Ideas at the House

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.

Australia, like other democratic countries, is seeing a dramatic decline in trust in government. We elect people we don’t like, and then have to rely on them for important issues such as health to national security. Do we have the politicians we deserve? How can we change the unhappy status quo?Benjamin Law, Tony Windsor and Ann Sherry look at where the mistrust is coming from and what needs changing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What sort of Australia will the young inherit? With short political cycles and ever shorter media cycles, it’s taken a high profile campaign for the Intergenerational Report to get us thinking seriously about the future. But are the responsibilities of the young and old clear? Does intergenerational equity even matter?Holly Ransom, Everald Compton and Andrew Charlton offer insights into what the old and young can bring that will make us less short-sighted about our future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we live in an affluent and peaceful country like Australia, what do we do when we’re confronted by poverty and need, close to us? What are our responsibilities and how committed are we to help?Watch Peter Singer address his concept of effective altruism and shake up some of our assumptions about giving. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Freedom of speech. Equality of speech. Opportunity for speech. Freedom to offend. Just some of the dimensions muddying the middle ground on this historically important topic.Chris Berg and Julian Burnside discuss how much freedom of speech we have, whether it’s enough, or too much, and who decides? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Media, politicians, thinkers… no one can decide which Australia we live in. Are we on the verge of becoming the poor white trash of Asia or poised to be an “innovation economy”?Nick Bryant, Rebecca Huntley and Marcia Langton discuss our successes and failures, what we’ve learned, and what to do about the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.