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 IdeasCalling out wrongdoing can come at a cost — here's how Australia can strengthen its whistleblowing laws
From Robodebt to the banks, KPMG to the NDIS, whistleblowers have exposed egregious cases of corruption and misconduct. But it's often come at great personal…
Big IdeasEx-chief scientist Alan Finkel's three laws of Artificial Intelligence
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants AI in Australia's interests, and has announced steps to regulate the technology. So can Australia get the balance…
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Could you be a hope punk? Jack Toohey on rebellious hope and why better things are possible
Jack Toohey was flying high. Then he crashed. But from despair came renewal, and a rebellious hope. In 2023, when his social media post about housing…
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Fear, healing and finding calm – how the ocean can change you
The ocean calms us. It terrifies us. It heals us. Sometimes all at once. We explore the sea's complex hold on your mental health — from the fear of shark…
Big IdeasIs education policy damaging our democracy?
We are seeing seismic shifts in our politics, as more people than ever turn away from the major parties. Could public policy failures be to blame? Former…
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These Palestinians and Israelis are talking to each other − determined to make peace real in Gaza
Palestinians and Israelis are building common ground for peace where most say there is none. Since October 7 and the war in Gaza, the idea of cross-community…
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8 Million Ways to Happiness with Hiroko Yoda — what we can all learn about life, love, and loss from Japan’s flexible spirituality
When writer Hiroko Yoda's mother died, she found herself unmoored. They'd argued a fair bit over the years — as daughters and their mothers can — some things…
Big IdeasWhat is the role of the writer in troubled times? Tony Birch with Michael Williams on the ethical imagination
Writers have access to endless worlds, perspectives and experiences — both real and imagined. So what should they do with that privilege? Do they have a…
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If a river is declared a legal “person” — can it talk, remember, feel?
What if the way we think about rivers as resources to be allocated, infrastructure to be managed, problems to be solved, is just fundamentally wrong. What if…
Big IdeasIs the cosmos unravelling? With theoretical physicist Tony Padilla
Forget climate change, forget nuclear Armageddon, did you know that the universe is unravelling? It's probably aeons away, but according to physics, dark…
Big IdeasA song for every feeling? Pub Choir founder Astrid Jorgensen has a big story to tell (REPEAT)
Need a mid-Winter pick me up? Well this is the conversation for you! You could call Astrid Jorgensen a choir conductor, but that really doesn’t capture what…
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The gambling industry is targeting your children - how, why and what can be done?
The gambling industry is targeting young people through digital platforms, personalised algorithms and the blurring line between gaming and betting. But also…
Big IdeasDavid Marr on preaching to the converted
The arc of the moral universe may bend toward justice, but not without a whole lot of committed individuals doggedly banging on about it. Even when no one's…
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The God we made — safeguarding humanity in the age of AI
It is replacing our work, our relationships, even our capacity to think. It's the combined sum of all human knowledge — so how long until artificial…
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The art of forgiveness and why it's not what you think it is — with Rachael Coopes and Natasha Mitchell
Is there an art to forgiveness? Join Natasha Mitchell with popular Play School presenter, writer, actor, yoga and meditation teacher Rachael Coopes to explore…
Big IdeasWhose recipe is it anyway? A nourishing conversation about food and culture
They say we are what we eat, and in this big, migrant nation, every dish tells a story, about culture, about connection, about identity. But when traditional…
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Errol Flynn — discover the dark secrets of the Australian Hollywood star
He is considered the first Hollywood action hero and had a rapid rise to stardom. But Errol Flynn also was on trial for rape and had relationships with…
Big IdeasThe future of democracy? With Jon Sopel, Nick Bryant and Rosalind Dixon
It may be the least worst form of government, but faith in its leaders and its institutions is waning. From the US to the UK to Australia, democracy has also…
Big IdeasThe future of TRUTH — Wikipedia's Jimmy Wales, philosopher A.C Grayling, journalist Barbara Demick, AI scientist Toby Walsh
A power panel on the future of truth. In a world of AI hallucinations and corporate algorithms, state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, and misinformation…
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Can Art, artists and activists save Australia’s famous multicultural experiment?
