In this episode of Uncommon Ground, Talal Yassine sits down with Andrew Robb, former Trade and Investment Minister and one of the most influential political strategists of his generation for a rare and deeply personal conversation.

Andrew reflects on his journey from a childhood on dairy farms as one of nine children, to helping deregulate Australia’s economy and negotiating major trade deals across Asia. He also speaks candidly about living with a daily bipolar condition he hid for decades, explaining how adrenaline, crisis and high-pressure roles became his coping mechanism.

From the “unlosable” 1993 election and the Hawke–Keating economic reforms, to multiculturalism, controversy over his post-politics China work, and the emerging promise of psychedelics for mental health, Andrew offers an unfiltered look at leadership as it’s lived, not performed.

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Episode Running Order

• Intro — who is Andrew Robb & why this story matters (00:00)
• Childhood on sheep & dairy farms, first memories (01:07)
• One of nine kids: big family, responsibility & a happy farm life (02:39)
• Parents’ sacrifice & the family’s deep commitment to education (06:03)
• Moving to Melbourne, migrant suburb life & “shh, your father’s asleep” (09:01)
• Faith, family tree & a 97-year-old mother with 90+ descendants (11:04)
• The first signs of mental illness: violent teachers, fear & Year 7–8 trauma (13:42)
• Daily bipolar: waking depressed, “not a morning person” and acting through it (16:24)
• Discovering adrenaline as a coping mechanism & thriving in crises (18:36)
• The fork in the road: turning down Harvard for the National Farmers Federation (20:00)
• Deregulating Australia: floating the dollar, free trade & dismantling old systems (22:50)
• From NFF to federal director: class, power and “knowing your place” (26:50)
• The Hewson years: Fightback!, the “800-page political suicide note” & the unlosable election (36:31)
• Hawke, Keating, Howard & Costello — how tension at the top can still serve the country (43:05)
• Life after the machine: Packer years, big data & building a marketing powerhouse (44:33)
• Inside the 1996 campaign: targeting 33 marginals, data, ads & swing voters (47:03)
• Immigration & multicultural affairs: detention centres and what loyalty really looks like (50:36)
• Loving two countries: Italians, Indians at the MCG & Chinese-Australian identity (53:09)
• English tests, women’s independence & stopping grandmothers being locked out of family life (57:26)
• Returning to mental health: mornings of sadness, walking hard and five pills a day (01:00:15)
• Why psychedelics might change everything for PTSD & depression (01:06:44)
• The China controversy: Darwin Port myths, post-politics work & being labelled “treasonous” (01:10:17)
• Horses, polocrosse & a final reflection on guilt, family and legacy (01:15:57)
• Closing thoughts & Uncommon Ground sign-off (01:17:05)