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PODCAST

Big Ideas

Your front row seat to big thinkers at the best live events, forums, and festivals. Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. We love hearing from you about the show or events you are planning. Get in touch! Email: Bigideas@abc.net.au SMS line for ABC Radio National: 0418 226 576 Airs Monday to Thursday 8pm, repeated Tuesday to Friday 12pm, on ABC Radio National.

society & culture politics

All Episodes

0:54:34

The future of the past — how artificial intelligence...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/16

Artificial intelligence has been defined as a cluster of technologies of and for the future. But like most humans, AI is built using what has happened in the past — scraping behaviours, experiences and other data to shape its outputs. In this sense, AI is a new kind of historian — but operating without guardrails, ethics, or any sense of doubt.This annual lecture for the History Council of Victoria, Can I Help You? Recognising and Improving Artificial Intelligence as History Maker

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0:52:03

Aliens exist (and the truth is out there)!? Science...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/15

It's Team 'Aliens Alive' versus Team 'Earthlings United'. Get out of this world, hear the arguments, and you decide. Was the X-Files really a documentary, or was Mulder deluded? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell from the stage of the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane for an hilarious hour of science and comedy.TEAM ALIENS ALIVEDr Joel Gilmore (Team Captain)Energy specialist, physicist, science communicator, improv theatre buff, dancerDr Sara WebbAstrophysicist, author, and

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1:00:15

British journalist Emily Maitlis on THAT Prince...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/14

Former BBC presenter and host of the hit podcast The News Agents, Emily Maitlis, gives a fearless assessment of modern news coverage, public broadcasting, and the royal family's handling of Andrew Mountbatten-Windor's arrest. The event No Spin, No Compromise was recorded live at the Sydney Opera House for the 2026 All About Women festival.SpeakersEmily MaitlisCo-host, The News Agents and The News Agents USA podcastsAuthor, Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making NewsFormer BBC

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0:52:52

Tennis prodigy Todd Ley on the underbelly of elite...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/13

Todd Ley exposes a high-pressure world where talent is everything, but protection is rare; where overzealous parents, manipulative coaches, hungry sponsors and indifferent associations can push young athletes to their breaking point. It's not just a story about tennis, it's about what happens when a child's identity is consumed by a dream that may not be their own and the long road back to self-worth after the cheering stops.Presented at the 2025 Byron Writers FestivalSpeakersTodd

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0:59:03

Who's afraid of a joke? Comedy in an authoritarian...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/09

Comedians are increasingly being forced to navigate a world where the right punchline at the expense of the wrong politician carries the risk of personal and professional consequences. So when poking fun at the powerful could get you cancelled, sued, land you in jail — or worse — who's afraid of a joke?This episode was recorded on 28th March 2026 as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in partnership with The Wheeler Centre, Australia's first dedicated centre for

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0:59:11

The science of SEX! Natasha Mitchell and guests at...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/08

Get bonkers on bonking with Natasha Mitchell and guests at the 2026 World Science Festival Brisbane. It’s a sexy, fun, and educational – what's not to love! Sex historian Dr Esme Louise James is creator of the viral Kinky History TikTok series and does a Sextistics show with her mathematician mother. The complexity of the human clitoris can no longer be ignored by science, thanks to the world-changing work of urologist and surgeon Professor Helen O’Connell. And biologist Professor

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0:54:37

Forgiveness — a generous gift or social pressure...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/07

You often hear that forgiveness is the key to healing and moving on — but is it always the right thing to do? This conversation explores how forgiveness is something far more complex than a simple act of letting go. Is it a generous moral gift, or a burden placed on those who've been wronged? What really happens when we forgive? And is sometimes withholding forgiveness the more honest response?2025 Anderson Fellows Lecture — Forgiveness: Do We Really Need it? presented by the

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0:55:20

The diplomats — the ups and downs of life in...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/06

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia has some 120 embassies, high commissions, consulates-general and representative offices located across five continents. So when an Australian gets into trouble overseas, or a politician travels abroad on government business, or other countries take actions that damage Australia's national interest, it's likely a diplomat is not far away. In their recent books, two former diplomats reveal what the job is really like

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0:53:51

Six years of writing, 200 rejections — how Miles...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/02

Failure is a part of life, whether we like it or not. While most of us don't ever want to fail, failure does have things to teach us — about ourselves, about resilience, about persistence, and about doing the things we love. Over six years, Siang Lu received more than 200 rejections from publishers for three manuscripts — before going on to publish a Miles Franklin award winning novel. What did he learn about failure, and what did it teach him about success?The 2025 E.W Cole

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0:54:39

Disinformation, deep fakes, and other dodgy...

