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. hace 2 h

    Too Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making

    Think about the person whose politics you find most baffling, or most infuriating. Now imagine you must make a decision together. Actually negotiate, project forward, find common ground. That's democracy. And it turns out our brains aren't especially well-built for it. In an era shaped by inequality, environmental crisis and the decline of democratic institutions understanding how we make political decisions might be one of the most urgent questions we face. Recorded live at the Melbourne Writers Festival as part of the Wheeler Centre's The Fifth Estate series. Speakers Dr David MoscropPolitics columnist for The Washington Post, The Walrus, Time Magazine, The Globe, The Guardian and othersAuthor of Too Dumb For Democracy: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions And How We Can Make Better Ones Dr Sally WarhaftMelbourne based freelance broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. Host of The Wheeler Centre's series The Fifth Estate

  2. hace 4 días

    What makes television? 100 years of tumultuous change

    It's been called the idiot box, the drug of the nation, the tube. This year marks 100 years of broadcast television. Over its lifetime, TV has adapted to big changes in technology, government policy, culture and media consumption habits. And yet, while its future remains uncertain, for now, it endures. This is the incredible true story of television. This keynote address was recorded at RMIT University's 100 Years of Broadcast TV Symposium: The impact and future of broadcast TV in Australia. Speakers: Professor Jock GivenAdjunct Professor of Media and Communications, Swinburne UniversityAuthor, The Death of Broadcasting: Media's digital future and Turning off the television: broadcasting's uncertain future Dr Damien O'MearaRMIT Lecturer in Public Relations, RMIT University Dr Alexa ScarlataLecturer in Digital Communication, RMIT University

  3. hace 5 días

    CENSORED! CANCELLED! BOYCOTT! The future of artistic freedom and democracy in Australia

    How free should artists be to make risky work, to provoke, to get political? Who gets to decide if a work of art is deemed too risky, too dangerous, too difficult? Cancellations. Censorship. Controversy. Political pressure. Mass boycotts. The collapse of festivals. The Australian arts community has seen it all recently, in part triggered by the devastation in the Middle East. But is there more going on too? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with a panel of arts and culture heavyweights to consider the future of artistic freedom and democracy in this country — and why both matter in these fractious times. This event was organised by Griffith University and Griffith Law School. Speakers Professor Julianne SchultzProfessor Emerita of Media and Culture at the Centre for Social and Cultural Research at Griffith University.Columnist, Guardian AustraliaBoard member, Sydney Writers FestivalAuthor, The Idea of Australia: A Search for the Soul of the Nation.Founding editor, Griffith Review.Dr André Dao Winner of the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Fiction for his debut novel AnamWinner of the Pascal Prize for Cultural Criticism for his pubished essays.Postdoctoral fellow in international law at Melbourne Law SchoolCo-creator of the asylum seeker oral history project Behind the Wire. Author, The role of the committed writer in an unfree world (Overland Magazine, 2026)Presenter, The State of the (Writing) Nation (2023) Dr Ben ElthamCultural policy researcher and consultant, freelance arts journalist and critic.Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash University. Fellow, Centre for Policy Development  Thanks also to Professor Sarah Joseph, Dr Karen Crawley, Dr Samid Suliman at Griffith University.

  4. hace 6 días

    Forget The Odyssey. These authors have their own mythical retellings — with Yann Martel, Nikita Gill and Zoe Terakes

    Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office smash retelling of the Greek epic The Odyssey suggests, these stories will never die. Join three superstar writers with their own mythical retellings to explore why these stories endure and how they have been re-imagined over time. The event Mythical Retellings was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026. Speakers: Yann MartelAuthor, Son of Nobody, The Life of Pi (Winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize) and more Nikita GillInternational best-selling poet, playwright, illustrator, actor and author, Hekate: The Witch and more Zoe TerakesActor, playwright and author, Eros: Queer Myths for Lovers Carody Culver (host)Editor, Griffith Review

  5. 10 ago

    Africa in a shifting world order — can digital technology achieve what aid never could?

