In his influential 1964 book The Lucky Country, Donald Horne wrote that Australians played an aristocratic role in Asia: "rich, self-centred, frivolous, blind". A lot has changed in 60 years, but does Australia still think it's better than its neighbours? Recorded at the Australian Academy of the Humanities annual symposium , The Ideas and Ideals of Australia — The Lucky Country turns 60, on 13 — 15 November 2024 at the Australian National University. Speakers Louise Edwards Emeritus Scientia Pr...
Mar 20, 2025•56 min
Australia's housing crisis hasn't always been with us. So what choices created it, and what choices are now needed to fix it? Buying a house is now out of reach if you're on an average wage, and rental options are expensive and precarious. If we don't address the issues urgently, generations to come will face homelessness or profound poverty paying rents on a pension. There are solutions. Are politicians courageous enough to try them? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week . S...
Mar 19, 2025•58 min
Australia's housing crisis hasn't always been with us. So what choices created it, and what choices are now needed to fix it? Buying a house is now out of reach if you're on an average wage, and rental options are expensive and precarious. If we don't address the issues urgently, generations to come will face homelessness or profound poverty paying rents on a pension. There are solutions. Are politicians courageous enough to try them? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week . S...
Mar 19, 2025•58 min
How many times have you checked your phone today? How many tabs are open in your web browser? Do you feel in control of your attention? In the digital age, attention is now a commodity. Can practices like meditation and mindfulness help us feel more free to focus on what really matters? This event was hosted at the Brunswick Ballroom by the Sophia Club in partnership with the University of Melbourne's Contemplative Studies Centre . Speakers Jess Huon Meditation trainer, authorised Dharma teacher...
Mar 18, 2025•54 min
The structures of our families have become more bespoke, complex, sometimes messier. Some find comfort in a 'chosen family', choosing friends over blood-relatives as kin. Patchwork families are increasingly common. You can a birth mother, a genetic mother and a social mother. How is the family changing and with what impacts? Meet three writers here to help you re-imagine the ties that bind. Presented at the Byron Writers Festival , supported by the Byron Shire Council. Speakers Kon Karapanagioti...
Mar 17, 2025•55 min
The Murray Darling Basin is the most important river system in Australia, and the most contested. What does it mean to live by those rivers, through the droughts, the floods, and the water politics that shape these communities. A beautiful and evocative history of the Murray Darling Basin, as told by people who live there. This speech was recorded at the History Council of Victoria's annual lecture at the State Library of Victoria on 14 November 2024. Speakers Katie Holmes Professor in History a...
Mar 13, 2025•54 min
How has the fossil fuel industry wielded influence over Australian governments and their policies? What does it take to make ambitious change in the public interest, without vested interests getting in way? Join Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week. Speakers Dr Richard Denniss Economist and Executive Director of The Australia Institute Author of BIG: The Role of the State in the Modern Economy (2022) Ross Garnaut EconomistProfessor Emeritus in business and economics, University o...
Mar 12, 2025•54 min
The citizens of France have a notoriously conflicted relationship with the state. Their suspicion, if not resentfulness, of state power has played out in myriad revolts over the centuries and continues with repeated protests and riots to this day. It shapes the country's political and social fabric … from the set-up of their local sports clubs to their global foreign politics ambitions. The picture that emerges is one of a nation struggling to reconcile its core political values with the realiti...
Mar 11, 2025•54 min
The International Criminal Court has issued high-profile arrests warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over their conduct in the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But although the court's role is to end impunity for war crimes, many are now questioning whether it has the power to perform that vital duty. This event was recorded at the University of Tasmania on 11 February 2025. Speakers Alex Whiting Professor of Practice, Harvard Law SchoolFormer Act...
Mar 10, 2025•54 min
A "Homeric struggle", a desperate night-ballet, an ethical training ground for boys and men. Aussie Rules is a multimillion-dollar industry, but at its heart, to thousands of people, it's much more than that. Including to Australian literary great, Helen Garner. This event was recorded at the National Library of Australia on 20 February 2025. Speakers Helen GarnerAuthor, The Season, Monkey Grip, The Children's Bach, The First Stone, Joe Cinque's Consolation, The Spare Room, This House of Grief a...
