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.

05 | We The Australian People

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.

04 | Transformational School education

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.

03 | A Job Guarantee For The Bottom Million 

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.

02 | A Rightful But Not Separate Place

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’.

01 | Who we were, who we are, and who we can be

John Bell

In this fourth and final lecture, John Bell discusses how William Shakespeare imagined a different world and encouraged his audience to do the same.

04 | Soul of the Age - Imaginary Forces with John Bell

In this third lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses Shakespeare's Women and how through his female characters he imagined a better world.

03 | Soul of the Age — Shakespeare's Women with John Bell

In this second lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses what Shakespeare can teach us about governance, about politics and power.

02 | Soul of the Age - Order vs Chaos with John Bell

In 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.

01 | Soul of the Age — Life lessons from Shakespeare with John Bell

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.

03 | The economics of inequality

Each year since 1959, the ABC has sparked conversation about critical ideas with the Boyer Lectures. The 2020 Boyer Lecture series is called 'Rebooting Australia: How ethical entrepreneurs can help shape a better future' and is presented by philanthropist and business leader Dr Andrew Forrest AO.

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 seas.

02 | Lighting up our ocean

In this first Boyer lecture, leading philanthropist and businessman Andrew Forrest calls for an urgent move to green hydrogen "on a global scale". For Dr Forrest, the question is not whether green hydrogen will become the next global energy form, but who will be the first to mass-produce it?

01 | Oil vs Water — Confessions of a carbon emitter

In Rachel Perkins final Boyer lecture she details the dual proposal for a Makarrata Commission and a process of truth telling about our nation.

03 |The End of Silence: Makarrata

From colonial times to the present, Indigenous people have wanted a say about the laws and policies that affect them. Rachel Perkins discusses what needs to be done to guarantee that the Indigenous voice is heard.

02 |The End of Silence: With the consent of the natives

Rachel Perkins reminds us of the significance of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and why it's the most important message Indigenous people have sent to their fellow Australians in over four decades.

01 | The End of Silence: The genesis of the Uluru statement

How advances in genetics and biomedicine have quietly brought eugenics back from exile.

01 | Back to the future of eugenics

Human GMOs already walk amongst us and the implications of this are enormous.

02 | Gene genie

There's a dark side of stem cell research — John Rasko shines a light on the low points and scandals of unproven cell therapies.

03 | Sins of the flesh

In the fields of gene and cell therapies we've already crossed many thresholds — but do we really understand the consequences of what we're doing?

04 | Life immortal

Professor Genevieve Bell outlines her proposal for how Australia should build its digital future. This talk was recorded in front of a live audience in Studio 22 at ABC Ultimo on Saturday 21 October, 2017, and features questions from former Boyer lecturer and sociologist Eva Cox and chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission Lucy Turnbull.

Fast, smart and connected: How to build our digital future

Some of the subject matter is regurgitating the usual busy talk of how technology is revolutionizing our lives. It’s all been said before in blogs and editorials. The emergence of a digital world is not news to the younger generation maybe this is pitched to the baby boomers. 

Earlier years have tackled more interesting subject matter.

Not as interesting in recent years

Murdoch did not rise from 22-year-old publisher of a local daily in Australia into the master of multi-media without keen insight and savvy business sense.  He might be in his 70s, but he gets the new world order of news better than most of the 30-40 year olds.  This is a must listen for anyone involved in the media.

Brilliant

Boyer Lectures

Genevieve Bell

What does it mean to be human, and Australian, in a digital world?

Introducing 2017 Boyer Lecturer, Prof Genevieve Bell

Absence of the nurturing and presence of the harmful are important for the whole of life and are strong contributors to inequalities in adult health. There is much we can do to make things better at both the level of national policy and at the local level supporting families and children.

Give every child the best start

There are large inequalities in health within and between countries. To explain this we have to look at the social determinants of health—the conditions in which people are born, grow, live work and age; and inequities in power, money and resources.

Health inequality and the causes of the causes

There are examples from around the world, of community and government actions that make a difference to health inequalities. Creating the conditions for individuals to take control over their lives will enable social flourishing of all members of society.

Social justice and health: making a difference

Unemployment is bad for health, but work can damage health, too. When work is no longer the way out of poverty, health suffers.

Living and working

Professor Genevieve Bell explains why she’s returned home after decades in Silicon Valley, and explores Australia’s role in building our current digital world.

Fast, smart and connected: Where it all began

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Every Monday & Wednesday.

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