Experience ANU

Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, Professor Bruce Chapman and Dr Ken Henry reflect on their experiences of how power, politics and personality have influenced the ability to introduce innovative policy both here in Australia and in the UK. Using examples such as the policy response to the Global Financial Crisis, the Higher Education Contribution Scheme and the UK’s Congestion Charge, they explore what did...

There is a widespread view among analysts and policy makers in the Middle East region and beyond that President Barack Obama’s handling of the oil-rich but volatile Middle East has not been deft. His policy actions or lack of them have contributed to regional instability, and disillusioned some of America’s traditional Arab allies, most importantly Saudi Arabia. President Obama has been criticized...

The Vote: 2016 Federal Election Series, presented in partnership with Policy Forum.net, is an opportunity to engage with ANU public policy experts during the 2016 Federal Election. In this podcast, three ANU public policy experts offer a no holds barred overview of the election, looking at the policy, politics and predictions ahead of us for the next eight weeks. Panellists include: - Quentin Graf...

Iconic Australian, Ken Done talks about his new book, A Life Coloured In, an exuberant memoir by one of Australia's best-loved artists. Ken Done has an extraordinary place in the hearts of Australians - many of whom have worn or decorated homes with his artwork. Taylor Swift was given a specially commissioned Ken Done artwork to commemorate her December 2015 Australian tour. Done donated his fee t...

This presentation looks at the unique characteristics of Generations Y and Z, and the implications of these characteristics for society and organisational security. The presentation also looks at the role of these two generations in terrorist groups. Professor Clive Williams MG is an Honorary Professor at the ANU Centre for Military Security and Law, and a Visiting Fellow at the ANU Strategic and...

The second in the Conversations Across the Creek series was a lively discussion of the abstract beauty of mathematics, the crisis of too much data, the possibilities of a universal language, and the potentials of machine learning within the constraints of making something which doesn't not work. Also mentioned: hammers, certainty, ethics, and Proust. This session’s speakers were: Professor Anna Wi...

Australians came to the ABC's 2015 TV series The Killing Season in their droves, their fascination with the Rudd-Gillard struggle as unfinished as the saga itself. 'The Killing Season: Uncut' takes readers behind the scenes with new on-the-record material and telling insights into the key players of this dramatic period in Australian politics. Sarah Ferguson says "The making of The Killing Season...

This talk was recorded at the launch of Dr Andrew Glikson's and Professor Colin Groves' latest book 'Climate, Fire and Human Evolution: The Deep Time Dimensions of the Anthropocene'. Dr Glikson and Professor Groves were also joined by Professor Will Steffen and Professor Stephen Eggins to explore future climate trends and debate the philosophy of science. 'Climate, Fire and Human Evolution' uses E...

Stan Grant discusses his new book, Talking To My Country, a powerful and personal meditation on race, culture and national identity. Talking To My Country is not just about race, or about Indigenous people but all of us, our shared identity. This is his very personal meditation on what it means to be Australian, what it means to be Indigenous, and what racism really means in this country. Stan Gra...

Kerry O'Brien joined Lenore Taylor in conversation on 30 October 2015 to discuss his long awaited book, Keating. As there will never be an autobiography nor a memoir from Paul Keating, this book is as good as it gets: funny, sweeping, angry, imaginative, mischievous, with arrogance, a glimmer of humility and more than a touch of creative madness.

This talk looks at Syria’s history since the First World War, the events leading up to the Arab Spring uprising in Syria, the nature of the Syrian conflict since 2011, and the reasons for the current refugee crisis. Clive Williams is a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Military and Security Law at the ANU. He has worked extensively in conflict zones and was last in the Middle East in August 201...

Despite the recent rhetoric about transferring responsibilities back to the States and ensuring each jurisdiction has sovereignty in its own sphere of responsibilities including to raise the revenues needed to meet its spending commitments, reform of the Australian Federation will hopefully take a more pragmatic form, building on the growing demand for national policies - and growing range of inte...

Australia has offered an emissions reduction target for the Paris talks that is significantly below that of the European Union and which even falls short of the United States target. Australia needs to re-engage with the rest of the world, which is increasingly aware of the impact of dangerous climate change. It is simply too urgent to opt out - we need action now. The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord De...

Malcolm Walter, Professor of Astrobiology (retired) at the University of NSW and Founding Director of the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, presents the 2015 The David Cooper Memorial Lecture. In this talk he examines where the best place to look for life on Mars would be and why discovering life on the Red Planet is so important.

David Marr joins Laura Tingle in conversation to discuss his new quarterly essay on Bill Shorten – Faction Man Bill Shorten's Path to Power. David Marr is the nation's leading writer of political biography. His Quarterly Essay profiles of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott were national bestsellers. This controversial and brilliant new essay looks at the making of Shorten. It also addresses a key question...

Ten years after his internationally bestselling The Weather Makers, acclaimed scientist and author Tim Flannery argues that Earth's climate system is approaching a crisis. Catastrophe is not inevitable, but time is fast running out. In the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Summit to be held in Paris in December, Atmosphere of Hope provides both a snapshot of the trouble we are in and an...

In The Luck of Politics, The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP weaves together numbers and stories to show the many ways luck can change the course of political events. This is a book full of fascinating facts and intriguing findings. Why is politics more like poker than chess? Does the length of your surname affect your political prospects? What about your gender? The Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP is the Shadow As...

When Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson was on campus last month he sat down for a conversation with Nobel laureate Professor Brian Schmidt to discuss the importance of science, the democratisation of space and the possibility of alien life.

Chris Bowen speaks about his latest book 'The Money Men' an in-depth look at the twelve most notable and interesting men to have held the office of Treasurer of Australia. This talk brings a unique insider perspective to the lessons learned from the successes and failures of those who went before him. The Hon Chris Bowen was appointed Treasurer by Kevin Rudd in 2013 and is the current Shadow Treas...

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report is the world's most comprehensive evaluation of climate change, its potential impacts and the choices we have for responding to it. The report provides leaders with a scientific basis for developing strategies to address climate change. Most importantly, it will be the leading scientific document to inform negotiations...

Professor Sir Richard Evans talks about German history and his advice for budding historians. Sir Richard Evans is Regius Professor Emeritus of History and President of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and Provost of Gresham College, London. His publications include Altered Pasts: Counterfactuals in History; The Coming of the Third Reich; The Third Reich in Power; The Third Reich at War;...

On average, people who live, or have lived, in a Mr Fluffy house probably have higher exposure to asbestos than other Australians. How much this higher exposure increases their risk of asbestos-related disease is uncertain. There is very limited evidence on the level of asbestos exposure in Mr Fluffy houses. Most of the evidence on the health effects of asbestos comes from studies of people heavil...

Australia is a world leader in tobacco control and currently has one of the lowest rates of smoking in the world. Reliable quantitative evidence on the relationship of tobacco smoking to mortality in Australia has not been previously available, and has the potential to contribute to what is known internationally about the contemporary risks of smoking. Professor Emily Banks presents data on the sm...

The specter of massive inequality is haunting modern capitalism, with a small elite – the 1%, 0.01%, 0.001% of billionaires and financiers and the like – gaining the bulk of the benefits of modern economic growth and using their wealth to dominate economies and politics. In virtually every country, labor's share of income has fallen and inequality has increased massively. What, if anything, can we...

From one of the leading thinkers of our time comes a landmark book on the case for constitutional reform - No Small Change: The Road to Recognition for Indigenous Australia by Frank Brennan. This timely book is a stark reminder of the tainted relationship between successive governments, lawmen and Indigenous Australians, but also a provocative lesson on what we can learn from the past. Brennan unp...