Big Ideas

An evening of love letters and storytelling. Women of six generations share their tales of love: love for a fulfilled dream, loving advice to an unborn daughter, passion for a past decade or the kind of love with the power to heal yourself. Each of their stories will not only make you feel love but will give you food for thought.

Should former President Donald Trump be banned indefinitely from Facebook? That question is before Facebook's Oversight Board which will now be the ultimate arbiter of what can, and can’t be posted on its platform. It will act as a kind of Supreme Court and its decisions are meant to be binding on the company. So is this the antidote to fake news, conspiracy theories and online abuse?

What we wear reflects who we are, and who we aspire to be. Research suggests the garments we wear can also affect our mental state in positive, and negative, ways. Wearing different clothing changes how we feel, and how others perceive us.

Can fashion really make us feel better about ourselves? A panel of experts at the Queensland Museum discusses.

Can you give things your best shot... and then let good enough be good enough? Many people in our society can’t - they are perfectionists and set themselves unrealistic and unachievable standards. Our culture in fact pushes for perfectionism. But we can learn to promote growth over perfection and compassion over criticism.

Love it or hate it, technology rules the world. Our social systems and values are bent out of shape by innovative technology. Ideas we used to hold dear like privacy are suddenly negotiable in the online world and tech companies set the rules with governments struggling to catch up. So is it possible to regain control of your data and can governments control disruptive technology?

While there is growing awareness about modern slavery and people trafficking around the world, numbers are still rising. Under the Modern Slavery Act, businesses are required to assess the risk of slavery in their operations – down the complete supply chain. On Big Ideas, an expert panel will discuss how policy, advocacy and practise has evolved in Australia and internationally and project future developments.

What is progress, and true sustainability? Can the rational be separated from the spiritual? What can we learn from indigenous knowledge? Paul Barclay speaks to Tyson Yunkaporta, author of "Sand Talk", which provides an entree into indigenous thinking, and an insight into how this knowledge is formed and passed on. "Yarning", according to Tyson, is central. Ghosts, too, loom large in Tyson’s world. He describe how he was once attacked by a ghost as writer’s retreat.

In his final 2020 Boyer lecture, Andrew Forrest argues that economic opportunity, not welfare, is the most important way to overcome Indigenous disadvantage.  He's advocating for access to finance, an end to modern slavery and early childhood programs to overcome learning deficits in vulnerable children.

Then we hear from Indigenous film-maker Rachel Perkins. In her 2019 Boyer lecture she urged Australian governments to adopt the recommendations of the Uluru Statement as the first step towards closing the gap.

In the Boyer lectures businessman and philanthropist Dr Andrew Forrest AO calls for an urgent move to green hydrogen on a global scale and an end to over-fishing and plastic pollution in our oceans.

2020 has been dominated by global health crises and social justice protests. The lasting effect is yet to be seen. Social movements can take generations and centuries even; it is not the result of one action or one event. But there are certain factors that determine whether a movement succeeds or fails – like a very diverse basis of participants, strict discipline and a variety of surprising tactics.