Big Ideas

Episodes

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  Bringing Brett Whiteley's studio back to life — with Wendy Whiteley 19.10.2026 53m

  A rundown t-shirt factory in Sydney's Surry Hills became the studio and home where Australian artist Brett Whiteley would spend the final years of his life. Now an art gallery, the building has recently reopened after an extensive two-year restoration, with a new exhibition celebrating Whiteley's life and legacy, Coming Home, featuring his artworks and personal items. His former wife, muse and champion, Wendy Whiteley, reflects on the history of the studio, her life with Brett Whiteley, and his artistic practice. This event was recorded at Brett Whiteley's Studio for Art Gallery of New South Wales on 24 July 2026. Speakers Wendy Whiteley  Creator of Wendy's Secret Garden, Lavender Bay, artist, and former wife and muse of Brett Whiteley Wayne Tunnicliffe (host) Director of collections and exhibitions, Art Gallery of New South Wales
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  The ethics of transhumanism 15.10.2026 58m

  Every day, science and technology are being used to enhance the abilities of human beings — helping people hear, walk, see, think and more. But at the extreme end, transhumanism has become an obsession of the rich and powerful: Vladmir Putin wants to live forever, Elon Musk wants to merge your brain with AI, while eugenics has also become popular again. So what are the ethics of transhumanism? Where do we draw the line? The 2026 Plunkett Lecture for the Plunkett Centre for Ethics was recorded at the Australian Catholic University. Speakers: Jason T. Eberl Hubert Mäder Chair in Bioethics, Professor of Philosophy, and Director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Bioethics at Saint Louis University
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  AI, art, and staying human - is creativity at a crossroad? Evelyn Araluen, Steve Tolz, Kirra Pendergast  14.10.2026 58m

  In a world where AI rules, what will it mean to be creative? First Nations poet and author Evelyn Araluen (The Rot, Dropbear) is already self-censoring because of AI theft. The characters in Steve Tolz's new novel A Rising of the Lights find weird ways to sabotage the robots amongst them. Digital safety expert and educator Kirra Pendergast is seeing AI reshape childhood - for better or worse - with an important warning for parents, carers, and educators. This event was organised by the 2026 Byron Writers Festival on Bundjalung Country. Speakers  Dr Evelyn Araluen  Goorie and Koori poet, editor, educator  Stella Prize winning author, Dropbear (2021) and The Rot (2025)  Co-editor, Overland literary journal  Senior lecturer of Indigenous arts and culture, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne   Steve Tolz  Booker Prize nominated author for A Fraction of Whole (2008)  Author, A Rising of the Lights (2026)  Screenwriter and producer Kirra Pendergast  Digital safety advisor and educator  Co-founder, Safe on Social and Crlt/Shift  Co-author with Maggie Dent of Digital Freedom: A guide to less screen time for safer, happier and healthier families (2026)  Thanks to Artistic Director of the Byron Writers Festival Jessica Alice, and team.
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  China's one-child policy and a true tale of abduction, adoption and separated twins 13.10.2026 54m

  In just 32 years, more than 160,000 children were adopted internationally under China's One-Child Policy. About half were sent to the United States — almost all of them were girls.Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick's latest book tells the story of twin sisters who were separated as toddlers, with one adopted by a family in Texas, while the other stayed with her birth family in rural China. This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks. Speakers: Barbara Demick Author, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea (Baillie Gifford prize-winner) and more Katrina Strickland Senior Writer, Good Weekend Magazine (Nine Newspapers)
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  Amitav Ghosh and Luke Kemp on learning from collapsed empires 12.10.2026 54m

  From the fall of Rome to the climate crisis unfolding right now, history shows up a common pattern for how empires rise and fall. And two important factors are humans’ relationship with the natural world, as well as the unequal distribution of power and wealth. What can the wreckage of past civilisations teach us about avoiding our own?  This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks. Listen to Big Ideas – Why civilisations vanish Speakers Amitav Ghosh  Indian-born novelist, essayist, and public intellectual Author of The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis and Wild Fictions Luke Kemp Research Affiliate, Centre for the Study of Existential Ris, University of Cambridge Author of Goliath’s Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse Clare Wright (host) Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement, La Trobe University and award-winning author
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  Students and teachers are already using it — but should AI be in the classroom? With Eddie Woo and Leslie Loble 08.10.2026 54m

  Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping education and learning in Australian schools, with 80 per cent of students and two thirds of teachers now using AI tools. So how can we take advantage of the technology, and avoid the risks? This event was recorded at the University of Technology Sydney on 17 June 2026. Speakers: Leslie Loble Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney Chair of the Australian Network for Quality Digital Education, Chair of the Council on Early Childhood Development, Deputy Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment & Reporting Authority Former Deputy Secretary in the NSW Department of Education Author, Artificial intelligence, cognitive offloading and implications for education Eddie Woo High school maths teacher Leader of teacher growth for the New South Wales Education Department Host of the popular Youtube channel Wootube Ultimate Classroom (Channel 10), Teenage Boss (ABC ME) Professor of Practice at the School of Education and SocialWwork, University of Sydney Author, Woo's Wonderful World of Maths, It's a Numberful World: How math is hiding everywhere and more
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  You Must Take Part in Revolution — journalist Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao 07.10.2026 54m

  If authoritarianism was pressing in, what personal choices would you make to resist? Foreign correspondent Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao have collaborated on the gobsmacking new graphic novel You Must Take Part in Revolution. It's set in a dystopian near future. A proto-fascist USA is at war with the full-throttled techno-surveillance state of China, with Taiwan wedged in the middle. Three young characters confront questions of loyalty, legacy, and courage. But for Melissa and Badiucao, their fictional scenario started to feel all to real. They know. They've lived it. They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at their Australian launch event in Naarm/Melbourne. Speakers Melissa Chan Emmy nominated Hong Kong-Taiwanese-American foreign correspondent Co-author, You Must Take Part in Revolution (Simon and Schuster Australia, 2026) Former Beijing correspondent with Al Jazeera Badiucao Chinese-Australian artist-in-exile and activist Walkley-Award-winning cartoonist, The Age Co-author, You Must Take Part in Revolution (Simon and Schuster Australia, 2026) Winner, Human Rights Foundation's Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent. Thank to Readings Bookshop events manager Christine Gordon.
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  Bones, CSI, X-Files step aside — here come the real forensic scientists 06.10.2026 54m

  Forensics has gripped pop culture for decades. But what’s the reality of this job? From the crime scene to the laboratory, our expert panel examines the evidence, explains the science and reveals how the truth gets uncovered. In the real world, by people who do this work for a living.  Forensics: The Science of Blood, Body Bags and Biohazards was presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane. The UQ Impact Series is presented in partnership with The University of Queensland. Speakers  Inspector Donna Stewart Quality Manager of the Queensland Police Service’s Forensic Services Group Dr Kristen Clarke Senior Research Officer within the Forensic Services Group at the Queensland Police Service (QPS) Dr Jack Garland Specialist forensic pathologist with Queensland Health Dr Jeremy Watherston Deputy Director, Forensic Operations for Forensic Science Queensland Dr Jonathan Webb (host) Science journalist and broadcaster, Science editor at ABC Radio National
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  George Megalogenis on the three shocks reshaping Australian politics 05.10.2026 54m

  From the blue-collar man, to the professional woman. From the multigenerational Australian born citizen, to a predominantly migrant nation. From the inner city to the suburbs to the bush. Australia has changed. But have our politicians? This event was recorded at the Hawke Centre at Adelaide University on 20 August 2026. Speakers: George Megalogenis Political journalist, author, Three Shocks: Who We Are Becoming in the 21st Century, The Australian Moment (winner the 2013 Prime Minister's Literary Award for Non-fiction and the 2012 Walkley Award for Non-fiction), four Quarterly Essays, and more Tory Shepherd (host) Senior Reporter, Guardian Australia
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  The legacy of Jane Goodall —from chimp whisperer to changing how science understands primates 01.10.2026 53m

  Jane Goodall’s radical ideas that animals have individual personalities, relationships and even emotions reshaped how we understand primates. It also sparked fierce ethical debates that are still playing out today: Do great apes have rights? What responsibilities do researchers carry when studying minds so much like our own? Jan Goodall wasn't just a trailblazing scientist. She became one of the most influential conservationists of the last century and created the foundation of modern primatology.  City of Science: Jane Goodall and Her Legacy was presented at the CUNY Graduate Center Speakers Kristin Andrews Professor of Philosophy, CUNY Graduate Center David Lahti Associate professor of Biology and Psychology at Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Center Jessica Rothman Program director in Human Biology and professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the CUNY Graduate Center Dr Mark Hauber (host) Professor of Biology and Psychology at the CUNY Graduate Center and executive director of the Advanced Science Research Center
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  The future of ageing — what will growing old be like in 2076? 30.09.2026 53m

