Big Ideas

ABC Australia

Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.

  1. 2 ΗΜ. ΠΡΙΝ

    Was Malcolm Fraser a conservative warrior or a closet progressive?

    Malcolm Fraser's legacy remains contested territory in Australian politics. Decades after he left office, we still can't quite figure him out. The Prime Minister who came to power in controversy, governed for seven years, then spent the rest of his life surprising everyone with his increasingly progressive views. Whether Fraser was cautious conservative, pragmatic reformer, or something more complex entirely, this discussion seeks to understand both the man and the government he led during a pivotal period in Australian history. Presented at the Malcolm Fraser Symposium by the Trinity College, University of Melbourne. Listen to Big Ideas - The Art of opposition Speakers Troy BramstonSenior writer and columnist with The AustralianAuthor of Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New (2025) Dr Scott PrasserFormer Senior Adviser to three Federal Cabinet Ministers, Academic and independent researcher Georgina Downer (host)Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Menzies Institute

    55 λεπτά

  2. 3 ΗΜ. ΠΡΙΝ

    "Here I am, here we are" Jewish Australian women reflect on the rupture of October 7 2023

    October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage crisis, the war in Gaza, and the global response — has reverberated in communities far beyond the Middle East, including here in Australia. For Jewish Australians, it has turned their lives, their careers, their relationships and their identities upside-down. Four Jewish Australian women share their personal experiences of the profound rift they've felt in the wake of that day, and their hopes and attempts to mend it. This conversation was recorded at Manly Writers' Festival on 22 March 2026. Speakers Joanne FedlerAuthor of The Whale's Last Song and more, writing teacher, former lawyer Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert Research Fellow in Security Studies, Macquarie UniversityAuthor, The Uncaged SkyFormer political prisoner in Iran Elana Benjamin Author of Indian-Jewish Food, Recipes and Stories from the Back Streets of Bondi, and more Lee KofmanAuthor of The Writer Laid Bare: Mastering Emotional Honesty in a Writer's Art, Craft and Life and more, writing coach and co-editor, Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7 Suellen Dainty (host) Journalist and author, An Invisible Tattoo and more

    55 λεπτά

  3. 4 ΗΜ. ΠΡΙΝ

    Resistance — Yanis Varoufakis with Helen Vatsikopoulos on the people who fought back against fascism

    Through the stories of five women across three generations of his family, the influential Greek economist, author, politician and public intellectual Yanis Varoufakis tells the tumultuous tale of Greece's modern history, and reflects on its parallels with the once again global rising tides of fascism, authoritarianism, and the actions of those who resist. This conversation was recorded on 6 March 2026 at the Sydney Greek Festival. Speakers Yanis VaroufakisEconomist, former Greek Finance Minister (2015), founder and General Secretary MeRA25Author, Raise your soul: A Personal History of Resistance, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism? and more Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos (host)Journalist, Doctor of Creative Arts University of Technology Sydney

    55 λεπτά

  4. 5 ΗΜ. ΠΡΙΝ

    Immunotherapy trailblazer Georgina Long on the hidden ingredients in cancer medicine

    Every scientist dreams of a breakthrough — a new discovery that will change everything. Professor Georgina Long is someone who has done it — as a pioneer of life saving cancer treatments. So what are the ingredients for breakthroughs to occur? And why are the conditions that can lead to new discoveries under threat right now? The 2026 Ann Moyal lecture When groundbreaking cancer treatments save 50% of patients, what happens to the other half? was recorded at the National Library of Australia on 19 March 2026. Speakers Professor Georgina LongMedical Director of the Melanoma Institute of AustraliaChair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research, University of SydneyCo-recipient (with Professor Richard Scolyer) of the 2024 Australian of the Year Award Further information: Patient Zero - Richard Scolyer - Australian Story 2024 Dr Richard Scolyer speaks on his fight with brain cancer - ABC 730, 30 October 2025

    55 λεπτά

  5. 23 ΑΠΡ

    40 years after Chernobyl we face a new nuclear risk — this time as a weapon of war

