Dennis Glover is a professional speech writer, a Fellow of the Per Capita think tank and a political columnist for the Australian Financial Review. He currently writes speeches for Labor members of parliament as well as business and community leaders. He is the author of two non-fiction works Orwell’s Australia and The Art of Great Speeches. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser continues to explore subjects ignored by the mainstream media and gives a voice to people at the margins of society. He’s followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California, spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado, told the stories of marijuana growers and pornographers and victims of violent crime, gone on duty with the NYPD Bomb Squad, and visited prisons throughout the US. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation (2001), helped start a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. His second book, Reefer Madness (2003), looked at America’s thriving underground economy.  Both were The New York Times bestsellers. His most recent book, Command and Control (2013), examines the efforts of the military, since the atomic era began during World War II, to prevent nuclear weapons from being stolen, sabotaged, or detonated by accident.Command and Control was a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book, was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize (History) and also received the Gold Medal Award (Nonfiction) from the 2013 California Book Awards.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For much of the 1990s, Helen Razer could be heard blabbing on the ABC's youth network, Triple J. While the national broadcaster still occasionally permits her to talk in exchange for money, she is now chiefly engaged in the work of writing on social and cultural matters. She works with Crikey, The Saturday Paperand a range of publications who permit her to say terrible things. Her fifth book, A Short History of Stupid,remains a best-seller and was recently shortlisted for the NSW State Library's inaugural Russell Prize. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Damon Gameau is well-known as an Australian film and television actor. In 2014, he directed That Sugar Film, a documentary which examines the place of sugar in our diet. It follows Gameau as he puts himself on a sugar-laden regime consuming food that is normally considered healthy, such as fruit juice and cereals. The documentary will be released in the US in July and has now been followed by That Sugar Book.Jane Martin is Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC), based at the Cancer Council Victoria. She advocates for policy and regulatory reform to prevent overweight and obesity, with a focus on food marketing, labelling, and tax and pricing measures. For over twenty-five years, Jane has worked extensively in public health advocacy, firstly in tobacco control then in obesity prevention.Sarah Wilson (Chair) is The New York Times best-selling author and entrepreneur. Her career as a journalist spanned 20 years, across television, radio, magazines, newspapers and online. She is the author of the international best-sellers I Quit Sugar and I Quit Sugar For Life and is director and founder of IQuitSugar.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Chris Berg is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs, where he specialises in civil liberties, the political economy of regulation, and media and technology policy. He is a weekly columnist with ABC’s The Drum, and has been published in all major Australian papers, as well as the Wall Street Journal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Peter Doherty shared the 1996 Nobel Prize for Medicine for discovering the nature of the cellular immune defence. He continues to be involved in research and divides his time between the University of Melbourne and St Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. In his fifth book, The Knowledge Wars, he goes in to bat for evidence-based reality in debates on issues such as childhood vaccination, global hunger and anthropogenic climate change and encourages us all to be informed and evaluate the facts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Miriam Lyons, Australian policy analyst, discusses the consequences of the mining boom in Australia, the need for better management of natural resources, and the importance of taking action on climate change. She also explores the adverse effects of mining on rivers and land, advocates for a sustainable and low-carbon future, questions the subsidies given to the fossil fuel industry, and highlights the declining influence of political parties in Western democracies.

Chris Munro was the Managing Editor of Tracker Magazine, Australia's most read Aboriginal Affairs publication which was shut down in 2014. Prior to this he was the Political Editor for the National Indigenous Television news team based at Parliament House and a reporter for the National Indigenous Times newspaper. Chris currently works as a freelance journalist. As an investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser continues to explore subjects ignored by the mainstream media and gives a voice to people at the margins of society. He’s followed the harvest with migrant farm workers in California, spent time with meatpacking workers in Texas and Colorado, told the stories of marijuana growers and pornographers and victims of violent crime, gone on duty with the NYPD Bomb Squad, and visited prisons throughout the US. Schlosser’s first book, Fast Food Nation (2001), helped start a revolution in how Americans think about what they eat. His second book, Reefer Madness (2003), looked at America’s thriving underground economy.  Both were New York Times bestsellers. His most recent book, Command and Control (2013), examines the efforts of the military, since the atomic era began during World War II, to prevent nuclear weapons from being stolen, sabotaged, or detonated by accident. Command and Control was a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Magazine Top 10 Nonfiction Book, was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize (History) and also received the Gold Medal Award (Nonfiction) from the 2013 California Book Awards.Debbie Kilroy was imprisoned for drug trafficking in 1989 for 6 years. She was stabbed and witnessed the only murder inside an Australian women’s prison, and lost almost everything: her marriage, her home and her children. After her release in 1992, she established Sisters Inside, which advocates for the human rights of women in the criminal injustice system. Sisters Inside has won international acclaim for its work and for a unique structure which ensures it is driven by women inside prison. Debbie was awarded the OAM for services to the community for working with women in prison 2003 and in 2004 she was awarded the National Human Rights Medal. She has a degree in social work and is a qualified gestalt therapist. Debbie was the first person in Australian who has serious convictions to be admitted by the Supreme Court of Queensland to practice law in 2007.John Safran (chair) is an award-winning documentary-maker of provocative and hilarious takes on race, the media, religion and other issues. About VICEVICE is the world’s preeminent youth media company and content creation studio. Launched in 1994, VICE now operates in over 30 countries and distributes its programming to hundreds of millions of viewers each month across digital, linear, mobile, film and socials. VICE includes an international network of digital channels; a television and feature film production studio; a magazine; a record label; an in-house creative services agency; and a book-publishing division. VICE's award-winning programming has been recognised by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Peabody Awards, Sundance Film Festival, PEN Center, Cannes Lions, Frontline Club, Knight Foundation, American Society of Magazine Editors, LA Press Club, and Webby Awards, among others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Frank Brennan has a longstanding reputation of advocacy in the areas of law, social justice, refugee protection and Aboriginal reconciliation. He is known for his 1998 involvement in the debate surrounding the Wik peoples’ landmark court case. He is a Jesuit priest, professor of law and writer.  His most recent book is No Small Change:  The Road to recognition for Indigenous Australia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Hawking and renowned physicist Paul Davies discuss the life and ideas of one of the world’s greatest minds: Stephen Hawking, who joins us live from Cambridge via the latest technology, in his first ever Australian talk.There are few scientists that can be said to have touched the public imagination. Physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking is one such scientist.Professor Hawking will be appearing via the very latest in streaming technology while his daughter, journalist and author Lucy, will be on the Opera House stage with renowned physicist and writer Paul Davies, providing an intimate view into the life of a great man and that of his extraordinary family.Confined to a wheelchair since his twenties, Hawking has never let his physical restrictions limit his imagination or intellect. As a physicist, he has deepened our knowledge of black holes, general relativity and the Big Bang. As author of the international best-seller A Brief History of Time he has introduced millions of non-scientists to some of the most mind-twisting concepts in modern physics.He’s a star of the small screen thanks to several documentary series (most recently Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking), with appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Simpsons, and The Big Bang Theory. And in film, his incredible life was celebrated in The Theory of Everything. Actor Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of him was awarded with both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actor.This is a unique opportunity to discover his true story, in his own words. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.