groups with 10% when they should be targeting Labor&rsquo;s 46%. They should be saying &ldquo;your ideas are great, it&rsquo;s a pity you&rsquo;re not smarter, we&rsquo;re going to get to where you want to get but we&rsquo;ll do it better.&rdquo; Instead, they get their facts from Facebook.
The cognitive dissonance is staggering. National Party MPs stand up claiming farmers don&rsquo;t want renewable energy whilst farmers lead the way with innovative approaches: solar panels in fields that collect water, provide shade for sheep grazing underneath, and generate income. Farmers don&rsquo;t want bushfires or floods, they want to make money. Watch ABC&rsquo;s Landline, Robert suggests, though the Nationals would dismiss it as left-wing propaganda.
Looking ahead, Robert sees no Liberal victory on any horizon in the next five to six years. More likely? &ldquo;No Liberal Party, or let me put it another way: the Liberal Party not being the opposition.&rdquo; They&rsquo;re seriously under threat of other parties overtaking them. Federally, if you separate the Coalition partners, the numbers are nowhere near the historical imbalance where Nationals made up numbers for the Liberals. Now those numbers are close. A One Nation-National coalition would be numerically viable.
Victoria represents the critical test. If Jess Wilson&rsquo;s woeful Liberals manage to topple a deeply unpopular Victorian government by picking the right leader, &ldquo;that&rsquo;ll be a critical moment for the Liberals to take that lesson.&rdquo; Robert&rsquo;s prediction? &ldquo;The only reason we have to think they&rsquo;re incapable of learning is all the evidence.&rdquo;
Robert&rsquo;s father once said that Don Dunstan&rsquo;s departure horrified him, not because of policy agreement, but because Dunstan was a strong leader with ideas who made the state feel good about itself. That&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s missing from the contemporary Liberal Party: ideas that inspire rather than divide, leaders who build rather than tear down, and the humility to recognise when the world has changed and they haven&rsquo;t.
The conversation closes with Winston Churchill&rsquo;s 1920s quote distinguishing socialism from liberalism. Robert agrees it was &ldquo;100% correct&rdquo; for about 1924, when those ideologies were genuinely competing and distinct. But it&rsquo;s become a caricature over the intervening century. The quote doesn&rsquo;t really apply to 2025, when the ideologies have mingled, adapted, and in the case of the Australian Liberal Party, lost their way entirely.
01:14:33&nbsp;Musical Pilgrimage
In the Musical Pilgrimage, we play&nbsp;Spring Gully Road, a song written by Steve Davis and performed by Steve Davis &amp; The Virtualosos, chronicling the four-generation story of Spring Gully, one of South Australia&rsquo;s most beloved food companies.
The story begins in 1946 when Edward McKee returned from the war and started growing small brown onions outside his back door on Spring Gully Road. His pickled onions became a South Australian staple. The company expanded under Allen and Eric, then weathered storms under Ross and Kevin&rsquo;s leadership, before Russ and Tegan faced the modern challenge of cheap imports and changing market appetites.
Steve reveals a personal connection: his colleague Domenic at Funlife Fitness in Ingle Farm remembers his father growing small onions and cucumbers, taking sacks to Spring Gully weekly to be weighed and paid. It was simply part of the fabric of South Australian life.
In full disclosure, Steve is friends with Russell Webb, who along with Tegan led the company through its recent challenges before administrators were appointed. Most believe it&rsquo;s written off and gone, but Steve holds hope for a way forward. They were doing innovative things to fight back against retailers bringing in cheap overseas alternatives, gutting the market for local sovereign food production capability.
The song&rsquo;s folk-influenced simplicity captures something essential about generational enterprise, family legacy, and the challenge of maintaining local production in a globalised economy. The repeated refrain, &ldquo;Turn the earth, turn the earth when it&rsquo;s harvest time, pick the bounty and preserve it in your sweetly seasoned brine&rdquo;, becomes a meditation on the cycles of growth, harvest, and preservation that sustained Spring Gully through good years and hard years.
Steve offers a tenuous but poignant link to the episode&rsquo;s political discussion: the Liberal and Country League, precursor to the modern Liberal Party in South Australia, formed in 1932 and became the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party in 1945. Spring Gully started in 1946. Now in 2025, we have administrators appointed for Spring Gully, and Robert Godden suggesting you might as well call them in for the Liberal Party as well.
Both represent South Australian institutions facing existential questions about their future in a changed world. Both have served their communities for generations. Both are confronting the reality that what worked for decades may not work anymore. And both deserve more than a quiet fade into history.

