Big Ideas

The potential fallout of a global media giant and family dynasty on the precipice of generational change. And, the calls to dilute a highly concentrated media industry.

A conversation between Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and John Berry, former US Ambassador to Australia (Retired) on living and working as openly gay men, even when homosexuality was illegal.

The rise of far-right extremism, conflicts over gun law reform, widening economic gaps, and former President Donald Trump's continued push for influence. Are polarising polemics damaging the reputation of the US? And should there be limits to free speech?

From the invention of the calendar to the humble carry bag – and even to the concept of moral responsibility. It all comes down to humans' ability to relive past events in order to predict possible futures. Foresight is the driver behind innovation. On Big Ideas, a panel of cognitive scientists argues that foresight has transformed humans from unremarkable primates to creatures that hold the destiny of the planet in their hands. It might just be the tool that will save us in the future.

Around the world, governments are apologising for past wrongs and historic injustices - like slavery, the forced removal of children, and institutional abuse.

But do these apologies lead to transformational change?  

What has been the experience of apologies in Australia to the 'stolen generations', and to those affected by forced adoptions? 

Are the values of the enlightenment, ideas from ancient times, developed through the centuries in Christian Europe under threat? Some perspectives on the state of Australian classic liberalism.

Until recently, one party dominated Malay politics. Now there’s a new multi-government. Could this lead to an era of democratic reform in Malaysia? 100 days after the snap-election, the new Malaysian government looks stable enough. A panel of Asia-Pacific experts discusses the campaign narratives and what they mean for Malaysia's political environment and the challenges ahead for the new government.

In the final Boyer Lecture Noel Pearson looks at the question of Australian identity. From the 1993 Boyer's, Ulli Helen Corbett speaks on the importance of raising First Nations voices in the international arena.

In his fourth Boyer Lecture lecture, Noel Pearson addresses the educational barriers facing young Indigenous people, and from the 1993 ABC Boyer Lectures, Dot West considers the negative media portrayal of First Nations people.

In his third Boyer lecture, Noel Pearson outlines ways of lifting all Australians including First Nations people from the economic 'bottom million'. And from the 1993 Boyer Lectures, Ian Anderson's vision for developing a new model for Indigenous health and wellbeing.