Big Ideas

With so much going on during the festival, it’s hard to know where to start sometimes but every year I find myself getting to grips with it by looking at the major themes. What are the topics on everyone’s minds? What have we been thinking about this past year? What should we be talking about? With the country in the grip of election fever it’s easy to be hoodwinked into discussions about the undoubtedly important topics of how much will the winner spend on new wallpaper in the Lodge and just where does Julia get those sharp suits? But there are other, wider discussions to be had on topics that genuinely affect all of us. That’s where our Big Ideas series comes in.

It is serendipitous of course that we have former PM Bob Hawke kicking off this series at the beautiful Capitol Theatre (reason alone to attend one of these sessions if you’ve never been inside) talking about the machinations that go on in the corridors of power, the juicy behind-the-scenes stuff we all want to hear. Waleed Aly and another former PM Malcolm Fraser get to grips with what’s happening with the Liberal party on Sunday 29th in a mouthwatering session that is guaranteed to have a lot of resonance one week after the election result.

Homegrown politics aside, there are some really enticing sessions to get your teeth into on privacy, terrorism, copyright, journalism, poverty, indigenous rights & the Jewish establishment. On Sat 28th Peter Beinart gets to grips with the effects of Israel’s policies on young Jewish Americans, who he claims are abandoning their faith as a consequence. He’s followed on Sunday by economist and author Loretta Napoleoni (pictured above) who’s breaking down the links between finance and terrorism – with so much money being poured into wars in the Middle East, is the West bankrupting itself?

We take a break then until the second weekend and get stuck into new media. The world’s foremost expert on all matters digital, Cory Doctorow, brainstorms copyright and creativity in the digital world in what is shaping up to be one of the most exciting lectures we have this year, on Sep 2nd. Progressing directly on from that, the ABC’s Mark Scott opens the New News conference with his keynote address on the future for media outlets in this fast-morphing world. Incidentally, the two-day New News conference is worth checking out for a hundred other great reasons. This is simply definitive for anyone interested in a media career.

Friday 3rd sees a change of tack as Miles Franklin-winner and all round legend Frank Moorhouse looks through the keyhole at whether or not we deserve our privacy these days, in the Alan Missen Oration. As someone who is constantly de-tagging photos of myself on Facebook, I can relate. Later that night another legend, Noel Pearson, delivers the John Button oration in what will be an impassioned and informative speech on the need for an indigenous policy shift. Also, some lucky writer will receive 20 grand that night as the John Button Prize is handed out.

Which leaves one of the biggest questions for last – whose problem is poverty? This is part of a series in response to the United Nations DPI/NGO Annual Conference which is taking place in Melbourne and features World Vision CEO Tim Costello. This one goes deep into social and governmental responsibility to work out how we can come to grips with this ever-present and all too easily ignored issue.

Those are this year’s Big Ideas folks. At this late stage some of these may be tricky to get tickets for but if you can get your hands on some they’re well worth it, if only to take your mind off those redecorations up at the Lodge.