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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

From Rodrigo Duterte, to Narendra Modi, to Donald Trump, strongman leaders around the world are harnessing big tech to consolidate their power. Social media is also being used to energise and organise resistance movements, but is the bad increasingly outweighing the good?

The 2025 Southeast Asia Oration Media Freedom and Democracy in Southeast Asia was held at the University of Melbourne, in partnership with Asialink, the Asia Institute, and the ASEAN Australia Centre.

Speakers

Maria Ressa Filippino journalist, co-founder and CEO of online news site Rappler, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, author, How to Stand Up to a Dictator

Laura Tingle Global Affairs Editor, ABC

Nicholas Coppel Former Australian Ambassador Myanmar, author, Myanmar's Digital Coup, President of the Australia Myanmar Institute

Dr Ken Setiawan Senior Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne

Professor Michael Wesley (host) Deputy Vice Chancellor (Global, Culture and Engagement), University of Melbourne

Maria Ressa on what Donald Trump learnt from Rodrigo Duterte and other strongman rulers

If a stiff dose of medical misinformation is what you're after, look no further than the White House right now. And, on social media and in online forums, countless conspiracy theories reign supreme. In this "post-truth" era, has science lost its authority, or have we lost sight of what scientific proof actually involves? From debates over the origins of our species to conspiracies surrounding the origins of COVID19, Dr Elizabeth Finkel goes where others fear to tread to lift the lid on how science works. Join her with Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at this event hosted by the Royal Society of Victoria and Black Inc Books.

Speaker

Dr Elizabeth FinkelScience journalist, biologist, author, former editor of popular science magazine CosmosAuthor of Prove it: A scientific guide to the post-truth era (Black Inc Books, 2025), The Genome Generation (2011), Stem Cells: Controversy at the Frontier of Science (2005).

Prove It! Elizabeth Finkel's Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era

The Beatles shook the world to its core in the 1960's and, to this day, new generations continue to fall in love with their songs and their story. At the heart of this phenomenon lies the dynamic between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Few other musical partnerships have been rooted in such a deep, intense and complicated personal relationship. Ian Leslie uses the songs they wrote to trace the shared journey of these two compelling men before, during, and after The Beatles.

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

Speaker

Ian LeslieAuthor of John and Paul: A love story in songs (Faber, 2025)

John Robinson (host)Emeritus Professor in the School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York

John Lennon and Paul McCartney — a partnership that changed cultural history

The world feels more dangerous and unpredictable, but with Australia wedged between our traditional ally, America, and our biggest trading partner, China, does our most expensive ever defence project make us more secure, or less?

The 2025 Laurie Carmichael Lecture, Australian Sovereignty and the Path to Peace, was recorded on Wednesday 10 September 2025, with thanks to the Australia Institute's Carmichael Centre for Future Work and RMIT University.

Speakers

Doug Cameron ALP Senator for New South Wales, 2007 to 2019, trade unionist

'Militarism gone mad' — Labor firebrand hits out at party’s support of AUKUS

A frank and impassioned plea for peace by Gareth Evans. As Australia's former Foreign Minister and former president of the International Crisis Group, he's spent most of his career forging real paths to peace globally. From Sudan to Gaza, Myanmar to Ukraine - who can we rely on to stop "forever" wars and genocides? Does Australia have a unique role to play? And what about the UN in its 80th year? It was created after the horror of World War 2 to keep the peace. Has it lost its way? The 2025 Brisbane Peace Lecture is presented by the United Nations Association of Australia, Brisbane - and includes responses by two key leaders from the Sudanese and Palestinian communities.

Speakers

Professor the Hon Gareth EvansHonorary Professor at the Australian National University; Australia's former minister of Foreign Affairs and cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments.

Dr Yassmin KhadraBrisbane-based physician, Doctors for Palestine, and Palestinian human rights advocate

Bishop Daniel AbotSouth Sudanese Anglican bishop

Genocides are everyone's business, not no-one's business — Gareth Evans, Yassmin Khadra, Daniel Abot's urgent plea for peace

Primatologist Jane Goodall once said: "It actually doesn't take much to be a difficult woman. That's why there are so many of us." She spoke up. For all the species who go unheard, or unnoticed by humans. She was a giant in the global environmental movement. She first walked into the wild forests of Tanzania as a young woman with no science training and embarked on what is now the longest-running study of chimpanzees in their natural habitat. Her trailblazing fieldwork changed our understanding of other primates and the threat we pose to their continuing existence. It changed her. And it changed the world. At 91, she was still travelling the world right up until her last breath, to help give all other species theirs. She was deeply compassionate, and her campaigns deeply connected with people. Dr Jane Goodall joined Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to discuss hope in action the 2022 WOMADelaide Festival. This conversation was originally broadcast on ABC Radio National's Science Friction in May 2022.

