From running a massage clinic for homeless men to running the largest independent human rights organisation in the country, Kon Karapanagiortidis has always had a strong sense of his moral duty to help the people around him. Not just his friends and family, but anyone that might be called a neighbour. He even named his bestselling cookbook Philoxenia, a Greek word that means having love for the stranger. Kon's life has been defined by refusing to turn his back on those in need but that comes wit...
May 21, 2026•55 min
Some say Russian president Vladimir Putin is growing increasingly paranoid, as his war with Ukraine wages on. It's hard to know from the outside looking in. What makes the elusive Putin tick? How has he changed during his 26 years in power? And where will it all end? Putin's not a fan of Soviet era communism, so what's drives him? And what's his thing with Trump? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with two seasoned Russia watchers at the 2026 Sorrento Writers Festival. Speakers Associate Profe...
May 20, 2026•54 min
The global treaty for preventing nuclear proliferation is under serious strain. The last review conferences for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have ended in deadlock. And this year, last treaty limiting U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals has expired. This new risk comes at a moment when new nuclear actors are asserting themselves, and the diplomatic tools that once managed these dangers are weakening. What's at stake when the nuclear guardrails come down? Presented by the Institute of Polit...
May 19, 2026•55 min
Have you ever heard of something called Chatfishing? From to AI profiles to cat-face filters, finding true love has never felt more difficult. And yet, dating is still fundamentally unchanged. It relies on good communication and mutual respect. After creating the social media juggernaut Bad Dates of Melbourne, who better to help you navigate the pitfalls and dealbreakers of dating in the modern world than Alita Brydon. Her first book is called How To Date Like A Dangerous Woman and it is full of...
May 18, 2026•55 min
Have you ever heard of something called Chatfishing? From to AI profiles to cat-face filters, finding true love has never felt more difficult. And yet, dating is still fundamentally unchanged. It relies on good communication and mutual respect. After creating the social media juggernaut Bad Dates of Melbourne, who better to help you navigate the pitfalls and dealbreakers of dating in the modern world than Alita Brydon. Her first book is called How To Date Like A Dangerous Woman and it is full of...
May 18, 2026•55 min
It's the only sure thing in life: that we will all die some day. But many of us are scared to think about death — our own, or our loved ones'. How can embracing death change the way we live our lives and remind us of what's important? This conversation explores topics of grief, philosophies of life and death, and the practical consideration of planning for the inevitable. This conversation was recorded at the Clunes Booktown Festival on 22 March 2026. Speakers Hannah Gould Senior lecturer and fe...
May 14, 2026•59 min
Three savvy political minds get up close and (very) personal with power to consider where it succeeds and struggles. They've got gripping stories to tell — about Australia's prime ministers past and present — and their mothers! What traits do you look for in an effective political leader? Are leaders made rather than born? When Canada's Prime Minister took to the World Economic Forum stage in Davos this year, staking a claim for middle powers and standing up against the bullies across his border...
May 13, 2026•1 hr
From rags, to riches, to a prison cell. He could have stayed wealthy and silent, but chose not to. Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai launched newspapers that dared to challenge Beijing, advocate for democracy, and report the truth when the truth was dangerous. Now Jimmy Lai faces a life sentence under China's crackdown on press freedom. But his story sends a warning to us all, everywhere.What happens when power decides that a free press is a threat? This event, The Troublemaker: How Jimmy Lai Became a Billi...
May 12, 2026•55 min
These days, more Australians get their news from their social media feed than traditional media outlets. Meanwhile artificial intelligence is supercharging the war on information, and distorting the news media's business model, while politicians flood the zone with sh*t as a deliberate media strategy. So what do AI and the algorithms mean for the news and for journalism, and how can we regain control of our information ecosystem? The conversation Truth, Lies and the Algorithm was recorded at the...
May 11, 2026•55 min
He's got a rags to riches origin story, a hit Youtube channel and a bestselling memoir. Now Gary Stevenson is using his platform to fight the growing divide between rich and poor across the western world — including in Australia. This conversation was recorded at the Melbourne Town Hall on 28 February 2026 with thanks to Thinkable events. Speakers Gary Stevenson Author, The Trading Game: A Confession host, Gary Economics Youtube Channel , former Citibank financial trader Alison Pennington (host)...
May 07, 2026•55 min
A year on from its landslide victory, has Labor used its historic win to deliver big on BIG ideas to set Australia up for the future? Or is Prime Minister Albanese and his cabinet erring on the side of caution in this second term? What allowed notable reformer prime ministers in the past to prosecute ambitious agendas? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the Sorrento Writers Festival with three seasoned and savvy politics watchers, journalists and authors Paul Kelly, Niki Savva, and Amy Reme...
May 06, 2026•1 hr 2 min
Martin Luther King III knows what the long fight for equity looks like. His father was the late great Martin Luther King Jr who led the modern American civil rights movement. And he's got something important to say to corporate Australia. Why are you missing out on Indigenous talent? Ignore it at the peril of Australia's future economic growth, he argues. It's more than a social or equitable good. Join Martin Luther III with Australian cultural and corporate leaders at this Committee for Economi...
May 05, 2026•55 min
Are Royal Commissions just a lawyer's picnic? A political witch hunt? Or, a necessary reckoning? They're Australia's highest form of inquiry on matters of public importance. But they've also become the go-to solution when corruption, misconduct or systems failures are exposed. The lowdown with three people who have seen how they work up close. The conversation How do Royal Commissions work? And How Do We Assess Their Impact? was recorded at the Sorrento Writers Festival on Friday 24 April 2026. ...
May 04, 2026•55 min
Malcolm Fraser's legacy remains contested territory in Australian politics. Decades after he left office, we still can't quite figure him out. The Prime Minister who came to power in controversy, governed for seven years, then spent the rest of his life surprising everyone with his increasingly progressive views. Whether Fraser was cautious conservative, pragmatic reformer, or something more complex entirely, this discussion seeks to understand both the man and the government he led during a piv...
Apr 30, 2026•55 min
October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage crisis, the war in Gaza, and the global response — has reverberated in communities far beyond the Middle East, including here in Australia. For Jewish Australians, it has turned their lives, their careers, their relationships and their identities upside-down. Four Jewish Australian women share their personal experiences of the profound rif...
Apr 29, 2026•55 min
Through the stories of five women across three generations of his family, the influential Greek economist, author, politician and public intellectual Yanis Varoufakis tells the tumultuous tale of Greece's modern history, and reflects on its parallels with the once again global rising tides of fascism, authoritarianism, and the actions of those who resist. This conversation was recorded on 6 March 2026 at the Sydney Greek Festival . Speakers Yanis Varoufakis Economist, former Greek Finance Minist...
Apr 28, 2026•55 min
Every scientist dreams of a breakthrough — a new discovery that will change everything. Professor Georgina Long is someone who has done it — as a pioneer of life saving cancer treatments. So what are the ingredients for breakthroughs to occur? And why are the conditions that can lead to new discoveries under threat right now? The 2026 Ann Moyal lecture When groundbreaking cancer treatments save 50% of patients, what happens to the other half? was recorded at the National Library of Australia on ...
Apr 27, 2026•55 min
The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not only a story of the past. Right now, nuclear plants are weaponised in the Iran war. It happened in 2022 when Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone. A new way of weaponising nuclear power. What have we learned from the worst nuclear accident in history — and what have we failed to learn? This conversation was presented by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Ukrainian Institute London . Speakers Ser...
Apr 23, 2026•56 min
Is President Trump a new Nero, or a contemporary Caligula? The Roman Empire was full of merchants of chaos, power-hungry emperors, epic wars, backstabbing, betrayals — the whole horror show. And it was a time of civilisational scale change. As we grapple with a rewriting of the world order, does Ancient Rome have lessons for us today — about the building and breaking of empires, or the rise and fall of autocrats? Or are these sorts of comparisons with the past fraught with complication? Join Nat...
Apr 22, 2026•59 min
What happens to a community when it punishes its most vulnerable instead of protecting them Drawing on her own story of addiction, imprisonment, and recovery, as well as her frontline work supporting women behind bars and post-release, Tahlia Issac challenges the "tough on crime" narrative. The typical incarcerated woman in Australia is First Nations, a mother, a survivor of violence, and imprisoned for a low-level offence. Locking her up doesn't make communities safer — it makes them more fragi...
