Experience ANU

Paula Gerber was in conversation with Kim Rubenstein on her new book Sex, Gender & Identity: Trans Rights in Australia. Why are trans people so hated? Barely a week goes by without pointed media stories about the trans community, usually targeting trans women. They are likely to have a sensationalist headline and a salacious tone, and the writing is often ill-informed and vilifying. Favoured topics include women in sports, bathrooms, where prisoners are housed, and health care for trans and gender-diverse children and young people. Why have they become contemporary ‘villains’ and the target of so much prejudice and bigotry? And most importantly, how do we change this? Is it possible to move from blaming, shaming and excluding trans people to respecting, protecting and including them? These questions are at the heart of Sex, Gender & Identity: Trans Rights in Australia, alongside the goal of increasing community-wide understanding of this much maligned minority. Professor Paula Gerber is a law professor at Monash University, and an internationally renowned expert on human rights law and LGBTQIA+ people. Paula has written and edited numerous books and articles on human rights issues, and she is regularly featured in the Australian media, including on ABC television and radio, and on The Conversation. Paula is the Chair of Kaleidoscope Human Rights Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that advocates for better protection of the rights of LGBTQIA+ people in the Asia-Pacific region, Professor Kim Rubenstein, lawyer, academic, author, distinguished human rights advocate, is a champion of equal opportunity and active citizenship. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Business Government and Law at the University of Canberra and at the University of Technology Sydney and an Honorary Professor at the ANU. Professor Fiona Jenkins, Convenor of the ANU Gender Institute ANU gave the vote of thanks.

Elizabeth Finkel was in conversation with Joan Leach on Elizabeth's new book Prove It: A Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era, a compelling journey through science's big breakthroughs, by an award-winning Australian science writer. Humans developed the scientific method over centuries. Its departure from what came before was that theories should be fuelled by data, not opinion. Today, the institutions that underpin democracy – the law, academia, government, journalism – all rely on its central idea: seeking facts and interrogating them through robust discussion and real-world testing. Yet in the post-truth era, public conversations can feel far from scientific. In Prove It, Elizabeth Finkel describes how the scientific method plays out in a series of controversies, from proving the existence of Einstein's gravitational waves to identifying the origins of Covid-19, from understanding human origins to defining consciousness. Through these tales of dispute and discovery, she breaks down the key elements of scientific thinking. Full of politics, prejudice, obsession, heroism and eccentricity, Prove It captures the drama and excitement of scientific discovery and debate and argues compellingly that its lessons are more crucial now than ever. Elizabeth Finkel holds a PhD in biochemistry and spent ten years as a research scientist before becoming an award-winning journalist and author of The Genome Generation, among other books. She is a founding editor of Cosmos magazine and a regular contributor to the US magazine Science, Radio National's Science Show and The Monthly. Her awards include a Queensland Premier's Literary Award for Stem Cells: Controversy at the Frontiers of Science, the National Press Club's award for Higher Education Journalist of the Year and the Eureka Award for Science Journalism. Professor Joan Leach, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic) at the Australian National University, is a leading global expert in science communication specialising in public engagement with controversial and frontier science and the ethics of science communication. From 2016 to April 2025 Joan was Director, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and is past president of Australian Science Communicators and past Chair of the National Committee for History and Philosophy of Science at the Australian Academy of Science. The vote of thanks was given by Anna Maria Arabia, Chief Executive, Australian Academy of Science

