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ABC Australia

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.

Big Ideas

In March 2021, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers banned female students over the age of 12 from singing in public. The prohibition sparked a wave of online protests across the country, with women and girls posting videos of themselves singing, using the hashtag "I am my song". Aged just 14, Nila Ibrahimi's song, Boro Bakhair Ba Maktab or "Go to school" became an anthem of the movement.

The 2025 Gandhi Oration was recorded at University of NSW Centre for Ideas on 2 October 2025.

Speakers

Nila IbrahimiAfghan refugee, advocate and activist, co-founder and president Herstory, winner of the 2024 International Children's Peace Prize, university student

Verity Firth (host) Professor of Practice at the School of Education, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement, University of New South Wales, former New South Wales Minister for Women and Minister for Education

How a song became a movement for Afghanistan's women and girls — with International Children's Peace Prize winner Nila Ibrahimi

The Panopticon was a prison design by the famous philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham which placed prison guards in a central tower overlooking inmates. So why does scientist and climate advocate Tim Flannery want us to re-imagine the Panopticon as a path towards a more compassionate society? And why does he find warmth and connection even in conflicted communities angry about climate change policies?

This event was hosted by RMIT University and Now or Never, Melbourne's festival of art, ideas, sound, technology.

Speaker

Tim FlanneryPaleontologist, climate and environment advocate, author, and former Australian of the Year.

Hilary Harper (host)ABC Radio National presenter

Scientist Tim Flannery — a Panopticon for our times?

Join acclaimed author and human rights advocate Thomas Mayo and media icon Ray Martin AM as they deliver two powerful orations on justice, reconciliation, and the future of Australia. Thomas Mayo invites us to imagine a reconciled Australia that has learned from its history and forged new pathways forward. Ray Martin is demanding we stop talking and start acting on social justice for Aboriginal people. Two voices. Two generations of advocacy. One urgent question: who will we become?

The Walyalup Oration is a centrepiece of the City of Fremantle's annual Truth-telling and Focus First Nation Films Program. In The Walyalup Oration leading thinkers in the fields of Indigenous/colonial relations offer their insights into creating a fairer, (re)conciled and more prosperous future for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration was hosted by the Institute of Community Directors Australia as part of the Communities in Control series.

Speakers

Thomas MayoKaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander human rights advocate and renowned author among other books of Always Was, Always Will Be (2024) and Dear Son: Letters and Reflections from First Nations Fathers and Sons (2021)

Ray MartinAward-winning journalist and television presenter who has reported for and/or presented some of TV's highest-profile current affairs and variety shows of recent decades.

Who can we become? Thomas Mayo and Ray Martin speak Black and White about Australia's future

Universities are under pressure — particularly the study of subjects like languages, history, social sciences and the creative arts. This lecture looks back to a time, post war, when governments turned to universities to transform Australia's economy and society, and backed it up with significant investment and oversight. In the face of contemporary challenges, is it time once again to rethink the purpose of universities — and particularly the study of the humanities — to equip Australia with the skills it needs to survive and thrive in the 21st century?

Stephen Garton's Australian Academy of the Humanities Annual Lecture "When Universities Mattered" was recorded on 12 November 2025.

An edited version of this lecture is published in the March issue of the Australian Book Review.

Speakers

Stephen Garton Professor of history, President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Sydney, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts

From the archives:

Is our university system broken? With Emeritus Professor Graeme Turner and Dr Ben Eltham, Big Ideas, 4 September 2025

Further information:

Vale Graeme Turner Australian Academy of the Humanities obituary, November 2025

Can an arts degree change the world? A defence of the study humanities at Australian universities

As Bridgerton continues to captivate millions and we just marked the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, the Regency era has never been more thrilling. But how much must you know about corsets and carriages before you can break the rules? What's behind Bridgerton's runaway success? Should we love or loathe what it does with Regency history? Indeed, what would Jane Austen think of it all?

Presented at the History Unbound Historical Novel Festival

Speakers

Alison GoodmanWriter of crime, fantasy and historical fiction; her latest release is The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin, the second book in the Ill-Mannered Ladies series

Kelly GardinerAuthor of historical fiction and co-author of the crime novel Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective

Sharmini KumarFounder and Artistic Director of 24 Carrot Productions; co-author of the crime novel Miss Caroline Bingley, Private Detective

Elizabeth Leydin (host)Author of Recency romance novels (aka Pamela Hart aka Pamela Freeman)

Dearest Gentle Reader, a very Bridgerton Big Ideas! Australian novelists dissect the regency era

Feeling a little world weary? Is Stoicism the philosophy you need a little more of in your life? Can an introvert be your guide to getting out the front door? Jenny Valentish's latest book is The Introvert's Guide to Leaving the House: Solid advice for introverts, awkwards, sociophobes and stand-offishes. Brigid Delaney is author of The Secret and the Sage: A Stoic Conversation to Hold you Together in a Fractured World. What happens when a self-described introvert prepared to go out on a limb, and a fan of the Stoics share a stage? Tune in for a few life hacks.

