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Big Ideas

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Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.
605 Episodes
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We are living in an "age of crises," says former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark. With her leadership experience and expertise in governance, politics, and policy, Helen Clark and a panel of health and international relation experts explore the challenges facing the world today and what is needed to achieve a healthier and thriving future for all. While it's easy to feel overwhelmed by complex problems, speaking up about inequality can make a difference. Helen Clark urged everyone to "raise the issues, never give up, and relentlessly campaign".
Women’s refuges are now a central part of our response to family violence, with hundreds operating across Australia. But that hasn't always been the case.
As Donald Trump makes his case for re-election in 2024, under a cloud of criminal prosecutions, how can journalists better cover such a norm-busting and rule-breaking political figure?
New York writer Jonathan Rosen’s memoir The Best Minds: a story of friendship, madness, and the tragedy of good intentions is a story of tenderness, heartache, and horror as he explores the vexed tensions between civil rights, medical power, and the complexities of recognising and treating severe psychotic illness. He joined Natasha Mitchell with psychiatrist Patrick McGorry for a powerful conversation at the 2024 Adelaide Writers Week. In light of the recent Bondi shopping centre killings, this discussion recorded just prior was sadly prescient, but deeply insightful. 
You don't need that dress, you need a hug. Or so says fashion activist and writer, Aja Barber.
It took 400,000 people to land man to the moon. And it's using that example as inspiration that the influential Italian American economist Mariana Mazzucato argues we can change capitalism.
Could Asia Pacific be with China within a couple of years? Is the independence of Taiwan worth for Australia to get involved? Would Indonesia be a better security partner for Australia than the US? On Big Ideas, a panel of foreign policy experts dissect evolving dynamics of South East Asia and offer insights into how Australia can navigate the delicate diplomatic dance with the two global giants and emerging regional powers. There are many different views on Australia's geopolitical position and the implications for its strategic future.
Has the way politicians speak ever made you shout at the television, feel bamboozled, helpless,  or shut out of democratic debate over our shared future? Pollie-talk can make important issues opaque, the inequitable seem fair, and the fair seem inequitable. Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell for some straight talk that cuts through the spin and jargon with Richard Denniss (author of Econobabble: How to decode political spin and economic nonsense), Yanis Varoufakis (author of Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism),  Joelle Gergis (author of Humanity's Moment: A Climate Scientist's Case for Hope) and Thomas Keneally (Schindler's List).
Only 50 years ago, if you were 60 years old your chance of dying was the same as an 80-year-old's today. Thanks to progress in medical technology, you can live longer than ever before. Quantum technology and quantum screening, modelling with digital twins, harvesting the power of AI and real time monitoring of your molecules – a panel of health experts discusses the new frontiers in the development of drugs and health technology.  
Gender equality isn't just about equal pay, it's a health and safety issue. Women perceive safety very differently to men, and that's why they need a seat at the table when policies are being nutted out. Just a month after Australia gets its first Gender Equality Strategy, Stephanie Copus Campbell speaks about her first-hand experience on women's rights and discrimination in Papua New Guinea and many other countries in the region — and her observations as the international Ambassador for Gender Equality. Her verdict: we are going backwards worldwide.
How valuable are trees as an alternative crop? And what's the role of agroforestry in the future of sustainable farming?
They use of shark nets to protect us from sharks is highly controversial. Do they work, what do they do to marine life, are there alternatives, and why are sharks so political?  Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2024 Ocean Lovers Festival for a robust interrogation of of an issue that ignites passions.
It's a question that has focused the minds of astronauts, scientists, space entrepreneurs and enthusiasts alike – is there, could there be, life on Mars? The race is on to find out, with NASA hoping to land astronauts there by the late 2030s.
Folk legend Eric Bogle is opening up and talks about his life, his thoughts about death, friendship and love and why having a deeper message for writing songs is so much more important than money and fame. It's a rare opportunity to share a conversation with one of the best and most prolific songwriters of the last several decades. His songs have become Australian classics – like The Band Played Waltzing Matilda or No Man's Land. And as a very special treat – you'll hear the world premiere of his latest song … finished on the way to this event.
What is the future of Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza strip and surrounding region? Can the past help us understand the tumultuous, horrifying present? And is a two-state solution a realistic response to the war in Gaza or not? Walkley Award-winning Australian journalist John Lyons, Israeli historian and political scientist Ilan Pappé, American essayist and author Nathan Thrall, and American political advisor Bruce Wolpe share their perspectives.
A wooden sarcophogas is sold in a Cairo market in the late 1800s, transported to Australia, and held in a University of Sydney collection. It remains closed for over a century. And then scientists opened its lid.  What happened next? Two leading Australian Egyptologists join Natasha Mitchell to consider the ethics, history, and science of a quest to understand life and death in Ancient Egypt and get a glimpse into one woman's world over 2500 years ago. But is it really Mer-Neith-It_Es?
For decades, Mary Beard has forged her own path through the male dominated field of academia, from the ruins of Rome to the trenches of Twitter, to become "the world's most famous classicist".
The best of talks, forums, debates, and festivals held in Australia and around the world.
What is the best response to hostage diplomacy? Pay the ransom? Sanction the responsible country, or individuals? Go public, or pursue quiet diplomacy? Can countries preserve bilateral relations, while at the same time advocating for the rights of their unlawfully detained citizens? 
Water is life. Rivers give life. But water and the rivers it flows down are also heavily politicised, and at the heart of battles over who gets access to water, what's killing our rivers, and what happens when they kill us during catastrophic floods. Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at this Adelaide Writers Week event with Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Barrister and author Richard Beasley, grazier and activist Kate McBride, and environmental historian Dr Margaret Cook.
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Comments (18)

Megan Prowse

I am desperately interested in your message, however you speak too fast for me and, your message is lost. It is like a machine gun. Communication is the message received.

Apr 14th
Reply (1)

J Coker

No mention of Reagan's increase in military spending which broke the finances of the Soviets. Or to be fair the voodoo economics which pushed Americans into borrowing, increased their consumption at the expense of their future

May 26th
Reply

J Coker

Steven Koonin. unsettled what climate science tells us, what it doesn't and why it matters

May 21st
Reply

Shannon Smulian

I did not feel this topic was covered fully. I felt it was very one sided, and that some of the examples and conclusions offered were not explored fairly

Nov 2nd
Reply

Amy

Love this Ep ❤ thank you !

Apr 10th
Reply

Kamran Mosleh

I enjoyed the scientific approach and unbiased vewpoints as well the valuable information! thanks

Mar 12th
Reply

Kendra M

Hugh @ 7'40": not "our Indigenous people"

Jan 8th
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Petr Pavlík

The episode resonated with me. It touches the issues I see as a parent.

Oct 1st
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Rebecca Mullins

As an American citizen, I would say the U.S. government most certainly does glorify war.

Aug 14th
Reply (1)

Michael Koch

Disappointing right from the inset.

Aug 6th
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Amy

Omg! SUCH a brilliant episode !

Aug 4th
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Amy

Brilliant discussion. Loved it !

Jun 13th
Reply

Correctrix

The first letter of the title of many episodes is cut off.

Dec 28th
Reply

Mark Pearson

Always on my playlist. Big ideas, new thinking and great solid conversations.

Nov 9th
Reply

Prayas Ojha

Very interesting arguments.... Great job

Apr 17th
Reply

Fifi

Paul Robeson podcast

Dec 29th
Reply
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