Episodes
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Australia's high country is a spectacular and precious place. It's also a place that is changing, with shorter, less predictable snowfall. So, what does the future hold for the Alpine region, in a changing climate?
This event was recorded on 13 June, 2024 at the Australian National University in partnership with Protect Our Winters Australia and the Australian Mountain Research Facility.
Speakers
Ruby OlssonLead author, Our Changing Snowscapes: Climate change impacts on and recommendations for our Australian AlpsPhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
Professor Adrienne NicotraDirector, Australian Mountain Research Facility
Richard SwainHonorary Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
David PocockIndependent Senator, ACT
Sam Beaver (host)Volunteer Policy Lead, Protect Our Winters AustraliaResearch Officer, Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University
Further information
Our Changing Snowscapes: Climate Change Impacts and Recommendations for the Australian Alps
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Frequently described as victims, as failures or even as women without morals, single mothers often get a bad rap. They are part of Australian statistics. Of the 1.1 million single parents, 83 percent are women, they are more likely to live in poverty and up to 65 percent have fled violent relationships. In this frank conversation, three women thrash and burn some of the assumptions about single mothers.
Recorded at the All about Women Festival by the Sydney Opera House
Speakers
BarkaaMalyangapa, Barkindji woman, musician and rapper
Karen Pickeringfeminist writer and organiser
Edwina Throsby (host)producer, curator and former head of ABC Managing Editor of Arts.
Further Information
About Bloody Time by Karen Pickering & Jane Bennett
Doing It: Women Tell the Truth about Great Sex. UQP Edited by Karen Pickering
Baarka Music
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History is the stories we choose to tell about ourselves and others. So how have those stories changed over time? And how has that shaped new understandings of our national identity?
Presented by the Friends of the National Library of Australia.
Speakers
Peter StanleyFormer Research Professor, Australian Centre for the Study of armed conflict, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Former Principal Historian, Australian War MemorialFormer inaugural head of research, National Museum of AustraliaAuthor of Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Murder, Mutiny and the Australian Imperial Force (joint winner of the 2011 Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History), and many more
Frank BongiornoProfessor of History, Australian National UniversityAuthor, The Sex Lives of Australians: A History, Dreamers and Schemers: a Political History of Australia, and many morePresident, Australian Historical Association
Anne-Marie Schwirtlich (host)Former Director General, National Library of AustraliaFellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia
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What is the allure of gothic fiction? How does it give shape to your most unsettling impulses? A panel of masters of the genre explore the creepy houses, dysfunctional families and the perfect degree of decay and rot that’s needed to create the ‘good scare’. From the classics of Jane Eyre to Harry Potter – we’re celebrating gothic tales.
Presented at the Brisbane Writers Festival
Speakers
Angela "A.G." SlatterAuthor of six novels, including The Briar Book of the Dead, All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and the Verity Fassbinder series
Naomi NovikNew York Times bestselling author of The Scholomance series, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the nine-volume Temeraire series
Kathleen JenningsBritish Fantasy Award-winning author of the short story collection Kindling, the novel Flyaway and poetry collection Travelogues: Vignettes from Trains in Motion; Fantasy Award-winning illustrator of fantasy and fairy tales
Shelley Parker-ChanAuthor of She Who Became the Sun and its sequel, He Who Drowned the World, which form The Radiant Emperor Duology
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What is the true meaning of Orwellian and what can George Orwell's writings teach us about navigating the 21st century? Since his book 1984 was published 75 years ago, there have always been comparisons drawn between the dystopian themes of the novel and contemporary injustices, inequality, censorship and corruption. Historian Laura Beers deconstructs many of the misconceptions around Orwell's writings to expose a complex, flawed man who had a commitment to liberty and economic justice.
Provided by the York Festival of Ideas; led by the University of York, UK
Speakers
Laura BeersProfessor History of Modern Britain American University Washington
Further Information
Laura Beers - Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdoms and warnings for the 21st Century
Anna Funder - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life
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It's the living force of the nation, but how much do we understand our Constitution? Twenty five pages sets out our laws, roles of government and political structure. Enacted by a people's vote of white men over 120 years ago it does not include rights for all citizens, for Indigenous Peoples or environmental protections. So how does the Constitution work for a contemporary Australia?
Recorded at the National Archives Constitution Day event
Speakers
Justine Bell-JamesAssociate Professor & Director of Higher Degree Research & Director of HDR of T.C. Beirne School of Law, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland
Professor Megan DavisPro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at UNSW and a Professor of Law at UNSW, Co-Architect Voice Referendum an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court
Harry HobbsAssociate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney
Paul Barclay (host) Journalist, producer, former host of Big Ideas
Further Information
The Australian Constitution The best of talks, forums, debates, and festivals held in Australia and around the world.
