Big Ideas
Episodes
The six years that remade human rights (2025 CBC Massey Lecture 2)
24 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The ideals behind the concept of human rights — such as the sacredness of life, reciprocity, justice and fairness — have millennia-old histories....
Renewing the broken promise of universal human rights. Alex Neve (2025 CBC Massey lecture 1)
23 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Human rights are universal, right? For everyone, everywhere, without exception. That promise, born out of the Holocaust and World War II, has been br...
From breadwinners to Bluey's Bandit — a history of Australian fathers and their families
19 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode explores the past and present expectations and experiences of Australian fathers, in the workforce, domestic duties, and child-rearing, ...
Girl on Girl — How pop culture turned a generation of women against themselves with The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert
18 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Randa Abdel-Fattah and Louise Adler on the cost of speaking out in a time of division
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
She's attracted controversy and cancellation, but Palestinian Australian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah has not been deterred from speaking o...
Mental illness —Taking stigma out of media reporting
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
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, t...
Shattered lands — Sam Dalrymple on the five partitions of British India
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Over five decades, one single, sprawling dominion, from Yemen to Myanmar, became twelve modern nations. This is the story of how the actions of polit...
Three Nobels! Are we backing young minds today to pull off what Brian Schmidt, Peter Doherty, Rolf Zinkernagel did?
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Nobel Prize winning work often happens in a young scientist's 20s or 30s — early in their careers. Are the conditions right in Australian universit...
The secret of how to topple tyrants and dictators — and crimes against humanity under the microscope
10 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Presenting a road map to a world with fewer Putins and Kim Jong Uns. Political scientist Marcel Dirsus exposes the precarious reality behind the faç...
ABC National Forum
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The inaugural ABC National Forum is a live, televised panel discussion bringing together Jewish Australians to examine their lives in Australia in 20...
Religious roots of antisemitism
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The roots of antisemitism run deep. Christians and Muslims have told stories for centuries about Jewish people. Stories that have weaponised the rela...
In a time of division, how can we rebuild social cohesion? — with Australian Human Rights Commissioner Hugh de Kretser
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A global pandemic, a foreign war, a failed referendum on Indigenous rights, increasing inequality and a fractured media — these and other forces ha...
How a song became a movement for Afghanistan's women and girls — with International Children's Peace Prize winner Nila Ibrahimi
05 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In March 2021, Afghanistan's Taliban rulers banned female students over the age of 12 from singing in public. The prohibition sparked a wave of onlin...
Scientist Tim Flannery — a Panopticon for our times?
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Panopticon was a prison design by the famous philosopher and social reformer Jeremy Bentham which placed prison guards in a central tower overloo...
Two Visions, One Challenge: Building a better Australia
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Join acclaimed author and human rights advocate Thomas Mayo and media icon Ray Martin AM as they deliver two powerful orations on justice, reconcilia...
Can an arts degree change the world? A defence of the study humanities at Australian universities
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Universities are under pressure — particularly the study of subjects like languages, history, social sciences and the creative arts. This lecture l...
Dearest Gentle Reader, a very Bridgerton Big Ideas! Australian novelists dissect the regency era
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As Bridgerton continues to captivate millions and we just marked the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth, the Regency era has never been more th...
The Stoic and the introvert — life hacks from Brigid Delaney and Jenny Valentish
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Feeling a little world weary? Is Stoicism the philosophy you need a little more of in your life? Can an introvert be your guide to getting out the fr...
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya fights for a free Belarus − and what are Russia's strategies in Southeast Asia?
24 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is calling for a braver response to the actions of the Belarusian dictatorship. She explores the impact of the war against U...
Human rights under pressure — responding to the backlash against the LGBTIQA+ community
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The hard fought for gains of one generation can pave the way for the next, but the road to equality is never straight. After meaningful progress for ...
The life of astronauts — with 2026 Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What is it really like to be an astronaut? How do you even become one? What happens when an argument breaks out on the International Space Station? A...
Harvard firebrand on intellectual freedom Steven Pinker with Natasha Mitchell
18 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker is a fierce advocate for intellectual and academic freedom — and one of the world’s mos...
What does Labor stand for? With Sean Kelly and Misha Ketchell
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In its second term, the Albanese Government enjoys a large majority in parliament and an opposition in disarray. But faced with a fragmented, fractio...
What does liberalism mean today?
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Liberalism is one of the most influential — and contested — political philosophies of the modern age. But what does it actually mean in contempor...
Moral revolution — Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's BBC Reith Lecture 4 — Fighting for humanity in the age of the machine
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Humanity is facing an existential risk posed by unchecked tech and AI. But what if these technologies were used, not to increase the wealth and power...
