Big Ideas

Siang Lu, Miles Franklin–winning novelist and co-creator of The Beige Index, reflects on six years of work and 200+ rejections. He discusses reframing rejection, writing through failure, shelving and revisiting projects, and adopting a process-focused, martial-arts mindset. Short anecdotes and readings punctuate a talk about persistence, practice, and the strange paths to recognition.

Paula Kruger, CEO of Media Diversity Australia and former journalist who champions representation in media. Tom Rogers, former Australian Electoral Commissioner and national security adviser on electoral integrity. They discuss how disinformation, deepfakes and mistrust target diverse communities, threaten elections and national cohesion. Conversations cover media literacy, regulation limits, pre-bunking versus debunking, and community-led trust building.

Alex Neve, human rights lawyer and former Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada, reflects on decades of advocacy. He discusses human rights failures in Gaza, Canada’s gap between reputation and reality, Indigenous rights as a priority, ending diplomatic double standards, and expanding rights to cover environment, wealth, and technology. He calls for stronger accountability, remedies, and public engagement.

Stories of naming victims and memory that turn local grief into worldwide attention. Accounts of symbolic acts, legal persistence, and grassroots solidarity fueling human rights fights. Reflections on Indigenous ties to land, refugee compassion in small communities, and the risks defenders face while pushing for accountability.

Alex Neve, human rights lawyer and former Amnesty International Canada leader, delivers a bold call to reclaim rights as inherent, not a privileged club. He spotlights detention in northeast Syria, nationality-based exclusions, corporate and state abuses, Indigenous and refugee injustices, and the forces eroding universality. Short, urgent reflections on law, accountability, and why rights must apply to everyone.

Alex Neve, an international human rights lawyer and former Amnesty International Canada leader, traces six pivotal postwar years that reshaped legal protections. He surveys the roots of human rights, Nuremberg and genocide law, the 1948 Declaration, Geneva Conventions, and the Refugee Convention. Short, vivid scenes show how universality, prevention, justice and collective responsibility emerged in that era.

Alex Neve, seasoned human rights lawyer and author, reflects on the broken promise of universal rights and his work from conflict zones to Indigenous reconciliation. He explores threats like disinformation, climate harms, and impunity. Stories range from Rohingya and Syria to Afghanistan and Canada. The talk ends with renewed hope in collective action and people-driven change.

Sean Scalmer, labour historian and author, explores work hours and family time. Alistair Thomson, oral historian, traces century-long shifts in fathering. Jacqui McDonald, fatherhood and mental health researcher, outlines diverse modern fathering. They discuss breadwinner roots, changing care roles, workplace pressures, time scarcity, and cultural images like Bluey’s Bandit shaping expectations.

Sophie Gilbert, award-winning culture critic at The Atlantic and author of Girl on Girl, examines how 1990s–2000s pop culture shaped millennial women. She explores commodified Girl Power, reality TV spectacle, porn’s cultural influence, cosmetic makeover culture, and how internalized misogyny is learned and can be unlearned. Short, urgent, and reflective.

Louise Adler, former Adelaide Writers' Week director and long‑time publisher, and Randa Abdel‑Fattah, Palestinian Australian novelist, academic and lawyer, discuss Discipline. They explore why the novel is titled that way and links between law, self‑censorship and academic disciplines. Conversation covers research origins, media and university responses since October 2023, social media mischaracterisation, and pressures on racialised professionals.