    The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not only a story of the past. Right now, nuclear plants are weaponised in the Iran war. It happened in 2022 when Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone. A new way of weaponising nuclear power. What have we learned from the worst nuclear accident in history — and what have we failed to learn? This conversation was presented by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Ukrainian Institute London. Speakers Serhii PlokhyMykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History; Director, Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University Eglė RindzevičiūtėProfessor of Criminology and Sociology at Kingston University London Jonathon TurnbullAssistant Professor of Human Geography at Durham University Dr Sasha Dovzhyk (host)Writer, Curator and Head of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange (Lviv, Ukraine). Editor of the London Ukrainian Review

    56 λεπτά

  6. 22 ΑΠΡ

    Is Trump a new Nero, Caligula, Caesar? Can the Roman Empire help us make sense of today's chaos? And other burning questions

    Is President Trump a new Nero, or a contemporary Caligula? The Roman Empire was full of merchants of chaos, power-hungry emperors, epic wars, backstabbing, betrayals — the whole horror show. And it was a time of civilisational scale change. As we grapple with a rewriting of the world order,  does Ancient Rome have lessons for us today — about the building and breaking of empires, or the rise and fall of autocrats? Or are these sorts of comparisons with the past fraught with complication?  Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at this Melbourne Museum event to coincide with the opening of the ROME: Empire, Power, People exhibition. Speakers Rhiannon EvansCo-host of the Emperors of Rome podcastAuthor, Utopia Antiqua: Readings of the Golden Age and decline at Rome (Routledge, 2007)Adjunct Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient HistoryLa Trobe University  Nick BisleyAuthor, Asian Crucible: Globalization, Geopolitics and the Contest for the Future (Bristol University Press, 2026); The Belt and Road Initiative and the Future of Regional Order in the Indo-Pacific (Rowman and Littlefield, 2020), Issues in 21st Century World Politics, 3rd Edition (Palgrave, 2017) and Great Powers in the Changing International Order (Lynne Rienner, 2012)Professor of International RelationsPro Vice-Chancellor ResearchLa Trobe University  Thanks to event producer Jennifer Brookings, Nick Marchand (Director of Global Engagement at Museums Victoria), and team the Melbourne Museum.

    59 λεπτά

  7. 21 ΑΠΡ

    Australia's Broken Social Contract — Tahlia Isaac wants to protect women in prison

    What happens to a community when it punishes its most vulnerable instead of protecting them Drawing on her own story of addiction, imprisonment, and recovery, as well as her frontline work supporting women behind bars and post-release, Tahlia Issac challenges the "tough on crime" narrative. The typical incarcerated woman in Australia is First Nations, a mother, a survivor of violence, and imprisoned for a low-level offence. Locking her up doesn't make communities safer — it makes them more fragile. This is the 2025 International Women's Day Address at the National Press Club of Australia. Speakers Tahlia IsaacFounder and CEO of Project: herself with lived experience as a woman in prison Emma MacdonaldAssociate Editor or Her Canberra, an online media company, magazine, and community hub tailored specifically for women, and Canberra Convenor of Women in Media

    55 λεπτά

  8. 20 ΑΠΡ

    Is Southeast Asia Australia's blind spot? — with Michael Wesley and Geoff Raby

    Australians love a holiday in Southeast Asia. But our proximity to this region also makes it key to our national security and prosperity. Yet Australia has hitched its security and foreign policy wagon to an increasingly unpredictable United States, while China asserts in dominance in our own backyard. So are we taking Southeast Asia for granted? This conversation was recorded at Readings Bookshop on 23 March 2026. Speakers Michael WesleyProfessor of International Relations and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Global Culture and Engagement, University of MelbourneFormer head of the Lowy Institute, former dean of ANU's College of Asia and the PacificAuthor, Blind spot: Southeast Asia and Australia's Future (Quarterly Essay # 101) and more Geoff RabyFormer Australian diplomat to China 2007 — 2011Author, Great Game On: The Contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy and more

    54 λεπτά
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Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.

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    ABC Australia
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    2006 - 2026
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    1,4 χιλ.
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    Big Ideas

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