Tracy Lee Holmes was in conversation with Phil Coorey on The Eye of the Dragonfly, a candid, wide-ranging and passionate book, part memoir, part manifesto, in which she shares both her stories and her views on sport’s most dramatic issues. The dragonfly sees in 360 degree perspective, and that’s what Tracey Lee Holmes has always done in her sports journalism. Over four decades, she has taken us beyond the scores and stats to the real stories of sport – the stories of human beings in exultation and defeat, and the bigger stories of money, power, and all too often, discrimination. In both her life and work, Holmes has consistently broken barriers. The first female presenter of the ABC’s flagship sports programme, Grandstand, she has pioneered coverage of and by women in sport. Her longform style of interviewing and her reporting on world events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cups have introduced us to athletes from all backgrounds and nations Anchor, reporter, podcaster and – for a rocky spell over the 2000 Sydney Olympics – media manager, Holmes has never sought to divorce sport and the politics of the world it’s played in. As well as recounting highlights (and a couple of lowlights) from her career, in this book she shares her views on drugs in sport, Sam Kerr, and what challenges face the Olympics before the 2032 Brisbane Games. Holmes has also had a rich personal story. The child of itinerant surfers, she has lived in many different countries with her own children and husband, Stan Grant, seeing the world from many different perspectives. And her life has been full of surprises: only after numerous years living in China did she learn that she has Chinese heritage herself. Bracing, intimate and characteristically unconventional, The Eye of the Dragonfly gives us the full picture of a remarkable life in sport. Tracey Lee Holmes is one of Australia’s most recognised and rewarded journalists . As Deputy Chair of the Oceania Australia Foundation, a Council Member of Indigenous Football Australia, a member of the IOC Press Committee, and a Mentor for the IOC Young Reporters program, Tracey is actively involved in promoting sport as a tool for social change and empowerment. Phil Coorey has covered federal politics since 1998 and is currently the political editor of the Australian Financial Review based in Canberra. He is a two-time winner of the Paul Lyneham award for press gallery excellence. He is a regular commentator on political panel television programmes such the ABC’s Insiders.

Marian Wilkinson was in conversation with David Pocock on her Quarterly Essay Woodside vs. the Planet. How a Company Captured a Country. Why is Australia doubling down on fossil fuels? The world may have committed at Paris to hold back dangerous climate change, but Australia's fossil-fuel giant Woodside is doubling down: it has bold new plans to keep producing gas out to 2070. Support from the major parties is locked in, so something has to give. This is a story of power and influence, pollution and protest. How does one company capture a country? How convincing is Woodside's argument that gas is a necessary transition fuel, as the world decarbonises? And what is the new ""energy realism"" narrative being pushed by Trump's White House. In this engrossing essay, Marian Wilkinson reveals the ways of corporate power and investigates the new face of resistance and disruption. The stakes could not be higher. "The gas companies and the Labor governments in WA and Canberra had refined their defence: the gas industry was helping the world decarbonise, curbing its emissions and providing energy security. It sounded like the planet could hardly have a better friend than Australia's LNG industry and companies like Woodside." —Marian Wilkinson, Marian Wilkinson is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, including two Walkley awards, and a reporter at ABC TV's Four Corners, where she was its first female executive producer . She has been a foreign correspondent and deputy editor for The Sydney Morning Herald . Her books include The Fixer, Dark Victory (with David Marr) and The Carbon Club. David Pocock, a former captain of the Wallabies rugby union team, is currently an independent Senator for the Australian Capital Territory in the Australian Parliament, elected in 2022 and re -elected in 2025.He is a co-founder of Rangelands Regeneration. Emeritus Professor Mark Howden AC, former Director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions, gave the vote of thanks.

Michael Brissenden was in conversation with Chris Hammer on Michael's new novel, MTA, a dark, gripping thriller that explores the complexities of identity, a search for truth, and the unyielding forces of corruption in a world where lives are lived on the fringe and nothing is as it seems. Lake Herrod, a once-thriving community, now lies in the shadow of a nearly dry lake. The town, like the water, is evaporating and its residents are left clinging to what little remains. When Aaron Love discovers a fresh corpse near the cracked lakebed – along with evidence his missing father is alive and linked to a web of organised crime – he is thrust into a world of deception, injustice and betrayal. With the town on the brink of collapse, Aaron and a haunted detective, Martyn Kravets, uncover a web of conspiracy that reaches far beyond the small community. ‘Searing and raw, beautiful and tender for its profound humanity, Dust ventures where few dare – to the true, blistered Australian climate-changed outback, and to the desperate lives and brutal deaths that unfold on its margins. A superb novel, confronting and oh-so real.’– Paul Daley Michael Brissenden was a journalist with the ABC for 35 years, covering politics, national security issues and spent many years working as a foreign correspondent. He now writes fiction and has published three novels: The List (2017), Dead Letters (2021) and Smoke (2024). Chris Hammer is a leading Australian crime fiction novelist, including the internationally bestselling Martin Scarsden series: Scrublands, Silver and Trust. Chris’s current award-winning series features homicide detectives Nell Buchanan and Ivan Lucic: Treasure & Dirt/ Opal Country; The Tilt/Dead Man’s Creek; The Seven/Cover The Bones; and now The Valley/The Broken River. The vote of thanks was given by Canberra writer, veterinarian and podcaster Karen Viggers

Bryan Horrigan was in conversation with James Edelman on Bryan's new book Corporate Social Responsibility in an Age of Existential Threats.