Thanks to the Queenscliffe Literary Festival held on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula each year in October.

Speakers

Brigid DelaneyJournalist, author, screenwriter (Wellmania), former ministerial speechwriterFounder, Stoic SolutionsAuthor, The Secret and the Sage: A Stoic Conversation to Hold you Together in a Fractured World.Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic TimesWellmania: Misadventures in the Search for WellnessJenny ValentishJournalist, author, editor, writing teacher and coachAuthor, The Introvert's Guide to Leaving the HouseEverything Harder Than Everyone ElseWoman of Substances: A Journey Into Addiction and Treatment

Tracee HutchisonRadio broadcaster, media and arts leaderChair, Green Music Australia

The Stoic and the introvert — life hacks from Brigid Delaney and Jenny Valentish

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is calling for a braver response to the actions of the Belarusian dictatorship. She explores the impact of the war against Ukraine on her country, on Europe — and the rest of the world. And what are Putin's strategies for Asia? Has Russia been able to advance its economic and geopolitical interests in Southeast Asia? How did regional states react to Russian aggression against Ukraine and what explains their differing responses to the invasion?

"Freedom's Frontier: Belarus and the Battle for Europe's Future" presented by the ANU Centre for European Studies.

"Putin's Asia Strategy" presented by La Trobe Asia

Speakers

Sviatlana TsikhanouskayaNational Leader of Belarus in exile, Head of the United Transition Cabinet, and the President-elect of Belarus

Dr Ian StoreySenior Fellow of ISAES — Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore and co-editor of Contemporary Southeast Asia, one of ISEAS's three academic journalsAuthor of Putin's Russia and Southeast Asia: The Kremlin's Pivot to Asia and the Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War.

Bec Strating (host)Director of the La Trobe Centre for Global Security, Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya fights for a free Belarus − and what are Russia's strategies in Southeast Asia?

The hard fought for gains of one generation can pave the way for the next, but the road to equality is never straight. After meaningful progress for LGBTQIA+ people in recent years, that same community is now faced with some setbacks, and a rising hostility, So why are the human rights of LGBTIQA+ people being challenged, curtailed and politicised right now? 

The 2025 Higinbotham Lecture at RMIT University was recorded on 15 October 2025.

Speakers

Joe BallVictorian Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ Communities

Dr Shelley Marshall (host) Professor of Law, and Deputy Dean (Research and Innovation) of the School of Law at RMIT University

Backlash against LGBTIQA+ community — why now? Joe Ball

What is it really like to be an astronaut? How do you even become one? What happens when an argument breaks out on the International Space Station? And why are big fashion brands clamouring to design for space? As NASA prepares to return humans to the moon for the first time in 50 years, we hear from a panel of superstar astronauts about life in space.

This astronauts' forum was recorded at Sydney Science Festival on 2 October 2025, presented by Sydney's Powerhouse Museum.

Speakers

Katherine Bennell-Pegg Director Space Technology, Australian Space Agency, 2026 Australian of the Year

Joseph Acaba NASA's chief astronaut, member of NASA Artemis Mission

Koichi Wakata Chief technology officer, Asia-Pacific region, Axiom Space, first Japanese commander of the International Space Station

Tibor Kapu Astronaut, mechanical engineer, mission specialist for Axiom Mission 4

Rae Johnston (host) Science and technology journalist, presenter, Download This Show ABC Radio National

The life of astronauts — with 2026 Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg

Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker is a fierce advocate for intellectual and academic freedom — and one of the world’s most prominent and provocative thinkers about human language, the mind, and how societies work. He joins Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with an 800-strong Melbourne audience to discuss his latest book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage. Steven Pinker doesn’t shy away from controversy — amidst the Trump administration's attacks on his own university he recently penned a NYT piece titled Harvard Derangement Syndrome — challenging the cancellation, character assassination and censorship of scholars who investigate controversial ideas.

This event and Steven Pinker's Australian tour was organised by Thinkable.Events

This event and Steven Pinker's Australian tour was organised by Thinkable.Events

Speaker

Steven PinkerJohnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard UniversityCo-founder, Council on Academic Freedom at HarvardAuthor of 13 books includingWhen Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Science of Harmony, Hypocrisy and Outrage (2025).The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature.The Language Instinct.Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress .Rationality: What It Is, Why it Seems Scarce, and Why It Matters.

Harvard firebrand on intellectual freedom Steven Pinker with Natasha Mitchell

In its second term, the Albanese Government enjoys a large majority in parliament and an opposition in disarray. But faced with a fragmented, fractious electorate, ever more entrenched inequality at home and volatility abroad, and with an emphasis on a stable and moderate governing style, is this government making the most of its political advantages? Does Labor still have the courage to take on the good fight?

This event was recorded at the Hawke Centre at the University of Adelaide on 4 December 2025.

Speakers

Sean Kelly Journalist, columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, author, Quarterly Essay 100 — The Good Fight: What does Labor stand for? And The Game: A portrait of Scott Morrison

Misha Ketchell (host) Editor-in-Chief, The Conversation

What does Labor stand for? With Sean Kelly and Misha Ketchell

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