2025 ABC Boyer Lecture Series: Australia: A Radical Experiment in Democracy Curated and hosted by respected journalist, author and broadcaster, Dr Julia Baird, this year's Boyer Lecture Series explores the theme Australia: A Radical Experiment in Democracy, through five distinct orations examining the strengths and challenges of our democracy as we navigate unprecedented global changes in politics, society and technology. The speakers—drawn from academia, literature, and policy— reflect on t ...
…
continue reading
In our fifth and final Boyer Lecture for 2025, James Curran, professor of modern history at the University of Sydney, analyses our partnership with the world’s most powerful democracy, the USA, addressing options for how we can deal with, and even construct, a post -American future. In his talk, Professor Curran argues that we need to stop hoping f…
…
continue reading
1
04 | Amelia Lester: AI on Australia’s terms
39:48
39:48
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
39:48In the fourth Boyer Lecture for 2025, Amelia Lester, deputy editor at Foreign Policy Magazine in Washington, explores why it is so difficult to have meaningful discussions about the possible repercussions of Artificial Intelligence in all our lives. Given it is being described as possibly more transformative than electricity, even more transformati…
…
continue reading
1
03 | Larissa Behrendt: Justice, ideas, inclusion
38:41
38:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
38:41Larissa Behrendt, AO a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman and Distinguished Professor of Law and Inaugural Chair in Indigenous Research at the University of Technology, is passionate about the Australian courts’ record of upholding democracy, but reminds us the legal system has been used to exclude and discriminate against First Nations people. In the thir…
…
continue reading
1
02 | Hon John Anderson AC: Our civilisational moment
40:10
40:10
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
40:10In the second Boyer Lecture for 2025, the Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia, takes a sweeping look over our history and concludes that the liberal world order that has so far defined us, is ending. While such turning points require big and important decisions, what happens to Australia, he understa…
…
continue reading
1
01 | Professor Justin Wolfers: Australia is freaking amazing
54:24
54:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
54:24The Keynote Boyer Lecturer for 2025 is Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and visiting Professor at the University of NSW. After many years teaching in the USA, he argues that Australia’s political institutions are unique; in fact, they are the very key to its prosperity and asks if we require a…
…
continue reading
1
04 | Lyn Williams: The Artistry of Children
28:36
28:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:36"Whilst our new Australian choral music began in a classical context, artistic collaborations have extended our musical realm to a point where it no longer fits this classification – it is simply choral music." As the founder of Gondwana Choirs, Lyn Williams AM is particularly well placed to talk about the future of classical music. Her work with c…
…
continue reading
1
03 | Iain Grandage: Beyond the Boundaries
28:36
28:36
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:36Iain Grandage is a composer, a cellist, a pianist, a festival director, and a career collaborator. In his Boyer Lecture, he asks whether classical music has been underestimated in its capacity to connect communities. His work with Indonesian Gamelan ensembles, Noongar elders, theatre companies and the late, great Jimmy Chi, provide waypoints on a l…
…
continue reading
“There is much to be gained by tapping into the tens of thousands of years of culture that we have available to us in this country. Exposing more people to it can only help to highlight our shared humanity, and to advance the cause of reconciliation.” Aaron Wyatt is a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi musician: a conductor, composer, violist, educator and…
…
continue reading
"There is a continuity to the inner experience of what it is to be human. And it is this inner experience that this music addresses directly." Professor Anna Goldsworthy is a pianist, an author, a festival director and the Director of the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide. In her keynote Boyer Lecture for 2024, she traces how mento…
…
continue reading
What will a quantum computer look like? Will quantum computing supercharge AI? Can it save us from the climate crisis? Professor Michelle Simmons has the answers.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
Doubt is often seen as a something to be overcome — a failing, or even a sign of incompetence. But in her fourth and final lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons tells us why doubt is her greatest asset.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In her third Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons maps how science has changed from 1927 to now — moving from the theoretical to the applicable.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In her second Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons details the international race underway to build the first error-corrected quantum computer.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
Computing machinery that used to fill an entire room has now shrunk to the size of individual atoms. In her first lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons tells the story of miniaturisation — and how Australia found itself at the forefront.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In his fifth and final Boyer lecture Noel Pearson looks at the question of identity, Australian identity, and he argues that our extraordinary diversity and distinctiveness are undermined when we forget the great similarities and commonalities we all share.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In his fourth lecture, Noel Pearson addresses the educational barriers facing young Indigenous people, and the critical need to raise literacy and numeracy rates through transformational school programs.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
1
03 | A Job Guarantee For The Bottom Million
30:00
30:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
30:00In his third lecture Noel Pearson argues that Indigenous Australians have become trapped in the 'bottom million' of the nation when it comes to economic development. He describes the ongoing effect of welfare dependency, or 'passive welfare', which he says is not just a problem afflicting Indigenous communities, it's a human problem.…
…
continue reading
In his second lecture, Noel Pearson reflects on the words of 1968 Boyer lecturer W.E.H. Stanner who said that Aboriginal people seek, 'a decent union of their lives with ours but on terms that let them preserve their own identity'. Pearson traces the long process that led to the final proposal for a Voice to parliament enshrined in the constitution…
…
continue reading
1
01 | Who we were, who we are, and who we can be
30:00
30:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
30:00Noel Pearson argues the case for why a Voice to parliament, enshrined in the constitution, is so important to Indigenous people, ‘to be afforded our rightful place’.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
1
04 | Soul of the Age - Imaginary Forces with John Bell
28:38
28:38
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:38In this fourth and final lecture, John Bell discusses how William Shakespeare imagined a different world and encouraged his audience to do the same.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
1
03 | Soul of the Age — Shakespeare's Women with John Bell
26:27
26:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
26:27In this third lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses Shakespeare's Women and how through his female characters he imagined a better world.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
1
02 | Soul of the Age - Order vs Chaos with John Bell
28:38
28:38
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:38In this second lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses what Shakespeare can teach us about governance, about politics and power.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
1
01 | Soul of the Age — Life lessons from Shakespeare with John Bell
28:37
28:37
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
28:37In the first lecture of the 2021 Boyer series, John Bell opens our eyes and our ears to how relevant William Shakespeare is in today's world and what he can teach us through his own observations from four hundred years ago.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In the third Boyer lecture, Dr Andrew Forrest discusses how inequality manifests in our modern capitalist system — through intergenerational dependence on welfare, lack of access to finance, a lack of policy focus on early childhood development in vulnerable communities and through modern slavery.By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
…
continue reading
In the second of his 2020 Boyer Lectures, Andrew Forrest mounts a passionate defence of our oceans. Dr Forrest argues the key issues facing our oceans — deoxygenation, overfishing and plastic pollution — are our fault, and it's us who must fix them. He says it's philanthropic and government interventions, at a scale not yet seen, that will save our…
…
continue reading