Podcast
Big Ideas
Hosted by ABC Australia · EN
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.
105episodes
Episodes
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Calling out wrongdoing can come at a cost — here's how Australia can strengthen its whistleblowing laws
2w ago00:53:15Tap to summarizeFrom Robodebt to the banks, KPMG to the NDIS, whistleblowers have exposed egregious cases of corruption and misconduct. But it's often come at great personal cost, including risks to personal safety, liberty, relationships and reputations. So how could Australia's whistleblower protections be strengthened so that more people speak up when they witness wrongdoing?This event was recorded at the Centre for Ideas at the University of New South Wales on 16 June 2026.Speakers:Kieran PenderAssociate Legal Director of the Human Rights Law CentreFounder, The Whistleblower ProjectGabriel ShiptonFilm maker, storyteller, human rights advocate, co-leader of the campaign to free WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeFounder, The Information Rights ProjectLenore Taylor (host)Former editor, Guardian Australia
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Ex-chief scientist Alan Finkel's three laws of Artificial Intelligence
3w ago00:54:35Tap to summarizeThe Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants AI in Australia's interests, and has announced steps to regulate the technology. So can Australia get the balance right between the opportunities offered by AI, and the risks? Australia's former Chief Scientist Alan Finkel, a serial tech entrepreneur, has some ideas — and argues governments have been asleep at the wheel on AI regulation.This event was recorded at the Woodend Winter Arts Festival on 7 June 2026.Speakers:Professor Alan FinkelFounder, Proudly HumanFormer Chief ScientistFormer Chancellor Monash UniversityFounder of biotech and edtech companies Axon Instruments and Stile EducationFormer President of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE)Co-founder, Cosmos Magazine
Transcribe →Could you be a hope punk? Jack Toohey on rebellious hope and why better things are possible
3w ago00:53:38Tap to summarizeJack Toohey was flying high. Then he crashed. But from despair came renewal, and a rebellious hope. In 2023, when his social media post about housing affordability attracted over 20 million views — he knew he was onto something. He joins BIG IDEAS host Natasha Mitchell at the Make Good Festival at Bundanon, NSW to talk about the big ideas in his new book Better Things Are Possible: How Rebellious Hope Can Change the World. He wants to help you stop doomscrolling and reclaim the possibilities for creating a more just world.SpeakerJack TooheyCreative director, strategist, film-maker, and activistAuthor, Better Things Are Possible: How Rebellious Hope Can Change the World (2026).Jack on SubstackJack on InstagramThanks to the Bundanon team and guest curator of the Make Good Festival Danielle Harvey
Transcribe →Fear, healing and finding calm – how the ocean can change you
3w ago00:54:35Tap to summarizeThe ocean calms us. It terrifies us. It heals us. Sometimes all at once. We explore the sea's complex hold on your mental health — from the fear of shark attacks and the medicine of a morning swim to how immersive ocean soundscapes work on the nervous system and ocean grief as part of climate change anxiety.Presented at the Ocean Lovers FestivalListen to Big Ideas — The shark net controversy — hear the debate at Bondi's Ocean Lovers Festival with Natasha MitchellSpeakersDr Brianna Le BusqueProgram Director of Environmental Sciences and Geospatial Sciences at Adelaide UniversityAnika CraneyFreediver, ocean guide and citizen science research assistantKate MontagueWorking with somatic therapy and performance arts, creator of the Audiocraft podcastsKal GlanznigYouth ocean and climate champion, creator of the documentary RISING UP, co-founded Plastic Free Cronulla, and founder of the project Blue MindsJohn Ireland (Host)Breath and somatic educator, Founder of Breathwork HQ
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Is education policy damaging our democracy?
