Shows / Big Ideas
Big Ideas
Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.
Episodes
- Big Ideas
Does fuel reduction burning make us safer?
The fire season is changing across Australia, becoming hotter, drier and longer. The evidence about the best ways to protect lives, property, and the…
- Big Ideas
In 2046 women run the world — what's changed?
The year is 2046. After 2026, a whole lot changed in the world. Citizens started to vote women into power in parliaments everywhere. What happened next? Four…
- Big Ideas
The stigma of obesity and what it means for your healthcare
Has your doctor ever told you to go on a diet? Does that conversation put you off going to them in the first place, even if you need treatment for something…
- Big Ideas
Gut health: Is the food on your plate quietly rewriting your brain chemistry?
Scientists are uncovering the surprising power of the trillions of microbes living inside you and how they can shape your mood, your thinking, even your sense…
- Big Ideas
Wrapped? Or Warped? How the internet changed music criticism
Once, a musician’s success could live or die on the opinions of its reviewers. But now, music culture is being shaped by algorithms and PR companies. So what…
- Big Ideas
What stops you from becoming homeless? 2026 Australian Homelessness Conference with Natasha Mitchell and guests
What will stop you slipping into homelessness? In a cost-of-living crisis, it's getting harder to keep a secure roof over your head. And did you know that 14%…
- Big Ideas
Clive Myrie on what Africa taught a foreign correspondent about our common humanity
He's covered wars, elections and everything in between. But what happens when a hardened foreign correspondent goes looking for a lighter travel story - and…
- Big Ideas
Bringing Brett Whiteley's studio back to life — with Wendy Whiteley
A rundown t-shirt factory in Sydney's Surry Hills became the studio and home where Australian artist Brett Whiteley would spend the final years of his life…
Big IdeasThe ethics of transhumanism
Every day, science and technology are being used to enhance the abilities of human beings — helping people hear, walk, see, think and more. But at the extreme…
- Big Ideas
AI, art, and staying human - is creativity at a crossroad? Evelyn Araluen, Steve Tolz, Kirra Pendergast
In a world where AI rules, what will it mean to be creative? First Nations poet and author Evelyn Araluen (The Rot, Dropbear) is already self-censoring because…
Big IdeasChina's one-child policy and a true tale of abduction, adoption and separated twins
In just 32 years, more than 160,000 children were adopted internationally under China's One-Child Policy. About half were sent to the United States — almost…
- Big Ideas
Amitav Ghosh and Luke Kemp on learning from collapsed empires
From the fall of Rome to the climate crisis unfolding right now, history shows up a common pattern for how empires rise and fall. And two important factors are…
Big IdeasEddie Woo asks — should AI be in the classroom? With Leslie Loble
Artificial Intelligence is fundamentally reshaping education and learning in Australian schools, with 80 per cent of students and two thirds of teachers now…
- Big Ideas
You Must Take Part in Revolution — journalist Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao
If authoritarianism was pressing in, what personal choices would you make to resist? Foreign correspondent Melissa Chan and artist-in-exile Badiucao have…
- Big Ideas
Bones, CSI, X-Files step aside — here come the real forensic scientists
Forensics has gripped pop culture for decades. But what’s the reality of this job? From the crime scene to the laboratory, our expert panel examines the…
Big IdeasGeorge Megalogenis on the three shocks reshaping Australian politics
From the blue-collar man, to the professional woman. From the multigenerational Australian born citizen, to a predominantly migrant nation. From the inner city…
- Big Ideas
The legacy of Jane Goodall —from chimp whisperer to changing how science understands primates
Jane Goodall’s radical ideas that animals have individual personalities, relationships and even emotions reshaped how we understand primates. It also sparked…
Big IdeasThe future of ageing — what will growing old be like in 2076?
Australia's population is getting older. In fact, by 2076, 45 per cent of us - that's 18 million people - will be aged over 65. What will ageing look like in…
Big IdeasCan we change the future by reimagining it?
What does the future look like to you? How can you prepare yourself for what's coming down the line? And how does what you do today, change what will happen…
Big IdeasLyse Doucet —The history of Kabul’s finest hotel tells the history of a nation
The Inter-Continental Hotel on a hilltop above Kabul has watched Afghanistan’s modern history unfold from its windows. Built in 1969, it has survived Soviet…
Big IdeasIt's an ancient Hindu poem, so why does The Ramayana still resonate?