Political commentator Robert Godden dissects the existential crisis facing South Australia’s Liberal Party, exploring whether Vincent Tarzia’s leadership and the party’s rightward drift have made electoral victory impossible, not just in March but potentially forever, before Steve shares his song about Spring Gully’s four-generation story.

423 - Do The Liberals Have No Chance Of Winning This Forthcoming South Australian Election?

Johanna Williams

Musical Pigrimage

For months, as an algal bloom wreaked havoc on the South Australian coast, most residents steered clear but not Johanna Williams. She’s been down to Glenelg Beach daily, ruler and phone in hand, methodically tracking the carnage. What started as a small, concerned step by a self-described occupational therapist soon transformed into a citizen science project with over 10,000 observations of dead and dying marine life, offering a grim, close-up view of the ecological disaster. Johanna’s commitment, though personally confronting, gives scientists and the community essential data and a crucial human perspective.

This episode does not feature the SA Drink of the Week segment.

The show concludes with a Musical Pilgrimage that connects directly to the episode’s urgent environmental theme. We hear Steve Davis & The Virtualosos’ “While the Ocean Died,” a lyrical and sonic reflection on the collective pain and political complexities surrounding the algal bloom event.

You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We’re here to serve!

The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for Best Interview Podcast in Australia at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for Best News and Current Affairs Podcast in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It’s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we’ll add you to the list: podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au

If you enjoy the show, please leave us a 5-star review in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store – The Adelaide Show Shop. We’d greatly appreciate it.

And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here’s our index of all episode in one concise
page.

Running Sheet: Algal Bloom Beach Witness Johanna Williams

00:00:00 Intro

Introduction

00:00:00 SA Drink Of The Week

No SA Drink Of The Week this week.

00:02:55 Johanna Williams

Arriving home from a holiday to find Glenelg Beach “covered in dead fish” , Johanna Williams had a choice: unpack and write an angry Facebook post, or take action. She chose the latter, inadvertently becoming one of the state’s most dedicated, non-professional "marine biologists". Initially hoping the algal bloom would be a “transient, short-term event,” the surreal extent of the death spurred her to use the citizen science platform iNaturalist to upload her observations, believing this crucial “coalface” data would reach qualified scientists and government bodies to “formulate responses”.

Her daily 500-metre trek between Pier Street and the Jetty has revealed a tragic yet fascinating marine diversity. What she’s documenting—now over 10,000 observations—includes rare deep-sea fish like the long snout boar fish and warty prowl fish, species scientists rarely encounter alive. This wealth of data is heartbreakingly significant, as it allows researchers to collect, age, and perform genetic and toxicological testing on specimens that could never be found otherwise, highlighting the deep reach of the bloom into the ecosystem.

The work is intensely confronting, involving more than just dead fish. Johanna describes a traumatic encounter with a still-alive, spiky globe fish whose eyes were “really gazing and tracking” her. This and finding a paralysed silver gull due to toxic effects highlight the profound emotional toll and moral dilemmas faced by citizen scientists, such as whether to “prolong its death by putting it back in the water”. Johanna discusses how a supportive network of friends and a new community, including people from the university, has helped her “channel that energy” and despair into empowerment and meaningful data collection.

