The passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948 was the last act of World War II – and the first act of the post-war human rights movement. In the first in a three-part…
Presented with the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash UniversityThe passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 1948 was the last act of World War II – and the f…
India is booming: everyone says so. The economy is growing to match its massive population, and new industries like IT are creating a thriving middle class. Yet millions of Indians, especially…
What is the role of the modern ambassador? How much influence do they really have? While the days of Argo are probably long gone, so too is a life of garden parties, cups of tea and private clubs…
What is the role of the modern ambassador? How much influence do they really have? While the days of Argo are probably long gone, so too is a life of garden parties, cups of tea and private clubs…
One of the biggest untold tragedies in our world is the simple fact that 2.5 billion people still lack safe sanitation; somewhere to go to the toilet, wash their hands and get clean water. We all…
2013 is an election year and we know that domestic issues will dominate the campaign and decide our next prime minister. But, at a time when the world is confronting major changes, our foreign…
2013 is an election year and we know that domestic issues will dominate the campaign and decide our next prime minister. But, at a time when the world is confronting major changes, our foreign…
As the Communist Party of China’s 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, join host Sally Warhaft and China watcher and correspondent, John Garnaut, as they…
As the Communist Party of China’s 18th National Congress oversees the biggest leadership transition in decades, Sally Warhaft catches up with China watcher and correspondent John Garnaut to examine t…
What is ‘forced people movement’, or ‘mixed flow migration’ – and where do refugees fit? We use many terms for those people who feel compelled to leave their home country and relocate.Forced…
What is ‘forced people movement’, or ‘mixed flow migration’ – and where do refugees fit? We use many terms for those people who feel compelled to leave their home country and relocate.Forced…
Romney’s ‘binders full of women’. Pro-choice versus right-to-life. The rise of China and the slump of the American economy. These are just some of the issues that will decide the results of the…
Dr Nouria Salehi OAM is executive director of the Afghan Australian Development Organisation. A voluntary, non-profit, non-government, member organisation, its primary purpose is to implement…
For many, multiculturalism has come to mean a flawed approach to integrating migrants. But has it been a failure? Political philosopher and commentator Tim Soutphommasane puts forward his case for…
The next American election will decide the future of capitalism, at a time when the global economy and environment – and America’s status as a world superpower – are precarious.On the eve of the…
China is fast becoming the next world superpower, while India – with its vast young population, booming jobs market and burgeoning economy – is on the march. Meanwhile, Wall Street has plunged the…
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Faith and Culture: The Politics of Belief was a four-day lecture series which took place from Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 June at BMW Edge, Federation Square.Curated by celebrated…
Join Roscoe Howell of Slavery Links Australia as he outlines the forms of modern slavery – discussing how it intersects with our daily lives more than we might imagine – and explains how we can…
The Wheeler Centre and St James Ethics Centre combine once again in 2012 to bring you another series of Intelligence Squared debates.Established in 2002, IQ2 has spread from across the globe…
From child soldiers in Sudan to gang violence in Papua New Guinea; tsunamis in the Pacific to earthquakes in New Zealand, we’re confronted with communities in need every day. Who should we help? How …
Sexual violence against civilians is a common feature in modern wars. The impact on survivors, primarily women and girls, and their communities is devastating. There have been strong moves by the…
Over four days, our 20 plus speakers – philosophers and theologians, historians and writers, believers and non-believers – will consider what it means to be religious, and what role the voice of…
Over four days, our 20 plus speakers – philosophers and theologians, historians and writers, believers and non-believers – will consider what it means to be religious, and what role the voice of…
In this panel discussion (which opened our Faith and Culture lectures), series curator Raimond Gaita, Asma Barlas, Susan Neiman, Bernadette Tobin and Scott Stephens examine and expand on the ideas…
Expanding on his recent essay for Griffith Review, historian and biographer Jim Davidson examines the complex history of Australia’s relationship with the British monarchy, and the various attempts t…
How does the relationship between Australia and Indonesia work? In the past week Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that three Indonesian nationals accused of people smuggling – who claimed to…
How does the relationship between Australia and Indonesia work? In the past week Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced that three Indonesian nationals accused of people smuggling – who claimed to…
Masha Gessen is a strong presence: passionate, deeply knowledgeable and slightly impatient, in that way of people everywhere who are committed – body and soul – to a cause. She is impatient to…
The Fifth Estate is the Wheeler Centre’s new series of fortnightly forums: a more measured approach to news and current affairs. Provocative and studied, authoritative and unhurried, this is real…
Join two heavyweights of Foreign Affairs, Gareth Evans and Alexander Downer, in conversation with host Sally Warhaft about the history and nature of the portfolio and its importance in government.How…
When should the international community intervene in civil conflict? What made last year’s Libyan conflict suitable for intervention, while Syrians continued to struggle against despotism alone? In t…
When should the international community intervene in civil conflict? What made last year’s Libyan conflict suitable for intervention, while Syrians continued to struggle against despotism alone? In t…
Since the end of the Cold War, much international attention has been devoted to building democracies to replace authoritarian regimes. East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and last year’s Arab Spring are…
Foreign correspondent Kim Barker’s personal account of reporting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Taliban Shuffle, is a fiercely honest – and occasionally hilarious – dissection of the absurdities…
The year 2011 was the year a wave of popular unrest spilled out across the globe. It all began in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, toppling the sclerotic Mubarak regime, although doubts remain about how …
(Click to watch video.)