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The idea of "freedom" is one that's often used in relation to the economy: we have "the free market" and "free trade agreements", freedom from regulation, from government intervention, and so on. But whose freedom are we talking about, and at whose expense?
This event was recorded at the Perth Town Hall on 14 August 2024.
Speakers
Joseph Stiglitz Professor, Columbia University Business SchoolAuthor, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society
Ebony Bennett Deputy Director, The Australia Institute
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Just over a decade ago democracy was within reach in Myanmar, but now the country is in danger of becoming a failed state. So what happened, and what keeps hope for the country alive?
This event was recorded on 18 July 2024 at The Wheeler Centre, in partnership with PEN Melbourne, and RMIT Culture.
Speakers
Ma Thida Writer, human rights activist and doctorAuthor, A-maze: Myanmar's struggle for democracy: 2011-2023, Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein (2016) and many moreChair, Writers in Prison Committee, PEN InternationalFellow, Writers-in-Exile Programme, PEN Germany
Dr Michelle Aung Thin Novelist, essayist and academicAuthor, The Monsoon Bride and Hasina: Through My EyesSenior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University
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It's a tough time to be a parent. From screens, to mental health, neurodiversity, gender, diet and schooling, this generation is in unchartered territory in many ways. So what does the evidence tell us that will give parents the best chance to raise happy healthy children, without killing themselves in the process?
This event was recorded at Waverley Library in Sydney on 8 August 2024.
Speakers
Norman Swan Presenter, Health Report, ABC Radio NationalAuthor, So you want to know what's good for your kids?
Cassie McCullagh Presenter, The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National
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From soy to oat to almond, plant mylks are all the rage. But is it possible that we've misunderstood and unfairly maligned old fashioned cow's milk?
Speakers
Matthew Evans Farmer, Fat Pig FarmsAuthor, Milk: the truth, the lies and the unbelievable story of the original superfoodHost, Gourmet Farmer, SBS
Nick Haddow Bruny Island Cheese CoAuthor, Milk Made: A book about cheese
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It was the stuff of scifi blockbuster movie The Terminator in the early 1980s, but now lethal autonomous weapons systems are actually being used in conflict zones around the world. And the arms race is on to develop more effective, more deadly killing machines, that don't need human inputs to do their job.
This event was recorded at Human Rights Watch in Sydney on 4 June 2024.
Speakers
Mary Wareham Deputy Director, Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division, Human Rights WatchCo-Laureate (with Jody Williams), Nobel Peace Prize, 1997, for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
Daniela Gavshon Australian Director, Human Rights Watch
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We all love a bargain, but what is the real cost of those books we buy online or in a supermarket for 12 dollars or less? Should Australia adopt a fixed book price common in Europe? How can we support and grow an industry that nourishes our minds and souls. A conversation on the challenges facing the Australian book industry.
Presented at the Sydney Writers Festival.
Speakers
Ray BonnerPulitzer Prize winning author, journalist, co-owner of Bookoccino, the Northern Beaches bookstore
Richard FlanaganAward winning Australian author, latest book Question 7, Penguin
Olivia Lanchester Former CEO, Australian Society of authors
Michael RobothamAuthor, latest book Storm Child, Hachette
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The connections between the Caribbean and Australia go back to white settlement, with deep links to the slave trade and British colonialism. What does it mean to be a writer of Caribbean descent in modern Australia? And how can the act of writing and storytelling enable a new sense of belonging and home?
This event was recorded at the Callaloo and Wattleseed Symposium at the University of Western Sydney on 3 May 2924.
Speakers
Maxine Beneba Clarke Author, The Hate Race, Foreign Soil, poetry books Carrying The World, How Decent Folk Behave, and children's books including When We Say Black Lives Matter, Wide Big World and moreInaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence, University of Melbourne
Sienna Brown Author, Master of My Fate
Further information:
Caribbean Convicts in Australia (podcast)The History Listen - ABC Radio National
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10 humans in length, weighing 50 small cars, and with a bite that could take out two of you in one bite. This beast was BIG. But if Megalodon was so mighty, why did it disappear? Tim Flannery and his daughter Emma have written a book about the mystery of the giant extinct shark, and he joins Natasha Mitchell with two other fossil aficionados, palaeontologists Erich Fitzgerald and Cheng-Hsui Tsai, to take you into a very different watery world of wilderbeasts.
