Big Ideas

ABC Australia

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.

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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.

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Monday · 1 hr
Tech activist Cory Doctorow says the internet's been enshittified. So is it too late to save it?
Leading tech critic Cory Doctorow coined the term "enshittification" to describe the slow decay of the digital platforms most of us are now forced to rely upon to operate in the modern world. So why and how did the internet get bad, and is it too late for people, countries and governments to reclaim technology as a force for humanity and the common good? This episode was recorded on 25 August 2026 at The Wheeler Centre, Australia's first dedicated centre for Books, Writing and Ideas, in partner
Thursday · 54 min
John Brack once painted his children. Now his adult daughter tells her story of life with the famous artist
She's the little girl in some of her father's most famous paintings, but life as the eldest child of artists John Brack and Helen Maudsley wasn't always easy. Clara Brack explores her childhood — and her parents' complex lives and relationship — in her new book The Secret Landscapes on not [pleasing your mother, which took her 20 years to write. This event was recorded at the Willy Lit Fest on 13 June 2026. Speakers: Clara Brack Author, The Secret Landscapes — on not pleasing your mother Gab
September 2 · 59 min
Roman Krznaric on why the history of human solidarity offers us radical hope, even now
Philosopher Roman Krznaric, author of History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of Humanity, The Good Ancestor, and founder of the Empathy Museum has been looking backwards to help us all find a way forward. What he discovered in the global history of human solidarity and social movements was a wellspring of brilliant solutions to current challenges — democracy, fossil fuels, hyper-consumerism, water, AI, racism, even rage bait on social media, and more. Join Roman with Big
September 1 · 54 min
Bob Spitz on the Rolling Stones and why all great music is a threat
From their earliest days as blues-obsessed kids living in freezing squalor, to the first taste of fame and the day they landed in the US and went stratospheric — and all the grit, glamour and gore in between. There are myriad revisions to the conventional narrative which underscore just how in control of their narrative the band has been up to now. But Bob Spitz got unique access to the group's friends and family. And he's sharing the details and examines a creative force whose power shows no si
August 31 · 53 min
Stephanie Alexander with Adam Liaw on 30 years of The Cook's Companion
Since 1996, The Cooks Companion has been a bible for Australian kitchens, a reliable friend who can tell you how to boil an egg, bake some bread, roast a chook, whip up a lemon delicious pudding — and much, much more. What is it about this book that's made it such an enduring go-to for household cooks for generations? This event was recorded live at the Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks on 21 May 2026. Vote now in ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books. Speakers: Stephanie Ale
August 27 · 58 min
Mick Herron, Suzie Miller and Benjamin Law on great adaptations — from the page to the stage to the screen, and back again
When a book becomes a hit TV series, or a play becomes a Hollywood film, what makes it a great adaptation? Meet the creators of these international smash hits as they take you behind the scenes, into the writers' rooms, and inside their creative minds. Suzie Miller's award-winning play Prima Facie has just become a Hollywood film starring Cynthia Erivo, while the sixth season of television's Slow Horses, based on Mick Herron's bestselling spy novels, starts next month. This event was recorded
August 26 · 54 min
Should social media be banned for over-16s too!? The 2026 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at the Beaker Street Festival: where science meets art. Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. France just struck down a push for the same. Are adults immune to all the harms of these platforms? Should OVER-16s be banned too
August 25 · 54 min
Kerry O'Brien on the perfect storm destroying our politics — with Richard Flanagan
Acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien has seen it all, but nothing like right now. And he's not mincing his words. On AI, neoliberalism, education, equality, gutless governments, and more. For over 50 years, he covered the world's biggest stories and changemakers, and asked tough questions of power. Hear why he thinks a perfect storm threatens our society and our politics, and what he thinks can be done about it. The 2026 Thea Astley Address was recorded at the Byron Writers Festival on Saturday 1
August 24 · 54 min
Why Oz Harvest's Ronni Kahn wants you to join the "Order of the Teaspoon" to end food insecurity and waste
It's estimated that one in three Australian households have experienced food insecurity. At the same time, one third of all food produced in Australia gets thrown out. For more than two decades, Ronni Kahn has been fighting these dual challenges as head of food rescue charity OzHarvest. She argues these ongoing dual challenges show a failure of imagination and of will. The 2026 Kenneth Myer Lecture was recorded at the National Library of Australia in Canberra on 4 August and in Melbourne on 6 A
August 20 · 54 min
Protecting Australia’s native plants
Australia is home to some 25,000 plant species. And nine out of 10 Australian plants occur nowhere else on Earth. But many are under threat. So why does that matter? This National Science Week, we meet a plant ecologist with a message. This conversation was recorded at the Lyrebird Festival in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Speakers: Rachael Gallagher Professor in Plant Ecology and Conservation, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Gregg Borschmann (host) Oral hist
August 19 · 54 min
