Big Ideas

Interesting idea or nanny-state gone way too far? If babies weren't born to doom scroll, why do we think grown-ups are? Don't miss our hilarious annual battle of brains and bravado with two teams and Big Ideas' host Natasha Mitchell at the Beaker Street Festival: where science meets art. Australia was the first country in the world to ban under-16s from social media. France just struck down a push for the same.  Are adults immune to all the harms of these platforms? Should OVER-16s be banned too!?  
TEAM AFFIRMATIVE: "THE VIRAL INFLUENZAS"
Dr Esmé Louise James, sex historianReturning debate champion and sex historian, creator of the book and viral TikTok phenomenon Kinky History, co-host with her mathematician mother of two seasons of the Sextistics series on Youtube, and her first novel Becoming Venus is out on September 1, 2026.
Saul Eslake, economistSaul has been chief economist at the big end of town with big banks, he now runs his own consultancy, is a Vice-Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Tasmania, advises Australia's Parliamentary Budget Office, serves on the Council on the Ageing, and is a regular expert chatterbox in the media.
Dr Meredith Castles, human-computer interaction researcher and lecturer Meredith is a science communicator and a lecturer in human-computer interaction at the University of Tasmania's School of Information and Communication Technology. She's interested in ethical, accessible, inclusive, and human-centred technology — and how to design it so it's nice, not nasty.
TEAM NEGATIVE: "THE YAPPERS"
Professor Barbara Holland, statisticianFormer reigning Beaker Street debate champion, Barbara is a mathematician in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Tasmania. She fell in love with the power of statistics, made it her life's work, and works with biologists and uses stats to unravel the big biological puzzle that is the evolution of life on Earth.
Dr Kirsten BanksYou know her as AstroKirsten on the socials, youtube, on screens and stages everywhere. Kirsten is an astrophysicist, science communicator, and proud Wiradjuri woman who mixes science with humour — and her passion for the cosmos — to help us all reach the stars.
Dr Tim NugentTim is a co-founder of Yarn Spinner, a spin-off of the award-winning Tasmanian grown gaming studio Secret Lab. He and his team build games and narrative tools for games for both indie and major studio releases. He is the co-author of a stack of computery, programmy books, and he did a PhD on mobile human computer interaction and information flow in public spaces.
Thanks to Dr Margo Adler, Rosie Pidd, Stevie and the Bunsen Burners, and the whole festival team.

Acclaimed journalist Kerry O'Brien has seen it all, but nothing like right now. And he's not mincing his words. On AI, neoliberalism, education, equality, gutless governments, and more. For over 50 years, he covered the world's biggest stories and changemakers, and asked tough questions of power. Hear why he thinks a perfect storm threatens our society and our politics, and what he thinks can be done about 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