Big Ideas

Questioning whether travel is ethical is probably the last thing on your mind when you decide to go on holiday. But for increasing number of travellers, 'ethical travel' is the preferred mode for tourists who don't want their holiday to just be an extractive exercise.

So what are the ethical obligations for those who have the privilege to travel? And what does ethical travel mean in practice… ?

Thirty years ago, Harlem doctor Harold Freeman saw that the most disadvantaged in America also had the highest cancer deaths, mainly because of late diagnosis and treatment and patients being unfamiliar with hospital systems. So he created a navigation system where patients are chaperoned through the health care system to ensure they get the care they need. Plus, First Nations people are navigating health and healing in a different way, turning to country and using aspects of their traditional culture as a form of holistic medicine.

The history and development of the nuclear industry is shred in secrecy and contradictions. And its future is throwing up more questions than answers. A scientist, a historian and a poet consider the economic, scientific and social realities of nuclear technology. They discuss how the lessons from the past might shape an uncertain future, and the possible consequences of playing God.

In early 2020, as Australians were being locked down, something strange was happening in an inner-suburban hotel in Brisbane. A group of men, previously invisible to most Australians, gathered on the hotel balcony wielding hand-made banners. Who were they? And how did this moment change the minds of middle Australia? It's 10 years since Kevin Rudd declared "no one who arrives by boat will ever settle here". The fallout catapulted thousands of lives into a decade-long limbo. Two of the men on that Brisbane balcony join host Natasha Mitchell and other guests at the Brisbane Powerhouse as part of the Portraits of Protest exhibition.

Has the application of the law been just to Indigenous Australia?

Australia's cultural and legal notions of justice stem from British colonial rule, which by its very nature, usurped the law and customs of Australia's First Peoples.

Since colonisation, this law has disciplined and punished Indigenous Australians through legal frameworks and theories they didn't consent to.

So what would redress look like… in law?

Earlier this year, 900 First Nations women travelled to Canberra for a once in a generation Womens Voices Summit.

Titled Wiyi Yani U Thangani — a Bunuba word meaning Womens' Voices — the summit aimed at producing a new 'blakprint', to improve their lives, those of their families and future generations.

Meet some climate refugees of a different kind. From the Western swamp tortoise to honey ants to whales, can they just up-stumps and move house if things get too hot under the collar? From understanding First Nations science to breaking up the siloed western conservation practices, are there better ways to make life possible for every being on a warming planet? 

From apps that help us swim safely to using Crispr to cut the genes of box jellyfish to technology that identifies the source of a barramundi or coral trout at the fish market, science is at the fore-shore of keeping our oceans and our lives safe.

A lot of blood has already been shed in 21st century conflicts. But why does war continue to claim so many lives, why have we not learnt lessons from the past and who are the power-holders who perpetuate the cycle of violence?

The past few weeks have seen the headlines embroiled in what seems to be an intractable problem — housing. And it's a peculiarly Australian phenomenon.

So why has equitable housing become such a vexed and complex issue for Australia? And what are the steps to take if we actually want to tackle the housing crisis once and for all?