“This year two thirds of all world growth has come out of the developing economies. And we think we can have a debate about the…
Despite their differences, both of our major parties profess to share a common approach to illegal boat arrivals: lock them up and send them somewhere – anywhere – else. But, after years of…
Paul Keating
Video · Sun, 06 Nov 2011
It was the prime ministerial event we had to have. On this special Sunday evening presentation, Paul Keating joined Robert Manne for a conversational marathon, coinciding with the publication of his …
The Palestinians' unswerving action at the United Nations may not grant them the statehood they crave, but in effect their strategy has not been for nought. The intransigence that divides them from t…
The UK arm of Amnesty International has launched a series of weekly vodcasts called Amnesty TV. In a preview of this week’s vodcast published by the Guardian online, psychiatrist Dr Philip Hodson…
Yesterday was Talk Like a Pirate Day. Coincidentally, it was also the day we uploaded the video/podcast of a Wheeler Centre event last week featuring Canadian journalist Jay Bahadur. Bahadur is the a…
Jay Bahadur
Event · Tue, 13 Sep 2011
Canadian journalist Jay Bahadur visits Australia for the Wheeler Centre and the Brisbane Writers Festival to discuss his book, Deadly Waters, an exploration of the world of Somali pirates. Presented …
Just as we’ve uploaded the video/podcast of our recent Intelligence Squared debate on Australia’s war in Afghanistan (see below), the broader public debate on the topic has reignited. A…
In 2008, young Canadian graduate Jay Bahadur was working a market research job, aching to become a journalist, when – according to his Wikipedia page – he received some telling advice from…
“Prison is a place where one can meet the most extraordinary people,” according to Russian tycoon and billionaire jailbird Mikhail Khodorkovsky. According to an Agence France Presse report published …
In a post-conflict society, with a still fragile justice system, establishing respect for human rights is crucial to nation-building in East Timor. An estimated 10,000 civilians, including women and …
By George Friedman, Stratfor Global Intelligence“Classical political economists like Adam Smith or David Ricardo never used the term ‘economy’ by itself. They always used the term ‘political…
Natalie Sambhi, co-editor of the blog Security Scholar, attended last week’s Intelligence Squared debate on the merits of Australian involvement in Afghanistan. She’s reviewed the event on Security…
One of the world’s finest thinkers and writers, the incomparable Amos Oz, delivers the 2011 Monash Israel Oration at Melbourne Town Hall, under the title ‘Israel: Peace, War and Storytelling’. The…
Image courtesy Robert Scarth/Flickr
Click on the ‘What’s New’ page on the website of the Project for the New American Century and you’ll notice that the Washington…
As each name is added to the growing list of Australians killed serving in Afghanistan, the government assures the nation that the sacrifice in lives has been for a good cause and in the national…
“At the moment the Australian effort at nation building in Oruzgan province is grossly underdone,” writes ex-army chief Peter Leahy, now director of Canberra University’s National Security…
The panel discussion featured in this video is the intellectual equivalent of the Big Day Out, Lollapalooza or Glastonbury. Three of the world’s most outspoken figures in philosophy and journalism…
(Click to watch video.)
“I am increasingly convinced that this is the most important period in Israel’s history since 1948, because we have to make…
“Throughout Australia there is a strong appetite for debate and discussion about WikiLeaks and Assange,” writes journalist Barbara Gunnell in a piece published last week in the Financial Times…
This is an extract from a report by Bridget Chappell in the 85th edition of Voiceworks, the quarterly magazine of Wheeler Centre resident organisation Express Media, out now.The guards of…
Of all the photographs on the ABC’s online list of casualties in Operation Slipper, the name given to Australia’s Afghanistan mission, perhaps none is as affecting as that of Private Grant Kirby…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced yesterday that Australia’s military mission in Afghanistan will not be scaled back despite measures announced by President Barack Obama for a scaledown of US…
A little over a week ago we asked the question, why are we at war? Since then, more volleys have been launched in the debate about the future of Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan. In…
Naomi Chazan
Video · Tue, 14 Jun 2011
Naomi Chazan is a senior Israeli academic, an activist for peace and women’s rights, and a former member of the Knesset. In this wide-ranging conversation with Rafael Epstein, she examines the…
