The four most recent programs are available with audio

May 2006

Sunday 14 May
Terry Lane interviews Anna Funder
In program two Anna Funder discusses her book Stasiland, and its reception in Germany, with Terry Lane. Anna Funder is a lawyer by professional training, a multi-lingual government negotiator by previous employment and a writer by inclination. Her first book, Stasiland, won the BBC 4 Samuel Johnson prize for non-fiction in 2004 and was shortlisted for several other prizes in Australia and Britain. [ more ]

Sunday 7 May
Terry Lane interviews Evan Thornley
In a series of six extended interviews, Terry Lane talks to people who have had an impact on Australia and its place in the world, including writer Anna Funder, international entrepreneur and Labor candidate Evan Thornley, microbiologist Ian Gust and competition regulator Graeme Samuel. [ more ] [ Transcript ]


April 2006

Sunday 30 April
Massey Lectures 2005: Race Against Time; Lecture 5, Solutions: A Gallery of Alternatives in Good Faith
It is clear that we are losing the race against time. What can give Africa a better chance of survival? [ more ]

Sunday 23 April
Massey Lectures 2005: Race Against Time; Lecture 4, Women: Half the World, Barely Represented
Stephen Lewis asks how is it that women have been given such short shrift by the UN? Lewis offers a powerful critique of the UN's mainstreaming of women's issues, and its impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS [ more ]

Sunday 16 April
Massey Lectures 2005: Race Against Time; Lecture 3, Education: An Avalanche of Studies, Little Studying
As Stephen Lewis sees it, as the HIV/AIDS orphan deluge escalates, education 'becomes the stuff of life'. Schooling is a first-line defence against the disease. [ more ]

Sunday 9 April
Massey Lectures 2005: Race Against Time; Lecture 2, Pandemic: My Country is on its Knees
Stephen Lewis tells how he came to love Africa, and what it means to him today amid the urgent challenges it presents. [ more ]

Sunday 2 April
Massey Lectures 2005: Race Against Time lecture 1, It shames and diminishes us all
Stephen Lewis has spent the past four years watching people die. Nothing in his adult life could prepare him for the carnage of HIV/AIDS. In this first lecture Lewis sets the scene for the current tragedy in Africa. [ more ]


March 2006

Sunday 26 March
Robert Fisk at Sydney Ideas 2006
He is controversial, outspoken and always draws a crowd. Journalist Robert Fisk has spent over 30 years in the Middle East. He's covered the Lebanese civil war, the Iranian Revolution, Iran-Iraq wars, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and the current conflict in Iraq. He says he's met Osama Bin Laden three times. Fisk is more determined than ever to prosecute a case against the injustices of the west against the Arab and Muslim world. Agree with him or not, his presentations are suffused with passionate belief in change for the better. This talk was recorded recently in Sydney, as part of the Sydney Ideas 2006 public lecture series organised by the University of Sydney. [ more ] [ Transcript ]

Sunday 19 March
Annual Manning Clark Lecture: 5 R's for the Enlargers: Race, Religion, Respect, Rights and the Republic
The seventh annual Manning Clark Lecture, 5 R's for the Enlargers: Race, Religion, Respect, Rights and the Republic, delivered by Father Frank Brennan, at the National Library of Australia on Friday 3 March 2006. Father Brennan is Professor of Human Rights and Social Justice at the Australian Catholic University. [ more ]

Sunday 12 March
CIS:The Policymakers series: Lindsay Tanner, ALP Shadow Minister for Finance
On Wednesday 8 March Lindsay Tanner presented the second lecture in The Policymakers series, sponsored by the Centre for Independent Studies. Mr Tanner spoke on The Role of the State in the Twenty First Century. [ more ]

Sunday 5 March
CIS: The Policymakers series: The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP
On Wednesday 22 February, Malcolm Turnbull presented the inaugural lecture in The Policymakers series, sponsored by the Centre for Independent Studies. Mr Turnbull spoke on New ideas for Australia's oldest challenge: Water Policy for the 21st Century. [ more ]


February 2006

Sunday 26 February
Sale Away
Sale Away, a documentary by Jane Ulman and Russell Stapleton, looks at the tensions between public access and private ownership, the preservation of heritage opposed to the push for development. The foreshore of Sydney Harbour is a focus for these conflicting interests and the program takes a view both from the individual perspective and that of the wider community.
This program is not available as a transcript [ more ]

Sunday 19 February
2005 Kenneth Myer lecture: The seeds of change: serenditpity and social movements,
Reverend Tim Costello delivers the 2005 Kenneth Myer Lecture entitled 'The seeds of change: serenditpity and social movements', in which he explores the background to important historical moments and their protagonists – and challenges us to think big in our own time. [ more ]

Sunday 12 February
Reflections on the future
Organised by the New York Salon, Reflections on the Future is a public debate on the future of politics in the 21st century, recorded at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York in September 2005 and featuring renowned authors Russell Jacoby, Richard Sennett and Frank Furedi. [ more ]

Sunday 5 February
AN Smith lecture in journalism: Power without responsibility: who guards the guardians
The 2005 AN Smith lecture in journalism, titled 'Power without responsibility: who guards the guardians?', was delivered by the Hon Peter Beattie, Premier of Queensland, on 14 December 2005 at the University of Melbourne. [ more ]


January 2006

Sunday 29 January
Organic farming at Highgrove
Organic farming is booming in Europe and the UK. Award winning food writer Cherry Ripe documents a tour of Highgrove and Duchy Home Farm in Gloucestershire in England, both owned by Prince Charles. Duchy Home Farm is one of the biggest organic farms in the UK, and its methods are studied and visited by farmers, scientists, and academics from all over the world. [ more ] [ Transcript ]

Sunday 22 January
Café Scientific - Biodiversity Trading
Australia has one of the worst track records in the world for loss of species, but is Biodiversity Banking the answer? The idea that you can trade biodiversity just like you would any other commodity such as gold or pork bellies is heresy to many environmentalists. But to economists, it's the only way to save species in this modern rationalist world. [ more ]

Sunday 15 January
Café Scientific - Einstein & The Big Bang
According to Big Bang Theory, the universe was created around 13.7 billion years ago. The idea of the universe being born ‘in a single instant’ is not new, but it's taken a long time for it to be accepted. Along the way, the Big Bang has been challenged and almost torn scientific communities apart, and it is still evolving today, along with our understanding of the universe. [ more ]

Sunday 8 January
Café Scientific - Science of Siblings
Are you a single child or sibling child? Born first or last or in the middle? How do these random twists of fate affect your future and the type of person you grow up to be? There’s a lot of popular theories and personal stories about the Science of Siblings, but how well proven are they? [ more ]

Sunday 1 January
Against the Clock
For those who feel the pace of life is getting faster by the minute, for those who are overwhelmed by their workload and fear it's only going to get worse—squeeze this program into your tight schedules! Thinkers and time dissidents talk about our obsession with the clock—what's behind it, how we compare to other cultures and how we slow down. [ more ]

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