http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ en celeste.ecuyer@anu.edu.au Copyright 2009 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/thirsty_work/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/thirsty_work/#When:03:40:10Z Rod Quantock says, "If climate change doesn't scare you, then you don't get the science." Fortunately Quantock does, and when he gives you his take on the physics, chemistry, biology, geology, palaeontology, cosmology and meteorology of climate science you'll get it too. And then... you'll be scared. It's win-win. Sounds like great fun doesn't? It's an edgy mix of panic and hysteria. But that's what you'd expect from someone whose comedy has been described as ‘medicinal'. In his irreverent style and clever humour has proven to be a great avenue to deliver powerful messages about the reality of climate change, water issues and possible outcomes.  This lecture was introduced by Jon Ward, Manager, Environmental Policy, Toyota Motor Corporation Australia. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU College of Physical Sciences, Medicine and Life Science, Physical Science 2009-11-05T03:40:10+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/abolishing_all_nuclear_weapons/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/abolishing_all_nuclear_weapons/#When:03:16:08Z Mr Fraser addressed the current state of nuclear weapons acquisition and distribution and the present danger and opportunities facing the world. He covered the failures in disarmament and non-proliferation and the implications and security challenges nuclear weapons have for Australian Defence policy. Mr Fraser will also discuss the current Rudd Government's initiative of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferations and Disarmament, and what Australia can do to help abolish nuclear weapons. This was the 2009  Dr John Gee Memorial Lecture presented by the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and Lowy institute for International Policy. Public Lecture, International Law, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-11-05T03:16:08+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/does_china_play_by_our_rules_and_how_much_does_it_matter/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/does_china_play_by_our_rules_and_how_much_does_it_matter/#When:02:42:30Z The arrest of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, and more recently China's cancellation of a ministerial visit over Canberra's decision to grant a visa to Uighur figurehead Rebiya Kadeer has put Australia-China relations sharply in focus. Relations between these key trading partners appears rocky at a time many would have envisioned ties to be getting warmer. China's behaviour has prompted many to look at China's internal politics and rule of law, as well as the price paid for dealing with China and the implications of China's seemingly inevitable rise. Is Stern Hu a pawn in an as yet unclear larger political game? What rules are a giant like China playing by? How will these affect an inextricably linked Australia? Public Lecture, International Business, International Law, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Law, Asia and the Pacific 2009-11-05T02:42:30+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/australia_china_relations_a_long_term_view/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/australia_china_relations_a_long_term_view/#When:02:32:51Z In this speech to the ANU China Institute The Hon Stephen Smith MP,  Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, spoke on the Australia-China Relationship and discussed China's importance to Australia and put in context recent events in the bilateral relationship. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-11-05T02:32:51+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/president_obamas_new_afghanistan_pakistan_strategy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/president_obamas_new_afghanistan_pakistan_strategy/#When:06:10:07Z Shifting resources from Iraq to the so called ‘war of necessity' in Afghanistan by President Obama, while significant, is unlikely to be effective. This is largely because the fundamental assumptions long held by the Bush administration policy makers about the nature of the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, their conception of terrorism and how to defeat it, and how to reclaim American and global security remain unchanged. Without honest reconsideration of such assumptions within the broader American political culture, any re-appraisal of current policies which could result in a more effective comprehensive strategy for addressing the increasing violence and political stability in the region will be unlikely. Public Lecture, International Law, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-10-23T06:10:07+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_australian_labour_market_in_booms_slumps/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_australian_labour_market_in_booms_slumps/#When:06:04:32Z Professor Gregory will look back and analyse employment, skill imbalances, hours worked and welfare interactions in each of the economic booms and slumps over the last four decades and ask is Australia making progress in overcoming what appear to be entrenched structural problems in the labour market? He will also look forward to the next economic upswing and conjecture whether labour market outcomes will be very different from past experiences? He will comment on the changing labour market outcomes for men and women. Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, University, Business and Economics 2009-10-23T06:04:32+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/clash_between_genes_modern_life_making_us_sick/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/clash_between_genes_modern_life_making_us_sick/#When:05:59:52Z This address introduces the ideas in Professor Greg Gibson's new book It Takes a Genome. The last two years have seen a revolution in genome scientists' ability to find the genes that influence whether a person is likely to suffer from any one of the major common chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, depression, or dementia. The shocking result, though, is that rather than a few dozen genes in each case, there are hundreds if not thousands in play, each of which contributes a small effect. These are analogous to dark matter in the Universe: they must be there, but we cannot easily see them. As well as explaining this conundrum and discussing the implications, Gibson will present the idea that chronic disease arises out of a very modern imbalance: there is a disconnect between our rapidly evolved human genome and the dramatic transitions in human lifestyles over the past few generations. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Medicine and Life Science 2009-10-23T05:59:52+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/beyond_guarding_ground/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/beyond_guarding_ground/#When:23:23:03Z In the past 20 years Indigenous Australians have called for greater recognition of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. The intellectual property system doesn't acknowledge Indigenous communal ownership of cultural expressions and knowledge passed down through the generations, and nurtured by Indigenous cultural practice. Sacred knowledge is also at risk.This lecture sketched out the ground gathered by Indigenous copyright cases and examine international model laws and draft provisions. Ms Janke argued for greater infrastructure to support and defend Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights. Her vision is for a National Indigenous Cultural Authority to facilitating consent and payment of royalties; to develop standards of appropriate use to guard cultural integrity, and to enforce rights. Public Lecture, Indigenous Studies, University 2009-10-15T23:23:03+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/rudds_concept_asia_pacific_community/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/rudds_concept_asia_pacific_community/#When:23:13:42Z In June 2008, the Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. Kevin Rudd, spoke of the need to begin a "regional debate about where we want to be in 2020". In particular, he outlined the need for an Asia Pacific Community, in which there would be "dialogue, cooperation and action on economic and political matters and future challenges related to security." This speech, delivered to the Asia Society AustralAsia Centre in Sydney, certainly began a debate in Australia. During the speech, he appointed Richard Woolcott AC as Australia's envoy, to conduct discussions with governments in the region. Woolcott will speak about the Prime Minister's Community concept, the attitudes towards it in the region, and the likely future of debate in the area. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-10-15T23:13:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/does_pay_for_performance_improve_the_quality_of_primary_care/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/does_pay_for_performance_improve_the_quality_of_primary_care/#When:05:25:39Z Governments, internationally and in Australia, are increasingly encouraging team-based care in frontline health systems using various incentives. Dr Campbell will provide an overview of the impact of financial incentives on the performance of primary care professionals. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Medicine and Life Science 2009-10-12T05:25:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/working_towards_a_connected_frontline_health_system/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/working_towards_a_connected_frontline_health_system/#When:00:41:03Z Commonwealth Government needs to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Australia's health care system. Primary health care provides the first point of contact for patients and is touted as the cornerstone of a more effective health system, but it is undermined by fragmented services. Frontline clinicians need be able to provide comprehensive, coordinated and personalised care to patients, particularly those with multiple serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and depression. Dr Stange looked at the challenges facing the primary care system in the United States that could inform the Australian health community as it grapples with a major reform process. The lecture was based on a series of editorials that will appear in the international journal Annals of Family Medicine, focusing particularly on understanding and organising health as a science of connectedness. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Medicine and Life Science 2009-10-01T00:41:03+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/obesity_complex_problem/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/obesity_complex_problem/#When:00:47:42Z Obesity has increased dramatically across the world, and there is currently no solution to its control. While obesity is easily understood as the positive imbalance of energy intake and expenditure, this does not explain why it is easy to overeat and underexercise. Explanatory models that feed into energy balance include those of obesogenic environments, thrifty genotype, obesogenic behaviour, obesogenic culture, nutrition transition, political economic structures and biocultural interactions of genetics, environment, behaviour and culture. The last of these models has obesity as an outcome of the complex systems which constitute modern life, and in which biology, environment, sociality, economics, infrastructure, culture and behaviour interact. An attempt to understand obesity as complex system has come with an initiative of the British government, in which a qualitative systems map of obesity for the British population has been generated. In this presentation, various models of population obesity are considered in relation to the idea of obesity as complex system. Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Humanities, Medical & Health Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2009-09-29T00:47:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strucure_randomness_in_prime_numbers/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strucure_randomness_in_prime_numbers/#When:00:07:42Z "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on with the prime numbers" - Paul Erdos The prime numbers are a fascinating blend of both structure and randomness. It is widely believed that beyond the ‘obvious' structures in the primes, they otherwise behave as if they were distributed randomly; this ‘pseudorandomness' then underlies our belief in many unsolved conjectures about the primes, from the twin prime conjecture to the Riemann hypothesis. This pseudorandomness has been frustratingly elusive to actually prove rigorously, but recently there has been progress to establish new results about the primes, such as that they contain arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. Some of these developments will be discussed in this lecture. Public Lecture, Mathematical Sciences, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-09-29T00:07:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/darwins_compass/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/darwins_compass/#When:23:21:45Z Orthodox neo-Darwinism very much emphasises the random and contingent. Re-run the tape of life, as Steven Jay Gould famously observed, and the outcomes would be utterly different. Terrestrial life maybe, but certainly no humans. They, like tulips and tape-worms, are just another evolutionary fluke. The basis of this is hardly surprising: think of random mutations, massive shifts in the environment, not to mention the odd giant rock dropping out of the sky. Life is on a roller-coaster and is flung from one strange place to another. Conway Morris argued for the exact reverse, that evolution is like any other science, that is it is predictable. The mainstay of this argument revolved around evolutionary convergence, the observation that from different starting points evolution arrives at the same solution. A classic example is the camera-eyes (and please do not mention ‘deep homology'), but less appreciated is that convergence is not common, it is ubiquitous. Evidence continues to grow that evolutionary bifurcations are far from random, but probably lead to inevitable outcomes. This suggests the Tree of Life is very different from the sprawling mass of foliage that is commonly envisaged. Also of great importance is the inherency of molecular systems and the capacity for self organisation. Darwinian evolution explains the mechanism, but not the outcomes. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Botany & Zoology, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2009-09-24T23:21:45+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_classics_today/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_classics_today/#When:02:26:19Z This lecture was give at the official launch of the new ANU Bachelor of Classical Studies and the Classics Endowment. Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Humanities, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-16T02:26:19+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/indigenous_australians_mining_developing_a_sustainable_future/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/indigenous_australians_mining_developing_a_sustainable_future/#When:02:46:11Z Indigenous Australians residing in communities in regional and remote Australia are among Australia's most disadvantaged partly because of limited formal economic opportunity. In these areas mining may be the major - and sometimes only - contributor to mainstream economic development. However Indigenous communities have gained only limited long-term economic benefits from mining activity on land that they own. Furthermore, while many Indigenous people place high value on realising non-economic benefits from mining agreements, there may be only limited capacity to deliver such benefits.In this forum four contributors to the monograph Power, Culture, Economy: Indigenous Australians and Mining discussed case studies from large, ongoing mining operations in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory to draw out issues relating to the complex and often problematic relations between major mining corporations and Indigenous people. These include the challenges that Indigenous people face in engaging in multifaceted ways with mine economies, including to their cultural identity and values and the role of the state. Public Lecture, Indigenous Studies, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-15T02:46:11+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/rethinking_the_australian_legend/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/rethinking_the_australian_legend/#When:02:39:42Z Fifty years after its publication Russel Ward's book The Australian Legend remains the classic account of our national origins. In tracing Australia's national ethos to the folksongs and ballads of the 'nomad tribe' of bush workers, Ward and his Leftist contemporaries were rejecting the high culture of international modernism and reviving an older, romantic paradigm of national origins. How did their responses to the events of their time, especially the popular front against fascism, the Second World War, and the beginning of the Cold War, influence their interest in folklore and their belief in the need for a binding national myth? Yearnings for an ancestral past rooted in the land remain a key feature of national culture. What can the story of The Australian Legend tell us about the continuing dilemmas of living in a 'new' country? Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Humanities, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-15T02:39:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/lost_opportunities_and_possibilities_in_australian_foreign_policy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/lost_opportunities_and_possibilities_in_australian_foreign_policy/#When:02:30:27Z Bruce Haigh argues that Australian foreign policy has been, and remains, inept in advancing Australia's national interest. Given the limited independence of Australia's Foreign Minister, and the trend of governments to be perpetually in election mode, Australian foreign policy is too often managed to maximum domestic political gain by the Prime Minister, with negative fallout reserved for Ministers. What has changed since the election of the Rudd Government? How does Australia manage the dual rise of India and China? What understanding does the Rudd government have of the Middle East, or of Afghanistan and Pakistan? Haigh argues that Australia could be capable of meeting the substantial challenges it faces, but that its governments ceaselessly misuse, bungle or outsource policy formulation. His lecture addressed these problems, and suggested the way forward to a truly Australian Foreign Policy. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-15T02:30:27+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/one_year_after_garnaut_review/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/one_year_after_garnaut_review/#When:00:30:39Z Professor Ross Garnaut presented the final report of the Garnaut Climate Change Review to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on 30 September 2008, the morning of the largest ever one day points fall on the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, the histories of the financial crisis and climate change policy have been closely linked. Amongst much else, they have been linked by the challenge that Governments have faced, in Australia, in the United States and elsewhere, in formulating policy in the national interest alongside an extraordinary presence of vested interests in the policy making process. This lecture analysed the past year's history of policy-making on climate change in this difficult context, and assess the prospects of the world developing a satisfactory response to the risks of dangerous human-induced climate change. Part of the Toyota-ANU Public Lecture Series 2009 Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-09-15T00:30:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2009_burgmann_college_annual_lecture/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2009_burgmann_college_annual_lecture/#When:05:18:23Z The Hon Kevin Rudd MP, Prime Minister of Australia, gave the 2009 Burgmann College Annual Lecture. Public Lecture, Humanities, University, Campus Life 2009-09-14T05:18:23+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coal_the_elephant_in_the_room/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coal_the_elephant_in_the_room/#When:04:52:34Z John Ashton, Special Representative for Climate Change at the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office presented a public lecture called, Coal: The Elephant in the Room Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Resource Management, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-09-14T04:52:34+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/antipodean_archaeology_and_the_wider_world/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/antipodean_archaeology_and_the_wider_world/#When:22:48:42Z Aspects of Australian archaeology have had widespread repercussions upon archaeology beyond the Antipodes. In this talk Professor Peter Rowley-Conwy explored a series of ways in which Antipodean archaeology has impacted upon archaeology elsewhere, particularly in Britain and Europe, focusing on three major areas: (1) prehistory and parallel issues which Australia and New Zealand have in common with Europe; (2) the last 250 years and the influence of Antipodean archaeology in the examination of initial contact between Europeans and indigenous peoples; and (3) current attitudes to the past, particularly in relation to who ‘owns' the past, and the repatriation or reburial of prehistoric remains and items. Public Lecture, History & Archeology, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-07T22:48:42+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/problem_of_human_remains_in_anzac_battlefield_gallipoli/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/problem_of_human_remains_in_anzac_battlefield_gallipoli/#When:00:42:47Z During several visits to the Anzac Battlefield at Gallipoli, Turkey, since 2003, Dr Peter Dowling has located human remains exposed in areas of high tourist activity laying on road banks and verges which follow the lines of Allied and Turkish frontline trenches. These remains are in constant danger of being further disturbed or destroyed by the actions of roadworks, coaches and tourist activites. Despite National Trust representations to government authorities to initiate a conservation strategy to protect and conserve these remains little has been done. Dr Dowling discussed these issues and proposed a conservation strategy. This lecture was presented by ANU Centre for Archeaological Research and the Canberra Archaeological Society. Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Humanities, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-01T00:42:47+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/black_holes_and_galaxies/#When:00:21:32Z Evidence has been accumulating for several decades that many galaxies harbor central mass concentrations that may be in the form of black holes with masses between a few million to a few billion time the mass of the Sun. Professor Reinhard Genzel discussed measurements over the last two decades, employing high resolution infrared and radio imaging and spectroscopy on large ground-based telescopes that prove the existence of such a massive black hole in the Centre of our Milky Way, beyond any reasonable doubt. These data also provide key insights into its properties and environment. Future interferometric studies of the Galactics Centre black hole promise to be able to test gravity in its strong field limit. He also briefly summarised the cosmological evolution of massive black holes. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-09-01T00:21:32+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/iran_an_islamic_government_in_crisis/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/iran_an_islamic_government_in_crisis/#When:00:03:54Z The Islamic government of oil-rich Iran is faced with its worst legitimacy crisis since the Iranian revolution that toppled the Shah's pro-Western monarchy and replaced it with an Islamic regime thirty years ago. While it has the capacity to survive the crisis, it may find itself weakened to the extent that it may not be able to cope effectively with mounting domestic problems and foreign policy pressures. Not only is the Iranian population bitterly polarised for and against it, but a serious split has also developed within the ruling clerical elite. If the Iranian leadership fails to accommodate a liberalist Islamist path of reform and inclusion, it could seriously imperil the survival of the Islamic regime in the long run. This lecture sought to discuss the roots of the political upheaval confronting the Iranian government and to assess its future direction. Public Lecture, Philosophy & Religion, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-09-01T00:03:54+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/antisemitism_medieval_and_modern/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/antisemitism_medieval_and_modern/#When:23:45:13Z This lecture covered the essential features of medieval Christian antisemitism and the very different features of modern racial antisemitism, culminating in Nazi antisemitism.  It concluded with an assessment on the connection between historical antisemitism and the antisemitism of today. This was the Herbert and Valmae Freilich Foundation Annual Lecture in Bigotry and Tolerance 2009. Public Lecture, Philosophy & Religion, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-08-31T23:45:13+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/koreas_division_system_regional_implications/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/koreas_division_system_regional_implications/#When:23:26:27Z The partition of the Korean peninsula has since the end of the Korean War solidified into a ‘division system' encompassing two otherwise contrastive societies. This notion enables an important shift from a state- or ideology-oriented approach to a people-oriented one, focusing on the oppression of the preponderant majority of population on both sides. It also implies a shift to a global, rather than a nationalistic perspective since the division system is conceived as a sub-unit of the world-system. The lecture argues that the notion of a 'division-system' is useful in addressing many current issues, for example, the ongoing nuclear crisis in the peninsula and the question of human rights in North Korea. It will discuss various regional arrangements in which South Korea participates, noting the crucial absence of North Korea in most of them and the presence of Australia in a few. This lecture was the  Korea Institute Distinguished Lecture, presented by the ANU Korea Institute. Public Lecture, International Law, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-08-31T23:26:27+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/fires_forests_and_futures/#When:06:51:12Z The sustainability of the Ash forests of Victoria is contentious for a number of reasons, not least because of the pressures of population and economic growth, and climate change on their diverse uses. Attempts to take account of the principle of sustainability in weighing alternative uses have not been widely accepted and the methods used are themselves the subject of debate. But those attempts have been largely grounded in deterministic models. Recent experience in the Ash forests of Victoria indicates that planning and management needs to be much more attuned to the role of fire and to examine future paths stochastically. Such an examination suggests that the zero-sum game being played by the conservation and development camps is more likely to risk than help future sustainability of these forests and that new strategies are needed. This lecture was the Seventh Jack Westoby Lecture, presented by ANU College of Medicine, Biology and Environment. Public Lecture, Botany & Zoology, Environment, ANU College of Science 2009-08-31T06:51:12+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/powering_the_planet/#When:03:43:22Z The supply of secure, clean, sustainable energy is arguably the most important scientific and technical challenge facing humanity in the 21st century. Rising living