  Australia's population is getting older. In fact, by 2076, 45 per cent of us - that's 18 million people - will be aged over 65. What will ageing look like in 50 years time? Will science keep us healthier for longer? What role will older people play in the workforce, in the economy, and in our communities? Will robots wipe our bottoms, or keep us company? How will we respond to major health challenges—like dementia, already our leading cause of death— and the growing burden of chronic disease? This conversation explores the ethical and social challenges facing our ageing country, and the planning, research and policy systems needed to ensure a dignified, safe and healthy life for older people by 2076. This event was recorded at the fiftieth National Ageing Research Institute annual summit with the theme Imagine Australia in 50 years on 22 July in Melbourne. Speakers:  Mark Dreyfus Former Attorney General, MP Member for Isaacs Professor Jenny Waycott Professor and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Computing and Information Systems, Melbourne University Professor Andy Philp Head of the Centre for Healthy Ageing at the Centenary Institute and leads the healthy ageing research at the University of Technology Sydney where he leads the Biology of Ageing Laboratory in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Professor Tim Adair Demographer and Principal Research Fellow in the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Jacinta Parsons (host) Broadcaster, author and speaker
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  Can we change the future by reimagining it? 29.09.2026 53m

  What does the future look like to you? How can you prepare yourself for what's coming down the line? And how does what you do today, change what will happen tomorrow? Join three forward-looking thinkers for a conversation about how to shape a better tomorrow, today. The conversation Brave New Futures was recorded live at the annual 2026 WOMADelaide festival, produced and presented as part of their Planet Talks program, held on the traditional lands of the Guarna people. Speakers: Richard King Critic, cultural commentator and author, Brave New Wild: Can Technology Really Save the Planet? Clare Marshall Award-winning futurist, former lead of the National Futures Initiative at The Australian Centre for Social Innovation Grace Vegasana Climate justice organiser and youth advocate, National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), co-founder of The People of Colour Climate Network Lee Constable (host) Environmental communicator, TV presenter, author, How to Save the Whole Stinkin' Planet: A Garbological Adventure, and more
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  Lyse Doucet —The history of Kabul’s finest hotel tells the history of a nation 28.09.2026 54m

  The Inter-Continental Hotel on a hilltop above Kabul has watched Afghanistan’s modern history unfold from its windows. Built in 1969, it has survived Soviet occupation, multiple coups, a civil war, a foreign invasion and waves of Taliban rule. This is the story of that hotel and of Afghanistan itself, told through forty years of visits, world-making headlines, and the people who called the finest hotel in Kabul home. This event was recorded live at the 2026 Sydney Writers’ Festival at Carriageworks. Speakers Lyse Doucet BBC Chief International Correspondent and author of The Finest Hotel in Kabul, A People’s History of Afghanistan, Hutchinson Heinemann (2025) Debbie Whitmont (host) ABC Journalist and author 
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  It's an ancient Hindu poem, so why does The Ramayana still resonate? 24.09.2026 54m

  It's been called "The Odyssey of the East", and the ancient Hindu poem remains central to Asian cultures and traditions from India to Indonesia 2500 years after it was written. From the names of Thai kings, to traditional Javanese shadow puppets, the ancient temples of Cambodia's Angkor Wat to contemporary Indian politics, the journeys of Rama and his wife Sita are deeply embedded. Why does this story endure? The conversation The Ramayana reimagined: storytelling across cultures was recorded at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as part of the exhibition, Avatar: Forms of Vishnu, on until 5 October 2026. Speakers: Dr. Chaitanya Sambrani Co-curator (with Melanie Eastburn) of Avatar: Forms of Vishnu exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales Art historian, Australian National University Savanhdary Vongpoothorn Painter, sculptor and installation artist Alfira O'Sullivan Artistic Director and solo artist with Suara Indonesia Dance Sunil Badami (host) Writer, broadcaster and academic
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  Why literary giants like Margaret Atwood, Nobel laureate Han Kang and Amitav Ghosh wrote books that will never be read in their lifetime 23.09.2026 54m

  The Future Library is filled with unpublished books written for readers yet to be born. Every year a new literary work is commissioned to be held in trust in a special room in the National Library of Norway. And in a forest just outside Oslo, 1,000 Spruce are growing - waiting until 2114 to fulfil their role: To be pulped and transform these unseen words into print. This hundred-year literary artwork by Scottish artist Katie Paterson is one of the most internationally acclaimed long-term cultural projects of our time.  Presented at the National Library of Australia in partnership with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Canberra. Speakers Anne Beate Hovind   Norwegian urban developer, curator and cultural producer of Future Library (2014–2114) by Katie Paterson Kathryn Favelle (host) Director of Community Engagement, National Library of Australia in Canberra
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  When you trust social media influencers more than your GP — what can only go wrong? 22.09.2026 54m