The fabric of multicultural Australia is under a kind of pressure it hasn't faced in a long time. Can it be renewed? And what role do artists, activists, and…
Big IdeasPride or shame? Searching for the story of Australia — with Tony Abbott, Mark McKenna and Sally Warhaft
Two authors. Two books. Two very different histories of Australia. Tony Abbott's Australia: A history and Mark McKenna's The Shortest History of Australia were…
Big IdeasZoe Daniel with Thom Woodroofe on winning middle Australia in the climate wars
Has the Iran War got you thinking about changing to an electric vehicle? Did government subsidies help you go solar or install a home battery? When renewable…
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Duty to warn — when challenging power becomes personal, and why journalists Cheng Lei and Charlotte Grieve didn't give up
What's the toll when your story becomes the story? What these journalists endured for their work beggars belief, but it hasn't stopped them believing in the…
Big IdeasTrump, Xi, Putin and what's next for the world? Former White House insider Thomas Wright with the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen
Three leaders of three different countries, who decided they would no longer accept the limits placed upon them by the international rules based order. That's…
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Sperm shortages, shady Facebook groups, and other intimate stories of modern donor conception
Donor-sperm conception has become even more difficult in Australia. Would-be parents are now facing a shortage of sperm. That's on top of an already complex…
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How can we design our way out of Australia's housing crisis? With Anthony Burke and Tim Ross
From embracing the future of new technologies, materials and innovations, to returning to past times of multigenerational and communal living, architecture and…
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Dark Emu's Bruce Pascoe and astrophysicist Ray Norris — can Aboriginal astronomy unite humanity under one big sky?
Join Bruce Pascoe and Professor Ray Norris with Natasha Mitchell to discuss their eye-opening new book Big Sky: When the Emu Left the Earth. Then go outside…
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Hard-won progress in women's rights is dismantled — and it threatens global security
Rising authoritarianism, splintering alliances and an organised backlash against women's rights, gender equality and international development are threatening…
Big IdeasMedical misogyny — how the health system overlooks women's pain and how it's finally adapting
From GP appointments and hospital procedures, to medical research and clinical trials, for centuries, women's health has historically been dismissed…
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When Turnbull met Trump — and what it means for today’s changing world order
Australia's 29th Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joins former Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to deliver a candid appraisal of the shifting…
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The untold Titanic story of Evelyn with Lisa Wilkinson
The untold story of Evelyn Marsden and the woman who rowed against the tide. You've heard of the Titanic disaster. Luxury ship. Largest ever. Impossible to…
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What can Plato teach us about democracy today?
Democracy is on the decline, so could Plato help? Irish scholar Dr David Horan spent 16 years translating Plato's complete works, including his dialogues on…
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Could self-driving cars & other innovations end the tyranny of distance in regional Australia?
Communities that once built their future around coal and agriculture are asking: what do we become next? Regional Australia usually gets left behind when…
Big IdeasLove for your neighbour: how to cultivate radical empathy in a disenchanted world
From running a massage clinic for homeless men to running the largest independent human rights organisation in the country, Kon Karapanagiortidis has always…
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What makes Putin tick — and how will his iron-fist rule of Russia end? Natasha Mitchell with guests
Some say Russian president Vladimir Putin is growing increasingly paranoid, as his war with Ukraine wages on. It's hard to know from the outside looking in…
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Is nuclear war a real threat again? Ex-NATO and Atomic Energy Agency officials weigh in at Harvard
The global treaty for preventing nuclear proliferation is under serious strain. The last review conferences for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have ended…
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How to date from a position of power, with Bad Dates of Melbourne creator Alita Brydon and Nelly Thomas
Have you ever heard of something called Chatfishing? From to AI profiles to cat-face filters, finding true love has never felt more difficult. And yet, dating…
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How to live and die well — with Marieke Hardy, Hannah Gould and Antonia Pont
It's the only sure thing in life: that we will all die some day. But many of us are scared to think about death — our own, or our loved ones'. How can…
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Wounded narcissist, visionary, team player, a mother's love? The alchemy of good (and bad) political leadership
Three savvy political minds get up close and (very) personal with power to consider where it succeeds and struggles. They've got gripping stories to tell —…
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Why jailed Jimmy Lai's plight is a warning for press freedom and us all, everywhere
From rags, to riches, to a prison cell. He could have stayed wealthy and silent, but chose not to. Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai launched newspapers that dared to…
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Can you trust AI in the news? UK's Ian Dunt and guests on deepfakes, dodgy headlines and more
These days, more Australians get their news from their social media feed than traditional media outlets. Meanwhile artificial intelligence is supercharging the…
Big IdeasWhy working-class kid turned millionaire banker Gary Stevenson wants you to join the fight against economic inequality
He's got a rags to riches origin story, a hit Youtube channel and a bestselling memoir. Now Gary Stevenson is using his platform to fight the growing divide…
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Dear Prime Minister Albanese: Where are all the BIG IDEAS?
A year on from its landslide victory, has Labor used its historic win to deliver big on BIG ideas to set Australia up for the future? Or is Prime Minister…
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US civil rights leader Martin Luther King III on why corporate Australia shouldn't be shy of 'DEI'
Martin Luther King III knows what the long fight for equity looks like. His father was the late great Martin Luther King Jr who led the modern American civil…
Big IdeasDo Royal Commissions really work (and are they worth the money)? Betty King KC, Jack Rush KC, Jon Faine
Are Royal Commissions just a lawyer's picnic? A political witch hunt? Or, a necessary reckoning? They're Australia's highest form of inquiry on matters of…
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Was Malcolm Fraser a conservative warrior or a closet progressive?
Malcolm Fraser's legacy remains contested territory in Australian politics. Decades after he left office, we still can't quite figure him out. The Prime…
Big Ideas"Here I am, here we are" Jewish Australian women reflect on the rupture of October 7 2023
October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage…
Big IdeasResistance — Yanis Varoufakis with Helen Vatsikopoulos on the people who fought back against fascism
Through the stories of five women across three generations of his family, the influential Greek economist, author, politician and public intellectual Yanis…
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Immunotherapy trailblazer Georgina Long on the hidden ingredients in cancer medicine
Every scientist dreams of a breakthrough — a new discovery that will change everything. Professor Georgina Long is someone who has done it — as a pioneer of…
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40 years after Chernobyl we face a new nuclear risk — this time as a weapon of war
The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not only a story of the past. Right now, nuclear plants are weaponised in the Iran…
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Is Trump a new Nero, Caligula, Caesar? Can the Roman Empire help us make sense of today's chaos? And other burning questions
Is President Trump a new Nero, or a contemporary Caligula? The Roman Empire was full of merchants of chaos, power-hungry emperors, epic wars, backstabbing…
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Australia's broken social contract — Tahlia Isaac wants to protect women in prison
What happens to a community when it punishes its most vulnerable instead of protecting them Drawing on her own story of addiction, imprisonment, and recovery…
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Is Southeast Asia Australia's blind spot? — with Michael Wesley and Geoff Raby
Australians love a holiday in Southeast Asia. But our proximity to this region also makes it key to our national security and prosperity. Yet Australia has…
Big IdeasThe future of the past — how artificial intelligence is changing history
Artificial intelligence has been defined as a cluster of technologies of and for the future. But like most humans, AI is built using what has happened in the…
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Aliens exist (and the truth is out there)!? Science Smackdown at World Science Festival Brisbane 2026
It's Team 'Aliens Alive' versus Team 'Earthlings United'. Get out of this world, hear the arguments, and you decide. Was the X-Files really a documentary, or…
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British journalist Emily Maitlis on THAT Prince Andrew interview and news in a post truth world
Former BBC presenter and host of the hit podcast The News Agents, Emily Maitlis, gives a fearless assessment of modern news coverage, public broadcasting, and…
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Tennis prodigy Todd Ley on the underbelly of elite junior sport
Todd Ley exposes a high-pressure world where talent is everything, but protection is rare; where overzealous parents, manipulative coaches, hungry sponsors and…
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Who's afraid of a joke? Comedy in an authoritarian age — with comedians Sam Jay, Tom Ballard, Bahaa Dabbagh and Leon Filewood
Comedians are increasingly being forced to navigate a world where the right punchline at the expense of the wrong politician carries the risk of personal and…
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The science of SEX! Natasha Mitchell and guests at World Science Festival Brisbane
Get bonkers on bonking with Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane. It’s a sexy, fun, and educational – what's not to love?!…
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Forgiveness — a generous gift or social pressure disguised as a virtue?
You often hear that forgiveness is the key to healing and moving on — but is it always the right thing to do? This conversation explores how forgiveness is…