In the second Boyer Lecture for 2025, the Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia, takes a sweeping look over our history and concludes that the liberal world order that has so far defined us, is ending.

While such turning points require big and important decisions, what happens to Australia, he understands, is inextricably linked to what happens to the global democratic order.

John Anderson argues for the need to counter distrust, disengagement and other pressing social issues, and has found in talking to many young participants in his podcast series, that the views of the young need to be far better respected to foster new Australian leadership.

“As the great American economic historian Thomas Sowell put it best, ‘Civilisation doesn’t always sustain itself, it has to be built, maintained, defended, and most importantly understood.’   When that understanding is lost, decline is not just likely, it becomes inevitable.  And that’s the illusion we’re living under today – that civilisation is permanent – but it isn’t.”

Credits:

• Presented by Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia
• Series curated and introduced by Dr Julia Baird
• Executive Producer, Julia Baird
• Producer,  Gail Boserio
• Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite