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
Surfer Tim Baker and doctor Peter Goldsworthy on living well with cancer
Meet two men who will change the way you think about an experience most of us fear but will be touched by in some way. In Patting the Shark, surfing writer Dr…
Big IdeasUnderstand your microbiome
Are fermented foods really good for us? Do antibiotics destroy our gut flora? And have you heard about poo transplants? Our gut is teeming with trillions of…
- Big Ideas
Doctor Who at 60 — still as attractive as ever
Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change. It's been able to evolve and adapt more radically than…
- Big Ideas
The role of spirituality and religion in mental health care
The connection between body and mind is well established. But mental health expert Daniel Fung also includes the soul in this 'ecosystem' that shapes your…
- Big Ideas
A song for every feeling? Pub Choir's Astrid Jorgensen with Natasha Mitchell
From innocently conning controversial radio duo Kyle and Jackie O as a kid, time in a Zambian convent as a teen, to nearly becoming an air traffic controller…
- Big Ideas
Victoria's new treaty with First Peoples — a turning point for Australia?
Australia now has its first treaty with this country's first peoples. After nearly a decade of formal consultation and negotiation, the Victorian Statewide…
Big IdeasPay attention — writer Emily Maguire finds promiscuous curiosity and cultural receptivity in the creative process
Humans are by nature creative, but how do we turn a spark of inspiration into something more tangible? Author Emily Maguire draws inspiration from some of the…
- Big Ideas
Can science keep dementia at bay and keep your brain sharper − for longer?
As we grow older, changes to our bodies and minds are inevitable. But what if science could help us age better? Our experts on Big Ideas uncover the latest…
- Big Ideas
Acclaimed author Christos Tsiolkas on fence-sitting in a time of fracture
When acclaimed Australia author Christos Tsiolkas was invited to give the 2025 Ray Mathew Lecture at the National Library of Australia, he had in mind what he…
Big IdeasThe stories we tell about cricket — with Paul Giles and Gideon Haigh
From The Don to Warny, the Gabba to the G, from its legacy of British colonialism, to the Asian powerhouse nations of today — cricket is not just a sport, but…
Big IdeasJudge Navi Pillay on the fight for human rights, justice and accountability
Born in apartheid South Africa, she became the country's first female high court judge. She sat on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and helped…
Big IdeasMusician Holly Rankin on why young Australians feel that politics isn't delivering for them
Young Australians are losing faith that our politics, our civic institutions and the mainstream media are working for them. Why is this? And how can our…
- Big Ideas
What are universities for today? The usefulness of "useless" knowledge
Are our universities facing an existential crisis by trying to be too many things? Places for learning, research, the production of new knowledge, the…
- Big Ideas
Jane Caro — why Australia is failing our school system
We often hear about "failing schools", but what if it is us, the Australian community, who are failing them? Public school advocate Jane Caro argues that…
- Big Ideas
Coming Out and Inviting In — with Zoe Terakes, Nina Oyama, Mon Schafter, Atari Metcalf, Ji Wallace
Join ABC's Mon Schafter and four incredible speakers as they share honest, powerful stories about revealing their identities on their own terms. From fear to…
Big IdeasSearching for convivencia — philosopher AC Grayling makes peace in the culture wars
If you're a feminist, or pro-civil or gay rights, does that make you "woke"? And if you're not, does that mean you should be cancelled, or abused online, or…
- Big Ideas
The Sophia Club live philosophy — what are friends for?
Friends are different from family. We choose them and they choose us. Philosophers long wondered about what makes friendship such a distinctive relationship in…
- Big Ideas
Understanding China's history is crucial for Australia
To deal with China as a major trading partner, and also a national security threat requires understanding the history that made China what it is today. That…
Big IdeasUniversities and other antidotes to authoritarianism
The United States has long been famous for its world leading universities. But in the face of research funding cuts, government attacks on free speech, DEI and…
- Big Ideas
One day, everyone will have always been against this — Omar El Akkad and Peter Greste reckon with Western hypocrisy over Israel's war on Gaza
The Western world is supposed to stand for values like freedom, justice and human rights, a commitment to meet wrongdoing with consequence, guided by rules and…
- Big Ideas
Fixing Australia's housing crisis — is increasing supply really a silver bullet?
Build more houses. That'll fix Australia's housing crisis won't it? If you listen to governments, you'd sure think so. Under the National Housing Accord, all…
- Big Ideas
Gough Whitlam's dismissal — why is it still relevant today?
Whitlam's dismissal and following double dissolution 50 years ago, was arguably the most tumultuous period in Australia's political and constitutional history…
Big IdeasAn intriguing story of art and espionage — how a classical scholar turned codebreaker during World War 2
In the 1930s, New Zealand-born, Cambridge educated Arthur Dale Trendall carved a niche for himself as the world's foremost expert in the study of ancient South…
Big IdeasEmpire of AI — Karen Hao goes inside the reckless race for total world domination
When it was founded in 2015, openai — the company behind Chat GPT — had a mission to develop artificial intelligence tools that would benefit humanity. But…
- Big Ideas
ABC's CITIZEN JURY — Fixing salmon farming's environmental harms in Tasmania
ABC Radio National's CITIZEN JURY takes hard, hot-button issues affecting a community — and places citizens at the centre of finding solutions. It's…
- Big Ideas
Anne Summers — 50 Years of Damned Whores and God’s Police
In 1975, aged just 29, she wrote a bestselling book that changed Australia. Since then, she's courted controversy and acclaim, but Anne Summers has never given…
Big IdeasWhy we need to cancel cancel culture — with defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou
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…
Big IdeasOut of this world — with Booker Prize winning author Samantha Harvey
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…
- Big Ideas
What Artists See? Critic Quentin Sprague helps you get to the messy human heart of art
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…
Big IdeasMatrescence — on the metamorphosis of motherhood
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…
- Big Ideas
Alexander the Great — A genius? A tyrant? A visionary? A killer? A maniac?
