Big Ideas

Renowned and controversial Australian philosopher and bioethicist Peter Singer is no stranger to contentious ideas — wrestling with the ethics of how we treat each other and other species — infanticide, altruism, veganism and more. He joins Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell to talk about why.This event was organised by The Wheeler Centre and Montalto WinerySpeaker: Professor Peter SingerBioethicist and authorFounder of The Life You Can SaveFurther information:The Life You Can Save Oxford University's Centre for Effective AltruismGiveWellGiving What We Can 

Big Ideas celebrates the blooming daphne with a look at the life, work and legacy of a pioneer of Australian landscape gardening, Edna Walling.This event was recorded on April 16, 2024 at the State Library of Victoria.SpeakersTrisha Dixon Writer, photographer, tour guide leaderCo-author (with Jennie Churchill) The Vision of Edna Walling: Garden Plans 1920-1951 (1998), and Gardens in Time: In the Footsteps of Edna Walling (1988)Sara Hardy Biographer, playwright, former actorAuthor, The Unusual Life of Edna Walling, and A Secretive LifeMillie Ross (host) Presenter, Gardening Australia, professional horticulturist, garden designer, writer and broadcasterAuthor The Thrifty Gardener

The United Nations was established after World War II in an attempt to maintain international peace, security, and cooperation. So why now, in the face once again of rising global conflicts, are the UN, and other world bodies, laws, and mechanisms, so unable to address these crises?This event was recorded at the University of Melbourne on 29 August 2024.SpeakersProfessor Alison Duxbury Deputy Dean, University of Melbourne Law SchoolDr Tania Miletic Co-Director, Initiative for Peacebuilding, University of MelbourneDr Carrie McDougall Senior Lecturer, University of Melbourne Law SchoolFormer legal specialist and Assistant Director of the International Law Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and TradeFormer Legal Adviser at Australia's Mission to the United Nations in New YorkJon Faine (host) Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, University of Melbourne Law SchoolFormer long-time presenter, Mornings, ABC Radio Melbourne

We've lived through the age of peak TV, (and wasn't it glorious). Then cinema was BACK, thanks to the hype of Barbenheimer. So, in this post Hollywood writers' strike world, how do we define the era of culture we are now consuming?This event was recorded at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 17 August 2024.SpeakersJared Richards ABC Entertainment reporterAlison Willmore Film critic, Vulture and New York magazinesHannah Diviney Disability advocate, actress, screenwriter and authorBrodie Lancaster (host) Author, essayist, and pop culture podcaster

Does the Milky Way have a sibling and how are stars formed? How can a telescope go back over 13 billion years ago to the Cosmic Dawn? The ASTRO 3D Centre of Excellence are unlocking some of the deepest mysteries of our universe and produced perhaps the clearest and most comprehensive picture of how matter, chemical elements, and energy evolved. Some of the astronomers and astrophysicists involved share their insights.Presented by ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D)Listen to Big Ideas - Night Sky LIVE – a wondrous encounter with the dark sky SpeakersEmma Ryan-WeberDirector of ASTRO 3D, the Centre of Excellence in AstrophysicsDr Nichole BarryScienta Lecturer at UNSWAmanda KarakasAssociate Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy Monash University Jesse Van De SandeAstronomer, lecturer in Astrophysics UNSW Jonathan Webb (host)ABC's Science Editor

Every autistic person is different, with their own strengths and challenges. We shouldn’t be asking what jobs are suitable for them. Rather: How can we make this specific job suitable for this autistic person? The result is a thriving employee with unique abilities. On Big Ideas, we’ll debunk myths like that autistic people don’t recognise emotion or don’t have social skills. You can see how wrong this perception is in the ABC TV series The Assembly.The Assembly on ABC iviewSpeakersDiana TanMacquarie University Autism and Education ResearcherKate HalpinNeurodiversity Consultant and advocate with lived experience. Kate is the Director of Employ for AbilityBill Shorten Minister for the NDIS Mel MacLeanHelium Pictures; Executive Producer of the ABC TV series The AssemblyLeigh Sales (host)Walkley award-winning journalist and broadcaster

Surveys constantly reveal that a huge number of us are not sleeping well. What is that doing to our mental and physical health?This event was recorded at the University of Sydney's Raising the Bar night, on 9 April 2024.SpeakerDr Jacob Crouse Research fellow, Brain and Mind Centre, University of SydneyFurther informationABC Sleeptember

The art and ethics of artisanal trades, from stone masonry to roof plumbing to limestone mortar plastering. What can be done to revive many of these traditional trades and bring them sustainably into the 21st century?Recorded Melbourne Design Week — presented by the Heritage Council of Victoria and the National Trust of VictoriaSpeakersGlen RundellWindsor Chair maker from the Central Highlands Co-Founder Lost Trades Fair, Kyneton Victoria Samantha WestbrookeExecutive Manager, Advocacy & Conservation National Trust Victoria Rebecca RobertsStone Mason, Doctoral Candidate with the University of MelbourneRuth Redden (host)Architect and heritage consultant Further InformationTraditional Trades ExpositionConservation program at the National Trust in VictoriaCentre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades

Liana Buchanan is a guardian of the rights of our most precious asset - our children. In a keynote speech, the Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People, Victoria, presents some brutal realities of the failures in some systems that are meant to protect children at risk in Victoria. But there is hope. Amelia Hunt, a young person who has experienced out of home care describes how young people are raising their voices and having direct input into reforms.  Recorded at the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Conference, State Library of VictoriaSpeakersLiana BuchananPrincipal Commissioner for Children and Young People, Victoria Amelia HuntVictorian Commission for Children and Young People, Student Law and Global Studies, ABC Hey Wire winner 2023   Further Information Commission for Children and Young people.Amelia Hunt - Kids in out-of-home care deserve better

Student activists from the Pacific Islands successfully got the International Court of Justice to define the responsibilities of nations to combat climate change, and the legal consequences of failing to do so.This is the story of their win.Seeing first-hand the dire impact of climate change in their countries, they want to ensure nations around the world understand their obligations to take positive climate action.The 2024 Talbot Oration presented by the Australia MuseumSpeakersChynthia HouniuhiPresident of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate ChangeCraig ReucasselWriter, director and comedian, known for his work with The Chaser and for The War on Waste; currently the host of 702 ABC Sydney BreakfastRichie MerzianInternational Director at the Smart Energy Council, a peak renewable energy industry groupNarelda JacobsWhadjuk Noongar journalist and presenter of 10 News First: Midday, and 10 News First

The median Australian house price is now about $800,000 – almost eight times the average income – and well beyond the reach of many people, without help. So how did we get here, and with a federal election looming, are the political parties game to seriously take this on?"Any solution to housing that is easy and popular won't work." — Alan KohlerPresented at the Sydney Writers Festival and Readings Bookshop.SpeakersAlan KohlerFinance presenter, ABCAuthor of The Great Divide: Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix It (Quarterly Essay #92 and republished as a book available 1 October 2024)Richard Holden (host)Professor of Economics, University of NSWKevin BellFormer Supreme Court Judge, Victoria; Former Director, Castan Centre for Human RightsAuthor of Housing: The Great Australian Right (In the National Interest essay series, Monash University Publishing)

Australia's high country is a spectacular and precious place. It's also a place that is changing, with shorter, less predictable snowfall. So, what does the future hold for the Alpine region, in a changing climate?This event was recorded on 13 June, 2024 at the Australian National University in partnership with Protect Our Winters Australia and the Australian Mountain Research Facility.SpeakersRuby OlssonLead author, Our Changing Snowscapes: Climate change impacts on and recommendations for our Australian AlpsPhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityProfessor Adrienne NicotraDirector, Australian Mountain Research FacilityRichard SwainHonorary Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityDavid PocockIndependent Senator, ACTSam Beaver (host)Volunteer Policy Lead, Protect Our Winters AustraliaResearch Officer, Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National UniversityFurther informationOur Changing Snowscapes: Climate Change Impacts and Recommendations for the Australian Alps

Frequently described as victims, as failures or even as women without morals, single mothers often get a bad rap. They are part of Australian statistics. Of the 1.1 million single parents, 83 percent are women, they are more likely to live in poverty and up to 65 percent have fled violent relationships. In this frank conversation, three women thrash and burn some of the assumptions about single mothers.Recorded at the All about Women Festival by the Sydney Opera HouseSpeakersBarkaaMalyangapa, Barkindji woman, musician and rapperKaren Pickeringfeminist writer and organiserEdwina Throsby (host)producer, curator and former head of ABC Managing Editor of Arts. Further InformationAbout Bloody Time by Karen Pickering & Jane BennettDoing It: Women Tell the Truth about Great Sex. UQP Edited by Karen PickeringBaarka Music

History is the stories we choose to tell about ourselves and others. So how have those stories changed over time? And how has that shaped new understandings of our national identity?Presented by the Friends of the National Library of Australia.SpeakersPeter StanleyFormer Research Professor, Australian Centre for the Study of armed conflict, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Former Principal Historian, Australian War MemorialFormer inaugural head of research, National Museum of AustraliaAuthor of Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Murder, Mutiny and the Australian Imperial Force (joint winner of the 2011 Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History), and many moreFrank BongiornoProfessor of History, Australian National UniversityAuthor, The Sex Lives of Australians: A History, Dreamers and Schemers: a Political History of Australia, and many morePresident, Australian Historical AssociationAnne-Marie Schwirtlich (host)Former Director General, National Library of AustraliaFellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia

What is the allure of gothic fiction? How does it give shape to your most unsettling impulses? A panel of masters of the genre explore the creepy houses, dysfunctional families and the perfect degree of decay and rot that’s needed to create the ‘good scare’. From the classics of Jane Eyre to Harry Potter – we’re celebrating gothic tales. Presented at the Brisbane Writers FestivalSpeakersAngela "A.G." SlatterAuthor of six novels, including The Briar Book of the Dead, All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and the Verity Fassbinder seriesNaomi NovikNew York Times bestselling author of The Scholomance series, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the nine-volume Temeraire seriesKathleen JenningsBritish Fantasy Award-winning author of the short story collection Kindling, the novel Flyaway and poetry collection Travelogues: Vignettes from Trains in Motion; Fantasy Award-winning illustrator of fantasy and fairy talesShelley Parker-ChanAuthor of She Who Became the Sun and its sequel, He Who Drowned the World, which form The Radiant Emperor Duology