Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Saturday 28 November
10:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Many secular nations – Australia included – bear constitutions, laws, moral codes and political rituals that defer to a higher power (and we don’t mean the Queen). At the same time, key social institutions such as hospitals and schools are often operated by religious groups. The federal government – through both sides of politics – has funded school chaplains since 2006.
When, for example, the majority of Australia’s palliative care system is run by the Catholic church … how does that affect state policy and practise? Should faith-based operators be allowed to make moral choices about the services they’re willing to provide? How real is the separation of church and state in contemporary Australia?
Artist Abdul Abdullah, moral philosopher Raimond Gaita and GQ Thailand editor in chief Voranai Vanijaka will speak with broadcaster and host Tom Elliott about religion’s influence on democracy (and whether it goes both ways), the moral leadership we expect from politicians, and how society negotiates spiritual and moral discord.
Tickets to this event are available at the door. Arrive at least twenty minutes prior to the event to purchase.
Note to early bookers: if you booked tickets to this event prior to Thursday 19 November, some details may have changed. Please check theinterrobang.wheelercentre.com/#important-info for details.
Featuring
Raimond Gaita
Raimond Gaita has published widely to academic and non- academic audiences. In 2009, the University of Antwerp awarded Gaita the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa ‘for his exceptional contribution to contemporary moral philosophy and for his singular contribution to the role of the intellectual in today’s academic world’.
His books, which have been widely translated, include: Good and Evil: An Absolute Conception, the award-winning Romulus, My Father, which was nominated by the New Statesman as one of the best books of 1999 and was made into a prize winning film starring Eric Bana, Frank Potente and Kodi Smit-McPhee; A Common Humanity: Thinking About Love and Truth and Justice, which was nominated by the Economist as one of best books of 2000; The Philosopher’s Dog, shortlisted for the New South Wales Premier’s Award and the Age Book of the Year, Breach of Trust: Truth, Morality and Politics and, as editor and contributor, Gaza: Morality, Law and Politics; Muslims and Multiculturalism. His latest book is After Romulus.
Gaita is Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Law School and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne and Emeritus Professor of Moral Philosophy at King’s College London.
Abdul Abdullah
Abdul Abdullah is an artist from Perth, currently based in Sydney, who works across painting, photography, video, installation and performance. As a self described ‘outsider amongst outsiders’, his practice is primarily concerned with the experience of the ‘other’ in society. Abdullah’s projects have engaged with different marginalised minority groups and he is particularly interested in the experience of young Muslims in the contemporary multicultural Australian context. Through these processes and explorations Abdullah extrapolates this outlook to an examination of universal aspects of human nature.
His works are included in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, The Art Gallery of Western Australia, The Gallery of Modern Art, Artbank, the University of Western Australia, Murdoch University, The Islamic Museum of Australia and The Bendigo Art Gallery. In 2015 Abdul exhibited at Primavera at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and at the Asia Pacific Triennial at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, in 2016 he exhibited at the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art and in 2017 he showed at PATAKA Art Museum in New Zealand and with Yavuz Gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong and the Asia Now Art Fair in Paris.
Most recently Abdul exhibited at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiangmai, The National Gallery of Australia as part of Infinite Conversations, and was shortlisted along with his brother Abdul-Rahman Abdullah to represent Australia in the 2019 Venice Biennale.
Voranai Vanijaka
Voranai Vanijaka is the editor in chief of GQ Thailand. He teaches political communication and intercultural communication at Thammasat University. From 2008 to May 2014, he was a political commentator with the Bangkok Post newspaper.
He teaches political communication and intercultural communication at Thammasat University. From 2008 to May 2014, he was a political commentator with the Bangkok Post newspaper.
Tom Elliott
Tom Elliott is the host of the 3AW Mornings program (8.30am-12noon, weekdays). With his wife, Elise, he co-presents the weekly Elliott Exchange podcast. He is also Chairman of the Investment Committee for Choice Capital, a Melbourne-based wealth management firm ...