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 the paradox of Australians' declining trust in politicians alongside their continued faith in the integrity of electoral processes.
This year's keynote is Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and visiting professor at the University of NSW, whose lecture "Australia is Freaking Amazing", is enthusiastic about our strong institutions and asks whether Australia needs a form of conservative radicalism?
The second lecturer is the Hon John Anderson, AO, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister, whose talk, 'Our Civilisational Moment' argues that Australia lacks the spirit, not the machinery of democracy.
Our third lecturer is Larissa Behrendt, a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, and host of the ABC Radio National's Speaking Out program. Her lecture, 'Justice, Ideas and Inclusion' outlines the strengths and pitfalls of our country's legal system, and how our democracy might be enriched by our First Nations' peoples' wisdom of interdependence.
Amelia Lester, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy magazine, our fourth lecturer, examines how Artificial Intelligence could potentially undermine democracy here, in her lecture entitled 'AI, On Australia's Terms'.
And in the final lecture, James Curran, author and professor of modern history at the University of Sydney, will argue that the US Presidency holds advantages for Australia, if we are brave enough to take them, and to confront possible changes in our historic alliance, in his speech, 'Trump's Gift'.
The keynote lecture will be broadcast on October 18 on ABC-TV and on consecutive Sundays starting October 19 on ABC Radio National's Sunday Extra program, at 8.05am.
Sunday 26th October at 8.05am you can hear Hon John Anderson's lecture
Sunday 2nd November at 8.05am tune in to hear Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt
Sunday 9th November at 8.05am on Radio National Amelia Lester will give her lecture
Sunday 16th November at 8.05am on Radio National you can hear Professor James Curran's lecture 'Trump's Gift'
All lectures can also be watched via ABC iview and heard at any time on the ABC ListenApp.
All content for Boyer Lectures is the property of ABC listen and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
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 the paradox of Australians' declining trust in politicians alongside their continued faith in the integrity of electoral processes.
This year's keynote is Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and visiting professor at the University of NSW, whose lecture "Australia is Freaking Amazing", is enthusiastic about our strong institutions and asks whether Australia needs a form of conservative radicalism?
The second lecturer is the Hon John Anderson, AO, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister, whose talk, 'Our Civilisational Moment' argues that Australia lacks the spirit, not the machinery of democracy.
Our third lecturer is Larissa Behrendt, a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, and host of the ABC Radio National's Speaking Out program. Her lecture, 'Justice, Ideas and Inclusion' outlines the strengths and pitfalls of our country's legal system, and how our democracy might be enriched by our First Nations' peoples' wisdom of interdependence.
Amelia Lester, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy magazine, our fourth lecturer, examines how Artificial Intelligence could potentially undermine democracy here, in her lecture entitled 'AI, On Australia's Terms'.
And in the final lecture, James Curran, author and professor of modern history at the University of Sydney, will argue that the US Presidency holds advantages for Australia, if we are brave enough to take them, and to confront possible changes in our historic alliance, in his speech, 'Trump's Gift'.
The keynote lecture will be broadcast on October 18 on ABC-TV and on consecutive Sundays starting October 19 on ABC Radio National's Sunday Extra program, at 8.05am.
Sunday 26th October at 8.05am you can hear Hon John Anderson's lecture
Sunday 2nd November at 8.05am tune in to hear Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt
Sunday 9th November at 8.05am on Radio National Amelia Lester will give her lecture
Sunday 16th November at 8.05am on Radio National you can hear Professor James Curran's lecture 'Trump's Gift'
All lectures can also be watched via ABC iview and heard at any time on the ABC ListenApp.
In 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 transformative than fire, and even worthy of threatening our very human nature, what needs to happen?
If it seems that we are being carried along a road without return, Amelia begs to differ, arguing that given Australia’s track record in standing up for workers’ rights and human rights puts us in a good place to exercise action against these threats to our very humanness.
“A handful of big tech companies control what we know about AI, and because these companies want to consolidate oligopoly control over the AI ecosystem, we’re constantly having to parse what’s factual and what’s hype. But just because AI’s hard to talk about, doesn’t mean we have to resign ourselves to it, or any technology, being harmful to humanity.”
Credits:
Presented by Amelia Lester, deputy editor at Foreign Policy Magazine in Washington.
Series curated and introduced by Dr Julia Baird
Executive Producer, Julia Baird
Producer, Gail Boserio
Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite
Larissa 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 third Boyer Lecture for 2025, she presents a three-point remedy to get us past the ‘us and them’ mentality, highlighting the necessity and importance of truth and story-telling and the critical importance of universities, the arts and creative and cultural institutions to forge a truly healthy democracy.
Larissa Behrendt also advocates for the inclusion of ancient Indigenous philosophies into our traditional Western liberal traditions, to create a truly inclusive and engaging democracy.