It's been called "The Odyssey of the East", and the ancient Hindu poem remains central to Asian cultures and traditions from India to Indonesia 2500 years…
- Big Ideas
Why literary giants like Margaret Atwood, Nobel laureate Han Kang and Amitav Ghosh wrote books that will never be read in their lifetime
The Future Library is filled with unpublished books written for readers yet to be born. Every year a new literary work is commissioned to be held in trust in a…
- Big Ideas
When you trust social media influencers more than your GP — what can only go wrong?
From doctors spruiking untested therapies to celebrities selling "revolutionary wellness hacks", self-styled health gurus promise results traditional medicine…
Big IdeasAlice Pung's Unpolished Gem and her conversations with the teenagers who've studied it
Alice Pung started writing her first published book as a teenager. Now, it's been read and studied by two generations of Australian teenagers through the…
- Big Ideas
ABC National Forum — migration and the kind of country Australia wants to be
Migration has shaped modern Australia, but as the country grows, debates around immigrants and multiculturalism are intensifying. Join David Speers for the…
- Big Ideas
Buying and Selling the Poor at The Festival of Dangerous Ideas — Rick Morton, Mark Considine, Emily Roy with Natasha Mitchell
Being poor has become big business in Australia, but not for people who need work. Billions spent. Millions of profits. But who's getting them? Why do…
- Big Ideas
Helen Garner reflects on five decades of writing — an ABC Radio National Top 100 Books countdown special
Helen Garner is one of Australia's most significant and renowned writers, known for her precise and observational writing style, disarming honesty and piercing…
- Big Ideas
Why Diego Bonetto wants you to eat weeds
Foraging and eating wild food is nothing new in Australia. First Nations people have done it for over 50,000 years. Even your grandparents often still used to…
- Big Ideas
Feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem with Natasha Mitchell and guests on travels that transformed them
Trailblazing feminist, political activist, journalist, and founder of Ms Magazine Gloria Steinem died this week at age 92 after a big life changing lives. In…
- Big Ideas
Are kid's books too moralistic, worthy, or 'woke'? Andy Griffiths, Hilary Rogers, Tamuz Ellazam for Radio National's Top 100 Books
Blockbuster Australian children's authors Andy Griffiths (The Treehouse series), Hilary Rogers aka Maddy Mara (Dragon Girls) and bookseller Tamuz Ellazam join…
- Big Ideas
Inside the life of Elizabeth II with royal biographer Robert Hardman
From the drama of her private world to the diplomacy of her position as queen. From the woman her family knew to the public figure the world saw. With unique…
Big IdeasTech activist Cory Doctorow says the internet's been enshittified. So is it too late to save it?
Leading tech critic Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe the slow decay of the digital platforms most of us are now forced to rely upon…
- Big Ideas
John Brack once painted his children. Now his adult daughter tells her story of life with the famous artist
She's the little girl in some of her father's most famous paintings, but life as the eldest child of artists John Brack and Helen Maudsley wasn't always easy…
- Big Ideas
Roman Krznaric on why the history of human solidarity offers us radical hope, even now
Philosopher Roman Krznaric, author of History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity, The Good Ancestor, and founder of the Empathy…
- Big Ideas
Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones and why all great music is a threat
From their earliest days as blues-obsessed kids living in freezing squalor, to the first taste of fame and the day they landed in the US and went stratospheric…
Big IdeasStephanie Alexander with Adam Liaw on 30 years of The Cook's Companion
Since 1996, The Cooks Companion has been a bible for Australian kitchens, a reliable friend who can tell you how to boil an egg, bake some bread, roast a…
- Big Ideas
Mick Herron, Suzie Miller and Benjamin Law on great adaptations — from the page to the stage to the screen, and back again
When a book becomes a hit TV series, or a play becomes a Hollywood film, what makes it a great adaptation? Meet the creators of these international smash hits…
- Big Ideas
Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle…
Big IdeasKerry O'Brien on the perfect storm destroying our politics — with Richard Flanagan
Acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien has seen it all, but nothing like right now. And he's not mincing his words. On AI, neoliberalism, education, equality…
- Big Ideas
Why Oz Harvest's Ronni Kahn wants you to join the "Order of the Teaspoon" to end food insecurity and waste