Guest

Dr Jane GoodallPrimatologist, environmentalist, naturalistFounder, Jane Goodall Institute

Further info:

The Book of Hope: A survival guide for an endangered planetJane Goodall and Douglas Abrams (Penguin, 2021)

Jane Goodall Institute Australia

Roots and Shoots Australia

The Jane Goodall Hopecast

Thanks to the 2022 WOMADelaide Festival.

Vale Dr Jane Goodall — why the renowned primatologist and environmentalist held onto hope

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-SmithWiradyuri Wambuul womanAssociate Professor of Social Work in the School of Allied Health, Australian Catholic University.

Michelle LazarusProfessor and Director, Centre for Human Anatomy EducationDeputy 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

Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice assesses the break-up of globalisation and the world order. The way in which countries such as the United States or Germany focus on sovereign goals is part of the problem. And that's likely not to stop any time soon. But she also comes up with practical ideas for creating a common economic and security future to address the issues that are too big for any single nation to tackle alone.

What Comes Next? Imagining a New Economic and Security Commons was presented by the American Academy in Berlin

Speakers

Condoleezza Rice66th Secretary of State of the United States (2005-09)Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and the Thomas and Barbara Stephenson Senior Fellow on Public Policy

Philip ZelikowBotha-Chan Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution; 2009 Fellow, American Academy in Berlin

Daniel Benjamin (host)President American Academy in Berlin

Condoleezza Rice on how to fix the break-up of global cooperation

American music journalist Liz Pelly interrogates the ways Spotify and other streaming giants are reshaping music, not just for listeners, but also for the people who make it.

This conversation was recorded on 28 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

Liz Pelly Music critic, author, Mood machine: The rise of Spotify and the costs of the perfect playlist

Lauren Taylor Senior programs and podcasts manager at The Wheeler Centre, and host of Breaking and Entering on community radio Triple R

The rise of Spotify and the costs of the perfect playlist — with music journalist Liz Pelly

Australian Indigenous art is celebrated around the world – but how much is understood about its pivotal role in Indigenous culture, country, politics and law? 

For the Yolngu people of north-east Arnhem Land, art is more than just aesthetic, it is a means of cultural diplomacy, and a respectful assertion of power in its diverse forms, from sovereignty to influence, authority and control, to energy, strength and pride.

This episode brings together two significant exhibitions of Indigenous art on now, Yolngu Power: the art of Yirrkala, and 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art.

This conversation was recorded at the Art Gallery of New South Wales on 30 July 2025. 

Speakers

Marcia Langton Co-curator (with Judith Ryan) of the exhibition 65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art, Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne (until 22 November 2025) Foundation Chair of Australian Indigenous Studies, Associate Provost and Distinguished Professor, University of Melbourne 

Clare Wright Author, Naku Dharuk The Bark Petitions: How the People of Yirrkala Changed the Course of Australian Democracy and more Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University 

Anna Clark (host) Author, Making Australian History, Private Lives, Public History, the History Wars Professor of history, Australian Centre for Public History, University of Technology Sydney 

Further information:

Yolngu power: the art of Yirrkala Art Gallery of New South Wales (until 6 October 2025)

65,000 Years: A Short History of Australian Art Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne (until 22 November 2025)

Yolngu power — art, culture, country, law — with Marcia Langton and Clare Wright

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 Contemplative Studies.

Original broadcast on May 22, 2024.

Speakers

Venerable Yongey Mingyur RinpocheTibetan meditation master and head of the Tergar Meditation CommunityAuthor, In Love with the World: What a monk can teach you about living from nearly dying (2019)

Monima ChadhaProfessor of philosophy, Monash UniversityAuthor, Selfless Minds: A Contemporary Perspective on Vasubandhu's Metaphysics (Oxford University Press, 2023)

Dr Aydogan KarsSenior Research Fellow, Centre for Consciousness and Contemplative Studies, Monash UniversityAuthor, Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam (Oxford University Press, 2019)

Thriving not just surviving with Tibetan master Mingyur Rinpoche, a Sufi scholar and Indian philosopher of mind

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