“The law is shaped by power. It reflects who has a voice, and who does not. If we want a fairer society, we must ensure the law listens to those too often silenced. And we have to acknowledge that at the heart of the Constitution, there lies an historic and structural wound.”
Credits
Presented by Larissa Behrendt, AO
Series curated and introduced by Julia Baird
Executive Producer, Julia Baird
Producer, Gail Boserio
Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite
In 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 understands, is inextricably linked to what happens to the global democratic order.
John Anderson argues for the need to counter distrust, disengagement and other pressing social issues, and has found in talking to many young participants in his podcast series, that the views of the young need to be far better respected to foster new Australian leadership.
“As the great American economic historian Thomas Sowell put it best, ‘Civilisation doesn’t always sustain itself, it has to be built, maintained, defended, and most importantly understood.’ When that understanding is lost, decline is not just likely, it becomes inevitable. And that’s the illusion we’re living under today – that civilisation is permanent – but it isn’t.”
Credits:
Presented by Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia
Series curated and introduced by Dr Julia Baird
Executive Producer, Julia Baird
Producer, Gail Boserio
Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite
The 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 form of conservative radicalism to preserve them.
“Australia’s institutions are world-leading – which might seem like an unlikely argument if you follow the news. Every day we’re bombarded by bulletins of broken institutions: Power-hungry politicians; dysfunction and deadlocked debate, and the maddening messiness of democracy. But travel the world and you’ll get a different perspective. Australia’s rules aren’t perfect, but just about every other country is imperfect-er.”
Credits:
Presented by Justin Wolfers., Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
Series curated and introduced by Julia Baird
Executive Producer, Julia Baird
Producer, Gail Boserio
Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite
"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 children over 30 years has created a whole new choral repertoire and a new standard for children’s choirs. In the final Boyer Lecture for 2024, she looks at different kinds of excellence, what accessibility really means, and the pathways that choral singing reveals to young musicians.
Iain 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 long journey from childhood piano lessons to a mature acquisition of knowledge that only serves to reveal how much more understanding is still to seek.
“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 programmer. And as the Artistic Director of Ensemble Dutala, Australia’s first First Nations chamber ensemble, he’s working to rectify the conditions in the classical music industry that often see him being the only Indigenous person in an orchestra.
In their 2024 Boyer Lecture, Aaron traces the ways that classical music in Australia has attempted to fold in Indigenous ideas, music, and people – from the appropriative, to the naive, the collaborative, and the groundbreaking.
This lecture was written on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land and produced on Gadigal Land.
"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 mentorship, music education, and opportunity have led her into a deep relationship with so-called classical music that reaches far beyond her career. Through the lens of her twenty six year collaboration with Helen Ayres and Tim Nankervis, the other two members of her Seraphim Trio, Anna talks about finding kairos: "the right, shared moment".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In 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.
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. He identifies a speech by John Howard in 2007, which Pearson says offered 'the core rationale for constitutional recognition', and began the 15-year process to a referendum.
Noel 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’.
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 the paradox of Australians' declining trust in politicians alongside their continued faith in the integrity of electoral processes.
This year's keynote is Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and visiting professor at the University of NSW, whose lecture "Australia is Freaking Amazing", is enthusiastic about our strong institutions and asks whether Australia needs a form of conservative radicalism?
The second lecturer is the Hon John Anderson, AO, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister, whose talk, 'Our Civilisational Moment' argues that Australia lacks the spirit, not the machinery of democracy.
Our third lecturer is Larissa Behrendt, a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman, Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, and host of the ABC Radio National's Speaking Out program. Her lecture, 'Justice, Ideas and Inclusion' outlines the strengths and pitfalls of our country's legal system, and how our democracy might be enriched by our First Nations' peoples' wisdom of interdependence.
Amelia Lester, a deputy editor at Foreign Policy magazine, our fourth lecturer, examines how Artificial Intelligence could potentially undermine democracy here, in her lecture entitled 'AI, On Australia's Terms'.
And in the final lecture, James Curran, author and professor of modern history at the University of Sydney, will argue that the US Presidency holds advantages for Australia, if we are brave enough to take them, and to confront possible changes in our historic alliance, in his speech, 'Trump's Gift'.
The keynote lecture will be broadcast on October 18 on ABC-TV and on consecutive Sundays starting October 19 on ABC Radio National's Sunday Extra program, at 8.05am.
Sunday 26th October at 8.05am you can hear Hon John Anderson's lecture
Sunday 2nd November at 8.05am tune in to hear Distinguished Professor Larissa Behrendt
Sunday 9th November at 8.05am on Radio National Amelia Lester will give her lecture
Sunday 16th November at 8.05am on Radio National you can hear Professor James Curran's lecture 'Trump's Gift'
All lectures can also be watched via ABC iview and heard at any time on the ABC ListenApp.