3w ago00:53:49Tap to summarizeWe are seeing seismic shifts in our politics, as more people than ever turn away from the major parties. Could public policy failures be to blame? Former politician Dr Susan Close has spent her career in the engine room of democracy, and she believes this trend has been caused by successive government policies that have left people behind, created winners and losers and segregated our community — especially in the way Australia funds its schools.The 2026 Hugh Stretton Oration was recorded at the University of Adelaide on 2 June 2026.Speakers:Dr Susan CloseCEO, McKinnon Institute for Political LeadershipMember of the CSIRO boardFormer Member for Port Adelaide 2013- 2025Former Labor Deputy Premier, Minister for climate science, defence, education and more
Transcribe →These Palestinians and Israelis are talking to each other − determined to make peace real in Gaza
4w ago00:54:12Tap to summarizePalestinians and Israelis are building common ground for peace where most say there is none. Since October 7 and the war in Gaza, the idea of cross-community dialogue seems impossible. But behind the headlines, more than 550 leaders from both communities, across politics, security, business, media, and civil society have come together to shape a peaceful future - for both peoples.What does a just and peaceful solution actually require? Who is doing the work to get there? And is there a role for Australia to play? Presented by the New Israel Fund AustraliaSpeakersHiba QasasFounding Executive Director of Principles for Peace, former senior UN officialDr Gil MurcianoCEO of the “Mitvim Institute", a foreign policy research organisation in IsraelDr Sally Warhaft (host)Writer, journalist and host of the Wheeler Centre’s The Fifth Estate series
Transcribe →8 Million Ways to Happiness with Hiroko Yoda — what we can all learn about life, love, and loss from Japan’s flexible spirituality
4w ago00:54:36Tap to summarizeWhen writer Hiroko Yoda's mother died, she found herself unmoored. They'd argued a fair bit over the years — as daughters and their mothers can — some things were unresolved. So now what? She found herself setting off an odyssey to understand Japan's surprisingly flexible, practical, pluralistic approach to spirituality, its infinite number of spiritual beings, its affection for angry ghosts, and the curious possibility of embracing belief and non-belief at the same time. She poured it all into a beautiful book called 8 Million Ways to Happiness. Yes, 8 Million! How can that be!? Find out in this poignant conversation she shares with Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell on peace, grief, meaning, and overcoming the mountains within.This event was recorded live at the 2026 Melbourne Writers Festival. To explore more of the festival's events and talks, visit mwf.com.au.SpeakerHiroko YodaTokyo-based author, translator, folklorist, and certified kimono consultantAuthor, Eight Million Ways to Happiness: Find your own way to inner peace with the wisdom of Japan (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2026)
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What is the role of the writer in troubled times? Tony Birch with Michael Williams on the ethical imagination
Jul 701:09:08Tap to summarizeWriters have access to endless worlds, perspectives and experiences — both real and imagined. So what should they do with that privilege? Do they have a responsibility to try to change the world? To cultivate empathy and understanding? Or to simply bear witness?The Melbourne Writers Festival closing night address was recorded on Sunday 10 May 2026.Speakers:Professor Tony BirchAuthor, The White Girl, Women and Children, Ghost River, Blood and moreBoisbouvier Chair in Australian Literature at the University of MelbourneHistorian, activist, teacher, long distance runnerMichael Williams (host)Editor, The Monthly magazineHost, Read This podcast
Transcribe →If a river is declared a legal “person” — can it talk, remember, feel?
Jul 600:54:40Tap to summarizeWhat if the way we think about rivers as resources to be allocated, infrastructure to be managed, problems to be solved, is just fundamentally wrong. What if they are in fact living entities with rights? From Indigenous law to ecological soundscapes to frontline water justice, this panel of Indigenous leaders, scientists and artists share stories, sounds and strategies for protecting and changing your relationships with waterways.River Listening was recorded live at the annual 2026 WOMADelaide festival, produced and presented as part of their Planet Talks program, held on the traditional lands of the Guarna people.Listen to Big Ideas – Students win fight for climate justice before the world's highest courtSpeakersDr Dan HikuroaMāori earth systems scientist, Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, UNESCO NZ Commissioner for CultureGrant RigneyNgarrindjeri man, current Deputy Chair and past Chair of the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN)Dr Leah BarclayAward-winning sound artist, researcher and environmental activistJo Shulman (host)CEO of the Environmental Defenders Office
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Is the cosmos unravelling? With theoretical physicist Tony Padilla
Jul 200:54:36Tap to summarizeForget climate change, forget nuclear Armageddon, did you know that the universe is unravelling? It's probably aeons away, but according to physics, dark energy could end us all. Join award winning theoretical physicist Tony Padilla at this Sophia Club live philosophy event, to explore the torrid birth of the early universe, traverse the twisted hearts of black holes, skip through the harmonic vibrations of string theory, and ponder how, according to physics, it all might one day end.This event was recorded for the Sophia Club live philosophy in London on 21 April 2026.Speakers:Tony PadillaProfessor of physics, University of NottinghamAssociate Director of the Nottingham Centre of GravityHost, NumberfileAuthor, Fantastic numbers and where to find them: A Journey to the Edge of PhysicsSally DaviesEditorial lead for the Sophia ClubEditor, AEON magazineMusic by Oliver CoatesCellist, film composer and electronic music producer (Pillion, Aftersun and more)
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