Adam Courtenay was in conversation with Alex Sloan on his moving memoir My Father Bryce. Dynamic, complex, driven: Bryce Courtenay was all of these as well as one of Australia's most beloved authors. To his son Adam, he was larger than life, mercurial, and impossible to know completely. In this moving, unforgettable memoir, Adam searches for the real Bryce.

Liz Cameron was in conversation with Alex Sloan on her new book Cult Bride How I Was Brainwashed – and How I Broke Free, ‘an intriguing and powerful memoir,’ in which Liz asks how are people like you and me brainwashed into cults? As an 18 year-old on her gap year in Canberra, Liz is approached at a shopping centre by a woman who asks her survey questions about her Christian faith. Liz is slowly brought into her small, friendly church community – but little does she know that her new ‘friends’ are members of the South Korean cult Providence, which currently operates in more than 70 countries. This is the story of how Liz endured mind-control techniques and a visit to the cult’s convicted serial rapist leader in prison and came out the other side alive. She takes us behind the scenes to show us how cults operate in plain sight – and how we can unpick the systems that enable them to prey on vulnerable people. This powerful, candid memoir tells one woman’s extraordinary story of how she was broken down by a secretive, predatory cult – and how she broke free and remade her life. Pantera publisher, Tom Langshaw, has stated, ‘Liz tells her story with grace and dignity, cleverly supported by research into cult operations and advocacy for policy change. Her memoir is a remarkable personal story of survival with a deeper and more purposeful meaning, exploring the extremes of coercive control and the cults that operate in plain sight’. Liz Cameron grew up in fundamentalist Christianity and was brainwashed into the JMS cult at age 18 in 2011. Since escaping in 2013, she's worked on slowly rebuilding her life while also helping to raise awareness of cults and assist in deprogramming other cult victims. She now resides in Canberra and balances full-time professional work with cult awareness and advocacy, while also studying a psychology degree. In 2023, after flying to South Korea to film the documentary The Cult Next Door for Channel 7's Spotlight program, Liz's public profile grew as she began talking honestly on social media about the insidious nature of cults, cult psychology, and deprogramming. Alex Sloan AM is an award winning journalist, panellist, MC and commentator whose extensive media career spans 30 years, including 27 years with ABC Radio. Alex is a Director and Deputy Chair of Australia's think-tank, The Australia Institute and a Director of The Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. In 2017 Alex was named ACT Citizen of the Year and in 2019 Alex was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her significant service to the community of Canberra, and to the broadcast media as a radio presenter.

Katherine Biber was in conversation with Kate Fullagar on her new book, The Last Outlaws, a gripping work of historical true crime and a richly revealing examination of our nation at its birth. Brilliantly reconstructed from contemporary narratives, it's The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith meets Killing for Country. In the winter of 1900, Wiradjuri man Jimmy Governor and his brother Joe murdered nine people across New South Wales, in a rampage that caused panic in the colony on the cusp of nationhood. Triggered, it seems, by a racist incident, they killed men, women and children, evading a vast manhunt until they were eventually captured. Joe was shot in the open; Jimmy survived to be put on trial. Thus the last man to be outlawed in the colony was hanged in the new nation, meeting his end in Darlinghurst Gaol as the Federation decorations were taken down. The brothers’ names still resonate, partly due to Thomas Keneally’s novel The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Fred Schepisi’s subsequent film, but their story has remained distorted and obscure. Undertaken with the co-operation of the Governors’ descendants, Katherine Biber’s compelling reconstruction of events – from the murders themselves to Jimmy’s eventual execution – brings this extraordinary story back to life. In doing so it sheds fresh, vivid light on the country that inspired and reacted to the murders. Not only did many of the lawyers and politicians involved also play key roles in Federation, but the case revealed in microcosm the psychology of the nascent nation: its attitudes to land and race; its anxiety about a wider First Nations insurrection; its obsession with paperwork and the emerging ‘sciences’ of neuroanatomy and criminology; its nepotism, religiosity, sweeping police powers and sensationalist media. More powerfully than the story of Ned Kelly or the Anzacs, the fate of Jimmy Governor illuminates the origin story of the Australian nation. Populated by a cast of extraordinary characters and compelling detail, The Last Outlaws brings the energy of true crime into the telling of history, offering an electric new understanding of both our past and our present Katherine Biber, Distinguished Professor of Law at UTS, is a legal scholar, criminologist and historian. Her podcast The Last Outlaws won the NSW Premier’s History Award (2022, Digital History); Australian Podcast Awards (2022, Podcast of the Year, overall winner; 2022 History Podcast of the Year); Australian Legal Research Award (2022, non-traditional research award); and was a finalist in the Webby Awards (2023, Best Limited Series). Katherine is co-Editor in Chief of the international journal Crime, Media, Culture and serves on the Australian Research Council College of Experts. Professor Kate Fullagar is an historian and award-winning author at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Vice President of the Australian Historical Association. She is the author of Phillip and Bennelong: A History Unravelled  ; The Warrior, the Voyager, and the Artist: Three Lives in an Age of Empire and The Savage Visit. New World People and Imperial Popular Culture. The vote of thanks was given by Dr Ben Silverstein, Lecturer in Indigenous Studies. ANU

