Big Ideas

By ABC Australia

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.

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The podcast currently has 2,404 episodes available.

Best of Big Ideas

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: Kerry O'Brien on the perfect storm destroying our politics — with Richard Flanagan
Acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien has seen it all, but nothing like right now. And he's not mincing his words. On AI, neoliberalism, education, equality, gutless governments, and more. For over 50 years, he covered the world's biggest stories and changemakers, and asked tough questions of power. Hear why he thinks a perfect storm threatens our society and our politics, and what he thinks can be done about it. The 2026 Thea Astley Address was recorded at the Byron Writers Festival on Saturday 15 August 2026. Speakers: Kerry O'BrienFormer ABC journalist, host, 7.30 Report, Four Corners, Lateline and more, six-time Walkley award winner Richard FlanaganMan Booker Prize and Baille Gifford award winning author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Heresies, and more
August 25, 202655min
Number 2: Too Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making
Think about the person whose politics you find most baffling, or most infuriating. Now imagine you must make a decision together. Actually negotiate, project forward, find common ground. That's democracy. And it turns out our brains aren't especially well-built for it. In an era shaped by inequality, environmental crisis and the decline of democratic institutions understanding how we make political decisions might be one of the most urgent questions we face. Recorded live at the Melbourne Writers Festival as part of the Wheeler Centre's The Fifth Estate series. Speakers Dr David MoscropPolitics columnist for The Washington Post, The Walrus, Time Magazine, The Globe, The Guardian and othersAuthor of Too Dumb For Democracy: Why We Make Bad Political Decisions And How We Can Make Better Ones Dr Sally WarhaftMelbourne based freelance broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. Host of The Wheeler Centre's series The Fifth Estate
August 17, 202655min
Number 3: Protecting Australia’s native plants
Australia is home to some 25,000 plant species. And nine out of 10 Australian plants occur nowhere else on Earth. But many are under threat. So why does that matter? This National Science Week, we meet a plant ecologist with a message. This conversation was recorded at the Lyrebird Festival in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Speakers: Rachael GallagherProfessor in Plant Ecology and Conservation, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Gregg Borschmann (host)Oral historian, journalist and writer Further information: What is Australia's most amazing wildflower? Vote now - ABC Science WeekThe Australasian Virtual Herbarium
August 20, 202655min
Number 4: Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at the Beaker Street Festival: where science meets art. Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. France just struck down a push for the same. Are adults immune to all the harms of these platforms? Should OVER-16s be banned too!? TEAM AFFIRMATIVE: "THE VIRAL INFLUENZAS" Dr Esmé Louise James, sex historianReturning debate champion and sex historian, creator of the book and viral TikTok phenomenon Kinky History, co-host with her mathematician mother of two seasons of the Sextistics series on Youtube, and her first novel Becoming Venus is out on September 1, 2026. Saul Eslake, economistSaul has been chief economist at the big end of town with big banks, he now runs his own consultancy, is a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Tasmania, advises Australia's Parliamentary Budget Office, serves on the Council on the Ageing, and is a regular expert chatterbox in the media. Dr Meredith Castles, human-computer interaction researcher and lecturer Meredith is a science communicator and a lecturer in human-computer interaction at the University of Tasmania's School of Information and Communication Technology. She's interested in ethical, accessible, inclusive, and human-centred technology — and how to design it so it's nice, not nasty. TEAM NEGATIVE: "THE YAPPERS" Professor Barbara Holland, statisticianFormer reigning Beaker Street debate champion, Barbara is a mathematician in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Tasmania. She fell in love with the power of statistics, made it her life's work, and works with biologists and uses stats to unravel the big biological puzzle that is the evolution of life on Earth. Dr Kirsten BanksYou know her as AstroKirsten on the socials, youtube, on screens and stages everywhere. Kirsten is an astrophysicist, science communicator, and proud Wiradjuri woman who mixes science with humour — and her passion for the cosmos — to help us all reach the stars. Dr Tim NugentTim is a co-founder of Yarn Spinner, a spin-off of the award-winning Tasmanian grown gaming studio Secret Lab. He and his team build games and narrative tools for games for both indie and major studio releases. He is the co-author of a stack of computery, programmy books, and he did a PhD on mobile human computer interaction and information flow in public spaces. Thanks to Dr Margo Adler, Rosie Pidd, Stevie and the Bunsen Burners, and the whole festival team.
August 26, 202655min
Number 5: John Brack once painted his children. Now his adult daughter tells her story of life with the famous artist
She's the little girl in some of her father's most famous paintings, but life as the eldest child of artists John Brack and Helen Maudsley wasn't always easy. Clara Brack explores her childhood — and her parents' complex lives and relationship — in her new book The Secret Landscapes on not [pleasing your mother, which took her 20 years to write. This event was recorded at the Willy Lit Fest on 13 June 2026. Speakers: Clara BrackAuthor, The Secret Landscapes — on not pleasing your mother Gabriella CoslovichAward-winning freelance arts journalist (formerly of The Age), author, Whiteley on Trial
September 03, 202655min