The racism and resilience Padma Raman’s parents experienced lit a social justice fire in her early on. She landed on the sunny shores of Sydney in the 1980s and watched both her parents face racism and discrimination seeking work.  She’s gone on to dedicate her career to making the world a better place for women and girls. It’s taken her to the halls of Federal Parliament and the United Nations. The Pamela Denoon lecture is presented by the ANU Gender Institute and the National Foundation for Australian Women. 

Speakers

Padma Raman PSMExecutive Director Office for Women at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Akrti TyagiHead of Digital at Girls Run the World 

Sally MoyleDeputy Chair of the National Foundation for Australian Women

Australians have a hardcore addiction to fast fashion. That means dyes in our waterways, microplastics in our bodies, and hundreds of thousands of tonnes of textiles dumped in landfill. Fashionista or not, do you feel powerless to change an industry dominated by global fashion giants making giant profits? Meet four passionate crusaders with fashion, finance, tech, textile, and industry know-how who are already finding ways.

They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at the 2025 Ocean Lovers Festival at the Bondi Pavilion on Gadigal Country.

Speakers

Dr Christopher HurrenAssociate Professor in Textile ResearchInstitute for Frontier MaterialsDeakin UniversityDanielle Haj-MoussaInvestor, technologist, and co-founder of Tech for Social Good non-profitLeader of Fashion Collective portfolio with deep tech fund Main Sequence Ventures

Dr Lisa LakeDirector, Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Fashion + TextilesUniversity of Technology Sydney and TAFE NSW

Kit WillowFashion designer and sustainable fashion pioneerCreator of international labels Willow and KitXFounder, Cirkit

Thanks to Lorna Parry and Carolyn Grant at the Ocean Lovers Festival for curating this event.

Further information:

Uluu (biodegradable materials start-up)

Alt.leather (start-up company developing 'leather' made from plants)

Samsara eco (start-up company developing plastic eating enzymes)

Xefco (start-up company developing new ways of dying and processing materials)

Newera Bio (start-up company developing new dyes and pigments for textiles)

Nanollose (company turning liquid waste into rayon fibres for clothes)

Blocktexx (company recovering polyester and cellulose from textiles and clothing)

Project Boomerang (plans for a textile recycling plant run by the Salvos)

Warren Ellis is best known as the charismatic violinist with legendary Australian instrumental rock trio Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Justin Kurzel's new documentary Ellis Park is a both portrait of Ellis as he comes to terms with his Ballarat childhood, and a film about the devastating impacts of wildlife trafficking, and why Ellis was driven to buy land in Sumatra to home rescued animals.

The pair join the ABC's Zan Rowe at the film's premiere to talk about their collaboration, the act of creation, and of giving back.

This conversation was recorded at the Melbourne International Film Festival.

Speakers

Warren EllisMusician, Dirty Three, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and moreFilm score composerAuthor, Nina Simone's Gum: A Memoir of Things Lost and Found

Justin KurzelDirector, Ellis Park, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, True History of the Kelly Gang, Snowtown and more

Zan Rowe (host)Presenter, Take 5, Double J and ABC TV

How do nations work together to control access to our vast universe, negotiate who gets what resources, or even who gets to set up new colonies on far away planets? And how do we ensure that we don’t just export earthly conflicts on take-off? ‘Unlocking Cooperation: Space Diplomacy’ is a talk from the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. 

Speakers

Dr Diane HowardFormer Director of Commercial Space Policy at the National Space Council in The White House

Mai'a CrossDirector at the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures at Northeastern University

Ann C ThresherAssistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University

What's happening in Gaza is horrifying and shocking. As the world watches on, how are different Jewish communities reckoning with a war being waged in their name by Israel, against Hamas and the Palestinian people?

This event was recorded at The Wheeler Centre on 27 May 2025 in partnership with the Jewish Council of Australia.