Sam Guthrie was in conversation with Mark Kenny on his gripping new espionage thriller and debut novel, The Peak. Written with an extraordinary insider knowledge of China, the realities of global power and the inner dealings of the Australian Government, The Peak weaves an intriguing story of friendship, love and betrayal. Political hatchet man Charlie will do anything to protect Sebastian, Australian government minister and his best friend since their brutal private school days. Rising to power and prominence through international diplomatic postings and then the rough and tumble of Australian politics, they are as close as brothers - or so Charlie thinks - while both keep the secret that lies at the very heart of their relationship - a secret that in one way or another will change the world. But then a single phrase in Mandarin is spoken in Sebastian's ear and he does the unthinkable. As Charlie tries to piece it all together - from their youth spent in Hong Kong to the recent past in Beijing and Washington - things in the outside world start to fall apart too. Planes can't land, the phone lines go down and the power is out. Then the secret intelligence services comes knocking. Charlie wonders, what the hell did Sebastian do? From the jostling streets of Hong Kong to Beijing's shadowy halls of power and the backstabbing Machiavellian workings of Parliament House in Canberra. The Peak combines the authenticity and moral complexity of a Le Carre novel and the narrative power of an Australian Robert Harris. 'Sam Guthrie is a born writer - this is a cracking thriller' Dervla McTiernan Prior to publishing his first novel, The Peak, Sam Guthrie had a 25 year career in international relations serving as a trade envoy to China, an Asia Pacific corporate affairs adviser and political lobbyist and a senior government official. He has worked extensively across Europe, the US and Asia, and has spent close to a decade living and working in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Prague. He has a master's degree in international relations. He splits his time between Canberra and Sydney. Professor Mark Kenny is Director of the Australian Studies Institute at ANU, where he hosts the popular podcast series 'Democracy Sausage'. Mark is the Canberra Times political analyst and a regular on the ABC's Insiders, and countless broadcast programs across the country. The vote of thanks wasThePeak given by Allan Behm, Senior Advisor, International & Security Affairs Program. The Australia Institute

Graeme Turner was in conversation with Frank Bongiorno on his new book Broken: Universities, Politics and the Public Good. A strong higher education system is fundamental to civil society. The building of knowledge and the dissemination of information is vital to the proper functioning of our democracy. At the economic level, higher education is in the top three of our export industries; international students have become central to the hospitality, retail and agricultural economies; and the country desperately needs well-trained, knowledgeable citizens to shore up its future. Yet, in February 2024, a detailed review of higher education in this country concluded that the system is broken and urgently needs fixing. The problems that afflict it are legion, including over-investment in international enrolment, an epidemic of casualisation and the burning out of a generation of academics, culture wars over the content and orientation of university research and teaching, the lack of sectoral coordination around the national interest, and the consequences of decades of funding cuts. In Broken, Graeme Turner provides a reality check for those who imagine the academic life is one of privilege and leisure, laying bare the enormous challenges and lack of hope experienced by many in academia. He unearths the foundations of this crisis, then explains how the solution lies in an overhaul of the one-size-fits-all approach to university funding, the establishment of genuine full-time career paths, and the formation of an independent body to ensure our university system serves the national interest in both teaching and research, rather than the ferocious competitiveness of the marketplace. Above all, we need to jettison the current economic focus on education, and re-embrace the idea that higher learning is a fundamental public good – and should be funded as such. Graeme Turner AO is Emeritus Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland. He has published 30 books and his work has been translated into eleven languages. He has served as President of the Academy of the Humanities, is a former Federation Fellow, and is the only humanities scholar to have served two successive terms as a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He has had extensive engagement with higher education policy, research assessment and commentary on the sector, including prominent roles with the Australian Research Council, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, and the Learned Academies. He co-authored the landmark 2014 study of the state of the humanities, creative arts and social sciences disciplines in Australia, Mapping HASS. His 'state of the nation' book, The Shrinking Nation, was published in 2023. Frank Bongiorno AM, Professor of History ANU, is currently President of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Whitlam Institute Distinguished Fellow at Western Sydney University. His most recent book is Dreamers and Schemers: A Political History of Australia. Allan Behm, Senior advisor, International & Security Affairs Program at the Australia Institute, will give the vote of thanks

