Big Ideas

ABC Australia

4.0 (2)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
UPDATED DAILY

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.

12 HR AGO

Human Rights don't have to be earned (2025 CBC Massey lecture 3)

Our inherent human rights belong to us from the moment we are born. There is nothing we need to do to earn them, and they are supposed to apply to us until the day we die. But in his third Massey Lecture, Alex Neve argues the powerful have made human rights a ‘club.’ Lecture three of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World Speaker Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

55 min
2 DAYS AGO

The six years that remade human rights (2025 CBC Massey Lecture 2)

The ideals behind the concept of human rights — such as the sacredness of life, reciprocity, justice and fairness — have millennia-old histories. After the carnage of the Second World War and the Holocaust, these ideas took a new legal form. In his second Massey Lecture, Alex Neve considers six dizzying years that laid out a blueprint for a new world. Lecture two of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World Speaker Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

55 min
3 DAYS AGO

Renewing the broken promise of universal human rights. Alex Neve (2025 CBC Massey lecture 1)

Human rights are universal, right? For everyone, everywhere, without exception. That promise, born out of the Holocaust and World War II, has been broken repeatedly. But in a time of fear and fracture, can we renew it? World-renowned Canadian human rights activist and lawyer Alex Neve has seen the best and worse of humanity. He's worked in war zones in Darfur and Eastern Chad, with detainees in Guantánamo Bay, on reconciliation for Indigenous communities in Canada, and beyond. In this special series, his stirring words will cut deep, bring clarity, shine a spotlight on the past, and offer hope for troubled times. Don't miss this first lecture "Renewing the promise of human rights" in his 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World Lecture one of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World Speaker Alex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human rights, University of Ottawa, Human rights lawyerAuthor of Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World

55 min
19 MAR

From breadwinners to Bluey's Bandit — a history of Australian fathers and their families

This episode explores the past and present expectations and experiences of Australian fathers, in the workforce, domestic duties, and child-rearing, and examines how their roles have also shaped the lives of mothers, children, and society. These conversations were recorded at the launch of the book Fathering: An Australian History at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria. Speakers Fathering and Mothering: Professor Jacqui McDonaldConvenor of the Australian Fatherhood Research Consortium, Deakin University Associate Professor Richard FletcherFathers and Families Research Program at the University of NewcastlePrincipal Investigator with the SMS4dads & SMS4DeadlyDads support lines Emeritus Professor Alistair ThomsonMonash UniversityCo-author, Fathering: An Australian History Dr Johnny BellMonash UniversityCo-author, Fathering: An Australian History Professor Michelle Arrow (host)President of the Australian Historical Association Fathering and Work: Belinda ProbertSocial scientist, academic and author, Bill's Secrets: Love, War and Ambition Professor Sean ScalmerUniversity of MelbourneAuthor, A Fair Day's Work: The Quest to Win Back Time Emeritus Professor John MurphyUniversity of MelbourneCo-author, Fathering: An Australian History

54 min
18 MAR

Girl on Girl — How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves with The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert

Dive into the world of heroin chic and Girl Power to make sense of the mixed messages Millennial women experienced as they came of age. Before social media warped our sense of self, other aggressive forces were at work, hellbent on exploiting feminism for profit, and taking women down while they did. Sophie Gilbert, a Pulitizer-nominated culture writer with The Atlantic, investigates the impacts in her eye-opening book Girl on Girl: How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves. This event was hosted and produced by The Wheeler Centre in Naarm/Melbourne. Check out its full event schedule. Speakers Sophie GilbertStaff writer, The AtlanticAuthor, Girl on Girl: How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves (2025) Kate Jinx (host)Writer, critic, film curatorSenior programmer, Melbourne International Film Festival

56 min
17 MAR

Randa Abdel-Fattah and Louise Adler on the cost of speaking out in a time of division

She's attracted controversy and cancellation, but Palestinian Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah has not been deterred from speaking out about the plight of Palestinians in the war on Gaza, and the experience of Muslim Australians since 9/11. At this event organised in the wake of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week, she joins that festival's former Director Louise Adler, to talk about her latest novel, Discipline, and the experience of art imitating life. This conversation was recorded at the Adelaide Town Hall as part of the Constellations: Not Writers' Week festival on 1 March 2026. Speakers Dr Randa Abdel-FattahAuthor, Discipline (winner of the People's Choice Award at the 2026 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards), Does My Head Look Big in This? and Coming of Age in the War on TerrorFuture Fellow in the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University Louise Adler (host) Former Director, Adelaide Writers' WeekFormer CEO, Melbourne University PressFormer editor-at-large, Hachette Australia

54 min
16 MAR

Mental illness —Taking stigma out of media reporting

When a violent crime makes the news, mental illness is often part of the story. But how that story is told, the words chosen, the details included, the connections drawn, has consequences that ripple far beyond the news cycle. For people living with schizophrenia or psychosis, irresponsible reporting isn't just frustrating. It affects how neighbours treat them, how employers see them, and how they see themselves. For the general public, sensationalised coverage quietly builds a picture of mental illness that is distorted, fear-driven and simply not accurate. Mad, Bad or Misrepresented? Media, Mental Illness and the Stories We Tell was presented on last year's World Mental Health Day by Mental Ill-Health Stigma Researchers Australia Network (MISRA), the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, and the Melbourne School of Global and Population Health. Speakers Dr Anna RossSenior Research Fellow, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health Tim HeffernanFormer NSW Deputy Mental Health Commissioner; Chair of the advocacy organisation BEING — Mental Health Consumers Gayle McNaughtManager, StigmaWatch SANE Australia Dr Chris Groot (host)Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences; Co-founder of Mental Ill-Health Stigma Researchers Australia Network (MISRA) Further information StigmaWatch Mindframe and the Mindframe guidelines

54 min
12 MAR

Shattered lands — Sam Dalrymple on the five partitions of British India

Over five decades, one single, sprawling dominion, from Yemen to Myanmar, became twelve modern nations. This is the story of how the actions of politicians in London and revolutionaries in Delhi, princes in remote palaces and soldiers in trenches, redrew the map of British India, uprooting millions, and leaving a legacy that explains much about the region today. This conversation was recorded at the Ubud Writers Festival in Bali, Indonesia. Speakers Sam Dalrymple Author, Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern AsiaCo-founder, Project DastaanFilmmaker, Child of Empire, Lost Migrations Husnara KhanomPoet, writer, and researcher

54 min

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Paul Barclay

Host
Natasha Mitchell

Host
Sophie Gilbert (@TheAtlantic)

Guest
Randa Abdel-Fattah

Guest
Anna Ross

Guest
Tim Heffernan

Guest
Samuel Dalrymple

Guest
Brian Schmidt

Guest
Prof. Peter C. Doherty

Guest
Rolf M. Zinkernagel

Guest

4

out of 5

2 Ratings

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.