Big Ideas

For decades, ABC journalist and TV presenter Kerry O'Brien made a career of asking the hard questions. Now, in the face of what he calls "the perfect storm" wreaking havoc on our democracies, he's got some answers about how we got here, and how we can fix it.
The 2026 Thea Astley Address was recorded at the Byron Writers Festival on Saturday 15 August 2026.
Speakers:
Kerry O'BrienFormer ABC journalist, host, 7.30 Report, Four Corners, Lateline and more, six-time Walkley award winner
Richard FlanaganMan Booker Prize and Baille Gifford award winning author of The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Heresies, and more

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 August.
Speakers:
Ronni KahnFounder, OzHarvest

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 GallagherProfessor in Plant Ecology and Conservation, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
Gregg Borschmann (host)Oral historian, journalist and writer
Further information: 
What is Australia's most amazing wildflower? Vote now - ABC Science Week
The Australasian Virtual Herbarium

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 VowelCandian Metis language instructor, public intellectual, writer, and activist educatorAuthor, Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit in Canada and the short-story collection Buffalo is the New BuffaloCo-host, Métis in Space podcast
Mykaela SaundersKoori and Lebanese award-winning writerAuthor of Always Will BePost-doctoral research fellow on First Nations speculative fiction at Macquarie University

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 DrainChief Engineer with NASA's Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter
David FlanneryAssociate Professor of astrobiology, Queensland University of Technology
Sara Webb Author, science communicator and astrophysicist, Swinburne University
Brian SchmidtDistinguished Professor of astrophysics, Australian National University, 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics
Tamara Davis (host) Professor of Astrophysics, University of Queensland