This environmental disaster also casts a shadow over the Glenelg foreshore, with Johanna noting a ripple effect of reduced foot traffic and the closure of local businesses, a “double whammy” alongside local tram disruptions. For listeners wanting to help, Johanna suggests starting with iNaturalist uploads, or connecting with projects like the SA Marine Mortality Project 2025 to assist with collecting fish for testing or contributing to local rehabilitation efforts, such as making oyster beds (wind chimes) to help filter the water.
Great Southern Reef
Website
Mission: “Our mission is to inspire and empower society to protect and sustain Australia’s Great Southern Reef by promoting recognition, stewardship, and sustainable actions through impactful education, community engagement, and collaborative science.”
Janine Baker
OzFish Unlimited
Website
Description: OzFish Unlimited is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the millions of Aussie recreational fishers take control of the health of their rivers, lakes and estuaries and shore up the future of the sport they love. OzFish Unlimited partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of our waterways, counteracting decades of degradation.
Brad Martin
Data gathering for South Australian 2025 marine mortality events
Project Link
Description: This project is set to automatically add aquatic vertebrates and macroinvertebrates annotated ‘dead’ from Feb 2025 onwards. Janine Baker is a key contact for this projects and has links with universities and researchers.
SA Surf and Bloom
SA hub for information on our bloom. Share surfing/algae/ocean/coastal pictures and videos. Ask questions. I aim to share the love we have for our oceans, and keep surfers informed of the symptomatic surf spots.
Facebook Group
ADELAIDE ALGAE BLOOM DISASTER
Facebook Group
Description: A place to upload pictures of this marine disaster that’s going to impact the Adelaide fishing scene for many years to come.
Phytoplankton Society of South Australia
Facebook Group
Description: This group is for sharing knowledge on the Phytoplankton of South Australia, particularly in regard to the 2025 algal bloom we are experiencing. We welcome photos of microscopic phytoplankton (and accompanying pics of where they were taken) and especially experts who can identify them. This is a citizen science project for the benefit of everyone. We are also on iNaturalist. Big Thanks to Faith and Peri Coleman, Gabby at www.asisscientific.com.au, the Big Duck Boat, Victor Harbor Dolphin Watch and others who have made this possible.
Sarah Hanson-Young, Manager of Greens Business in the Senate & Senator for South Australia
Annual Report 2025
Further articles:
“Harmful Algal Bloom Aerosols and Human Health“
“Thousands of seadragons dead in South Australia’s worst recorded harmful algal bloom — IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish & Seadragon“
An underwater guide to plants and animals in South Australia
PDF Guide
PIRSA Factsheet – What to do if you have seen sick or dead birds
PDF Factsheet
Birdlife Australia: Helping injured birds
Article
Fishwatch SA
If you find an injured fish on the beach, stay a safe distance away and do not touch it. Report the animal by calling the local fish authority, such as FISHWATCH in South Australia (1800 065 522), or a wildlife rescue hotline, as professionals are trained to handle these situations.

00:37:06 Musical Pilgrimage

In the Musical Pilgrimage, we play a deeply personal and thematically appropriate piece by Steve Davis and the Virtualosos, titled “While the Ocean Died”.

The song, which Johanna describes as an “earworm” that helps her “process what’s going on”, was inspired by Johanna’s ground-level work, leading Steve to appreciate the “cost of this whole thing”. The host reveals that songwriting is his way of thinking out loud to process complex issues. The track’s bridge reflects on the political challenge leaders face in times of crisis, where a long chain of “short-cuts and shortcomings” has left the region vulnerable to a multitude of causes—from the River Murray flood of nutrients to the sea heatwave—that have fuelled the toxic bloom. It’s a poignant, urgent piece that closes the show by connecting the human story of witnessing with the broader South Australian environmental tragedy.