Speakers

Peter BeinartAuthor, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning and The Crisis of ZionismProfessor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New YorkEditor-at-Large of Jewish Currents MagazineFellow, Foundation for Middle East PeaceRegular contributor, New York Times and MSNBC

Sarah Schwartz (host)Co-founder, Executive Officer, Jewish Council of AustraliaLegal Director, Human Rights Law CentreLecturer, University of Melbourne Law School

A workforce we rarely hear about, lives in limbo, and stories from the coalface. From economic gains and cultural exchanges to exploitation and absconding,  what are the successes and problems of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme? Who picks and processes those yummy strawberries you're about to put in your shopping trolley, or the crisp veggies you might stir-fry tonight? Did you know it could be a nurse or a police officer from a Pacific Island or Timor Leste on a temporary seasonal visa? 

Join Natasha Mitchell and guests for this event organised by Griffith University and the Australian National University, and held at the ANU.

Speakers

Dr Kaya BarryCultural Geographer, artist, senior lecturer, DECRA Research FellowCentre for Social and Cultural Research, Griffith University

Nunes CosbarMusician, photographer, horticultural employee in Australia on a PALM visa. Band member with Lian Husi Timor

Ken DachiCoordinator, Welcoming Workplaces with Welcoming Australia

Ema VuetiPresident, Pacific Islands Council of Queensland (PICQ)

Thanks also to James Lees (Griffith University), Dr Matt Withers (ANU South Asia Research Institute), and Dr Kirstie Petrou (School of Humanities and Social Sciences, UNSW Canberra)

Further information

Timorese abattoir workers perform at Port Fairy Folk Festival after call for musos (ABC Australia short film)

Words can mean everything, or nothing at all: it all depends on how they're delivered. This relationship between writer, script, actor and audience creates a particular tension that lies at the heart of performance. Who gives meaning to the words, interprets the creative material, who holds the power?

This is a lecture, but not as you know it, by members of the multi award-winning British theatre company Forced Entertainment.

The 15th annual Rex Cramphorn Memorial Lecture was delivered at the University of Sydney on Tuesday 18 March, 2025.

Speakers

Terry O'ConnorPerformer and co-founder, Forced Entertainment

Tim EtchellsArtistic Director and co-founder, Forced Entertainment

Ian Maxwell (host)Chair of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Sydney

Gina Chick made her name as the inaugural winner of Alone Australia, but her story begins a long time before that. It involves unimaginable hardship, death grief, illness and injury. How has she learnt to sit with all that life has thrown at her, and remain joyful and true to herself, in the face of adversity?

This event was recorded at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne, with thanks to Readings Books.

Speakers

Gina ChickAuthor, We Are the Stars (Winner of the Australian Book Industry's Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year)

Hugh Van Cuylenburg (host)Founder, The Resilience ProjectHost, The Imperfects podcast

Your personal safety is big business, so much so that it’s given rise to “security capitalism”, a phenomenon where attempts to buy personal safety shape the world around us. As security becomes just another status symbol, do these gadgets make us safer or do they create a whole new list of anxieties – a self-fulfilling prophecy of perceived threat and risk aversion? This conversation 'Trapped: Does the security industry make us less safe?' was recorded at the CUNY Graduate Centre. 

Speakers

Mark MaguireProfessor of anthropology at Maynooth University, co-author, Trapped: Life Under Security Capitalism and How to Escape It

Setha LowProfessor of psychology, anthropology, earth and environmental sciences, and women's and gender studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, co-author, Trapped: Life Under Security Capitalism and How to Escape It

Alex Vitale (host)Professor of sociology and coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center

The ghost people arrived by boat. They never left. But the stories of first encounters and what came next live large, 250 years later, in First Nations families and communities. An ambitious journey to reclaim the names and stories disappeared by Captain James Cook, but never lost.  A deeply personal excavation of herstories and the women wrenched from their Country by colonial sealers. A Polish freedom fighter and the fight for the mountain that bears his name. Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to talk ghosts, reclaimation and revival with four authors at the 2025 Sorrento Writers Festival.

Speakers 

Darren Rix and Dr Craig Cormick, co-authors of Warra Warra Wai: How indigenous Australians discovered Captain Cook and what they tell about the coming of the Ghost People (Scribner Australia. 2024)

Tasma Walton, actor, screenwriter, novelist and author of  I am Nannertgarrook (S&S Bundyi, 2025) Anthony Sharwood, journalist and author of Kosciuszko: The Incredible Life of the Man Behind The Mountain (Hachette Australia, 2024)

Thanks to festival founder and director Corrie Perkin and the Sorrento Festival production team.