Apr 21, 2026•55 min
What happens to a community when it punishes its most vulnerable instead of protecting them Drawing on her own story of addiction, imprisonment, and recovery, as well as her frontline work supporting women behind bars and post-release, Tahlia Issac challenges the "tough on crime" narrative. The typical incarcerated woman in Australia is First Nations, a mother, a survivor of violence, and imprisoned for a low-level offence. Locking her up doesn't make communities safer — it makes them more fragi...
Apr 21, 2026•55 min
Australians love a holiday in Southeast Asia. But our proximity to this region also makes it key to our national security and prosperity. Yet Australia has hitched its security and foreign policy wagon to an increasingly unpredictable United States, while China asserts in dominance in our own backyard. So are we taking Southeast Asia for granted? This conversation was recorded at Readings Bookshop on 23 March 2026. Speakers Michael Wesley Professor of International Relations and Deputy Vice Chan...
Apr 20, 2026•54 min
Artificial intelligence has been defined as a cluster of technologies of and for the future. But like most humans, AI is built using what has happened in the past — scraping behaviours, experiences and other data to shape its outputs. In this sense, AI is a new kind of historian — but operating without guardrails, ethics, or any sense of doubt. This annual lecture for the History Council of Victoria, Can I Help You? Recognising and Improving Artificial Intelligence as History Maker was recorded ...
Apr 16, 2026•55 min
It's Team 'Aliens Alive' versus Team 'Earthlings United'. Get out of this world, hear the arguments, and you decide. Was the X-Files really a documentary, or was Mulder deluded? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell from the stage of the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane for an hilarious hour of science and comedy. TEAM ALIENS ALIVE Dr Joel Gilmore (Team Captain)Energy specialist, physicist, science communicator, improv theatre buff, dancer Dr Sara Webb Astrophysicist, author, and science comm...
Apr 15, 2026•52 min
Former BBC presenter and host of the hit podcast The News Agents, Emily Maitlis, gives a fearless assessment of modern news coverage, public broadcasting, and the royal family's handling of Andrew Mountbatten-Windor's arrest. The event No Spin, No Compromise was recorded live at the Sydney Opera House for the 2026 All About Women festival. Speakers Emily Maitlis Co-host, The News Agents and The News Agents USA podcastsAuthor, Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News Former BBC journalist and lo...
Apr 14, 2026•1 hr
Todd Ley exposes a high-pressure world where talent is everything, but protection is rare; where overzealous parents, manipulative coaches, hungry sponsors and indifferent associations can push young athletes to their breaking point. It's not just a story about tennis, it's about what happens when a child's identity is consumed by a dream that may not be their own and the long road back to self-worth after the cheering stops. Presented at the 2025 Byron Writers Festival Speakers Todd Ley Former ...
Apr 13, 2026•53 min
Comedians are increasingly being forced to navigate a world where the right punchline at the expense of the wrong politician carries the risk of personal and professional consequences. So when poking fun at the powerful could get you cancelled, sued, land you in jail — or worse — who's afraid of a joke? This episode was recorded on 28th March 2026 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in partnership with The Wheeler Centre , Australia's first dedicated centre for Books, Writing ...
Apr 09, 2026•59 min
Get bonkers on bonking with Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane. It’s a sexy, fun, and educational – what's not to love?! Sex historian Dr Esme Louise James is creator of the viral Kinky History TikTok series and does a Sextistics show with her mathematician mother. The complexity of the human clitoris can no longer be ignored by science, thanks to the world-changing work of urologist and surgeon Professor Helen O’Connell. And biologist Professor Robbie Wilson...
Apr 08, 2026•59 min
You often hear that forgiveness is the key to healing and moving on — but is it always the right thing to do? This conversation explores how forgiveness is something far more complex than a simple act of letting go. Is it a generous moral gift, or a burden placed on those who've been wronged? What really happens when we forgive? And is sometimes withholding forgiveness the more honest response? 2025 Anderson Fellows Lecture — Forgiveness: Do We Really Need it? presented by the University of Sydn...
Apr 07, 2026•55 min
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia has some 120 embassies, high commissions, consulates-general and representative offices located across five continents. So when an Australian gets into trouble overseas, or a politician travels abroad on government business, or other countries take actions that damage Australia's national interest, it's likely a diplomat is not far away. In their recent books, two former diplomats reveal what the job is really like as Australia'...
Apr 06, 2026•55 min