For months, as an algal bloom wreaked havoc on the South Australian coast, most residents steered clear but not Johanna Williams. She&rsquo;s been down to Glenelg Beach daily, ruler and phone in hand, methodically tracking the carnage. What started as a small, concerned step by a self-described occupational therapist soon transformed into a citizen science project with over 10,000 observations of dead and dying marine life, offering a grim, close-up view of the ecological disaster. Johanna&rsquo;s commitment, though personally confronting, gives scientists and the community essential data and a crucial human perspective.
This episode does not feature the SA Drink of the Week segment.
The show concludes with a Musical Pilgrimage that connects directly to the episode&rsquo;s urgent environmental theme. We hear Steve Davis &amp; The Virtualosos&rsquo; &ldquo;While the Ocean Died,&rdquo; a lyrical and sonic reflection on the collective pain and political complexities surrounding the algal bloom event.
You can navigate episodes using chapter markers in your podcast app. Not a fan of one segment? You can click next to jump to the next chapter in the show. We&rsquo;re here to serve!
The Adelaide Show Podcast: Awarded Silver for&nbsp;Best Interview Podcast in Australia&nbsp;at the 2021 Australian Podcast Awards and named as Finalist for&nbsp;Best News and Current Affairs Podcast&nbsp;in the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.
And please consider becoming part of our podcast by joining our Inner Circle. It&rsquo;s an email list. Join it and you might get an email on a Sunday or Monday seeking question ideas, guest ideas and requests for other bits of feedback about YOUR podcast, The Adelaide Show. Email us directly and we&rsquo;ll add you to the list:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au">podcast@theadelaideshow.com.au</a>
If you enjoy the show, please&nbsp;<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/another-boring-thursday-night/id696302138">leave us a 5-star review&nbsp;</a>in iTunes or other podcast sites, or buy some great merch from our Red Bubble store &ndash;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redbubble.com/people/theadelaideshow/shop?asc=u">The Adelaide Show Shop</a>. We&rsquo;d greatly appreciate it.
And please talk about us and share our episodes on social media, it really helps build our community. Oh, and here&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://theadelaideshow.com.au/complete-list-adelaide-show-episodes/">our index of all episode in one concise page.</a>
Running Sheet: Algal Bloom Beach Witness Johanna Williams
00:00:00&nbsp;Intro
Introduction
00:00:00&nbsp;SA Drink Of The Week
No SA Drink Of The Week this week.
00:02:55&nbsp;Johanna Williams
Arriving home from a holiday to find Glenelg Beach &ldquo;covered in dead fish&rdquo; , Johanna Williams had a choice: unpack and write an angry Facebook post, or take action. She chose the latter, inadvertently becoming one of the state&rsquo;s most dedicated, non-professional "marine biologists". Initially hoping the algal bloom would be a &ldquo;transient, short-term event,&rdquo; the surreal extent of the death spurred her to use the citizen science platform iNaturalist to upload her observations, believing this crucial &ldquo;coalface&rdquo; data would reach qualified scientists and government bodies to &ldquo;formulate responses&rdquo;.
Her daily 500-metre trek between Pier Street and the Jetty has revealed a tragic yet fascinating marine diversity. What she&rsquo;s documenting&mdash;now over 10,000 observations&mdash;includes rare deep-sea fish like the long snout boar fish and warty prowl fish, species scientists rarely encounter alive. This wealth of data is heartbreakingly significant, as it allows researchers to collect, age, and perform genetic and toxicological testing on specimens that could never be found otherwise, highlighting the deep reach of the bloom into the ecosystem.
The work is intensely confronting, involving more than just dead fish. Johanna describes a traumatic encounter with a still-alive, spiky globe fish whose eyes were &ldquo;really gazing and tracking&rdquo; her. This and finding a paralysed silver gull due to toxic effects highlight the profound emotional toll and moral dilemmas faced by citizen scientists, such as whether to &ldquo;prolong its death by putting it back in the water&rdquo;. Johanna discusses how a supportive network of friends and a new community, including people from the university, has helped her &ldquo;channel that energy&rdquo; and despair into empowerment and meaningful data collection.