Speakers:
Professor Tim Flannery Paleontologist, conversationist, climate change advocate Co-author, Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived (Text Publishing, 2024)Dr Erich Fitzgerald Senior Curator in Vertebrate Paleontology, Museums Victoria Author, Triceratops: A Natural History (Museums Victoria, 2022)
Associate Professor Cheng-Hsui Tsai Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology National Taiwan University
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A new generation of female and non-binary intellectuals are using social media to share their scholarship and reach younger audiences. It's a tricky balance — juggling their followers' expectations and reactions, both bouquets and brickbats, maintaining their rigour, and making a living from these algorithmically-gamed corporate platforms. Meet the new influencers.
Presented by the Sydney Opera House
Speakers
Hannah FergusonFounder & CEO of cheekmedia.co
Sisonke MsimangWriter, activist and Guardian columnist
Mary McgillivrayArt historian and visual content maker
Bri Lee (host)Author, journalist and activist
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Could our continent's ancient past help solve future food security crises? Or even offer new treatments for skin cancer and inflammatory bowel disease? Tasty on your dinner plate, potentially transformative for your health — First Nations experts explore the rich potential of traditional bush foods and Indigenous plant knowledge.
Presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane.
Speakers
Suzanne ThompsonFounder & Managing Director of Yambangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Corporation; Chair, Australian Native Foods and Botanicals
Madonna ThomsonChairperson, BushTukka and Botanicals Indigenous Enterprises Cooperative.
Rhianna Patrick (host)Torres Strait Islander Journalist, broadcaster and audio content creator
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New ABC Chair Kim Williams wants to see change at Australia’s national public broadcaster. In a fragmented media landscape and a fractured world, what is the role of public broadcasting, and how can the ABC stay relevant for its listeners, viewers and readers?
This event was recorded at the Byron Bay Writers Festival on Saturday 10 August 2024.
Speakers
Kim Williams ABC Chair
Kerry O’Brien (host) Journalist and author
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It's an adults-only hour of high vaudeville to make you laugh and think. Two teams of brainiacs go head-to-head at the annual Big Ideas and Beaker St Festival Great Debate hosted by Big Ideas’ presenter Natasha Mitchell. Arguing for the proposition is Team 'The Procreators' starring radio host and maths nerd to the masses Adam Spencer, Quandamooka saltwater scientist Mibu Fischer, Guardian Australia journalist and TikTok presenter Matilda Boseley. Arguing against the proposition is Team 'Nappy Rash and the Tiny Demons' starring Mathematician Barbara Holland, Guardian Australia cartoonist First Dog on the Moon, Science Vs podcast host Wendy Zukerman. Who will convince you?
Speakers:
THE PROCREATORS
Adam Spencer (Team captain)Author, broadcaster, maths geek
Mibu FischerQuandamooka saltwater scientist, marine ethnoecologist and PhD studentCSIRO
Matilda BoseleyGuardian Australia journalist and social media presenterAuthor, The Year I Met My Brain (Penguin, 2023)
NAPPY RASH AND THE LITTLE DEMONS
Professor Barbara HollandMathematician, University of TasmaniaFirst Dog on the MoonCartoonist and wannabe marsupialGuardian Australia
Wendy ZukermanScience journalistHost and founder, Science Vs podcast
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"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" sang Joni Mitchell. Let's get wild and urban. Sometimes nature can thrive in cities in surprising ways and by accident. Hear how. And did you know 39 threatened species only exist in Australian cites? How do we design a city for fairy wrens, and the other feathered and furry beings who call it home?
Speakers
Sarah BekessyProfessor of Sustainability and Urban Planning, ICON Science research group, RMIT
Darryl JonesWriter, speaker, researcher, behavioural ecologist, Professor Emeritus Griffith University
Christopher Daniels (host)Chair of Green Adelaide, Zoologist, Adjunct Professor of Urban Ecology, University of South Australia
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Meet the world's smallest superheroes. Insects are ecological warriors, but through the brilliance of biomimicry, they're also inspiring all sorts of human inventions.
From new medicines to air safety systems — don't underestimate the larger-than-life impact of the planet's tiniest beings.
Presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane.
Speakers
Dr Chris BurwellQueensland Museum Senior Scientist and Curator of insects
Dr Andrew WalkerPostdoctoral Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland
Professor Elena IvanovaAnobiotechnologist/biophysicist, RMIT University
Rebecca Levingston (host)Presenter and broadcast ABC Radio Brisbane
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