Big Ideas

Feed your mind. Be provoked. One big idea at a time. Your brain will love you for it. Grab your front row seat to the best live forums and festivals with Natasha Mitchell.

When women resist authoritarianism — what's happening in Iran, Afghanistan, Myanmar right now?
Apr 17, 2025 – 0:54:06
A season of death — with Raimond Gaita and Michelle Lesh
Apr 17, 2025 – 0:44:16
Where is the soul in science? Natasha Mitchell and guests on a humanity defining battle (Archive)
Apr 16, 2025 – 0:54:03
When the Tech Bros come to town — with Kara Swisher and Marc Fennell
Apr 15, 2025 – 0:54:05
The biggest threat to the planet is a story — an eye-opening insider account of Australian environmentalism
Apr 14, 2025 – 0:54:05
BBC Reith lecture 4 — Can you change a violent mind?
Apr 10, 2025 – 0:54:05
BBC Reith lecture 3 – Does trauma cause violence?
Apr 9, 2025 – 0:54:05
BBC Reith lecture 2 — Goodness as the antidote to evil
Apr 8, 2025 – 0:53:38
BBC Reith lecture 1 − Is violence normal?
Apr 7, 2025 – 0:53:28
Supporting teenagers to thrive online
Apr 3, 2025 – 0:54:14
Can storytellers change the world? Tim Winton and Rachel Perkins join Natasha Mitchell
Apr 2, 2025 – 0:53:31
Populist rage in America — history, causes and impacts
Apr 1, 2025 – 0:54:07
Good conversations — with writer and poet Ian WIlliams (CBC Massey Lecture 5)
Mar 31, 2025 – 0:58:22
Who can speak for whom to whom about what? — with writer and poet Ian Williams (CBC Massey Lecture 4)
Mar 27, 2025 – 0:53:00
Personal conversations — with writer and poet Ian Williams (CBC Massey Lecture 3)
Mar 26, 2025 – 0:53:07
Public conversations — with writer and poet Ian Williams (CBC Massey Lecture 2)
Mar 25, 2025 – 0:52:12
Why we need to have a conversation about conversations — with writer and poet Ian Williams (CBC Massey Lecture 1)
Mar 24, 2025 – 0:52:27
Australians – the ‘aristocrats’ of Asia? The Lucky Country 60 years on
Mar 20, 2025 – 0:55:36
Choices created Australia's housing mess, what choices will fix it? Natasha Mitchell and guests
Mar 19, 2025 – 0:58:09
Free your attention — meditation and mindfulness in the digital age
Mar 18, 2025 – 0:54:05
Today YOU can choose your family
Mar 17, 2025 – 0:54:40
Riverhood — oral histories in the Murray Darling Basin
Mar 13, 2025 – 0:53:53
Vested interests vs public interest? How the fossil fuel industry captures Australian governments
Mar 12, 2025 – 0:54:06
France — a paradoxical country
Mar 11, 2025 – 0:54:05
Can the International Criminal Court deliver justice?
Mar 10, 2025 – 0:54:11
Helen Garner on footy, boys, and growing old
Mar 6, 2025 – 0:54:05
Is America on the cusp of collapse under Trump? Natasha Mitchell and guests at Adelaide Writers Week
Mar 5, 2025 – 0:53:31
What does the internet know about you?
Mar 4, 2025 – 0:54:06
Security in Europe hangs in the balance. Is NATO on the rocks?
Mar 3, 2025 – 1:10:37
Animals — Us and them? How does loving animals go together with industrial farming?
Feb 24, 2025 – 0:43:53
Animals — Us and them? Are you having a whale of a time?
Feb 24, 2025 – 0:53:47
Animals — Us and them? The cat catastrophe – pet or pest?
Feb 24, 2025 – 0:53:59
Animals — Us and them? What is the purpose of zoos in an extinction crisis?
Feb 24, 2025 – 0:52:22
Animals — Us and them? The true and the ugly of wildlife documentaries
Feb 20, 2025 – 0:43:23
Jem Bendell, the fake green fairytale, and how to survive civilisational collapse
Feb 19, 2025 – 0:54:06
A murder in Malta — how Daphne Caruana Galizia's fight for justice lives on in her son
Feb 18, 2025 –
Empireworld — Sathnam Sanghera on how British imperialism shaped the globe
Feb 18, 2025 – 0:41:48
Living out your mental illness in public paves the way to lasting change
Feb 17, 2025 – 0:53:17
Uncancelled culture — forgiveness and redemption in the digital age
Feb 13, 2025 – 0:54:15
I can change the world! How these changemakers found their superpower
Feb 12, 2025 – 0:53:00
Re-thinking the relationship between brain and machine
Feb 11, 2025 – 0:54:06
Video games — a new frontier in the fight for global influence?
Feb 10, 2025 – 0:52:07
Don’t be a D**khead — with musicians Kasey Chambers and Clare Bowditch
Feb 6, 2025 – 0:53:54
Should scientists stand up as things fall down? Advocacy, activism, impartiality and the risks
Feb 5, 2025 – 0:54:05
Minority report — the new shape of Australian politics, with George Megalogenis and Tory Shepherd
Feb 4, 2025 – 0:52:52
Why Australian politicians welcomed fascists after the Second World War
Feb 3, 2025 – 0:51:19
What’s the secret to governments making wise decisions?
Jan 30, 2025 – 0:53:33
Merlin Sheldrake's Entangled Life — how fungi do things differently, and inspire us to as well
Jan 29, 2025 – 0:54:06
Nicky Winmar and Rhoda Roberts − showing racism in sport the red card
Jan 28, 2025 – 0:42:36
Chopsticks or fork? — Jennifer Wong and Lin Jie Kong with Annabel Crabb
Jan 27, 2025 – 0:51:48

Recent Reviews

rromarrio

Great Podcast

Great topics. Mind provoking. Always insightful. I enjoy it daily…
Ogilbeats

Deep dive into Woke ideology

There are some scientifically rigorous and interesting talks, but most speakers chosen are aimed at getting all the brownie points from the far left identity politics movement. How we must now focus on “age-ist discrimination” has been the straw that’s broken the camels back for me.
Cozzum

Eclectic, Cosmopolitan yet very Aussie

A true treasure from down under to help fill in some of the gaps in my understanding of how the world works. Somehow life got very complex along the way and keeping up with the barrage of changes is a monumental chore at times. I never dreamed that discussions, lectures, debates and so on, from half way around the world, would help keep me oriented towards a realistic perspective on the world's events and issues. Recommended for anyone who craves something more from somewhere else. Many Thanks to all the staff who make this program possible. To speak in the parlance of the zeitgeist "You're Awesome!"
ABC Radiio USA Fan

Big Ideas

Excellent as always Paul Barclay and his team are thoughtful, careful investigators who listen and ask good questions bringing important truths to Australian listeners Thank goodness for the ABC Truly wonderful
mircrez

Excellence in podcasting

I can’t believe how good this podcast is. It’s intelligent, thought-provoking, insightful, and interesting. I wish we had a podcast this good here in the U.S. covering similar topics.
Jack_McCoy

Always Interesting

Great show that features lectures, forums, and debate that you’d probably never know about/hear otherwise. Each new episode is one hundred percent different than the last one. This is a show for people who love to learn. It’s one of my absolute favorites.
elmalimuzik

Thank you!

I hope your laws of physics will one day teach itunes developers to develop a kind of UI that wouldnt stop the podcast while i was trying to rate and write a comment for the podcast...