This environmental disaster also casts a shadow over the Glenelg foreshore, with Johanna noting a ripple effect of reduced foot traffic and the closure of local businesses, a &ldquo;double whammy&rdquo; alongside local tram disruptions. For listeners wanting to help, Johanna suggests starting with iNaturalist uploads, or connecting with projects like the SA Marine Mortality Project 2025 to assist with collecting fish for testing or contributing to local rehabilitation efforts, such as making oyster beds (wind chimes) to help filter the water.
<ul>
<li>Great Southern Reef
<ul>
<li><a href="https://greatsouthernreef.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://greatsouthernreef.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0QwZvPh2jYAuLd2AoXTmom">Website</a></li>
<li>Mission: &ldquo;Our mission is to inspire and empower society to protect and sustain Australia&rsquo;s Great Southern Reef by promoting recognition, stewardship, and sustainable actions through impactful education, community engagement, and collaborative science.&rdquo;</li>
<li><a href="https://greatsouthernreef.com/janine-baker" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://greatsouthernreef.com/janine-baker&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3ZqpaBBF2tzNjqv7uPH8eE">Janine Baker</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>OzFish Unlimited
<ul>
<li><a href="https://ozfish.org.au/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ozfish.org.au/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2Wy0oddOiHc7e_KoMGRMjX">Website</a></li>
<li>Description: OzFish Unlimited is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping the millions of Aussie recreational fishers take control of the health of their rivers, lakes and estuaries and shore up the future of the sport they love. OzFish Unlimited partners with fishers and the broader community to invest time and money into the protection and restoration of our waterways, counteracting decades of degradation.</li>
<li><a href="https://ozfish.org.au/team-member/brad-martin-project-manager-south-australia/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://ozfish.org.au/team-member/brad-martin-project-manager-south-australia/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1iVxr8CgxzzA9abF-nwgGN">Brad Martin</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Data gathering for South Australian 2025 marine mortality events
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sa-marine-mortality-events-2025" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/sa-marine-mortality-events-2025&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0rX_9Jmra48kp1cpHZSkUG">Project Link</a></li>
<li>Description: This project is set to automatically add aquatic vertebrates and macroinvertebrates annotated &lsquo;dead&rsquo; from Feb 2025 onwards. Janine Baker is a key contact for this projects and has links with universities and researchers.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>SA Surf and Bloom
<ul>
<li>SA hub for information on our bloom. Share surfing/algae/ocean/coastal pictures and videos. Ask questions. I aim to share the love we have for our oceans, and keep surfers informed of the symptomatic surf spots.</li>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1885987812164667" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/groups/1885987812164667&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3UPFceC2lJiT07qW3eu_DR">Facebook Group</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>ADELAIDE ALGAE BLOOM DISASTER
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ak1znPrH3/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Ak1znPrH3/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1t33HGuMJSsADQBEW5adib">Facebook Group</a></li>
<li>Description: A place to upload pictures of this marine disaster that&rsquo;s going to impact the Adelaide fishing scene for many years to come.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Phytoplankton Society of South Australia
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1969xy6poQ/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1969xy6poQ/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3_Vj4Ln6a5s8yQIEo8Frsn">Facebook Group</a></li>
<li>Description: This group is for sharing knowledge on the Phytoplankton of South Australia, particularly in regard to the 2025 algal bloom we are experiencing. We welcome photos of microscopic phytoplankton (and accompanying pics of where they were taken) and especially experts who can identify them. This is a citizen science project for the benefit of everyone. We are also on iNaturalist. Big Thanks to Faith and Peri Coleman, Gabby at<a href="https://www.asisscientific.com/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.asisscientific.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw01BCk_K43h01B_NepCaiFE">&nbsp;www.asisscientific.com</a>.au, the Big Duck Boat, Victor Harbor Dolphin Watch and others who have made this possible.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Sarah Hanson-Young, Manager of Greens Business in the Senate &amp; Senator for South Australia