Moral revolution — Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's BBC Reith Lecture 3 — A conspiracy of decency
11 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Do you dare to dream of a world that is different? From the Fabians to the Neoliberals, small groups with big ideas, perseverance and long-term visio...
Moral revolution — Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's BBC Reith Lecture 2 — How to start a moral revolution
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have the power to change the world? Do you think the world needs changing? In the past, eras of corruption gave birth to transformative moveme...
Moral revolution — Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's BBC Reith Lecture 1 — A time of monsters
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Rutger Bregman believes we are living in a time of moral decay, in a world governed by un-serious elites. But history shows us that we have been here...
The history of money — with Irish economist David McWilliams
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It makes the world go round, but it's also the root of all evil. It hasn't always had a great rap, yet most of us would like more of it. From clay ta...
The Australian Wars with Rachel Perkins and Henry Reynolds — a watershed event at the Australia War Memorial
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, a debate has been waged over whether the colonial massacre and resistance of First Nations Australians should be recognised and memorial...
Bob Brown on the role of defiance in the climate crisis — with Gardening Australia's Hannah Moloney
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
For more than 50 years, Dr Bob Brown has been breaking and making laws to protect the environment. Now aged 81, he is hoping to give strength to new ...
War is changing and the laws meant to protect civilians aren't cutting it anymore
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
International humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, was meant to protect civilians from the worst of war. But in today's wars civilians have b...
Stan Grant — when words fail us, reclaiming the language of love
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us, in our lives, will witness things we cannot comprehend, when words fail to do justice to the moment. In those moments, to whom or what ca...
How conspiracy theories get inside our heads and take hold — Ariel Bogle, Cam Wilson, Gavin Fang, Tracey Kirkland
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Conspiracy theories have always been with us, but now they're finding new ways to get inside our heads and take hold — and Australia is seeding som...
PRESENTS — The Challenger Legacy
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Forty years ago this January, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated on its way into orbit. All seven astronauts on board were killed.In the days...
PRESENTS — The Challenger Legacy
28 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Forty years ago this January, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated on its way into orbit. All seven astronauts on board were killed.In the days...
If we can make space accessible, we can make any space accessible
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Meet Dwayne Fernandes, a man training to be the first double amputee in space. He brings you a powerful perspective based on his lived experience: in...
The Great Debate — that Australia's history unites us
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
From the world's oldest continuous living culture, to the arrival of Captain Cook, the goldrush to the ANZACs, from Federation to elections to refere...
Jason Stanley, M. Gessen and Anna Funder — Is it fascism yet?
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
He’s been called a “hypercapitalist”, a “new authoritarian” and a “post fascist”. Twelve months into Donald Trump’s second term as Un...
Meet Australia’s next woman prime minister? Four changemakers here to WOW
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Don't miss meeting these four resilient women creating the change they want to see in the world. At 20, Monique “Mermaid” Murphy’s had a catast...
James Bond and Jason Bourne move over – a real spy talks about his workday
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
He jumped off a plane, exchanged the notorious briefcase on a park bench and got his identity blown by an asset under torture. Sounds like fiction? B...
Finding skeletons in the closet — the ethics of DNA testing in family history research
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
DNA testing has helped family history researchers fill in the blanks in their family trees. While that can be a good thing, it can also lead to unexp...
Vested interests vs public interest? The relation of Australian governments with the fossil fuel industry
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
How has the fossil fuel industry wielded influence over Australian governments and their policies? What does it take to make ambitious change in the ...
We asked for workers and got people — life on the controversial visa putting food on your plate
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
A workforce we rarely hear about, lives in limbo, and stories from the coalface. From economic gains and cultural exchanges to exploitation and absco...
When thinking together goes wrong — exploring the dark side of collaboration
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At face value, collaboration sounds like a good thing: collaboration in the classroom, with colleagues, or between nations. But throughout history, c...
House security systems – who really benefits?
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Your personal safety is big business, so much so that it’s given rise to “security capitalism”, a phenomenon where attempts to buy personal saf...
Helen Garner on the beauty and grandeur of footy
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
"Homeric struggle", a desperate night-ballet, an ethical training ground for boys and men. Aussie Rules is a multimillion-dollar industry, but at i...
Jem Bendell, the fake green fairytale, and how to survive civilisational collapse
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We’re past the brink of civilisational collapse. And many environmentalists are pushing a “fake green fairytale”. Jem Bendell’s arguments hav...
Kara Swisher and Marc Fennell take on the Tech Bros
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We know them as Zuckerberg, Musk, Bezos, Gates, Jobs. But to Kara Swisher, they're Mark, Elon, Jeff, Bill, and Steve. She was once a Silicon Valley i...
The relationship between brain and machine
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine a world where your brain is enhanced through cutting-edge technologies and next-generation AI, blurring the lines between organic and digital...