It's estimated that one in three Australian households have experienced food insecurity. At the same time, one third of all food produced in Australia gets…
- Big Ideas
Protecting Australia’s native plants
Australia is home to some 25,000 plant species. And nine out of 10 Australian plants occur nowhere else on Earth. But many are under threat. So why does that…
Big IdeasIndigenous speculative fiction takes on the apocalypse — with Canadian sci-fi Indiginerd Chelsea Vowel
Dystopia or utopia? How do you imagine the future? In films and books, the future is often filled with alien invasions, nuclear war or the zombie apocalypse…
Big IdeasBlast off! Exploring our solar system and beyond
We're going extraterrestrial with a panel of super star space scientists who are exploring the solar system and beyond. Will they find life out there? Which is…
Big IdeasToo Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making
Think about the person whose politics you find most baffling, or most infuriating. Now imagine you must make a decision together. Actually negotiate, project…
Big IdeasWhat makes television? 100 years of tumultuous change
It's been called the idiot box, the drug of the nation, the tube. This year marks 100 years of broadcast television. Over its lifetime, TV has adapted to big…
- Big Ideas
CENSORED! CANCELLED! BOYCOTT! The future of artistic freedom and democracy in Australia
How free should artists be to make risky work, to provoke, to get political? Who gets to decide if a work of art is deemed too risky, too dangerous, too…
- Big Ideas
Forget The Odyssey. These authors have their own mythical retellings — with Yann Martel, Nikita Gill and Zoe Terakes
Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office…
- Big Ideas
Forget The Odyssey. Yann Martel, Nikita Gill, Zoe Terakes have their own mythical retellings
Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office…
- Big Ideas
Africa in a shifting world order — can digital technology achieve what aid never could?
As the great powers renegotiate their alliances and priorities, Africa is reshaping its future. From the promise of digital economies and homegrown innovation…
- Big Ideas
How policy decisions today can hurt your kids in the future — are we even trying to get it right?
The decisions being made right now, in parliament, in budget lock-ups, in policy debates, will shape the lives of your kids and their kids. Think: Climate…
- Big Ideas
The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?
Meet the tenacious Papua New Guineans who won't give up on holding Australian mining giants to account, despite the enormous personal toll of doing so…
Big IdeasAustralian war history — the past, present and future of remembrance. With Professor Peter Stanley
From the Frontier Wars, to foreign wars experienced by migrant Australians, to the threat of Australia's involvement in future conflict, war means many…
- Big Ideas
What Pacific peoples know about climate justice — and Australia still needs to learn
Pacific communities have long led the global climate fight — not from the margins, but from the front. Australia's hopes of co-hosting COP31 alongside Pacific…
Big IdeasGay rights pioneer Dennis Altman on five decades of activism, writing and social change
He was there at the birth of a movement. He's been a champion for the rights of gay people both in Australia and abroad ever since. The son of Jewish refugees…
- Big Ideas
Why didn't anyone tell me Australian history was ACTUALLY interesting!? Sita Sargeant, Santilla Chingaipe, Jacinta Mackay, Harini Rangarajan
Think of a history textbook you had at school. Could you relate to the characters inside its pages? These women are proving Australian history contains…
- Big Ideas
What does 'being a man' look like — today?
The conversation around men's mental health, identity and emotional lives is changing. Literature is one of the places where that shift is happening. On the…
- Big Ideas
Could the 21st century be the greatest age of exploration in the history of humankind? Ocean explorer Terry Garcia thinks so
The ocean sustains all life on Earth, yet we know remarkably little about it. Now, because of technological advances, we could be on the cusp of a new age of…
Big IdeasOn how fear destroys your relationships — and why love can heal fear
It's the greatest power you all have as human beings — a healing power: to make others feel safe and welcome. It's so powerful because it puts a stop to their…
Big IdeasAngertainment — is it too late to escape the rage bait machine, and why are its roots ancient and evolutionary? With Ed Coper
Is it too late to escape the rage bait machine? And why are its roots ancient and evolutionary? Leading strategist Ed Coper has used all the tricks of the…
- Big Ideas
Globalisation and geopolitics – the forces that will make or break Asia
Globalisation has powered the extraordinary economic rise of Asia. But the same components that built this success — open trade, deep supply chains…