Big Ideas

Malcolm Fraser's legacy remains contested territory in Australian politics. Decades after he left office, we still can't quite figure him out. The Prime Minister who came to power in controversy, governed for seven years, then spent the rest of his life surprising everyone with his increasingly progressive views. Whether Fraser was cautious conservative, pragmatic reformer, or something more complex entirely, this discussion seeks to understand both the man and the government he led during a pivotal period in Australian history.
Presented at the Malcolm Fraser Symposium by the Trinity College, University of Melbourne.
Listen to Big Ideas - The Art of opposition
Speakers
Troy BramstonSenior writer and columnist with The AustralianAuthor of Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New (2025)
Dr Scott PrasserFormer Senior Adviser to three Federal Cabinet Ministers, Academic and independent researcher
Georgina Downer (host)Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Menzies Institute

October 7 has become synonymous with the Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1200 Jewish people were murdered. What has followed — the hostage crisis, the war in Gaza, and the global response — has reverberated in communities far beyond the Middle East, including here in Australia. For Jewish Australians, it has turned their lives, their careers, their relationships and their identities upside-down. Four Jewish Australian women share their personal experiences of the profound rift they've felt in the wake of that day, and their hopes and attempts to mend it.
This conversation was recorded at Manly Writers' Festival on 22 March 2026.
Speakers
Joanne FedlerAuthor of The Whale's Last Song and more, writing teacher, former lawyer
Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert Research Fellow in Security Studies, Macquarie UniversityAuthor, The Uncaged SkyFormer political prisoner in Iran
Elana Benjamin Author of Indian-Jewish Food, Recipes and Stories from the Back Streets of Bondi, and more
Lee KofmanAuthor of The Writer Laid Bare: Mastering Emotional Honesty in a Writer's Art, Craft and Life and more, writing coach and co-editor, Ruptured: Jewish Women in Australia Reflect on Life Post-October 7
Suellen Dainty (host) Journalist and author, An Invisible Tattoo and more

Through the stories of five women across three generations of his family, the influential Greek economist, author, politician and public intellectual Yanis Varoufakis tells the tumultuous tale of Greece's modern history, and reflects on its parallels with the once again global rising tides of fascism, authoritarianism, and the actions of those who resist.
This conversation was recorded on 6 March 2026 at the Sydney Greek Festival.
Speakers
Yanis VaroufakisEconomist, former Greek Finance Minister (2015), founder and General Secretary MeRA25Author, Raise your soul: A Personal History of Resistance, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism? and more
Dr Helen Vatsikopoulos (host)Journalist, Doctor of Creative Arts University of Technology Sydney

Every scientist dreams of a breakthrough — a new discovery that will change everything. Professor Georgina Long is someone who has done it — as a pioneer of life saving cancer treatments. So what are the ingredients for breakthroughs to occur? And why are the conditions that can lead to new discoveries under threat right now?
The 2026 Ann Moyal lecture When groundbreaking cancer treatments save 50% of patients, what happens to the other half? was recorded at the National Library of Australia on 19 March 2026.
Speakers
Professor Georgina LongMedical Director of the Melanoma Institute of AustraliaChair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research, University of SydneyCo-recipient (with Professor Richard Scolyer) of the 2024 Australian of the Year Award
Further information:
Patient Zero - Richard Scolyer - Australian Story 2024
Dr Richard Scolyer speaks on his fight with brain cancer - ABC 730, 30 October 2025

The explosion of reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not only a story of the past. Right now, nuclear plants are weaponised in the Iran war. It happened in 2022 when Russian forces occupied the Chernobyl exclusion zone. A new way of weaponising nuclear power. What have we learned from the worst nuclear accident in history — and what have we failed to learn?
This conversation was presented by the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and the Ukrainian Institute London.
Speakers
Serhii PlokhyMykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History; Director, Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University
Eglė RindzevičiūtėProfessor of Criminology and Sociology at Kingston University London
Jonathon TurnbullAssistant Professor of Human Geography at Durham University
Dr Sasha Dovzhyk (host)Writer, Curator and Head of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange (Lviv, Ukraine). Editor of the London Ukrainian Review