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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.

Big Ideas

When people say or do the wrong thing, we have laws and a legal system that should be able to deliver consequences and, hopefully justice. But in this digital age, the human instinct to inflict punishment in the court of public opinion has reached fever pitch. So do we want to live by mob rule, or the rule of law?

The 2025 James Merralls Fellowship in Law Lecture, hosted by the University of Melbourne Law School and the Victorian Bar, was recorded on 4 September 2025.

Speakers

Sue Chrysanthou Defamation barrister

James Waters (host) Commercial law barrister

Why we need to cancel cancel culture — with defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou

For all of human history, space has been a place of mystery, awe and fascination. But unless you're an astronaut, a billionaire, or a pop star, most of us will never have the opportunity to travel there — except in our minds. This conversation features two writers who've used the perspective of space to explore our humanity, Earth's place in the universe, and the meaning of it all.

The conversation, Out of this World was recorded live at the 2025 Sydney Writers' Festival.

Speakers

Samantha Harvey Author, Orbital (2024 Booker Prize winner) and many more

Ceridwen Dovey Writer of fiction, creative non-fiction and science, filmmaker, author of Only the Astronauts and many more

Ashley Hay (host) Writer, editor, facilitator, mentor, author of A Hundred Small Lessons, and many more

Out of this world — with Booker Prize winning author Samantha Harvey

AI is an incredible tool, but is AI also a new coloniser? Is there actually anything new or artificial about artificial intelligence? Join Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 Now or Never Festival to meet two big thinkers building a bridge between First Nations and Western knowledge to disrupt and reimagine the who, what, and why of AI?

This conversation was recorded on 26 August 2025, in partnership with The Wheeler Centre and Now or Never Festival. Discover more talks and bold conversations by following The Wheeler Centre wherever you get your podcasts or at wheelercentre.com

Speakers

Jessica Russ-Smith

Wiradyuri Wambuul woman

Associate Professor of Social Work in the School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University.

Michelle Lazarus

Professor and Director, Centre for Human Anatomy Education

Deputy Director, Centre for Scholarship in Health Education Monash University.

Coauthors of the open-access book THE AI (R)EVOLUTION: Valuing Country, Culture and Community in a World of Algorithms (Monash University Publishing, 2024).

Get the book here:

https://publishing.monash.edu/product/ai-revolution/

Is AI the new coloniser? How to create more life-centred AI before it's too late

Have you ever visited an art gallery full of wonder, ready to be inspired, only to leave feeling like it was all a bit over your head? You're about to meet one writer whose new book of essays rejects the over-complication and gets to the messy, human heart of art.

What Artists See is a collection of essays from award-winning arts writer and critic Quentin Sprague, canvassing twelve contemporary Australian artists whose works span sculpture, painting and architecture, and the stories are just as diverse as the mediums.

This talk was recorded at the ANU Drill Hall Gallery on 27 August 2025.

Speakers

Quentin SpragueArts writer and critic, author of What Artists See, Ken Whisson: Painting and Drawing and The Stranger Artist: Life at the Edge of Kimberley Painting (2021 Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction)

Mark McKennaProfessor of history, University of Sydney, author, The Shortest History of Australia, Return to Uluru, From the Edge: Australia's Lost Histories, Looking for Blackfellas' Point and An Eye for Eternity: The Life of Manning Clark, (winner, Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction)

What Artists See? Critic Quentin Sprague helps you get to the messy human heart of art

When a child is born, so too is a mother. This idea, known as "matrescence", was first conceived in the 1970s by American medical anthropologist Dana Raphael. Parenting in 2025 looks very different in many ways, the scientific evidence now supports the theory that women undergo radical physiological, psychological and social changes during pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood.

This conversation was presented by the Sydney Opera House at the 2025 All About Women Festival.

Speakers

Lucy Jones Science journalist and author, Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood

Gina Rushton (host) ABC journalist and author, The Parenthood Dilemma, Procreation in an Age of Uncertainty

Matrescence — on the metamorphosis of motherhood

He was undefeated in battle and established one of the largest empires in history. But his legacy goes beyond his military conquests. He increased trade between East and West, spread the Greek civilisation and founded cultural centres that still thrive today. Learn more about Alexander the Great's life, personality and impact with a fresh perspective on his reign, including the vital roles that other figures played in historical events and new insights into how and why historical interpretations have changed.

This talk is provided by the York Festival of Ideas. The Festival is led by the University of York, UK.

Speaker

Dr Stephen HarrisonLecturer in Ancient History, Swansea University, Author of Alexander the Great: Lives and Legacies

Alexander the Great — A genius? A tyrant? A visionary? A killer? A maniac?

She became the third ever woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, and the first in 50 years. This is the story of how Donna Strickland became a "Laser Jock", and why she's now on a mission to restore trust in science.

This event was recorded at the Centre for Ideas at the University of New South Wales.

Speakers

Donna StricklandProfessor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Waterloo, Canada2018 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (with Gérard Mourou)

Tegan Taylor (host) Presenter, Life Matters and What's that Rash? ABC Radio National

Further information:

About Donna Strickland, 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics

Nobel laureate Donna Strickland on her life in lasers

Ziggy Ramo is an award-winning musician and author whose latest book titled Human?: A lie that has been killing us since 1788 weaves song, visual art and personal history to present a new way of looking at this country’s past. Led by Mparntwe and Alice Springs-based poet Laurie May, Ziggy reflects on the project and where it took him at the Byron Writers Festival.

Each chapter of Human? is a multi-media journey, the richness of the art forms matches the depth of the topics covered – both personal and political to Ziggy. 

Speakers

Ziggy Ramo Wik and Solomon Islander artist and author of Human?: A lie that has been killing us since 1788

Laurie May Mparntwe and Alice Springs-based poet and spoken word performer

Ziggy Ramo’s latest project asks what makes us human?

2025 is a landmark year for Australian privacy law. The new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy came into effect in June this year. This could be a breakthrough providing you with a better way to protect your privacy interests through the court system. Big Ideas digs deep into its origins, its inspirations, and its potential future.

Presented at the Queensland University of Technology.

Speakers

Emeritus Professor Barbara McDonaldProfessor of Law, University of Sydney Law School; led the 2014 Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry on Serious Invasions of Privacy in the Digital Era.

The Hon Justice Peter Applegarth AM KCFormer barrister and Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland

Mark Burdon (host)Professor of Law, Queensland University of Technology, QUT's Digital Media Research Centre

Further information

New statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy

New legislation to protect you against invasion of your privacy

Don't miss these previously unheard and powerful stories of ordinary people surviving extraordinary circumstances. Cyclone Tracy destroyed 80 percent of Darwin and killed 66 people. It's impact was harrowing. Beyond the despair are also memories of small blessings and surprising impacts long after that fateful Christmas of 1974.

Presented by the Northern Territory Writers Festival

Speakers

Richard Creswick Author and former ABC journalist

Derek PughHistorian and author

Jared ArchibaldCurator of Territory History at the Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory 

Kylie Stevenson (host)Award-winning journalist and audio producer

Further information

Website with memories of Cyclone Tracy

YouTube - When Will the Birds Return

50 years after Cyclone Tracy — powerful memories of horror and hope

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