On the art of music writing — with writers who rcok!
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
You've got half an hour with Lou Reed/ Nick Cave/ Courtney Love: what do you ask them? Three of Australia's best music writers share their craft, and...
Can storytellers change the world? Tim Winton and Rachel Perkins join Natasha Mitchell
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two of Australia’s most influential and legendary storytellers, author Tim Winton and filmmaker Rachel Perkins, join Natasha Mitchell at WOMADelaid...
History of populist rage in America
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Populism is part of American political history. It has been and still is the dominant vocabulary of dissent. But the current resurrection of authori...
Meditation and mindfulness in the digital age
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How many times have you checked your phone today? How many tabs are open in your web browser? Do you feel in control of your attention? In the digit...
The secrets of wildlife documentaries
25 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Satyajit Das presents a provocative examination of the use and abuse of images of wild animals, and how they shape our relationships with the natural...
The Knowledge Gene — an incredible story of the origins of human creativity
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prepare to have your mind blown with a sweeping saga that connects human evolution, brains, genes, art, music, creativity, knowledge, dyslexia, autis...
Sarah Churchwell asks — Will American democracy survive the Dark Enlightenment?
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Historian Sarah Churchwell takes you on a gripping and confronting journey into America's recent past to explain its extraordinary present, starting ...
2025 Grammy winner Ruthie Foster talks about her life and music
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After five nominations, Ruthie Foster has taken home the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album - affirming her status as an American mu...
Childless on purpose — the fertility crisis and the big decision
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you enter your childbearing years, it can feel like everyone from the treasurer, your mum, and probably your Instagram reels really wants you to...
Surfer Tim Baker and doctor Peter Goldsworthy on living well with cancer
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Meet two men who will change the way you think about an experience most of us fear but will be touched by in some way. In Patting the Shark, surfi...
Understand your microbiome
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are fermented foods really good for us? Do antibiotics destroy our gut flora? And have you heard about poo transplants?Our gut is teeming with trilli...
Doctor Who at 60 — still as attractive as ever
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Doctor Who has acted as a mirror to more than six decades of social, technological and cultural change. It's been able to evolve and adapt more rad...
The role of spirituality and religion in mental health care
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The connection between body and mind is well established. But mental health expert Daniel Fung also includes the soul in this 'ecosystem' that shapes...
A song for every feeling? Pub Choir's Astrid Jorgensen with Natasha Mitchell
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From innocently conning controversial radio duo Kyle and Jackie O as a kid, time in a Zambian convent as a teen, to nearly becoming an air traffic co...
Victoria's new treaty with First Peoples — a turning point for Australia?
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Australia now has its first treaty with this country's first peoples. After nearly a decade of formal consultation and negotiation, the Victorian Sta...
Pay attention — writer Emily Maguire finds promiscuous curiosity and cultural receptivity in the creative process
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Humans are by nature creative, but how do we turn a spark of inspiration into something more tangible? Author Emily Maguire draws inspiration from so...
Can science keep dementia at bay and keep your brain sharper − for longer?
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As we grow older, changes to our bodies and minds are inevitable. But what if science could help us age better? Our experts on Big Ideas uncover the ...
Acclaimed author Christos Tsiolkas on fence-sitting in a time of fracture
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When acclaimed Australia author Christos Tsiolkas was invited to give the 2025 Ray Mathew Lecture at the National Library of Australia, he had in min...
The stories we tell about cricket — with Paul Giles and Gideon Haigh
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From The Don to Warny, the Gabba to the G, the bodyline controversy to the ball tampering affair, from its legacy of British colonialism, to the As...
Judge Navi Pillay on the fight for human rights, justice and accountability
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Born in apartheid South Africa, she became the country's first female high court judge. She sat on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, an...
Musician Holly Rankin on why young Australians feel that politics isn't delivering for them
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Young Australians are losing faith that our politics, our civic institutions and the mainstream media are working for them. Why is this? And how can ...
What are universities for today? The usefulness of "useless" knowledge
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are our universities facing an existential crisis by trying to be too many things? Places for learning, research, the production of new knowledge, th...
Jane Caro — why Australia is failing our school system
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We often hear about "failing schools", but what if it is us, the Australian community, who are failing them? Public school advocate Jane Caro argue...
Coming Out and Inviting In — with Zoe Terakes, Nina Oyama, Mon Schafter, Atari Metcalf, Ji Wallace
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Join ABC's Mon Schafter and four incredible speakers as they share honest, powerful stories about revealing their identities on their own terms. From...
Searching for convivencia — philosopher AC Grayling makes peace in the culture wars
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you're a feminist, or pro-civil or gay rights, does that make you "woke"? And if you're not, does that mean you should be cancelled, or abused onl...
The Sophia Club live philosophy — what are friends for?