standards of a growing world population will cause global energy consumption to increase dramatically over the next half century. Within our lifetimes, energy consumption will increase at least two-fold. This additional energy needed is not attainable from long discussed sources, the global appetite for energy is simply too much. Petroleum-based fuel sources could be increased. However, deleterious consequences resulting from external drivers of economy, the environment, and global security dictate that this energy need be met by renewable and sustainable sources. Of the possible sustainable and renewable carbon-neutral energy sources, sunlight is preeminent. If photosynthesis can be duplicated outside of the leaf - an artificial photosynthesis if you will - then the sun's energy can be harnessed as a fuel. The combination of water and light from the sun can be used to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen can then be combined with the oxygen in a fuel cell to give back water and energy. This lecture placed the scale of the global energy issue in perspective and then discussed how an artificial photosynthesis to power our planet might be achieved. This lecture was the 2009 Birch Lecture, presented by the ANU Research School of Chemistry. Public Lecture, Chemical Sciences, Environment, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-08-19T03:43:22+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/open_access_and_the_future_of_scholarly_communication/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/open_access_and_the_future_of_scholarly_communication/#When:03:33:24Z The internet is having a profound impact on the 300-year-old model of scholarly communication. New technologies allow for new modes of interaction between researchers, and a wider audience of administrators, funders, governments and the general public. The lines between formal and informal communication are becoming increasingly blurred and publishers and librarians find themselves playing new roles in the scholarly communication chain. One of the most powerful new ideas to emerge with the development of the internet is open access - the notion that the scholarly research literature should be made available to readers free of charge. This presentation described current developments within the scholarly communications landscape and provides an indicator of possible future directions. This lecture was part of the ANU Public Lecture Series 2009, presented by ANU Division of Information and the National Library of Australia. Public Lecture, Librarianship & Curatorship, Education 2009-08-19T03:33:24+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/russia_and_the_medvedev_presidency_one_year_on/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/russia_and_the_medvedev_presidency_one_year_on/#When:05:00:32Z Speaking shortly after his election as President of the Russian Federation in 2008, Dmitry Medvedev highlighted his priorities in office: to maintain economic stability, to strengthen freedoms, to promote social programs, and to ensure that Russia sustains its position in the world. A year later, Medvedev's record in delivering on these promises is coming under intense scrutiny. What does Russian resurgence actually mean? How well has Russia ridden out the global financial storm? Is authoritarian rule in Russia on the wax or on the wane? What are Moscow's foreign policy objectives in dealing with the West, the Asia-Pacific, and former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine? Does Russian energy imperialism exist, or is it a product of Cold War-like paranoia? Who controls the Kremlin - Medvedev or Putin? The answers to these, and many other relevant questions, will be discussed to coincide with the first anniversary of Medvedev's inauguration as the President. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific 2009-08-13T05:00:32+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/sentiments_spectators_adam_smiths_moral_psychology/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/sentiments_spectators_adam_smiths_moral_psychology/#When:04:48:56Z Adam Smith offers a wonderfully lucid argument for thinking that people can legitimately be praised or blamed only on the basis of the agent's "intention or affection of the heart" and not on the actual effects of the action, over which fortune, rather than the agent, has control.  He then notes that our judgments of people do not respect the force of this argument.  Our judgments of merit and demerit are regularly, and systematically, influenced by circumstances over which the agent has no control.  He argues this is a good thing.  Strikingly, Smith never goes back to the original argument to explain where it has gone wrong.  He simply moves on.  Similarly, when Smith acknowledges that the considerations that recommend regulating our own sentiments of morality by those of the impartial spectator seem to demand appeal to an ideal observer, who is fully informed and equi-sympathetically involved with all concerned, while he argues that the impartial spectator we rely on is predictably less than ideal.  Again, Smith never goes back to reconcile the tension.In both cases, principled argument recommends a conclusion belied by practice.  And practice is vindicated, Smith argues, by appeal to its contribution to "the happiness and perfection of the species."  In both cases too it is plausible to see his defence of actual (unprincipled) practice as grounding out in a familiar version of utilitarianism.   On this view, morality, no less than the market, works as if an invisible hand is guiding us towards the very outcomes utilitarianism vindicates.  Yet, Sayre-McCord argued, reading Smith in this way fails to capture the subtlety and complexity of his view and saddles him with an overarching theory of value he has no reason to accept. This was the 2009 John Passmore Lecture presented by the ANU Philosophy Program. Public Lecture, Philosophy & Religion, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-08-13T04:48:56+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/working_together_for_better_health_care_system/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/working_together_for_better_health_care_system/#When:06:03:18Z Research findings and government reports indicate Australia's primary health care workforce is facing significant challenges and is lagging behind in its use of teamwork approaches. The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission report finds that multi-disciplinary teams could help provide better primary health care services. However, getting GPs, nurses and other health care professionals to work together requires inter-professional learning. Professor Debra Humphris provided an overview of the impact of teamwork development within primary health care in the UK and its implications for the way services are delivered in Australia. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2009-08-06T06:03:18+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/financial_crisis_what_happened_and_why/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/financial_crisis_what_happened_and_why/#When:06:01:30Z The lecture comprised a description and an analysis of (some aspects of) the current financial crisis.  The crisis is viewed as a "financial perfect storm" resulting from a combination of developments in global markets for goods and financial assets.  Special attention is devoted to the incentives created by developments in financial markets in the United States and the United Kingdom.   A comparison of the experiences of these two countries is used in assessing the relative importance of the various changes in incentives.  At some points, comparisons with what happened in other countries help in isolating the key changes. This lecture was presented by the Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis,  ANU College of Business and Economics, as part of the ANU Public Lecture Series 2009. Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Business and Economics, Business and Economics 2009-07-28T06:01:30+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/become_a_millionaire_without_losing_your_soul/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/become_a_millionaire_without_losing_your_soul/#When:03:54:18Z One of the few attractive ways of escaping the current economic depression is to create new companies and new industries. Scientific research provides perhaps the best starting point. Just how this can be achieved is illustrated by successful examples from Oxford University. From the Chemistry Department alone six members of staff have become millionaires without giving up their university posts or being given dispensation from duties. Professor W. Graham Richards graduated in Chemistry from Brasenose College, Oxford in 1962, and was a Fellow of Brasenose and lecturer, reader and professor at Oxford for over 40 years. For the last 10 years until his retirement in 2007 he was Head of Chemistry, the largest chemistry department in the Western World. This lecture was presented by The John Curtin School of Medical Research. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2009-07-27T03:54:18+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/why_consciousness_does_not_extend_outside_brain/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/why_consciousness_does_not_extend_outside_brain/#When:02:25:24Z There are good reasons for thinking that the physical basis of cognition can be reasonably taken to extend outside the brain to the body and the world.    But not so for consciousness.  This lecture goes into the logic of experiments that show that even if cognition is extended, consciousness is not.  Smart was right: if consciousness is physical, it is a brain process. JACK SMART LECTURE Professor J J C Smart was Professor and Head of Philosophy at the Research School of Social Sciences, ANU from 1979 until 1986. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, in 1990 he was made a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia for services to philosophy and education. The Jack Smart Lecture is held annually in his honour. Public Lecture, Philosophy & Religion, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-07-20T02:25:24+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/should_we_ban_the_burka/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/should_we_ban_the_burka/#When:03:14:13Z A public debate hosted by The Australian National University and The Canberra Times.Muslim women's dress codes have come into the political spotlight in both Muslim-majority and non-Muslim societies. At one end of the spectrum the state has sought to enforce Islamic dress codes while at the opposite end the state has sought to ban certain items of women's religious dress.Under the Taliban, Afghan women were forbidden to appear in public unless they were wearing the all-enveloping burka. Now, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has proclaimed that the burka and other forms of face-covering are not welcome in France.In Australia, too, Muslim women's dress has been at the centre of a heated political and social debate.This public debate brought together three leading figures to discuss questions such as whether we should ban the burka or respect the right to wear it, if the burka is a form of male oppression, what would be the effect of banning a piece of women's clothing and does the state have a place in a woman's wardrobe? Moderated by Professor Hilary Charlesworth. Public Lecture, Philosophy & Religion, Society & Culture, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific 2009-07-16T03:14:13+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/next_100_years/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/next_100_years/#When:04:13:59Z In his book The Next 100 Years, George Friedman offers a lucid, highly readable forecast of the changes we can expect around the world during the twenty-first century. He explains where and why future wars will erupt (and how they will be fought), which nations will gain and lose economic and political power, and how new technologies and cultural trends will alter the way we live in the new century. Drawing on history and geopolitical patterns dating back hundreds of years, Friedman shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, at the dawn of a new era - with changes in store, including: - The US-Jihadist war will conclude - replaced by a second full-blown cold war with Russia.- China will undergo a major extended internal crisis, and Mexico will emerge as an important world power.- A new global war will unfold toward the middle of the century between the United States and an unexpected coalition from Eastern Europe, Eurasia and the Far East; but armies will be much smaller and wars will be less deadly.- Technology will focus on space - both for major military uses and for a dramatic new energy resource that will have radical environmental implications. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-06-30T04:13:59+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/kingdom_of_saudi_arabia_today/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/kingdom_of_saudi_arabia_today/#When:02:34:05Z HRH Prince Turki AlFaisal is Chairman of the Board of the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He is one of Saudi Arabia's leading intellectuals, with a very rich record of public service.  A graduate of Georgetown University in Washington DC, Prince Turki was appointed as an Advisor to the Royal Court in 1973 and subsequently served as the Director of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) from 1977 to 2001.  In 2002, Prince Turki was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, and from 2005 until 2007 served as Ambassador to the United States. Prince Turki currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, the International Crisis Group, and the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University.   He is also a Commissioner at the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Philosophy & Religion, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-06-05T02:34:05+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/defence_white_paper/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/defence_white_paper/#When:01:58:11Z This year's Defence White Paper is more than a shopping list for the military.  