Two times Gold Dagger winning, and twice Edgar short-listed author, Michael Robotham was in conversation with Chris Hammer on Michael's new PC Phil McCarthy crime fiction novel The White Crow. *This podcast contains explicit language. Listener discretion is advised.

Journalist and recipient of the 2024 Press Freedom Award, Cheng Lei was in conversation with Michael Hertel on her new book Cheng Lei: A Memoir of Freedom, the extraordinary true story of journalist Cheng Lei whose life was abruptly transformed when she was detained in China on false charges of espionage. Harrowing, fierce and often darkly humorous.

Toby Walsh was in conversation with Andrew Leigh on his new book The Shortest History of AI, everything you need to know about the origins and future of artificial intelligence through the examination of six key ideas.

Internationally acclaimed epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre was in conversation with Sanjaya Senanayake on her new book Vaccine Nation Science, reason and the threat to 200 years of progress, a gripping journey through the past, present and future of vaccines.

Marcel Dirsus was in conversation with Allan Behm on his book How Tyrants Fall: And How Nations Survive.

Ian Rankin was in conversation with Chris Hammer on Midnight and Blue, the latest instalment of the Inspector Rebus series, and reflections on Ian’s bestselling career in crime writing. Midnight and Blue is Ian Rankin at his tense and thrilling best. Detective Inspector John Rebus spent his life putting Edinburgh's most deadly criminals behind bars. Now, he's joined them. As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even the legendary detective struggles to keep his head. That is, until a murder at midnight in a locked cell presents a new mystery. They say old habits die hard. However, this is a case where the prisoners and the guards are all suspects, and everyone has something to hide. With no badge, no authority and no safety net, Rebus walks a tightrope - with his life on the line. But how do you find a killer in a place full of them? ‘Rebus is one of British crime writing's greatest characters: alongside Holmes, Poirot and Morse' Daily Mail ‘Rankin has taken the police procedural and transformed into an epic character study of a man and his city ... Nobody does it better’.The Times Sir Ian Rankin is the multi-million copy worldwide bestseller of over 30 novels and the creator of John Rebus. His books have been translated into 36 languages and have been adapted for radio, stage and screen. Rankin is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards, including the Diamond Dagger, the UK’s most prestigious award for crime fiction. In the United States, he has won the celebrated Edgar Award and been shortlisted for the Anthony Award. He is the recipient of honorary degrees from four universities across the UK, is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature. He was knighted in 2023 for services to literature and charity and has also received an OBE for his services to literature. Chris Hammer's first book, Scrublands, became an instant bestseller when it was published in 2018 and has been released as a TV series on Stan. as has his second novel Silver published in 2019. His subsequent novels Trust (2020), Treasure & Dirt (2021) The Tilt (2022), The Seven (2023) and The Valley (2024) - have all also been bestsellers. Chris has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Charles Sturt University and a master's degree in international relations from the ANU. The vote of thanks was given by Canberra crime fiction reviewer Anna Creer.

Geoff Raby was in conversation with Allan Behm on the updated edition of his book China’s Grand Strategy and Australia’s Future in the New Global Order and his recent publication, Great Game On. The contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy.

Award-winning biographer Judith Brett was in conversation with Virginia Haussegger on her new book Fearless Beatrice Faust: Sex, Feminism and Body Politics.

Steve Vizard was in conversation with Frank Bongiorno on Nation, Memory, Myth. Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary, a book in which Steve Vizard brings an original perspective to the foundational myth of Gallipoli as a sacred bearer of Australian national values and identity.