<ul>
<li><a href="https://greens.org.au/news/annual-report/2025/sarah-hanson-young" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://greens.org.au/news/annual-report/2025/sarah-hanson-young&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ampLARE641QNr49rcgPxx">Annual Report 2025</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Further articles:
<ul>
<li>&ldquo;<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(23)00169-X/fulltext">Harmful Algal Bloom Aerosols and Human Health</a>&ldquo;</li>
<li>&ldquo;<a href="https://www.iucn-seahorse.org/news/2025/9/26/thousands-of-seadragons-dead-in-south-australias-worst-recorded-harmful-algal-bloom">Thousands of seadragons dead in South Australia&rsquo;s worst recorded harmful algal bloom &mdash; IUCN Seahorse, Pipefish &amp; Seadragon</a>&ldquo;</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>An underwater guide to plants and animals in South Australia
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/marineparks/docs/underwater-guide-plants-animals.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://cdn.environment.sa.gov.au/marineparks/docs/underwater-guide-plants-animals.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2ULJxWtPyuCn9eg5FNVsxY">PDF Guide</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>PIRSA Factsheet &ndash; What to do if you have seen sick or dead birds
<ul>
<li><a href="https://pir.sa.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0005/485033/PIRSA_fact_sheet_avian_influenza_bird_flu-_for_general_public.pdf" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://pir.sa.gov.au/_data/assets/pdf_file/0005/485033/PIRSA_fact_sheet_avian_influenza_bird_flu-_for_general_public.pdf&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3lFgYe6rpwy07QRJB-qF6c">PDF Factsheet</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Birdlife Australia: Helping injured birds
<ul>
<li><a href="https://birdlife.org.au/discover-birds/birds-in-your-backyard/helping-injured-birds/?srsltid=AfmBOoqOG0xiDUbXKw9Ci2CsSiAkeUqva_rXmnUaGFCie9VuPcJeHMR" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://birdlife.org.au/discover-birds/birds-in-your-backyard/helping-injured-birds/?srsltid%3DAfmBOoqOG0xiDUbXKw9Ci2CsSiAkeUqva_rXmnUaGFCie9VuPcJeHMR&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1761465255280000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1XpygoyBaKCTmAoP7U3-gB">Article</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Fishwatch SA
<ul>
<li>If you find an injured fish on the beach, stay a safe distance away and do not touch it. Report the animal by calling the local fish authority, such as FISHWATCH in South Australia (1800 065 522), or a wildlife rescue hotline, as professionals are trained to handle these situations.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
00:37:06&nbsp;Musical Pilgrimage
In the Musical Pilgrimage, we play a deeply personal and thematically appropriate piece by Steve Davis and the Virtualosos, titled &ldquo;While the Ocean Died&rdquo;.
The song, which Johanna describes as an &ldquo;earworm&rdquo; that helps her &ldquo;process what&rsquo;s going on&rdquo;, was inspired by Johanna&rsquo;s ground-level work, leading Steve to appreciate the &ldquo;cost of this whole thing&rdquo;. The host reveals that songwriting is his way of thinking out loud to process complex issues. The track&rsquo;s bridge reflects on the political challenge leaders face in times of crisis, where a long chain of &ldquo;short-cuts and shortcomings&rdquo; has left the region vulnerable to a multitude of causes&mdash;from the River Murray flood of nutrients to the sea heatwave&mdash;that have fuelled the toxic bloom. It&rsquo;s a poignant, urgent piece that closes the show by connecting the human story of witnessing with the broader South Australian environmental tragedy.

Occupational therapist turned "marine biologist" Johanna Williams describes the emotional toll of daily documenting the South Australian algal bloom at Glenelg using iNaturalist, before The Adelaide Show wraps up with a local musical reflection on the marine tragedy.

Episode 22: Group A Streptococcus / Streptococcus Pyogenes | A Classical Killer

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