  From doctors spruiking untested therapies to celebrities selling "revolutionary wellness hacks", self-styled health gurus promise results traditional medicine can't. Social media transforms a healthcare system that struggles with GP wait times and short face-to-face appointments. Because when it comes to trust, it turns out fame competes surprisingly well with scientific evidence. Bad Influence: How the internet hijacked our health was recorded at the York Festival of Ideas. The festival is led by the University of York, UK. Speakers Dr Deborah Cohen Broadcaster, journalist and author of Bad Influence: How the Internet Hijacked Our Health Simon Gilbody Professor of Psychological Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of York and the Hull York Medical School
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  Alice Pung's Unpolished Gem and her conversations with the teenagers who've studied it 21.09.2026 54m

  Alice Pung started writing her first published book as a teenager. Now, it's been read and studied by two generations of Australian teenagers through the school curriculum. On the 20th anniversary of her irreverent, loving memoir of her migrant family's 's everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs, she reflects on the book's endurance and the various reactions it's provoked in her young readers. The 2026 EW Cole Lecture was recorded by The Wheeler Centre Australia's first dedicated centre for Books, Writing and Ideas. Explore more discussions like this one on The Wheeler Centre podcast — available wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow @wheelercentre for updates Speakers: Alice Pung Author, Unpolished Gem, Her Father's Daughter, Laurinda, One Hundred Days, Growing Up Asian in Australia (editor) and more Raina Tran 15 year-old writer Marina Sano Co-creator and owner of Amplify Bookstore
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  ABC National Forum — migration and the kind of country Australia wants to be 17.09.2026 55m

  Migration has shaped modern Australia, but as the country grows, debates around immigrants and multiculturalism are intensifying. Join David Speers for the ABC’s latest National Forum. We bring together Australians from all walks of life to ask: Is our migration system still working? And just what is our National Identity? It’s a big discussion about the kind of country we want to be. Panellists Dr Abdul Rizvi Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Immigration John Anderson Former Deputy Prime Minister George Megalogenis Journalist and author Nyadol Nyuon Lawyer and human rights advocate Dr Anne Aly Minister for Multicultural Affairs Andrew Hastie Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability Barnaby Joyce One Nation MP
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  Buying and Selling the Poor at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas — Rick Morton, Mark Considine, Emily Roy with Natasha Mitchell 16.09.2026 57m

  Being poor has become big business in Australia, but not for people who need work. Billions spent. Millions of profits. But who's getting them?  Why do unemployment and poverty continue to be stigmatised? And does the legacy of the Robodebt scandal live on? The Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research concluded in a new excoriating report Who’s rorting who? The failure of outsourced job services that the system is "filling the pockets of private equity and millionaires" while leaving job-seekers without work. Three people close to the coalface join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to weigh in. This event was held at the 2026 Festival of Dangerous Ideas on Gadigal Country in Sydney.  Speaker  Rick Morton  Investigative journalist  Multi-award-winning author, Mean Streak, My Year of Living Vulnerably, On Money, and One Hundred Years of Dirt.  Mark Considine  Political scientist and Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor  Co-Director of the Australian Welfare and Work Lab, University of Melbourne  Author, The Careless State  Co-author, Buying and Selling the Poor: Inside Australia's privatised welfare-to-work market  Emily Roy  Chief Executive Officer Not-for-profit employment services provider JobLink Plus  Thanks to Danielle Harvey, Lauren Bennett, and the whole Festival of Dangerous Ideas team. Further reading   Report: Who's rorting who? The failure of outsourced job services (Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research, 2026)  Australia's jobseeker system fails workers and enriches millionaires, report says   The Shaping the future of employment services Discussion Paper  (Australian Government, 2026)  Senate Committee Report: Rebuilding Employment Services (2023)   
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  Helen Garner reflects on five decades of writing — an ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown special 15.09.2026 1h 15m

  Helen Garner is one of Australia's most significant and renowned writers, known for her precise and observational writing style, disarming honesty and piercing curiosity about her fellow human beings. Here, she reflects on a lifetime of writing, from her groundbreaking 1977 debut Monkey Grip, to her work in the courtroom covering some of Australia's most shocking crimes, to her keen observations of daily life in her collections of letters and diaries. To celebrate ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown we bring you this celebration of Garner's immense contribution to Australian letters and life across five decades. "I'm terribly interested in working out what happens between people." The first event in the Body of Work series presented by Federation Square and the Melbourne Arts Precinct was recorded Thursday 6 August 2026 Speakers: Helen Garner  Author, Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, Cosmo Cosmolino, Joe Cinque's Consolation, How to End a Story: The Collected Diaries 1978-1998 (winner the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction), This House of Grief, The Season, The Mushroom Tapes (with Sarah Krasnostein and Chloe Hooper) and more Michael Williams (host) Editor, The Monthly, former artistic director of Sydney Writers Festival, former director of The Wheeler Centre, former host, ABC Radio National