Big Ideas

From soy to oat to almond, plant mylks are all the rage. But is it possible that we've misunderstood and unfairly maligned old fashioned cow's milk?

Speakers

Matthew Evans Farmer, Fat Pig FarmsAuthor, Milk: the truth, the lies and the unbelievable story of the original superfoodHost, Gourmet Farmer, SBS

Nick Haddow Bruny Island Cheese CoAuthor, Milk Made: A book about cheese

It was the stuff of scifi blockbuster movie The Terminator in the early 1980s, but now lethal autonomous weapons systems are actually being used in conflict zones around the world. And the arms race is on to develop more effective, more deadly killing machines, that don't need human inputs to do their job.

This event was recorded at Human Rights Watch in Sydney on 4 June 2024.

Speakers

Mary Wareham Deputy Director, Crisis, Conflict and Arms Division, Human Rights WatchCo-Laureate (with Jody Williams), Nobel Peace Prize, 1997, for the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)

Daniela Gavshon Australian Director, Human Rights Watch

We all love a bargain, but what is the real cost of those books we buy online or in a supermarket for 12 dollars or less? Should Australia adopt a fixed book price common in Europe? How can we support and grow an industry that nourishes our minds and souls. A conversation on the challenges facing the Australian book industry. 

Presented at the Sydney Writers Festival.

Speakers

Ray BonnerPulitzer Prize winning author, journalist, co-owner of Bookoccino, the Northern Beaches bookstore

Richard FlanaganAward winning Australian author, latest book Question 7, Penguin 

Olivia Lanchester Former CEO, Australian Society of authors 

Michael RobothamAuthor,  latest book Storm Child, Hachette

The connections between the Caribbean and Australia go back to white settlement, with deep links to the slave trade and British colonialism. What does it mean to be a writer of Caribbean descent in modern Australia? And how can the act of writing and storytelling enable a new sense of belonging and home?

This event was recorded at the Callaloo and Wattleseed Symposium at the University of Western Sydney on 3 May 2924.

Speakers

Maxine Beneba Clarke Author, The Hate Race, Foreign Soil, poetry books Carrying The World, How Decent Folk Behave, and children's books including When We Say Black Lives Matter, Wide Big World and moreInaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence, University of Melbourne

Sienna Brown Author, Master of My Fate

Further information:

Caribbean Convicts in Australia (podcast)The History Listen - ABC Radio National

10 humans in length, weighing 50 small cars, and with a bite that could take out two of you in one bite. This beast was BIG. But if Megalodon was so mighty, why did it disappear? Tim Flannery and his daughter Emma have written a book about the mystery of the giant extinct shark, and he joins Natasha Mitchell with two other fossil aficionados, palaeontologists Erich Fitzgerald and Cheng-Hsui Tsai, to take you into a very different watery world of wilderbeasts.  

Speakers:

Professor Tim Flannery Paleontologist, conversationist, climate change advocate Co-author, Big Meg: The Story of the Largest and Most Mysterious Predator that Ever Lived (Text Publishing, 2024)Dr Erich Fitzgerald Senior Curator in Vertebrate Paleontology, Museums Victoria Author, Triceratops: A Natural History (Museums Victoria, 2022)

Associate Professor Cheng-Hsui Tsai Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology National Taiwan University

A new generation of female and non-binary intellectuals are using social media to share their scholarship and reach younger audiences. It's a tricky balance — juggling their followers' expectations and reactions, both bouquets and brickbats, maintaining their rigour, and making a living from these algorithmically-gamed corporate platforms. Meet the new influencers.

Presented by the Sydney Opera House

Speakers

Hannah FergusonFounder & CEO of cheekmedia.co

Sisonke MsimangWriter, activist and Guardian columnist

Mary McgillivrayArt historian and visual content maker

Bri Lee (host)Author, journalist and activist

Could our continent's ancient past help solve future food security crises? Or even offer new treatments for skin cancer and inflammatory bowel disease? Tasty on your dinner plate, potentially transformative for your health — First Nations experts explore the rich potential of traditional bush foods and Indigenous plant knowledge.

Presented at the World Science Festival Brisbane.

Speakers

Suzanne ThompsonFounder & Managing Director of Yambangku Aboriginal Cultural Heritage and Tourism Development Corporation; Chair, Australian Native Foods and Botanicals

Madonna ThomsonChairperson, BushTukka and Botanicals Indigenous Enterprises Cooperative.

Rhianna Patrick (host)Torres Strait Islander Journalist, broadcaster and audio content creator

New ABC Chair Kim Williams wants to see change at Australia’s national public broadcaster. In a fragmented media landscape and a fractured world, what is the role of public broadcasting, and how can the ABC stay relevant for its listeners, viewers and readers?

This event was recorded at the Byron Bay Writers Festival on Saturday 10 August 2024.

Speakers

Kim Williams ABC Chair 

Kerry O’Brien (host) Journalist and author 

It's an adults-only hour of high vaudeville to make you laugh and think. Two teams of brainiacs go head-to-head at the annual Big Ideas and Beaker St Festival Great Debate hosted by Big Ideas’ presenter Natasha Mitchell. Arguing for the proposition is Team 'The Procreators' starring radio host and maths nerd to the masses Adam Spencer, Quandamooka saltwater scientist Mibu Fischer, Guardian Australia journalist and TikTok presenter Matilda Boseley. Arguing against the proposition is Team 'Nappy Rash and the Tiny Demons' starring Mathematician Barbara Holland, Guardian Australia cartoonist First Dog on the Moon, Science Vs podcast host Wendy Zukerman. Who will convince you?

Speakers:

THE PROCREATORS

Adam Spencer (Team captain)Author, broadcaster, maths geek

Mibu FischerQuandamooka saltwater scientist, marine ethnoecologist and PhD studentCSIRO

Matilda BoseleyGuardian Australia journalist and social media presenterAuthor, The Year I Met My Brain (Penguin, 2023)

NAPPY RASH AND THE LITTLE DEMONS

Professor Barbara HollandMathematician, University of TasmaniaFirst Dog on the MoonCartoonist and wannabe marsupialGuardian Australia

Wendy ZukermanScience journalistHost and founder, Science Vs podcast

"They paved paradise and put up a parking lot" sang Joni Mitchell.  Let's get wild and urban.  Sometimes nature can thrive in cities in surprising ways and by accident. Hear how. And did you know 39 threatened species only exist in Australian cites? How do we design a city for fairy wrens, and the other feathered and furry beings who call it home?

Speakers

Sarah BekessyProfessor of Sustainability and Urban Planning, ICON Science research group, RMIT 

Darryl JonesWriter, speaker, researcher, behavioural ecologist, Professor Emeritus Griffith University 

Christopher Daniels (host)Chair of Green Adelaide, Zoologist, Adjunct Professor of Urban Ecology, University of South Australia