Big Ideas

Two authors. Two books. Two very different histories of Australia. Tony Abbott's Australia: A history and Mark McKenna's The Shortest History of Australia were released within weeks of each other. They share similar references, but diverge in key areas, especially when it comes to how the country should reconcile with its Indigenous past. So what is the real story of Australia?
The conversation Australian history's great divide: how writers view our past was recorded at the Sorrento Writers Festival on 23 April 2026.
Speakers:
Tony AbbottAuthor Australia: A history and moreAustralian Prime Minister 2013 to 2015President, Australian Liberal Party
Mark McKennaAuthor, The Shortest History of Australia and moreProfessor of History at the University of New South Wales
Sally Warhaft (host)Anthropologist, writer and broadcasterEditor, Well May We Say…The Speeches That Made Australia
Further information:
The Australian Wars with Rachel Perkins and Henry Reynolds — a watershed event at the Australia War MemorialBig Ideas, ABC Radio National, 4 February 2026
Who can we become? Thomas Mayo and Ray Martin speak Black and White about Australia's futureBig Ideas, ABC Radio National, 3 March 2026
Victoria's new treaty with First Peoples — a turning point for Australia?Big Ideas, ABC Radio National, 9 December 2025
A new future for Black and White Australia — Thomas Mayo, Margo Neale, David Marr with Natasha MitchellBig Ideas, ABC Radio National, 15 May 2024

Has the Iran War got you thinking about changing to an electric vehicle? Did government subsidies help you go solar or install a home battery? When renewable energy makes good economic sense, and eases cost of living pressures, people want in. As the public's desire for action on climate change is eclipsed by other concerns, and beset by vested interests and mis and dis information, how does climate policy win back ordinary people to galvanise progress once again?
This event was recorded at Readings bookshop on 20 May 2026.
Speakers:
Thom WoodroofeSenior International Fellow, Smart Energy CouncilAuthor, Power, Prosperity & Planet: Climate & Energy Policy for All (In the National Interest, Monash University Publishing)Principal Advisor to Kevin Rudd during his tenure as Australian Ambassador to the United States, and Chief of Staff during his tenure as the Asia Society's President in New YorkDiplomatic adviser to the Marshall Islands in the negotiations of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change
Zoe DanielFormer Independent Member for GoldsteinFormer ABC journalist and foreign correspondentIndependent chair, Mental Health Victoria

What's the toll when your story becomes the story? What these journalists endured for their work beggars belief, but it hasn't stopped them believing in the role of journalism to hold power to account. Locked in a Chinese jail under 24/7 surveillance for more than 3 years — Cheng Lei is now determined to speak out about freedom and the long tendrils of Chinese state control because others can't or won't. Charlotte Grieve's investigation of a superstar surgeon and his patients' horrifying experiences was subject to one of the longest defamation trials in Australian history — a major test case for the public interest defence. 
Hear their extraordinary stories. They join Big Ideas host Natasha Mitchell at this Sorrento Writers Festival event.
Speakers
Cheng LeiAuthor, Cheng Lei: A Memoir of FreedomJournalist and Sky News presenter
Charlotte GrieveInvestigative journalist, ABC Investigations Unit.Former journalist with Nine mediaAuthor, Duty to Warn: Dr Munjed Al Muderis promised hope. A daughter saw danger — and fought for the truth.
Thanks to Sorrento Writers Festival director and curator Corrie Perkin

Three leaders of three different countries, who decided they would no longer accept the limits placed upon them by the international rules based order. That's all it took for the world as we have known it to unravel. Thomas Wright, a former Senior National Security Council official in the administration of US President Joe Biden, delivers a clear-eyed assessment of the deliberate decisions that have led us here, and weighs up the possible roads ahead.
This event After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order was recorded on 6 May 2026 for the Lowy Institute in Melbourne.
Speakers:
Thomas WrightFormer senior US National Security Council advisor (during the Biden administration)Senior fellow with the Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology at the Brookings InstitutionNonresident Fellow, Lowy InstituteAuthor, Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order
Sam RoggeveenProgram Director, International Security Program, Lowy InstituteAuthor, The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace
Further information:
How Trump got Iran wrong - by Thomas Wright, published 7 May 2026, The Interpreter, Lowy Institute

Donor-sperm conception has become even more difficult in Australia. Would-be parents are now facing a shortage of sperm. That's on top of an already complex end confusing process. For solo parents, queer couples, and people navigating fertility the path to parenthood often begins with long clinic waitlists, overseas donor profiles, shady Facebook groups or delicate conversations with friends.
Presented by Sydney Opera House at the All About Women Festival 2026
Speakers
Alisha BurnsFounder of Solo Mum Society, host of the No Need for Prince Charming podcast, author of  the children's book My Perfect Family
Maeve MarsdenWriter, Creative Director of Varuna, the National Writers' House, and the Blue Mountains Writers' Festival
Dr Melanie SawardBigambul and Wakka Wakka woman, writer, editor and lecturer of Australian Studies, University of Queensland
Edwina Storie (host)Journalist and the lead for The Feed, SBS's youth media brand