Big Ideas

In 1967 Ronald Ryan became the last person to be executed in Australia but around the world thousands of people face death for everything from murder to political protest to challenging religious authority. Can these countries be persuaded to give up the death penalty? Why did we abolish it in Australia?

Is America a declining global power, more inward looking, and less interested in asserting itself internationally?

Or, is it still the same old hegemonic power, albeit a little ragged around the edges, from fighting its longest war, in a country it was forced to flee in humiliating circumstances, leaving vulnerable locals to fend for themselves, in the face of merciless regime?

A crisis in human fertility is expected to decrease population numbers to a degree that we’ll be unable to reverse. Despite current pressures on the environment and resources, that global trend won’t end well. Big Ideas discusses the drivers of our declining fertility. It will take drastic social, political, environmental and lifestyle changes to reduce the severity of a future era of depopulation.

Have you bounced back or are you feeling anxious and depressed after two pandemic years? Many people admit that they’re struggling but the health system is stretched to the limit. What needs to change to prioritize mental health?

Millions of people have quit their jobs, changed careers or decided not to put their hand-up for promotion. It’s been called The Great Resignation or Quiet Quitting where more of us are deciding we want a better work life balance.

Two books about Wuhan and Hong Kong provide an insight into the modus operandi of China's communist party government, and the impact its repression has had on the citizens of these cities. Telling the stories of what happened in these two cities was not an easy task for writers Murong Xuecun and Louisa Lim.

Between the 1950s and 1980s an estimated 200,000 children were adopted by families in America, Europe and Australia. Adoptees are now seeking to connect with their place of birth and to understand the reasons why so many were sent abroad.

Smoking has killed about 100 million people in the last century. And the toll is expected to reach one billion. Besides the human, there are also enormous economic costs connected to tobacco consumption. While progress has clearly been made, why have decades of public health campaigns, restrictive regulation and extra taxes not crushed Big Tobacco by now?

Are sugars, fats and processed carbs your guilty pleasure?

You know you shouldn’t eat them but it’s hard to resist.

Poor food choices take a big toll on our health system and some doctors are now prescribing healthy meals instead of drugs.

How is history made, and who gets left out?

History tells us where we came from, what happened along the way, and who we have become – our national identity.

But history is the product of the cultural values and beliefs of the time in which it was written.Who gets to shape these shifting narratives? And why has history so often excluded and silenced First Nations Australians?