The Wheeler Centre

While it’s easy to make fun of the more bizarre notions floated by self-styled wellness gurus, there’s no escaping the fact that the wellness industry is serious, multimillion-dollar business. How much of it is harmless nonsense, how much is actually helpful and how much is exploitative and dangerous? And to what extent does the rise in the wellness industry reflect real deficiencies in traditional medicine, especially in the treatment of women? We ask these questions of Nick Toscano – one of the journalists who exposed Belle Gibson’s cancer hoax – as well as nutritional scientist and dietician Tim Crowe, writer Clem Bastow and host Jacinta Parsons.

Part feminist stocktake, part personal reflection, journalist Jane Gilmore delivers our annual F Word Address. She tackles the year that was, as she examines how the media has chosen to represent – or misrepresent – women in 2017.

How do you get to know a stranger? Your voice is as unique to you as your thumbprint, so why not start there? A collaborative, sound-based call and response, Tin Cans is an exchange between a pair of audio producers – Jess Ong and Olivia Rosenman. From Darwin to Sydney and back again, listen as they get to know each other, one question at a time.

How do we apply targeted solutions for homeless people with different needs? What is the relationship between homelessness and gentrification? How does media coverage stigmatise and entrench homelessness? What is the ‘Housing First’ theory and how does it work? In a full hour of audience Q&A, we’ll delve into some complex problems that demand urgent solutions. Host Madeleine Morris is joined by homelessness advocates, policy makers and service providers including Jenny Smith (formerly of Council to Homeless Persons), Michael Perusco (Yarra Community Housing) and Lucy Adams (Justice Connect Homeless Law), as well as former homeless person, Erika (currently a volunteer with Vincentcare and Council to Homeless Persons).

Benjamin Law and his mother Jenny Phang join us at the Wheeler Centre for a live serving of Law School counsel – tackling your own terrible, terrible problems, as well as discussing their relationship with each other, and tales of their unlikely (and potentially ruinous) relationship advice column collaboration. Hosted by Amy Gray.

Two of Black Lives Matter’s founders and leaders – Patrisse Cullors and Rodney Diverlus – talk with Jack Latimore about the achievements and broader goals of #blacklivesmatter … and how we can translate the lessons of the movement to face and fight entrenched inequality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. Among other topics, they discuss the importance of sustained activism, inclusive and nuanced ideas of 'blackness', and an empowering movement unconstrained by national borders or charismatic leadership.

During the Wheeler Centre's Festival of Questions this October, we invited visitors to step aside from the onstage discussions for a enquiring moment. Armed with two very comfortable chairs, artist Hallie Shellam was on hand to discuss whatever questions were on people's minds – and to help them sharpen them, before sharing them on screens around Melbourne Town Hall, as well as online.

In this episode, Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials, The Book of Dust) appears live via videolink (and later, telephone) for a conversation with Michael Williams. They discuss daemons in literature – and in the wider world – today.

How common is it for patients to ‘wake up’ during surgery? Is pain still pain if you can’t feel it? And what do we know about consciousness, anyway? In her new book on the subject, journalist Kate Cole-Adams looks at the facts, and explores the enigma of this mysterious medical practice. She's joined by leading anaesthetist and pain-management researcher Kate Leslie, and host Amita Kirpalani.

At this Question Time discussion, we delve into the personal, ethical and legal implications of infertility and its treatment. Tune in for a look into the big business of baby-making in Australia today, hosted by Madeleine Morris with guests Cathy Anderson (VARTA), Robert Reith (Surrogacy Australia), author and filmmaker Julia Leigh and donor-conceived student Chloe Allworthy.