Behind the force priorities and budget estimates lie key judgments about the kind of regional we expect to live in, and the kind of role Australia expects to play in it.  This lecture explored the underlying policy logic of the White Paper, and discussed where it might take Australia.  Will it equip Australia to remain a middle power in the Asian Century, or mark our acceptance of a future as a small power?  Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-06-05T01:58:11+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/accidental_guerrilla/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/accidental_guerrilla/#When:04:23:31Z   In the first few years of the post-9/11 era, the established models for fighting ‘small wars' proved distressingly ineffective against resilient insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the insurgents fought Western armies to a stalemate, it was clear that a new approach was necessary. Dr David Kilcullen, a former Australian army officer, and one of the world's most influential experts on guerrilla warfare, became a key architect of the West's revamped military strategy. As the senior advisor to General David Patraeus in Iraq, Kilcullen's revolutionary approach to counterinsurgency was an intellectual foundation for ‘the Surge' of 2007.Kilcullen uncovered the face of modern warfare, illuminating both the global challenge, the ‘War on Terrorism,' and small wars across the world in Afghanistan, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, East Timor, and Pakistan. He will explain that today's conflicts are a complex hybrid of contrasting trends that America has tended to conflate, blurring the distinction between local and global struggles, and thereby enormously complicating our challenges. The West has continually misidentified insurgents with limited aims and legitimate grievances-‘accidental guerrillas'-as members of a unified worldwide terror network. We must learn how to disentangle these strands, develop strategies that deal with global threats, avoid local conflicts where possible, and win them where necessary. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-06-02T04:23:31+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_migration_of_skill/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_migration_of_skill/#When:04:12:05Z  This lecture examined the growing phenomenon of international skilled migration with particular attention to its impact on developing countries. A framework was developed for understanding the different measures of ‘brain drain' and how they are related to wage and income differences across countries around the world. Based on new data sources, differences in the prices of skill across countries were estimated and were used to explore how skill price differentials affect the magnitudes and skill-intensity of permanent migration to the United States and Australia and the magnitudes and direction of the flows of foreign students. Particular attention was also paid to the circular flow of migration and to understanding the role of higher education in fostering the outflow of international students and their return to their home countries. Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2009-06-02T04:12:05+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/energy_security_climate_change_europe/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/energy_security_climate_change_europe/#When:04:39:44Z The world faces monumental challenges of ensuring energy supply can meet ever growing needs, while urgently reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The current course we are on will see global energy demand rise 45% by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2008. The report also offers this sobering assessment: The world's energy systems are at a crossroads. Current global trends in energy supply and consumption are patently unsustainable - environmentally, economically, socially. The EU's indigenous energy supplies fall well short of demand, with over 54% of primary energy consumption currently being imported. The European Union does not underestimate the scale of the task ahead. December 2008 saw the formal adoption of measures to put the EU on a path to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, boost energy efficiency and increase the share of renewables in final energy consumption to 20% by 2020. The objectives also include increasing renewables in transport, to encourage the uptake of biofuels and electric vehicles. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, discussed the EU response to its energy security concerns and the threat of climate change. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, University 2009-06-01T04:39:44+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/human_evolution_and_the_atmosphere_a_return_to_the_pliocene/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/human_evolution_and_the_atmosphere_a_return_to_the_pliocene/#When:02:54:05Z   The evolution of Australopithecines and subsequently the Genus Homo from about 4.5 million years ago was intimately related to an overall cooling trend associated with orbital forcing of the Milankovic cycles, natural long-term rhythms of global climate change caused by changes in the position of Earth relative to the sun. These included extreme conditions which forced humans to migrate and adapt through development of sophisticated communications (language) and technological innovation, culminating in the mastering of fire and thereby gaining control over the environment. Since the 18th century there has been a release into the atmosphere of over 300 billion tons of fossil carbon buried over hundreds of millions of years. The consequent increase in atmospheric CO2 levels by nearly 40 percent since 1750 threatens the delicate carbon cycle balance of the atmosphere, which allowed the development of the large ice sheets some 34 million years ago and the development of Neolithic agriculture and civilization from about 9,500 years ago. Current climate trajectories are leading toward atmosphere/ocean conditions similar to those of 3 million years-ago (mid-Pliocene). Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, History & Archeology, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-05-29T02:54:05+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/origin_elements_life/#When:02:36:39Z Human beings are, by nature, curious about their beginnings. Often, such questions of "how we came to be" are confined to the origins of modern society, or the development of human beings as a species. In this lecture, Professor Timothy Beers will endeavour to take the discussion all the way back to the VERY beginning, to the origin of the primary elements required to construct life as we know it -- carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O).Over the past few decades, astronomers and physicists have outlined plausible pathways for the astrophysical production of these elements (and others), from the explosive burning associated with massive stars and the slower contributions of lower-mass stars like the Sun over the history of the Universe. Professor Beers explains how the chemical signatures which can be read in the spectra of stars that are still shining today have provided the clues needed to reconstruct this remarkable story, and how future observations (many of which involve the work of Australian astronomers) will be used to fill out the rich detail of this map of creation.   Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2009-05-29T02:36:39+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/campaigning_to_governing/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/campaigning_to_governing/#When:06:44:40Z Thomas Mann examined President Obama's transition to governing and his first months in office. Particular attention was paid to the organization and staffing of his administration and the setting of policy and its passage through the Congress. Thomas Mann also discussed the various challenges domestic, economic and foreign policy related facing the new President. This Lecture was part of the ANU Public Lecture Series 2009, presented by The Australian National University and Embassy of the United States of America, Canberra. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, University 2009-05-14T06:44:40+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/promises_challenges_developing_new_vaccines/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/promises_challenges_developing_new_vaccines/#When:04:01:15Z Learning how to harness the power of the immune system to combat infectious killers has been one of the most dramatic developments in the history of medicine.  Eradication of smallpox and the near elimination of polio serve to remind us that the destiny of disease can be written by human ingenuity.  These and other great feats continue to inspire us all as we strive to combat major infectious killers of the 21st Century.  Success rarely comes easily and we are enormously challenged by various viruses, bacteria and parasites that collectively cause several million deaths per year.  A common thread of the resistance to immunity and vaccine development is the uncanny ability to escape immune attack by altering coat proteins and to further subvert the immune system.  A major strategy of vaccine development is to identify a non variable region of the organism that can be an immune Achilles heel for the germ.  Another approach is to combine the most common immune determinants ('epitopes') of different strains of a particular organism into a single vaccine in the hope that the vaccine will prevent infection with the majority of strains.  Developing effective vaccines requires not only scientific nous but an understanding of the daily challenges of those peoples whose lives are affected.  It is critical that they are centrally involved in the research program and understand both the hope and the limitations of the various approaches.  If not, it is unlikely they will persist in a collaborative program that may take many decades to realise ultimate success.  Malaria vaccine research, as an example, has provided a roller coaster emotional ride over the last 25 years for both researchers and those living in endemic countries. While this can be disconcerting it is critical that we continue for malaria and the many other challenges that we face.  The consequences of not doing so are too awful to contemplate. This was the World Day of Immunology 2009 Public Lecture. Presented by The John Curtin School of Medical Research and Australasian Society for Immunology. Public Lecture, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2009-05-04T04:01:15+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/vanishing_third_world_emigrants/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/vanishing_third_world_emigrants/#When:04:03:15Z A secular decline in emigration rates from the Third World since the 1990s has gone unnoticed. The recent rise in unemployment in high-wage countries has accelerated the secular decline. These trends have gone unnoticed partly because observers have been obsessed with immigration rates, and partly because of their belief that aging in rich countries will augment the demand for more immigrants. This lecture shows that the Third World supply side matters even more, just as the previous two centuries of history has shown. Third World migrants will begin to vanish from our midst as the 21st century unfolds. This lecture was filmed and broadcast by Slow TV and A-PAC Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific 2009-04-03T04:03:15+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/wage_inequality_comparative_perspective/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/wage_inequality_comparative_perspective/#When:03:54:11Z Wage inequality has been increasing is most industrialised countries over the last two or three decades. There are, nonetheless, major differences across countries in terms of the timing and magnitude of the growth in inequality. A large number of explanations have been suggested for these observed changes, including technological progress and the computer revolution, labour market institutions and social norms, and changes in the relative supply of highly educated workers. The validity of these explanations will be assessed in light of the large differences in inequality growth across countries, and the stunning growth in the concentration of income at the top end of the distribution. Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2009-04-03T03:54:11+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/clear_thinking_about_national_security/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/clear_thinking_about_national_security/#When:23:43:53Z We often behave as if National Security is too important to think clearly about.  Some risks are ignored, while others are exaggerated.  Policies are adopted to meet threats without any clear idea of what exactly the threat is, how serious it might be, and how it could most cost-effectively be addressed.  Major decisions are made on the most slender of bases: invading Iraq, rebuilding Afghanistan, toughening terrorism laws, buying battleships, have all been undertaken without due diligence by Governments, and the public seems hardly to expect any better.  Yet it should be possible to think clearly about national security and defence questions, applying to them the same standards of evidence, argument and diligence that we would expect in other areas of public policy.  In this lecture Professor Hugh White explored some recent examples of unclear thinking about national security in Australia, attempt to explain why such lapses from common standards of rationality are so common, and suggest some ways we could do better.  Along the way Professor White spoke about terrorism, bird flu, global warming and the rise of China. This Lecture was also filmed and broadcast on A-PAC. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-04-02T23:43:53+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/accidental_feminist/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/accidental_feminist/#When:02:29:29Z Many of us born after the success of the 1970s women's liberation movement were raised to think of ourselves as 'people not genders'. We grew up believing that being female would not affect our opportunities or choices. We rejected the idea that women were oppressed and if we thought about feminism at all it was as an historical movement with no relevance to our futures. Genuinely believing that sexism was dead we moved into the worlds of work, marriage and motherhood and got a hell of a shock. We realised that personal declarations of gender blindness are no defence against a world that insists on defining women by their sex. We realised that the ‘limitless' choices women have today are oddly less limitless than the choices of men. We realised that political, economic, sexual, professional, social and domestic equality is far from achieved and that post-feminism is a media myth. We realised that, quite accidentally, we had become feminists. This lecture was filmed and broadcast by Slow TV and A-PAC Public Lecture, Society & Culture, University 2009-04-02T02:29:29+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/quarry_vision/#When:02:00:17Z In this lecture Dr Guy Pearse will spoke about the mindset that sees Australia's greatest asset as its mineral and energy resources - coal especially, asking how has this distorted our national politics and our response to climate change and what happens now that our coal-fired resources boom has gone bust? He also discussed the future of the coal industry and argued with the current economic orthodoxy. He looks at the shadowy world of greenhouse lobbyists; how they think and operate. Quarry vision, he argued, is a carbon-laced trap and a blind faith and a mentality we can no longer afford. This lecture comes from the March 2009 Quarterly Essay by Guy Pearse of the same name. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Science, Asia and the Pacific, Medicine and Life Science 2009-04-02T02:00:17+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/japan_australia_vision_future/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/japan_australia_vision_future/#When:01:51:45Z The Minister for Foreign Affairs discusses where the Australian Government is taking a relationship that Prime Minister Aso recently described as having reached the most productive time in its history. Particularly focussing on: quick, coordinated action through the G20 to get the global economy working again enhancing our already close economic relationship through the early conclusion of a comprehensive free trade agreement turning our bilateral defence cooperation to efforts to improve regional and international security working together in multilateral fora on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and harnessing our technological expertise and growing scientific cooperation in the effort to combat the effects of climate change. The lecture series is organised by the Australia-Japan Research Centre at the Australian National University with the assistance of a grant from the Australia-Japan Foundation. The lecture series honours the two individuals from Australia and Japan who made the greatest contribution to the post-World War Two normalisation of Australia-Japan relations, Sir John Crawford, then Secretary of the Department of Trade and later ANU Vice Chancellor, and Ambassador Haruhiko Nishi, Japan's first Ambassador to Australia (1953-55). The Australia-Japan Research Centre (AJRC) conducts research to explore and improve understanding of the economies and economic policy processes in Australia and Japan and both countries' strategic interests in the Asia Pacific economy. Its policy-oriented areas of interest cover developments in regional economic cooperation and integration and encompass research on trade, finance, macroeconomics and structural and regulatory reform, as well as international economic relations. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-04-01T01:51:45+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/dialogue_justice_peace/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/dialogue_justice_peace/#When:01:27:04Z Our interdependent world creates both new opportunities and new challenges.  The gravest danger today is insecurity, which has taken on global proportions.  In order to deal with the threat of this insecurity, it is imperative for the world community to engage in constructive dialogue, but this must be based on two foundations:  a deep comprehension of civilisations, religions and cultures; and justice. Indeed, in our insecure world, full of extremism and conflict, only serious dialogue, mutual understanding and justice can generate peace and prosperity. This lecture was hosted by Professor Lawrence Cram, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President of The Australian National University and Professor Amin Saikal, Director of ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies. The lecture was followed by Former Prime Minister of Australia, The Right Honourable Malcolm Fraser AC CH, giving the vote of thanks and launching Professor Amin Saikal's book The Rise and Fall of the Shah: Iran from Autocracy to Religious Rule. The book has a new introduction and preface by Professor Saikal, in which he reflects on what has happened in Iran since the fall of the Shah and relates Iran's past to its political present and future. The lecture was presented by the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia), ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences.  Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2009-04-01T01:27:04+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ecology_conservation_public_policy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/ecology_conservation_public_policy/#When:01:28:46Z One of the great challenges of this century is to answer the question: Howdo we bring first class basic science to bear on important appliedproblems? Although the path is not completely clear, it is becoming moreso. Professor Mangel will address a series of sub-questions including: How does the nature of environmental problems differ from other kinds of problems? How do we deal with uncertainty, data and models? How can science support policy making? How do we and what should we learn from other disciplines? After answering these questions, he will provide some suggestions to thenext generation of biologists. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2009-03-27T01:28:46+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/charting_towards_low_carbon_economy/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/charting_towards_low_carbon_economy/#When:03:53:08Z The presentation focuses on three key questions on climate change: what set of policies are desirable? What are the impacts of policy action, and is global action achievable? The first question requires the development of a robust national policy framework and to ensure a set of policies are in place that deliver abatement and adjustment at least cost to the economy. The second question requires an understanding of the causes, nature, and the scale of the economic impacts to achieve the transition to a low carbon future. The third and final question relates to the political economy of international action, and whether a robust and worthwhile agreement is achievable. The lecture  highlights the contribution of economics in providing a response to these important issues. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2008-12-08T03:53:08+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/do_garnauts_targets_add_up/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/do_garnauts_targets_add_up/#When:01:37:08Z On Friday, 5 September 2008, Professor Ross Garnaut released his much awaited supplementary draft report on targets and trajectories. The report argues that Australia's mid- and long-term targets should be to reduce emissions net of international trading by 10 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020, and 80 per cent by m2050. This, we are told, is a proportionate contribution to the ‘achievable' international goal of stabilising the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases at 550 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-e). This lecture, Do Garnaut's targets add up? An analysis of the Garnaut Review's targets and trajectories recommendations, explored whether the proposed national targets are consistent with the goal of stabilising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations at 550 ppm CO2-e and whether the risks associated with his 'overshoot' strategy have been fully explored. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, ANU College of Law, Law 2008-12-02T01:37:08+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/new_horizons_mission_pluto_kuiper_belt/#When:03:50:50Z New Horizons is the first scientific investigation to obtain a close look at Pluto and its moon Charon. Scientists hope to find answers to basic questions about the surface properties, geology, interior makeup and atmospheres on these bodies, the last in our solar system to be visited by a spacecraft. The mission could also visit one or more Kuiper Belt objects.  New Horizons launched on January 19, 2006. It will swing past Jupiter for a gravity boost & scientific studies in early 2007 and reach Pluto in July 2015. Then, as part of an extended mission, the spacecraft would head deeper into the Kuiper Belt to study one or more of the icy mini-worlds in the region a billion miles beyond Neptune's orbit.   To get to Pluto, which is 3 billion miles from Earth, in just 9.5 years, the spacecraft will speed by the planet at a velocity of about 27,000 miles per hour. The instruments on New Horizons will start taking data on Pluto and Charon months before it arrives. About three months from the closest approach - when Pluto and Charon are about 65 million miles away - the instruments will take pictures and spectra measurements and begin to make the first maps.  This Toyota-ANU Public Lecture described the New Horizons mission and its progress since its launch on January 19 2006. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Physical Science 2008-11-20T03:50:50+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/reforming_united_nations/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/reforming_united_nations/#When:23:32:38Z  Graduate students from The Australian National University have greater access to show their skills on the world stage now The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and ANU have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU will give ANU graduate students the chance to apply directly for allocated internships with the UNDP - places fiercely contested by students worldwide. The MOU was signed today at the University by Professor Lawrence Cram, Acting Vice-Chancellor on behalf of the University and Dr Bruce Jenks, Assistant Secretary General of the UNDP and Director of the Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships. Following the signing of the MOU, Dr Jenks spoke to graduate students, staff and alumni of the Graduate Studies in International Affairs on the subject of ‘Reforming the United Nations'. Public Lecture, International Law, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific 2008-11-05T23:32:38+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/speaking_our_language_the_story_of_australian_english/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/speaking_our_language_the_story_of_australian_english/#When:05:10:45Z Speaking Our Language: The Story of Australian English was launched at ANU on 9 October 2008. The book is the first of its kind to trace the development of the Australian accent and the Australian vocabulary of Australian English, and to link these to the major movements in Australian history and culture. Written by the Director of the Australian National Dictionary Centre at ANU, Dr Bruce Moore, the book covers the birth and evolution of the ‘Aussie’ accent, as well as the development of the vocabulary of Australian English. Oxford University Press (OUP) head Dr Henry Reece also used the occasion to announce that OUP was gifting a free online version of the Australian National Dictionary to Australia to mark the publisher's centenary in this country. The Australian National Dictionary is a partnership between OUP and ANU. Public Lecture, Language & Linguistics, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-10-14T05:10:45+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/next_in_line_the_office_of_the_21st_century_2008_act_election_series_forum/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/next_in_line_the_office_of_the_21st_century_2008_act_election_series_forum/#When:23:16:26Z This forum is the second of three public forums hosted by The Australian National University and The Canberra Times.  The three forums pit 2008 ACT Election candidates against each other in the first of its kind ACT Politicians debate. In this forum Deputy Chief Minister Katy Gallagher and Deputy Leader of the Opposition Brendan Smyth debate the topic Next in Line: The Office of the 21st Century. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Business and Economics, Business and Economics 2008-10-08T23:16:26+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/koreas_middle_power_foreign_policy_in_the_21st_century/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/koreas_middle_power_foreign_policy_in_the_21st_century/#When:01:01:57Z This lecture starts by briefly defining the middle power and its role in the regional system. The security environment that the Korean peninsula is facing is later introduced including the North Korean nuclear weapons problem, the rise of China, and human security issues. Korea's foreign policy postures both at bilateral and multilateral levels is also provided. The lecture concludes with a brief introduction of Korea's alliance strategy, policy toward North Korea, policy toward neighbouring countries, and it's leadership role in the Asia-Pacific multilateralism. Public Lecture, International Business, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics 2008-10-07T01:01:57+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/independents_new_choices_2008_act_election_series_forum/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/independents_new_choices_2008_act_election_series_forum/#When:00:53:15Z This forum is the first of three public forums hosted by The Australian National University and The Canberra Times.  