Big Ideas

The median Australian house price is now about $800,000 – almost eight times the average income – and well beyond the reach of many people, without help. 

So how did we get here, and with a federal election looming, are the political parties game to seriously take this on?

"Any solution to housing that is easy and popular won't work." — Alan Kohler

Presented at the Sydney Writers Festival and Readings Bookshop.

Speakers

Alan KohlerFinance presenter, ABCAuthor of The Great Divide: Australia's Housing Mess and How to Fix It (Quarterly Essay #92 and republished as a book available 1 October 2024)

Richard Holden (host)Professor of Economics, University of NSW

Kevin BellFormer Supreme Court Judge, Victoria; Former Director, Castan Centre for Human RightsAuthor of Housing: The Great Australian Right (In the National Interest essay series, Monash University Publishing)

Australia's high country is a spectacular and precious place. It's also a place that is changing, with shorter, less predictable snowfall. So, what does the future hold for the Alpine region, in a changing climate?

This event was recorded on 13 June, 2024 at the Australian National University in partnership with Protect Our Winters Australia and the Australian Mountain Research Facility.

Speakers

Ruby OlssonLead author, Our Changing Snowscapes: Climate change impacts on and recommendations for our Australian AlpsPhD student, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University

Professor Adrienne NicotraDirector, Australian Mountain Research Facility

Richard SwainHonorary Associate Professor, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University

David PocockIndependent Senator, ACT

Sam Beaver (host)Volunteer Policy Lead, Protect Our Winters AustraliaResearch Officer, Institute for Climate, Energy and Disaster Solutions, Australian National University

Further information

Our Changing Snowscapes: Climate Change Impacts and Recommendations for the Australian Alps

Frequently described as victims, as failures or even as women without morals, single mothers often get a bad rap. They are part of Australian statistics. Of the 1.1 million single parents, 83 percent are women, they are more likely to live in poverty and up to 65 percent have fled violent relationships. In this frank conversation, three women thrash and burn some of the assumptions about single mothers.

Recorded at the All about Women Festival by the Sydney Opera House

Speakers

BarkaaMalyangapa, Barkindji woman, musician and rapper

Karen Pickeringfeminist writer and organiser

Edwina Throsby (host)producer, curator and former head of ABC Managing Editor of Arts. 

Further Information

About Bloody Time by Karen Pickering & Jane Bennett

Doing It: Women Tell the Truth about Great Sex. UQP Edited by Karen Pickering

Baarka Music

History is the stories we choose to tell about ourselves and others. So how have those stories changed over time? And how has that shaped new understandings of our national identity?

Presented by the Friends of the National Library of Australia.

Speakers

Peter StanleyFormer Research Professor, Australian Centre for the Study of armed conflict, University of New South Wales (UNSW)Former Principal Historian, Australian War MemorialFormer inaugural head of research, National Museum of AustraliaAuthor of Bad Characters: Sex, Crime, Murder, Mutiny and the Australian Imperial Force (joint winner of the 2011 Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History), and many more

Frank BongiornoProfessor of History, Australian National UniversityAuthor, The Sex Lives of Australians: A History, Dreamers and Schemers: a Political History of Australia, and many morePresident, Australian Historical Association

Anne-Marie Schwirtlich (host)Former Director General, National Library of AustraliaFellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia

What is the allure of gothic fiction? How does it give shape to your most unsettling impulses? A panel of masters of the genre explore the creepy houses, dysfunctional families and the perfect degree of decay and rot that’s needed to create the ‘good scare’. From the classics of Jane Eyre to Harry Potter – we’re celebrating gothic tales. 

Presented at the Brisbane Writers Festival

Speakers

Angela "A.G." SlatterAuthor of six novels, including The Briar Book of the Dead, All the Murmuring Bones, The Path of Thorns and the Verity Fassbinder series

Naomi NovikNew York Times bestselling author of The Scholomance series, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the nine-volume Temeraire series

Kathleen JenningsBritish Fantasy Award-winning author of the short story collection Kindling, the novel Flyaway and poetry collection Travelogues: Vignettes from Trains in Motion; Fantasy Award-winning illustrator of fantasy and fairy tales

Shelley Parker-ChanAuthor of She Who Became the Sun and its sequel, He Who Drowned the World, which form The Radiant Emperor Duology

What is the true meaning of Orwellian and what can George Orwell's writings teach us about navigating the 21st century? Since his book 1984 was published 75 years ago, there have always been comparisons drawn between the dystopian themes of the novel and contemporary injustices, inequality, censorship and corruption. Historian Laura Beers deconstructs many of the misconceptions around Orwell's writings to expose a complex, flawed man who had a commitment to liberty and economic justice.

Provided by the York Festival of Ideas; led by the University of York, UK

Speakers

Laura BeersProfessor History of Modern Britain American University Washington 

Further Information

Laura Beers - Orwell's Ghosts: Wisdoms and warnings for the 21st Century

Anna Funder - Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life

It's the living force of the nation, but how much do we understand our Constitution?  Twenty five pages sets out our laws, roles of government and political structure. Enacted by a people's vote of white men over 120 years ago it does not include rights for all citizens, for Indigenous Peoples or environmental protections. So how does the Constitution work for a contemporary Australia?

Recorded at the National Archives Constitution Day event

Speakers

Justine Bell-JamesAssociate Professor & Director of Higher Degree Research & Director of HDR of T.C. Beirne School of Law, TC Beirne School of Law, University of Queensland

Professor Megan DavisPro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous at UNSW and a Professor of Law at UNSW, Co-Architect Voice Referendum an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court

Harry HobbsAssociate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney

Paul Barclay (host) Journalist, producer, former host of Big Ideas

Further Information

The Australian Constitution The best of talks, forums, debates, and festivals held in Australia and around the world.

The idea of "freedom" is one that's often used in relation to the economy: we have "the free market" and "free trade agreements", freedom from regulation, from government intervention, and so on. But whose freedom are we talking about, and at whose expense?

This event was recorded at the Perth Town Hall on 14 August 2024.

Speakers

Joseph Stiglitz Professor, Columbia University Business SchoolAuthor, The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society

Ebony Bennett Deputy Director, The Australia Institute

Just over a decade ago democracy was within reach in Myanmar, but now the country is in danger of becoming a failed state. So what happened, and what keeps hope for the country alive?

This event was recorded on 18 July 2024 at The Wheeler Centre, in partnership with PEN Melbourne, and RMIT Culture.

Speakers

Ma Thida Writer, human rights activist and doctorAuthor, A-maze: Myanmar's struggle for democracy: 2011-2023, Prisoner of Conscience: My Steps through Insein (2016) and many moreChair, Writers in Prison Committee, PEN InternationalFellow, Writers-in-Exile Programme, PEN Germany

Dr Michelle Aung Thin Novelist, essayist and academicAuthor, The Monsoon Bride and Hasina: Through My EyesSenior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University

It's a tough time to be a parent. From screens, to mental health, neurodiversity, gender, diet and schooling, this generation is in unchartered territory in many ways. So what does the evidence tell us that will give parents the best chance to raise happy healthy children, without killing themselves in the process?

This event was recorded at Waverley Library in Sydney on 8 August 2024.

Speakers

Norman Swan Presenter, Health Report, ABC Radio NationalAuthor, So you want to know what's good for your kids?

Cassie McCullagh Presenter, The Bookshelf, ABC Radio National