Mar 06, 2025•54 min
Donald Trump's return to The White House is up-ending the way America works — at home and on the global stage. Does it herald the potential social, political, and constitutional collapse of United States? The world has watched nations sleepwalk into ultranationalist fascism before, is this that moment? Or is American democracy more resilient than any one demagogue? Are we on the cusp of new world order, and how will Australia play its cards if the USA no longer has our back? This event was prese...
Mar 05, 2025•54 min
A trip to Bunnings, a Medibank or Optus account, a new smart car or vacuum, every facet of our daily lives is now up for grabs. So should privacy continue to be our individual responsibility, or is it time for governments do more? This event was recorded at the State Library of Victoria on 19 November 2024. Speakers Hugh de Kretser President, Australian Human Rights Commission Lizzie O'Shea Founder and chair of Digital Rights Watch Principal lawyer at Maurice Blackburn Ed Santow Co-Director of t...
Mar 04, 2025•54 min
Europe needs to rethink its strategies and policies to protect the continent in the future. Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China's predatory mercantilism, and the rise of populist neoisolationism in the United States mean that depending on the status quo won't cut it anymore. But after decades of neglect, restoring Europe's military capacity, economic competitiveness, and strategic autonomy will be difficult. Can NATO evolve into a more balanced team, and may the time finally have come for a Euro...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 11 min
Humans have a conflicted relationship with animals: We love our pets and admire our wildlife. But we continue the industrial production of dairy, meat and eggs, that often leaves animal suffering in dreadful conditions. We create a division between US and THEM, if it suits us. What does that say about how we value animals in our lives? Presented at the Byron Writers Festival Speakers Peter Singer Bioethicist and author of Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, and The Buddhist and the EthicistFoun...
Feb 24, 2025•44 min
Seeing a whale in the wild takes your breath away. But so much of what they do remains mysterious. Join Natasha Mitchell with two world leading whale researchers unearthing the secret world of cetaceans. You'll want to change jobs when you hear what they get up to! Thousands of humpback whales will soon leave their Summer feeding grounds in Antarctica with full bellies to begin the world's longest mammalian migration. How do they live, breed, behave, survive, thrive? Commercial whaling might hav...
Feb 24, 2025•54 min
Cherished companions, or cunning predators? Cats kill five million native animals in Australia every day — so how can we better manage our feline friends? Listen to the rest of our special series Animals — Us and Them? Speakers Alex Patton Invasive species ecologist and PhD candidate, University of Tasmania Noel Hunt CEO, Ten Lives Cat Centre Dr Catherine "Cat" Young Biodiversity coordinator, NRM South Dr Tiana Pirtle (host)Conservation officer, Invasive Species Council Further information: Cats...
Feb 24, 2025•54 min
Zoos are changing — they are no longer just places for us humans to gawk at animals in cages. In the midst of a global extinction crisis, they are now playing a vital role. So what is their future? This event was recorded at the International Society of Behavioural Ecology Congress in Melbourne on 2 October 2024, with thanks to organiser Professor Andy Bennett from the University of Melbourne. Listen to the rest of our special series Animals — Us and Them? Speakers Dr Sally Sherwin Director of W...
Feb 24, 2025•52 min
Satyajit Das presents a provocative examination of the use and abuse of images of wild animals, and how they shape our relationships with the natural world. These pictures can create an impression of abundance and untouched ecosystems, and lull us into a false sense of security, at a time when the natural world faces ecological calamity. The Attenborough Effect — Shaping Our Relationship With Wild Animals was presented by the Australian National Maritime Museum . Speaker Satyajit DasAuthor of Wi...
Feb 20, 2025•43 min
From the inner cities to the outer suburbs, to rural and regional Australia, just what is going on in minds of voters as we embark on another federal election? This event was recorded at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre at the University of South Australia. Speakers George Megalogenis Journalist, author, Quarterly Essay #96 Minority Report: The New Shape of Australian Politics Tory Shepherd (host) Senior reporter, Guardian Australia...
Feb 04, 2025•57 min
Tibetan master Venerable Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche experienced terrifying panic attacks as a little boy. What did he learn about suffering, the Self, and the nature of our mind through coming to understand his own mind? He joins Natasha Mitchell along with an Indian philosopher of mind and a Sufi scholar to wrestle with the self and its dissolution. This event Beyond Self — A journey to connection and wellbeing was organised by Tergar Australia and the Monash Centre for Consciousness and Contempla...
Jan 01, 2025•55 min
