The Minefield - ABC RN Podcast
1) The Art of Living: Jane Austen’s “Emma”
In Jane Austen’s novel Emma, we find an abiding concern with the demands, not just of propriety, but of morality, an attentiveness to the dangers of self-deception, and vivid reminders of the importan...Show More
2) Persuasion — is it possible, or even desirable?
Far too much debate today is more like a play of competing monologues, or self-promotion designed to perform for one’s tribe. Should we give up on the fantasy of persuasion through argumentation and c...Show More
3) Is Julian Assange entitled to a “free speech” defence?
Julian Assange’s defenders claim that the free speech protections afforded to news organisations should apply to Assange as well — and that his impending extradition to the US therefore poses a threat...Show More
4) What’s the point of political comedy?
While political comedy has long been a distinguishing feature of truly democratic cultures, one of the more notable shifts over the past two decades has been the merger of comedy into political commen...Show More
5) What would a First Nations Voice mean for Australia?
Five years after the historic gathering at the red centre, Anthony Albanese used his election night victory speech to “commit to the Uluru Statement from the Heart in full”. Professor Megan Davis join...Show More
6) The ethical dilemmas of crowd-funding platforms
Social media platforms have been the objects of unrelenting public and political scrutiny over the past decade. Rather less attention has been paid to their more benign cousins — so called “crowd-fund...Show More
7) What is the significance of Australia’s federal election?
Does the 2022 federal election tell us anything about the future of Australian democracy? We know that the Coalition was resoundingly defeated. But does Australia’s new patchwork parliament hold out a...Show More
8) How do you solve a problem like housing affordability?
There is an inescapable conflict that any policy meant to address housing affordability must contend with: in order to make home-ownership more achievable for some, the value of houses must decrease —...Show More
9) Is it ethical to be ambivalent?
We live in a time when “hot” emotions prevail. It could be that an alternative sentiment, in some ethically complex circumstances, is ambivalence — which is to say, a willingness to withhold judgment,...Show More
10) Sovereignty, security, and the Solomon Islands
By turning the Solomon Islands into a federal election “issue”, Australia has emphasised the national security implications of their agreement with China. PM Manasseh Sogavare has, in response, assert...Show More