Indigenous speculative fiction takes on the apocalypse — with Canadian sci-fi Indiginerd Chelsea Vowel
Dystopia or utopia? How do you imagine the future? In films and books, the future is often filled with alien invasions, nuclear war or the zombie apocalypse. But a movement of Indigenous storytellers is reshaping traditional science fiction tropes based on their own storytelling cultures and experiences. This event was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026. Speakers: Chelsea Vowel Candian Metis language instructor, public intellectual, writer, and activist educator Author,
August 18 · 54 min
Blast off! Exploring our solar system and beyond
We're going extraterrestrial with a panel of super star space scientists who are exploring the solar system and beyond. Will they find life out there? Which is the universe's best planet? And what's Matt Damon got to do with it? Incredible tales from Mars, Jupiter, and more. This event was recorded at the World Science Festival Brisbane on 29 March 2026. Speakers: Tracy Drain Chief Engineer with NASA's Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter David Flannery Associate Professor of astrobiology, Quee
August 17 · 54 min
Too Dumb for Democracy? Why your brain struggles with good political decision-making
Think about the person whose politics you find most baffling, or most infuriating. Now imagine you must make a decision together. Actually negotiate, project forward, find common ground. That's democracy. And it turns out our brains aren't especially well-built for it. In an era shaped by inequality, environmental crisis and the decline of democratic institutions understanding how we make political decisions might be one of the most urgent questions we face. Recorded live at the Melbourne Writ
August 13 · 55 min
What makes television? 100 years of tumultuous change
It's been called the idiot box, the drug of the nation, the tube. This year marks 100 years of broadcast television. Over its lifetime, TV has adapted to big changes in technology, government policy, culture and media consumption habits. And yet, while its future remains uncertain, for now, it endures. This is the incredible true story of television. This keynote address was recorded at RMIT University's 100 Years of Broadcast TV Symposium: The impact and future of broadcast TV in Australia. S
August 12 · 1 hr
CENSORED! CANCELLED! BOYCOTT! The future of artistic freedom and democracy in Australia
How free should artists be to make risky work, to provoke, to get political? Who gets to decide if a work of art is deemed too risky, too dangerous, too difficult? Cancellations. Censorship. Controversy. Political pressure. Mass boycotts. The collapse of festivals. The Australian arts community has seen it all recently, in part triggered by the devastation in the Middle East. But is there more going on too? Join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell with a panel of arts and culture heavyweights to con
August 11 · 57 min
Forget The Odyssey. Yann Martel, Nikita Gill, Zoe Terakes have their own mythical retellings
Gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, quests and odysseys, sex and violence. Greek mythology seemingly has it all. And as Christopher Nolan's box office smash retelling of the Greek epic The Odyssey suggests, these stories will never die. Join three superstar writers with their own mythical retellings to explore why these stories endure and how they have been re-imagined over time. The event Mythical Retellings was recorded at the Melbourne Writers Festival on 10 May 2026. Speakers: Yann M
August 10 · 54 min
Africa in a shifting world order — can digital technology achieve what aid never could?
As the great powers renegotiate their alliances and priorities, Africa is reshaping its future. From the promise of digital economies and homegrown innovation to the complex legacies of foreign aid, debt and dependency — this is a conversation about power, possibility, and the remaking of a continent on its own terms. What needs to change in policy, in investment, in the stories we tell for Africa's ambitions to be fully realised? Africa and the World: Reclaiming Agency in a Shifting Geopoliti
August 6 · 54 min
How policy decisions today can hurt your kids in the future — are we even trying to get it right?
The decisions being made right now, in parliament, in budget lock-ups, in policy debates, will shape the lives of your kids and their kids. Think: Climate. Housing. Aged care. AI., But in many cases, those decisions are being deferred. There's a name for it: policrastination. The habit of delaying what we know needs doing because the short-term political incentives reward inaction, even when the long-term costs are clear. What would it actually take to govern for the long term? This conversatio
August 5 · 57 min
The PNG environmental defenders taking on Australian mining giants — what is extractive justice and its toll?
Meet the tenacious Papua New Guineans who won't give up on holding Australian mining giants to account, despite the enormous personal toll of doing so. Emmanuel Peni is fighting to protect the world's "second Amazon"- the pristine Sepik River. Theonila Roka Matbob won the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize for campaigning against the toxic legacy of Rio Tinto's Panguna copper-gold mine. This event was hosted at the Extracting Justice: Mining, Accountability, Community Power in the Pacific Confere
August 4 · 53 min
Australian war history — the past, present and future of remembrance. With Professor Peter Stanley
From the Frontier Wars, to foreign wars experienced by migrant Australians, to the threat of Australia's involvement in future conflict, war means many different things to different people. So as Australian society evolves, should our culture of war commemoration change too? The 2026 Wilks Oration was recorded at the Effective Living Centre, at Christ Church Uniting in Wayville, Adelaide. Speakers: Professor Peter Stanley Author of more than 50 books including Beyond The Broken Years, Austra

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