Big Ideas ·

2026/04/01

Misinformation, disinformation, deep fakes, false news — do you feel confident spotting them? They’re doing real harm to our relationships, our communities, our health, even to the future health of our democracy. New research has found 73% of Australians believe disinformation will be a major threat to our national security in the next decade. Former Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rogers believes we can’t afford to be complacent. Australia is only one of 29 fully fledged

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0:54:25

A human rights agenda for Canada (2025 CBC Massey...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/31

In more than 40 years on the front lines of international human rights Alex Neve has heard Canada described as ‘the land of human rights’ — and seen the profound ways Canada has failed to uphold universal human rights, both at home and abroad. In his final Massey Lecture, he lays out his vision for a way forward.Lecture five and last of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured WorldSpeakerAlex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International

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0:54:38

How people power makes human rights real (2025 CBC...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/30

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that universal human rights begin in “small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world.” In his fourth Massey Lecture, Alex Neve reflects on moments when people power won the Lecture four of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured WorldSpeakerAlex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in international human

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0:54:39

Human Rights don't have to be earned (2025 CBC Massey...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/26

Our inherent human rights belong to us from the moment we are born. There is nothing we need to do to earn them, and they are supposed to apply to us until the day we die. But in his third Massey Lecture, Alex Neve argues the powerful have made human rights a ‘club.’Lecture three of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured WorldSpeakerAlex NeveSecretary-General of Amnesty International Canada (2000 to 2020); adjunct Professor in

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0:54:36

The six years that remade human rights (2025 CBC...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/24

The ideals behind the concept of human rights — such as the sacredness of life, reciprocity, justice and fairness — have millennia-old histories. After the carnage of the Second World War and the Holocaust, these ideas took a new legal form. In his second Massey Lecture, Alex Neve considers six dizzying years that laid out a blueprint for a new world.Lecture two of the 2025 CBC Massey Lecture series: Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured WorldSpeakerAlex

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0:54:37

Renewing the broken promise of universal human...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/23

Human rights are universal, right? For everyone, everywhere, without exception. That promise, born out of the Holocaust and World War II, has been broken repeatedly. But in a time of fear and fracture, can we renew it? World-renowned Canadian human rights activist and lawyer Alex Neve has seen the best and worse of humanity. He's worked in war zones in Darfur and Eastern Chad, with detainees in Guantánamo Bay, on reconciliation for Indigenous communities in Canada, and beyond. In

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0:54:06

From breadwinners to Bluey's Bandit — a history of...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/19

This episode explores the past and present expectations and experiences of Australian fathers, in the workforce, domestic duties, and child-rearing, and examines how their roles have also shaped the lives of mothers, children, and society.These conversations were recorded at the launch of the book Fathering: An Australian History at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria.SpeakersFathering and Mothering:Professor Jacqui McDonaldConvenor of the Australian Fatherhood Research

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0:55:57

Girl on Girl — How pop culture turned a generation of...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/18

Dive into the world of heroin chic and Girl Power to make sense of the mixed messages Millennial women experienced as they came of age. Before social media warped our sense of self, other aggressive forces were at work, hellbent on exploiting feminism for profit, and taking women down while they did. Sophie Gilbert, a Pulitizer-nominated culture writer with The Atlantic, investigates the impacts in her eye-opening book Girl on Girl: How pop culture turned a generation of women

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0:53:39

Randa Abdel-Fattah and Louise Adler on the cost of...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/17

She's attracted controversy and cancellation, but Palestinian Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah has not been deterred from speaking out about the plight of Palestinians in the war on Gaza, and the experience of Muslim Australians since 9/11. At this event organised in the wake of the cancellation of Adelaide Writers' Week, she joins that festival's former Director Louise Adler, to talk about her latest novel, Discipline, and the experience of art imitating life.This

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0:53:49

Mental illness —Taking stigma out of media reporting

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/16

When a violent crime makes the news, mental illness is often part of the story. But how that story is told, the words chosen, the details included, the connections drawn, has consequences that ripple far beyond the news cycle. For people living with schizophrenia or psychosis, irresponsible reporting isn't just frustrating. It affects how neighbours treat them, how employers see them, and how they see themselves. For the general public, sensationalised coverage quietly builds a

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0:53:55

Shattered lands — Sam Dalrymple on the five...

Big Ideas ·

2026/03/12

Over five decades, one single, sprawling dominion, from Yemen to Myanmar, became twelve modern nations. This is the story of how the actions of politicians in London and revolutionaries in Delhi, princes in remote palaces and soldiers in trenches, redrew the map of British India, uprooting millions, and leaving a legacy that explains much about the region today.This conversation was recorded at the Ubud Writers Festival in Bali, Indonesia.SpeakersSam Dalrymple Author, Shattered

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