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…
Big IdeasNobel laureate Donna Strickland on her life in lasers
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…
- Big Ideas
Ziggy Ramo’s latest project asks what makes us human?
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…
- Big Ideas
New legislation to protect you against invasion of your privacy
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…
Big IdeasHow to build a stock exchange — the past, present and future of finance
This rollicking history traces the evolution of the London stock exchange, from the Transatlantic slave trade to modern day missions to Mars, arguing that the…
- Big Ideas
Is Jane Austen the greatest English novelist of all time?
She's on a bank note (British 10 pounds), and a bath soap (Suds and Sensibility), and she also wrote some of the most beloved novels in English literature. Why…
- Big Ideas
We’re F**ed! It’s too late to avoid civilisational collapse. 2025 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Is the end of the world nigh, or just the end of the world as we know it? Are we set to doom-scroll our way to apocalypse? Or is this the moment we wake up to…
Big IdeasWho killed the liberal international order (and what comes next)?
Conflict and great power rivalries are on the rise, democracy is in retreat, and multilateral institutions created to maintain global cooperation appear…
- Big Ideas
Can the Democrats save democracy in the US?
The Democratic Party in America is in an identity crisis. It's shifting priorities to claw back grounds from the Republicans. But is it too little, too late?…
Big IdeasMaria Ressa on what Donald Trump learnt from Rodrigo Duterte and other strongman rulers
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…
- Big Ideas
Prove It! Elizabeth Finkel's Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era
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…
- Big Ideas
John Lennon and Paul McCartney — a partnership that changed cultural history
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…
- Big Ideas
'Militarism gone mad' — Labor firebrand hits out at party’s support of AUKUS
The world feels more dangerous and unpredictable, but with Australia wedged between our traditional ally, America, and our biggest trading partner, China, does…
- Big Ideas
Genocides are everyone's business, not no-one's business — Gareth Evans, Yassmin Khadra, Daniel Abot's urgent plea for peace
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…
Big IdeasVale Dr Jane Goodall — why the renowned primatologist and environmentalist held onto hope
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…
Big IdeasIs AI the new coloniser? How to create more life-centred AI before it's too late
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…
- Big Ideas
Condoleezza Rice on how to fix the break-up of global cooperation
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…
Big IdeasThe rise of Spotify and the costs of the perfect playlist — with music journalist Liz Pelly
American music journalist Liz Pelly interrogates the ways Spotify and other streaming giants are reshaping music, not just for listeners, but also for the…
- Big Ideas
Yolngu power — art, culture, country, law — with Marcia Langton and Clare Wright
Australian Indigenous art is celebrated around the world – but how much is understood about its pivotal role in Indigenous culture, country, politics and law?…
- Big Ideas
Nobel scientist Jennifer Doudna with Natasha Mitchell — the gene editing revolution, radical ethics, and what's next? [Archive episode]
Join a full house at the Sydney Opera House with Nobel winning scientist Jennifer Doudna and Big Ideas' presenter Natasha Mitchell to discuss the huge social…
Big IdeasHelen Vatsikopoulos — when the stories of migrants in Australia are silenced it's bad for all of us
Stories help us to understand what is happening in the world and how it impacts us. Stories help us to relate to the experience of 'the Other' and their…
- Big Ideas
The power of essays — with David Marr, Esther Anatolitis, Brooke Boland and Ashleigh Wilson
For 85 years, Meanjin has published the essays of Australian writers. The magazine's founding editor, Clem Christesen, wanted Meanjin's writers 'to reveal and…
Big IdeasFleeced — unravelling the history of wool and war
It's water and fireproof, versatile, warm and tough wearing. Wool not only expanded the British Empire, and created prosperity in the colonies, it also changed…
- Big Ideas
What's up with dieting Doc? Rethinking the obesity obsession in 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 IdeasDoing business ethically in turbulent times — with Helen Clark
In a world where rules are increasingly being broken, what role should business play in upholding human rights, international and domestic law, and…
- Big Ideas
Jimmy Barnes – tells it all
Rock star and maverick Jimmy Barnes celebrates heritage, family, friends, music and the adventure of a grand life on stage. Get up close to the lead singer of…
Big IdeasHanna Rosin on what’s happened to the end of men in Trump’s America
Thirteen years ago, US political journalist Hanna Roisin wrote a book called The End of Men: and the Rise of Women. Since then, there's been President Donald…
- Big Ideas
Nuked or not? The politics and power play over nuclear energy as a climate fix
Nuclear power is banned in Australia, and has been for decades, whilst some countries tilt towards nuclear energy again. Should or could Australia? The…
- Big Ideas
Heart-to-heart with John Wamsley and David Lindenmayer — why these trailblazing environmentalists won't back off
Meet two men on a lifelong mission. They've ruffled a lot of feathers along the way. Some revere them, others revile them. John Wamsley set up Australia's…
Big IdeasAre the reading wars really over?
It's estimated that one third of Australian school children can't read proficiently, and debates about the best way to teach reading have raged for years. Now…