Big Ideas

When making change, how do you amplify the voices of youth without being tokenistic?

It's a question that was on the minds of many at the once-in-a-generation summit called Wiyi Yani U Thangani, a Bubuna phrase meaning women's voices. Held in Canberra earlier this year, Wiyi Yani U Thangani, brought together around 900 First Nations women to produce a new 'Blakprint', to improve their lives, those of their families and future generations.

Integral to this 'Blakprint' was the input of young women, who were invited to imagine what a just future – built on self-determination – might look like for their communities.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard's misogyny speech hit a nerve worldwide. But before that speech, were the feminist rebels, ratbags, and renegades who got Australian politics to that moment.

Hear how and why women's lives, against the odds, were first put on the political agenda in Australia… and why Miss Australia wasn't there.

Song writing in the 21st-Century is an increasingly precarious endeavour. We now live in a world where even the slightest similar melodic pattern could send you to court, while AI-driven production could send you packing.

But despite this, there's still something magical about song writing. So what keeps compelling people to try their luck at crafting songs in the streaming era?

So, enter the writing room (or pub) to hear from four Australian rock legends who've witnessed this magic. Together, they've played for bands including Midnight Oil, Mental as Anything, The Go Betweens, and R.E.M.

Would you endure intense physical challenges and privations, extreme temperatures, dizzying heights, hunger and loneliness …. just for the thrill of it? What kinds of people thrive in hostile environments? It takes a special type of person to embark on extreme adventures and sports. It's not just about your fitness and bodily constitution, you mental and emotional strengths can be even more important. What drives people to the depths and edges of the known world, and how do they survive it? And are there lessons the rest of us can learn from them?

Australia is obsessed with sport — it's become shorthand for our national identity abroad. But there's tension at the heart of this obsession.

As keen and disinterested followers of Australian sport have witnessed, sports of all kinds have had a troubled relationship with race, gender, and sexuality.It's something Mununjali writer — and part-time soccer player — Ellen van Neerven considers in their book Personal Score, exploring their complicated relationship with sport in the process.

As a gonzo documentary maker and author, John Safran goes where others fear to tread. He's been baptised, exorcised, crucified, hung out with extremists. Now he's digging into the spin and shenanigans of Big Tobacco. When is a cigarette not a cigarette when it really still is? An eye-opening conversation about vapes, "heat sticks", and corporate obscurantism. Will John Safran smoke out the truth?

We might like to think of Australia as a generous nation, but Australian foreign aid levels tell a different story. We're now ranked 27th out of 31 OECD countries when it comes to foreign aid as a percentage of gross national income.

And with the money we do spend, to what extent has national self-interests impeded Australian aid's ability to make the most impact?

After many decades of Chinese occupation, the Tibetan culture is under threat, and a 'stolen generation' of Tibetan children is forced into boarding schools. There are no civil rights, and any protest means risking your life. Despite all, the Tibetans believe in a non-violent approach to solve the Sino-Tibet conflict. Tibet's president in exile is speaking about the challenges for the mountain country.

Three successful authors Akuch Anyieth, Shannon Burns and Catherine Deveny talk about memoir, and why they're interested in the form. 

Moderator of the discussion Yves Rees asks the panel to reflect on whether the personal storytelling genre is popular because of voyeurism, a desire for intimacy between writer and reader or just a hunger for trauma porn? 

Going digital is greener, right? French investigative journalist Guillaume Pitron travelled the planet for his latest exposé — from covertly flying drones over graphite mines in Northeast China to journeying to the cold wilds of Lapland to visit the computer server farms that drive Facebook.  He joins Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell to discuss his latest eye-opening read, The Dark Cloud — how the digital world is costing the Earth.