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Friends are different from family. We choose them and they choose us. Philosophers long wondered about what makes friendship such a distinctive relat...
Understanding China's history is crucial for Australia
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To deal with China as a major trading partner, and also a national security threat requires understanding the history that made China what it is toda...
Universities and other antidotes to authoritarianism
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The United States has long been famous for its world leading universities. But in the face of research funding cuts, government attacks on free speec...
One day, everyone will have always been against this — Omar El Akkad and Peter Greste reckon with Western hypocrisy over Israel's war on Gaza
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Western world is supposed to stand for values like freedom, justice and human rights, a commitment to meet wrongdoing with consequence, guided by...
Fixing Australia's housing crisis — is increasing supply really a silver bullet?
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Build more houses. That'll fix Australia's housing crisis won't it? If you listen to governments, you'd sure think so. Under the National Housing A...
Gough Whitlam's dismissal — why is it still relevant today?
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whitlam's dismissal and following double dissolution 50 years ago, was arguably the most tumultuous period in Australia's political and constitutiona...
An intriguing story of art and espionage — how a classical scholar turned codebreaker during World War 2
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1930s, New Zealand-born, Cambridge educated Arthur Dale Trendall carved a niche for himself as the world's foremost expert in the study of anc...
Empire of AI — Karen Hao goes inside the reckless race for total world domination
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When it was founded in 2015, openai — the company behind Chat GPT — had a mission to develop artificial intelligence tools that would benefit hum...
ABC's CITIZEN JURY — Fixing salmon farming's environmental harms in Tasmania
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
ABC Radio National's CITIZEN JURY takes hard, hot-button issues affecting a community — and places citizens at the centre of finding solutions. It'...
Anne Summers — 50 Years of Damned Whores and God’s Police
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 1975, aged just 29, she wrote a bestselling book that changed Australia. Since then, she's courted controversy and acclaim, but Anne Summers has n...
Why we need to cancel cancel culture — with defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When people say or do the wrong thing, we have laws and a legal system that should be able to deliver consequences and, hopefully justice. But in thi...
Out of this world — with Booker Prize winning author Samantha Harvey
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For all of human history, space has been a place of mystery, awe and fascination. But unless you're an astronaut, a billionaire, or a pop star, most ...
What Artists See? Critic Quentin Sprague helps you get to the messy human heart of art
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever visited an art gallery full of wonder, ready to be inspired, only to leave feeling like it was all a bit over your head? You're about t...
Matrescence — on the metamorphosis of motherhood
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When a child is born, so too is a mother. This idea, known as "matrescence", was first conceived in the 1970s by American medical anthropologist Dana...
Alexander the Great — A genius? A tyrant? A visionary? A killer? A maniac?
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
He was undefeated in battle and established one of the largest empires in history. But his legacy goes beyond his military conquests. He increased tr...
Nobel laureate Donna Strickland on her life in lasers
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
She became the third ever woman to win a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018, and the first in 50 years. This is the story of how Donna Strickland became ...
Ziggy Ramo’s latest project asks what makes us human?
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ziggy Ramo is an award-winning musician and author whose latest book titled Human?: A lie that has been killing us since 1788 weaves song, visual art...
New legislation to protect you against invasion of your privacy
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
2025 is a landmark year for Australian privacy law. The new statutory tort for serious invasions of privacy came into effect in June this year. This ...
How to build a stock exchange — the past, present and future of finance
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This rollicking history traces the evolution of the London stock exchange, from the Transatlantic slave trade to modern day missions to Mars, arguing...
Is Jane Austen the greatest English novelist of all time?
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
She's on a bank note (British 10 pounds), and a bath soap (Suds and Sensibility), and she also wrote some of the most beloved novels in English liter...
We’re F**ed! It’s too late to avoid civilisational collapse. 2025 Beaker Street Festival Great Debate
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Is the end of the world nigh, or just the end of the world as we know it? Are we set to doom-scroll our way to apocalypse? Or is this the moment we w...
Who killed the liberal international order (and what comes next)?
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Conflict and great power rivalries are on the rise, democracy is in retreat, and multilateral institutions created to maintain global cooperation app...
Can the Democrats save democracy in the US?
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Democratic Party in America is in an identity crisis. It's shifting priorities to claw back grounds from the Republicans. But is it too little, t...
Maria Ressa on what Donald Trump learnt from Rodrigo Duterte and other strongman rulers
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From Rodrigo Duterte, to Narendra Modi, to Donald Trump, strongman leaders around the world are harnessing big tech to consolidate their power. Socia...
Prove It! Elizabeth Finkel's Scientific Guide for the Post-Truth Era
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If a stiff dose of medical misinformation is what you're after, look no further than the White House right now. And, on social media and in online fo...