The three forums pit 2008 ACT Election candidates against each other in the first of its kind ACT Politicians debate. In this forum candidates Frank Pangallo and Richard J Mulcahy debate the topic New Parties, New Choices? Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Business and Economics, Business and Economics 2008-10-07T00:53:15+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/first_taste_history_culture_in_indigenous_alcohol_use/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/first_taste_history_culture_in_indigenous_alcohol_use/#When:02:26:03Z This public lecture challenges some of the common beliefs that surround Indigenous Australians and the history of 'grog', by discussing the findings of the newly released publication First Taste: How Indigenous Australians Learned About Grog by Maggie Brady (published by the Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation). This publication was released the morning before the lecture and is a series of six books. The series is designed to educate and empower Indigenous people on alcohol issues, to illuminate the influence of history and social learning on drinking behaviour, and to contribute to greater understanding and reconciliation between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians. Public Lecture, Behavioural & Cognitive Sciences, Indigenous Studies, Society & Culture, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-09-24T02:26:03+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_14th_annual_lions_oratory_competition_2008/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_14th_annual_lions_oratory_competition_2008/#When:02:06:30Z The 14th Annual Lions Oratory Competition saw selected ANU students from across the University present eight minute orations to convince the judges and the audience that they deserved to win the ANU Lions Oratory Trophy and prizes totaling $3,000 in cash. The event was hoseted by Esther Sainsbury, last years winner of the 2007 Lions Oratory Competition and judged by an esteemed panel of public-speaking experts. The oratory saw speakers addressing a range of subjects incorporating the Lions' messages of truth, righteousness, peace, love and non-violence - the core values of all major religions.Prizes included: First prize - The ManikKam Reddy Award: $1,500Second prize: $800Third prize: $500Donated by the Lions Club of Canberra Woden People's Choice Award: $400Donated by the Australian National University and the Lions Club of Canberra Woden Public Lecture, Humanities, Society & Culture, Student Life, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Business and Economics, ANU College of Law, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, ANU College of Science, University, Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific, Business and Economics, Campus Life, Law, Medicine and Life Science 2008-09-24T02:06:30+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_k_r_narayanan_oration_why_environmentalism_needs_equity/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_k_r_narayanan_oration_why_environmentalism_needs_equity/#When:01:57:53Z "Why Environmentalism Needs Equity: Learning from the environmentalism of the poor to build our common future". Ms Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science & Environment; Director of the Society for Environmental Communications; and publisher of the fortnightly magazine 'Down to Earth', has been with the Centre from 1982 and has worked hard at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development, and at creating public consciousness about the need for sustainable development. Her research interests are wide-ranging - from global democracy, with a special focus on climate change, to the need for local democracy, within which she has worked both on forest-related resource management and water-related issues. Ms Narain began her career by writing and researching for the State of India's Environment reports and then went on to study issues related to forest management. For this project she travelled across the country to understand people's management of natural resources, and in 1989 co-authored the publication Towards Green Villages advocating local participatory democracy as the key to sustainable development. In the early 1990s she became involved with global environmental issues and continues to work on these as researcher and advocate. Ms Narain remains an active participant, both nationally and internationally, in civil society. She serves on the boards of various organisations and on governmental committees and has spoken at many fora across the world on issues of her concern and expertise. Public Lecture, Environment, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2008-09-24T01:57:53+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/alchemist_magpies_collecting_archivists_and_their_critics/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/alchemist_magpies_collecting_archivists_and_their_critics/#When:01:51:55Z Are archivists complicit in helping the victors write history, privileging some voices and silencing others? Are they alchemists transforming ‘turds and sticks' into the gold of societal heritage? Or are they just born collectors lucky enough to be paid to indulge their personal antiquarian passions? In this lecture, Michael Piggott reviews some recent criticisms of collecting archives and archivists, drawing on the theoretical literature, personal and professional experiences, and knowledge of Australia's two largest university collecting archives: the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at ANU and the University of Melbourne Archives. Public Lecture, Librarianship & Curatorship, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-09-24T01:51:55+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_kepler_mission_searching_for_other_earths_in_the_cosmos/#When:01:44:19Z Dr Fanson speaks about the Kepler project, NASA's first mission capable of discovering Earth-size planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Scheduled for launch in early 2009, Kepler seeks to answer an age-old question: Are there other habitable worlds in the cosmos? The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of giant planets like Jupiter orbiting stars beyond our solar system. With the exception of the pulsar planets, all of the extrasolar planets detected so far are gas giants, approximately 150 as of 2005. The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (habitable planets like Earth), which are 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter. The Kepler Mission, a NASA Discovery mission, is specifically designed to survey our region of the Milky Way galaxy to detect and characterize hundreds of Earth-size and smaller planets in or near the habitable zone. The habitable zone encompasses the distances from a star where liquid water can exist on a planet's surface. Results from this mission will allow us to place our solar system within the continuum of planetary systems in the Galaxy. Public Lecture, Astronomy & Astrophysics, ANU College of Science, Engineering and Information Technology 2008-09-24T01:44:19+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_national_interest_strategic_non_violence_and_the_independence_of_east_t/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_national_interest_strategic_non_violence_and_the_independence_of_east_t/#When:04:53:12Z Dr Fernandes provides a critical evaluation of what is often portrayed as a noble moment in Australia's history of overseas interventions. He shows that a series of Australian strategists and policymakers had argued that Australia's national interest required it to support the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. He shows how this conception of the national interest was challenged by a coalition of activists who maintained a long-running campaign of non-violent opposition to official policy. He demonstrates that Australian policymakers were compelled to send in a peacekeeping force in 1999 under the pressure of a tidal wave of public outrage. This outrage did not arise spontaneously; rather, it was the result of a conscious process of strategic non-violent action by a transnational coalition of activists. He concludes with lessons and implications for the future. Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Asia and the Pacific 2008-09-04T04:53:12+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strategy_policy_and_institutions/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/strategy_policy_and_institutions/#When:05:33:55Z Australian security policy is increasingly irrelevant to the looming realities of the 21st century.  A lack of strategic direction, a mish-mash of unconnected policies, and policy institutions that are irrelevant to the security challenges of 2050 - these are critical obstacles to a consistent, credible and effective approach to national security. Our very concept of "security" is outmoded.  The solution is as easy as it is radical.  It demands three straightforward steps.  First, invest in the capacity of the public service to provide strategic advice.  Second, ensure that the policy elements that give expression to strategy are properly coordinated.  And third, reorganise the national security policy enterprise by demolishing the departmental silos and the artificial barriers between the security policy departments. The first Rudd Government is in a unique political and historical position to achieve this. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-08-21T05:33:55+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/setting_the_scene_university_and_higher_education_systems/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/setting_the_scene_university_and_higher_education_systems/#When:01:14:04Z Mr Gallagher and Professor Chapman set the scene on the Higher Education sector and how it operates in both Australia and the US, highlighting the different historical settings, funding arrangements, participation rates and the ANU and Yale current roles and structures. The Alumni cultural differences will become apparent as a result of this early scene-setting.   Public Lecture, The University, University, Business and Economics 2008-08-20T01:14:04+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/running_the_war_in_iraq/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/running_the_war_in_iraq/#When:05:33:11Z The war in Iraq is as awful as any war, but that is never an excuse to wage it illegally or immorally. The only thing that will make the Iraq war worse than it is will be to ‘lose’. Major General Jim Molan's involvement was in the second year of the war – by then it was a vastly different war from the invasion. There has never been just one ‘Iraq War’. Since 2003 there have been different conflicts in different places at different times. Some have been won, and some others lost. The trends may be more positive now. The most important thing about conflict, according to Jim Molan, is that you must know what you believe in and you must practise it on the ground. He states that we are about the rule of law and we must act legally. Democratic societies cannot sustain a long, costly war unless they are convinced it is a just war. Major General Molan's book, Running the War in Iraq, is a story of how a 21st century war is run, and the part that an Australian general played in it. Major General Molan gives a stark, insider’s account of modern warfare and all it entails — the ghastly body count, the complex decisions which will mean life or death, the divide between political masters and foot soldiers — and the small, hard-won triumphs. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-08-18T05:33:11+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/building_kyoto/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/building_kyoto/#When:01:09:50Z As a mechanism for controlling climate change, the Kyoto Protocol has not been a success. Over the decade from it’s signing in 1997 to the beginning of its first commitment period in 2008, greenhouse gas emissions in industrial countries subject to targets under the protocol did not fall as the protocol intended. Instead, emissions in many countries rose rapidly. Moreover, emissions have increased substantially in countries such as China, which were not bound by the protocol but which will eventually have to be part of any serious climate change regime. The world community is looking to move beyond Kyoto. This lecture draws on a new report prepared for a G8 background meeting in Tokyo that takes the lessons to be learned from Kyoto to design a post Kyoto framework that builds on Kyoto but which addresses the key elements needed to build a truly global regime. The current state of the global debate is very relevant as Australia considers a domestic climate policy. The lecture also outlines why a traditional cap and trade emission trading system as proposed by some is inadequate to deal with the uncertainty that underlies climate change and is not in Australia’s national interest. Public Lecture, Environment, ANU College of Business and Economics, Business and Economics 2008-07-11T01:09:50+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/divided_we_stand/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/divided_we_stand/#When:00:31:00Z Was the federation of the six Australian colonies into a Commonwealth of Australia really such a good idea? What were the alternatives? Might there have been a better way of doing things? The hard and brutal fact is that the Federation in the end was a political compromise; it was a product of some ferocious horse-trading and Canberra is its monument. This lecture looks at the politics - as distinct from the legal and financial aspects - of Australia's federal arrangements. How the political compromise was arrived at, how it was implemented, how it has evolved into something quite different from what was originally conceived, and how it has been a constant arena of political contention, exploited by populist premiers and cynical prime ministers alike. It concludes with a political assessment of the state of the union in 2008 and a look at what the future might hold. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-07-02T00:31:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_mitigation/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_mitigation/#When:04:26:58Z Decisions on whether and how much mitigation of the risks of dangerous climate change is justified raises exceptional challenges. In this lecture Professor Garnaut discusses the issues that arise when we measure and compare market and non-market costs with the benefits of climate change mitigation. He explores the value judgements that must be made when comparing welfare of people with different incomes and wealth, living in different countries, at different times. He also looks at how these conceptual challenges are compounded by uncertainties in scientific and economic analysis. Finally, he examines the awful uncertainties within which Australian and other governments are compelled to make fateful decisions or equally fateful non-decisions in the years immediately ahead. This was the Sixth HW Arndt Memorial Lecture. >> Watch it on SlowTV Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2008-06-10T04:26:58+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/modern_war/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/modern_war/#When:05:31:00Z Warfare has become a legal institution. Law organises and disciplines the military, defines the battle-space, privileges killing the enemy, and offers a common language to debate the legitimacy of waging war - down to the tactics of particular battle. At the same time, law is no longer a matter of firm distinctions - combatant and non-combatant, war and peace. It has become a flexible and strategic partner for both the military and for humanitarians seeking to restrain the violence of warfare. The relationship between modern war and modern law is made all the more complex by today's asymmetric conflicts, and by the loss of a shared vision about what the law means and how it should be applied. In this lecture Professor Kennedy explores the ways in which good legal arguments can make people lose their moral compass and sense of responsibility for the violence of war. Professor Kennedy's visit was organised by the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law. Public Lecture, International Law, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Law, Asia and the Pacific, Law 2008-06-04T05:31:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/1919_mexico/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/1919_mexico/#When:04:15:55Z Mexico furnished the era of social and cultural change that started ‘right around 1910’ with its first popular revolution. By 1919 Mexico City had become a refuge for the world’s radicals. To a despairing world, it offered a unique site to safely experiment with all sorts of enchantments. In this culturally promiscuous capital not only the meaning of Mexico was at stake, but also the meanings of major modernist concepts –revolution, the popular, avant-garde, authenticity, race and desire. In Arabian Nights of 1919, Mexico City Professor Tenorio, tells a series of interconnected tales of an urban world that included Mexican poets and artists; radical foreigners plotting revolution; love and betrayal; experimentation in art, poetry, sexuality and politics; well-known luminaries such as Frida Kahlo and Ramón del Valle Inclán; less well-known Anita Brenner and José Vasconcelos; a Bengal Braham who founded the Mexican Communist Party and a Colombian bohemian who broke all literary and moral canons. Allan Martin (1926-2002) was an intellectual, institutional, and social pioneer whose career as a historian spanned the second half of the 20th Century. When most Australians went to England for their postgraduate work, he chose ANU, where he was the first doctoral student in History in the Research School of Social Sciences. He accepted the Foundation chair in History at LaTrobe University in 1966 and returned to RSSS as a senior fellow in 1973. This was the 2008 Allan Martin Memorial Lecture.   Public Lecture, History & Archeology, Society & Culture, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-05-26T04:15:55+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/messages_past_warm_earth/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/messages_past_warm_earth/#When:22:44:01Z As a pioneer in paleoceanography who has contributed to three generations of scientific ocean drilling programs, Ted Moore questions whether lessons learned from Earth's past will help us better appreciate the extensive changes that could be brought on by higher global temperatures, rising sea level, and more intense storms predicted for the future. He draws upon the 50-million-year-old climate records of the Eocene to offer insights into the impacts of increased global greenhouse gases and the expectations for Earth's future climate. Professor Moore's lecture is part of the inaugural DRILLS lecture series - a new scientific lecture series that features prominent, internationally known scientists describing scientific ocean drilling from first-hand experience. Public Lecture, Earth & Marine Sciences, Environment, University, Physical Science 2008-05-14T22:44:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/risk_uncertainty_national_security/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/risk_uncertainty_national_security/#When:03:10:00Z Officially we are still fighting a "War on Terror", but few people in Australia would say we are still living in an "Age of Terror". Oil prices have quadrupled, but we have not seen the same panicked queuing at petrol stations as when this last occurred. This lecture launches an important new book, Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives , by discussing how risk and uncertainty inform the democratic politics of national security; and more specifically, how the management of national security is framed by the changing ways in which society assesses uncertainty and risk. It explores the emotion of fear in individual and social contexts, and examines how different security fears lead to different structures of national security. At this lecture, Professor Wesley launched Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives edited by ANU Professors Gabriele Bammer and Michael Smithson. Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Earthscan 2008), is a wide-ranging volume drawing perspectives from art history, complexity science, economics, emergency management, futures, history, intelligence, law, law enforcement, music, philosophy, physics, policy, politics, psychology, statistics and theology. Key problems that are a subject of focus are environmental management, communicable diseases and illicit drugs. Opening and closing sections of the book provide major conceptual strands in uncertainty thinking and develop an integrated view of the nature of uncertainty, uncertainty as a motivating or de-motivating force, and strategies for coping and managing under uncertainty. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-05-09T03:10:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/realism_peace/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/realism_peace/#When:22:27:00Z In this lecture, Professor White discusses the morality and ethical challenges of war, as examined by Professor Coady in his new book, Morality & Political Violence. Political violence, in the form of wars, insurgencies, violent revolutions and counter-revolutions, and terrorism constitutes a major human challenge today as so often in the past. The challenge is not only to life and limb, but also to morality itself. Professor Coady puts the problems posed by this challenge into the frame of reflective ethics. Against the background of a contemporary approach to just war thinking, he examines the right to make war, moral dimensions to the conduct of war, terrorism, mercenary warriors, conscientious objection, the rights of combatants and non-combatants, the ideal of peace and much else. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-05-06T22:27:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/immunity_altered_self/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/immunity_altered_self/#When:03:02:00Z World Day of Immunology 2008 Public Lecture What defines us as individuals? What makes us both similar and different to other individuals, other species? These are great philosophical questions throughout the history of human thought, they are a source of angst in teenagers, and they are fundamental issues in medicine. In this lecture Professor Goodnow explores these questions from the perspective of our immune system, whose raison d’etre is to distinguish our self from the legions of viruses, bacteria and other microbes that would wish to take part in or take over our self. He will give examples of progress, opportunities and challenges in improving health outcomes from the struggle between our self, our genome and our microbes. Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Medical & Health Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2008-05-06T03:02:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/memories_lost_found/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/memories_lost_found/#When:01:00:01Z The talk looks back over the period of the Hawke, Keating and Howard governments and discusses what has been learned and what has been forgotten. It offers conjectures on likely economic outcomes during the first term of the Rudd government. Issues canvassed include monetary policy, inflation, labour market reforms and their outcomes and the changing overlap between the labour market and the welfare system. Public Lecture, Economics, Policy & Political Science, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-04-28T01:00:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/closing_the_gaps/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/closing_the_gaps/#When:01:09:00Z In delivering an apology to the Stolen Generations the Prime Minister set a concrete target to halve the gap in infant mortality rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children within a decade. Related to this is a subsequent declared need to improve housing conditions for Indigenous Australians with the establishment of a housing policy commission as the first step. In this forum, leading academics discuss the scale and nature of the issues facing the new government as it attempts to achieve these aims. PART ONE 1-2.30pm THE INFANT MORTALITY CHALLENGE Indigenous Infant Mortality: what is known from available data Dr Elizabeth Sullivan, Director of the National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, University of New South Wales. The Indigenous Infant Mortality Target: what needs to be achieved Associate Professor Heather Booth, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, ANU Culture as Cause: the debates on improving aboriginal health Professor Francesca Merlan, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, ANU PART TWO 3-4.30pm THE INDIGENOUS HOUSING CHALLENGE The Scale and Composition of Housing Needs Dr Nicholas Biddle, Research Fellow, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU Housing Tenure in Remote Areas: directions and dilemmas Dr Will Sanders, Senior Fellow, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU The Delivery and Performance of Indigenous Housing and the Persistent Relevance of Culturally Specific Factors Professor Paul Memmott, Director, Aboriginal Environments Research Centre, University of Queensland Public Lecture, Creative Arts, Indigenous Studies, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-04-09T01:09:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_land_uses/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/global_land_uses/#When:01:27:00Z Human driven changes to the land surface have wide ranging influence on the functioning of the Earth System. The intensity of land cover change has increased rapidly over the last three hundred years, driven by population growth and increasing living standards. Expansion of agriculture and deforestation has significantly altered the environment. Recent development in land cover data sources enables us to obtain a reasonable overview of the global changes in land cover. Much less, however, is known about change in land use practices and agricultural and forest management that impact ecological services. In this lecture Professor Reenberg outlines the complexity of causes, processes and impacts of land change and call for a comprehensive framework to understand the human decisions that drive the global changes. Public Lecture, Environment, University, Medicine and Life Science 2008-04-02T01:27:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/socratic_forum/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/socratic_forum/#When:23:25:00Z In this debate, ANU plays host to a number of influential public figures including ACT Attorney General Simon Corbell; Dr Clive Hamilton, The Australia Institute; Professor Peter Bailey, ANU; Channel 10's Political Commentator, Paul Bongiorno; Karen Middleton, SBS; and Charles Sampford from the Institute of Ethics Governance and Law. Speakers contest a vigorous debate on issues surrounding Commonwealth-State Relations in Australia. The Socratic Forum is part of a national discussion series aimed at encouraging frank, non-partisan and open debate on issues of importance to the Australian community. Public Lecture, Economics, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Law 2008-03-13T23:25:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_pamela_denoon_lecture/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/2008_pamela_denoon_lecture/#When:23:36:01Z Lecture One Recipes For Revolt: What Made the Women's Movement Move? In this lecture, Marian Sawer draws on her forthcoming history of Women's Electoral Lobby to explore what happened in the 1970s when women rebelled and ‘a cup of tea, a Bex and a good lie down’ were no longer enough. Lecture Two ifeminism - Gen X, Gen Y And The Women's Movement. Roslyn Dundas explores what the future holds for feminism in an age of Myspace and Facebook, Paris Hilton and Pink. Marian Sawer AO is an internationally acclaimed expert on women, politics and policy. Her most recent books include Women's movements: Flourishing or in abeyance? and Out from the gilded cage: A history of Women’s Electoral Lobby . Marian is Adjunct Professor at the School of Social Sciences, ANU and Leader of the Democratic Audit of Australia. Roslyn Dundas was the youngest woman ever elected to a Parliament in Australia, has been an active community campaigner in the ACT and plays a leading role in the Women’s Electoral Lobby – ACT. Roslyn currently works for the ACT Human Rights Commission as an adviser to the Commissioner for Children and Young People. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2008-03-09T23:36:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/higher_education_its_time/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/higher_education_its_time/#When:00:12:00Z We now have an opportunity to reposition higher education for the future and to move away from tinkering and adjusting rather than coherently changing. While it will take some time to unstitch the knotted fabric of accumulated incremental policy shifts of the last decade and to build up the capacity for creative policy formulation, it is nevertheless important now to think radically and envisage the architecture that will best serve Australia over the longer term. Labor’s concept of mission-driven compacts, complemented by a strategic approach to the funding of research, based on rigorous evaluation of performance quality, offers a powerful vehicle for strengthening and diversifying the higher education sector. We have a responsibility within the sector to provide leadership to drive this agenda. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, University, Education 2008-02-27T00:12:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/future_un_security_council/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/future_un_security_council/#When:01:33:00Z 2008 has already brought major new challenges for diplomats. The situations in Kenya and Pakistan underline the depths of the problems in Africa and elsewhere. The Security Council and UN peacekeepers were already at historically high levels of activity in 2006-2007. Can they take on any more? NATO, the EU, the US, the Nordics, and Australia and New Zealand also seem to be stretched to the limit. Perhaps it is time for some searching analysis of whether the current machinery for international collective security is up to the challenges of the 21st Century. The UN Security Council is at the heart of that system. But is it living up to its potential? Can it be reformed and what kinds of reforms might improve the overall outlook? What does the future hold? These are all important questions at a time when Australia is exploring new options for an enhanced multilateral role. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Law 2008-02-19T01:33:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/biosecurity_upgrading_web_prevention/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/biosecurity_upgrading_web_prevention/#When:01:17:00Z In this lecture Professor Dando reviews international control of the biotechnology revolution, the threat of deliberate disease - from biowarfare, bioterrorism, and the possible misuse of benignly intended civil research. He looks at the recent history of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and the emphasis on in-depth implementation of the Convention including codes of conduct and education for life scientists. Professor Dando argues that there is much evidence that life scientists know very little about these issues. There is a wider question of how this prohibition regime might be strengthened. He asks, could the education of life scientists be improved though the development of appropriate education modules? Public Lecture, Biological Sciences, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Medicine and Life Science 2008-02-19T01:17:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/wake_of_economic_reform/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/wake_of_economic_reform/#When:05:54:01Z   Has economic reform run its course? What potential remains for the resumption of nation building progress? Contrary to expectations Canberra emerges from 20 years of neo-liberalism with disciplined government, ample revenues, an effective regulative apparatus and – perhaps – the capacity for government to steer the economy towards a brighter future. In this lecture, Professor Pusey weighs these prospects against the negative impacts of neo-liberalism on our institutions and then examines from the three viewpoints of: our national political experience, the administrative apparatus, and popular expectations. Professor Pusey then considers the dynamic energies inherent in the challenges, respectively, of climate change, infrastructure development, and economic policies based on enhancing of quality of life. Michael is a Professor of Sociology in the School of Sociology, University of New South Wales, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. In the early 1990s Michael Pusey's book Economic Rationalism in Canberra: A Nation-Building State Changes its Mind , started a national debate on economic rationalism and brought the term into public usage. His most recent book, The Experience of Middle Australia , examines the impact of economic restructuring on incomes, jobs, families, communities, politics and Australian culture. Public Lecture, Economics, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-12-14T05:54:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_platinum_age/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/climate_change_platinum_age/#When:23:33:00Z In the inaugural S.T. Lee Lecture on Asia and the Pacific Professor Garnaut asks: How the risks of climate change will interact with the 'Platinum Age' of global economic growth? What are the limits for global emissions within which the world will need to live if the risk of dangerous climate change is to be kept within acceptable bounds? What principles could be reasonably applied to the allocation of a global emissions budget amongst countries? What global emissions budget would make sense for Australia? What would these principles suggest for Australia’s climate change policy? Dr S.T. Lee comes from a distinguished family in Singapore that has for many years supported various community, educational and research causes. Since the early 1990s, Dr Lee has supported a number of scholarly projects around the world, and in 2007 endowed an annual lecture at ANU named the S.T. Lee Lecture on Asia and the Pacific. This annual lecture will provide opportunities for distinguished figures from the Asia-Pacific to speak on developments and trends in the region and draw attention to crucial issues that affect us all. Public Lecture, Economics, Environment, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-11-29T23:33:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/just_war_theory/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/just_war_theory/#When:23:45:00Z For several thousand years, philosophers, lawyers, and theologians have developed a theory of the just war, where rules are set for deciding when a war should be fought and what tactics can be employed in war. During the entirety of that period chemical and biological weapons have been banned. In this public lecture, reasons are given for thinking that just war theory cannot support a complete ban on such weapons, unless a similar ban on the use of bombs is also endorsed. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Medical & Health Science, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-11-26T23:45:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_guarding_australia/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_guarding_australia/#When:23:58:01Z Part of a series of public debates hosted by the Australian National University and The Canberra Times. Join a diverse panel of ANU experts in a lively discussion of the major issues driving this election. The Dr Mohamed Haneef case continues to be a thorn in the Federal Government’s side, as more questions are raised about the way in which his visa was removed. Now overseas doctors are said to be ‘boycotting’ Australia because of the incident. Are Australia’s anti-terror measures doing the nation good or harm? How do both major parties plan to keep Australian’s secure? And how do they differ on what it means to be Australian in the first place? Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, University, Law 2007-11-13T23:58:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_the_states_nation/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_the_states_nation/#When:00:06:01Z Part of a series of public debates hosted by The Australian National University and The Canberra Times. A diverse panel of ANU experts in a lively discussion of the major issues driving this election. Debate 2 – The States of the Nation – is moderated by Andrew Fraser. What is the future of federation? What impact is the Federal Government’s foray into water, health, education and Indigenous Affairs having? And how will these shifts affect the outcome of the election? Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, University, Law 2007-11-08T00:06:01+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_work_choice/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/devils_advocate_work_choice/#When:01:43:00Z A series of public debates hosted by the Australian National University and The Canberra Times. A diverse panel of ANU experts in a lively discussion of the major issues driving this election. Each debate is moderated by a senior journalist from The Canberra Times. Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, University, Law 2007-10-31T01:43:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coercive_reconciliation/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/coercive_reconciliation/#When:02:52:00Z On 21 June 2007 Prime Minister John Howard and Minister for Indigenous Affairs Mal Brough declared a ‘national emergency’ in relation to child sexual abuse in the Northern Territory. In an unprecedented set of actions, the Commonwealth has taken direct control of communities, overriding the authority of both the NT Government and local community organisations in the name of creating safe and healthy environments for children. In this public lecture, Dr Hinkson, Professor Behrendt, Ms Watson and Professor Altman contributors to the first book about the intervention Coercive Reconciliation: Stabilise, Normalise, Exit Aboriginal Australia assess the intervention from the perspectives of human rights, welfare and land rights reforms, Indigenous representation and reconciliation, and the recognition of cultural diversity. Public Lecture, Law, Justice & Law Enforcement, Policy & Political Science, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, University, Law 2007-10-16T02:52:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_growth_of_india/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/the_growth_of_india/#When:01:57:00Z The Sixth Annual Sir Leslie Melville Lecture Ranging over a period from the 19th century until today, this lecture examines various aspects of India’s ‘growth’ including its population, its economic output, its media, its middle class, its spread into a globalised world and its level of political participation. Professor Jeffrey will analyse the tensions between a huge population and hugely unequal, but expanding, wealth in a time when India speaks unceasingly to itself, and to the rest of the world, in ways unthinkable at the time of independence in 1947. How might such immense political activity and social change unfold? Public Lecture, Policy & Political Science, University, Asia and the Pacific 2007-10-16T01:57:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/big_brother_google/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/big_brother_google/#When:03:38:00Z Google is increasingly being perceived as the company that will follow IBM and Microsoft in dominating the IT industry. In this presentation, Professor Clarke will outline the many business lines that Google is endeavouring to build, and then focus on what has become the major part of its business - knowing a lot about people. Public Lecture, Economics, Engineering, Information, Computing & Communication Sciences, ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering and Information Technology 2007-10-04T03:38:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/india_shining_or_whining/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/india_shining_or_whining/#When:03:09:00Z India has registered nine per cent and higher GDP growth rates for three years in succession. But is this growth real and is it sustainable? Has there been a structural change in the economy or is it cyclical? If there has been structural change, what are the reasons behind it? In this lecture, Professor Bibek Debroy explores whether growth has been pro-rich or beneficial to the poor; what poverty figures show, and what role inequality has played. He asks why Indian agriculture not been growing fast enough, consider problems with employment generation, and teases out what the geographical divide can tell us. Finally, he asks what policy interventions can do to bridge this divide, outlining the pending agenda of reforms. Public Lecture, Economics, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Asia and the Pacific 2007-10-03T03:09:00+10:00 http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/advance_australia_where/ http://www.anu.edu.au/discoveranu/content/podcasts/advance_australia_where/#When:03:10:00Z Fifteen years ago social researcher Hugh Mackay wrote the bestseller Reinventing Australia , which analysed with forensic skill what was happening within Australian society. In this public lecture he takes another long, hard look at us to see how far we’ve come. What will the next generation of Australian children be like? Why have we lost interest in politics? Why are our houses getting bigger while our households are shrinking? Can the decline of the public education system be reversed? Are we spending too much public money on the arts? Mackay maintains that while we enjoy unprecedented levels of prosperity and the promise of more to come, we are still battling an epidemic of depression, taking on record levels of debt, and yearning for a deeper sense of meaning in our lives. While many Australians complain about feeling powerless and isolated, Mackay sees some encouraging signs that we are learning how to absorb the impact of the revolutionary changes that have reshaped us. Public Lecture, Society & Culture, University, Arts and Social Sciences 2007-09-28T03:10:00+10:00