    As the great powers renegotiate their alliances and priorities, Africa is reshaping its future. From the promise of digital economies and homegrown innovation to the complex legacies of foreign aid, debt and dependency — this is a conversation about power, possibility, and the remaking of a continent on its own terms. What needs to change in policy, in investment, in the stories we tell for Africa's ambitions to be fully realised? Africa and the World: Reclaiming Agency in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape was presented at Havard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics (IOP) and their Africa Development Conference Speakers Dr Jendayi FrazerFormer US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs H.E Ameenah Gurib FakeemFormer President of Mauritius H.E. Mark-Alexandre DoumbaMinister of Digital Economy & Innovation of Gabon Mayowa Kuyoro (host)Partner at McKinsey & Co

  6. 6 ago

    How policy decisions today can hurt your kids in the future — are we even trying to get it right?

    The decisions being made right now, in parliament, in budget lock-ups, in policy debates, will shape the lives of your kids and their kids. Think: Climate. Housing. Aged care. AI., But in many cases, those decisions are being deferred. There's a name for it: policrastination. The habit of delaying what we know needs doing because the short-term political incentives reward inaction, even when the long-term costs are clear. What would it actually take to govern for the long term? This conversation is anchored in the new book Future Generations Policy, Governance and Leadership: Ending Policrastination, co-authored by our speakers. Presented at the bookshop Hill of Content, Melbourne.  Speakers Taylor Dee HawkinsManaging Director of Foundations for Tomorrow, a non-profit dedicated to advancing the protection of future generations in Australia Professor Susan Harris Rimmer Research academic focusing on international human rights law in the Griffith Law School Dr Elise Stephenson Deputy Director of the Global Institute for Women's Leadership, Australian National University Caitlin Reiger (host)CEO Human Rights Law Centre

  7. 5 ago

    The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?

    Meet the tenacious Papua New Guineans who won't give up on holding Australian mining giants to account, despite the enormous personal toll of doing so. Emmanuel Peni is fighting to protect the world's "second Amazon"- the pristine Sepik River. Theonila Roka Matbob won the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize for campaigning against the toxic legacy of Rio Tinto's Panguna copper-gold mine. This event was hosted at the Extracting Justice: Mining, Accountability, Community Power in the Pacific Conference at the University of Sydney. Speakers: Theonila Roka MatbobFormer politician in Papua New Guinean parliamentWinner of the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize Dr Luke FletcherExecutive Director of Jubilee Australia, a not-for-profit research and advocacy centre focused on economic justice in the Asia-Pacific Emmanuel (Manu) PeniCo-producer, Sukundimi Walks Before Me documentaryExecutive Director of Project Sepik Ben Doherty (chair)Walkley award winning journalist, Guardian AustraliaFormer foreign correspondent covering south-east Asia

  8. 4 ago

    Australian war history — the past, present and future of remembrance. With Professor Peter Stanley

    From the Frontier Wars, to foreign wars experienced by migrant Australians, to the threat of Australia's involvement in future conflict, war means many different things to different people. So as Australian society evolves, should our culture of war commemoration change too?  The 2026 Wilks Oration was recorded at the Effective Living Centre, at Christ Church Uniting in Wayville, Adelaide. Speakers: Professor Peter StanleyAuthor of more than 50 books including Beyond The Broken Years, Australian military history in 1000 books, Bad Characters (joint winner of the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History in 2011) and moreFormer Research Professor at UNSW CanberraInaugural head of the Research Centre at the National Museum of AustraliaFormer principal historian at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (1980-2007)Founding member and President of Defending Country

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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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  • Creador
    ABC Australia
  • Años de actividad
    2006 - 2026
  • Episodios
    1.4 k
  • Clasificación
    Explícito
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    © Copyright 2026, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All right reserved.
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    Big Ideas

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