Boyer Lectures

In the fourth Boyer Lecture for 2025, Amelia Lester, deputy editor at Foreign Policy Magazine in Washington, explores why it is so difficult to have meaningful discussions about the possible repercussions of Artificial Intelligence in all our lives. Given it is being described as possibly more transformative than electricity, even more transformative than fire, and even worthy of threatening our very human nature, what needs to happen? If it seems that we are being carried along a road without return, Amelia begs to differ, arguing that given Australia’s track record in standing up for workers’ rights and human rights puts us in a good place to exercise action against these threats to our very humanness. “A handful of big tech companies control what we know about AI, and because these companies want to consolidate oligopoly control over the AI ecosystem, we’re constantly having to parse what’s factual and what’s hype. But just because AI’s hard to talk about, doesn’t mean we have to resign ourselves to it, or any technology, being harmful to humanity.” Credits: Presented by Amelia Lester, deputy editor at Foreign Policy Magazine in Washington. Series curated and introduced by Dr Julia Baird Executive Producer, Julia Baird Producer,  Gail Boserio Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite

Larissa Behrendt, AO a Euahleyai/Gamillaroi woman and Distinguished Professor of Law and Inaugural Chair in Indigenous Research at the University of Technology, is passionate about the Australian courts’ record of upholding democracy, but reminds us the legal system has been used to exclude and discriminate against First Nations people.   In the third Boyer Lecture for 2025, she presents a three-point remedy to get us past the ‘us and them’ mentality, highlighting the necessity and importance of truth and story-telling and the critical importance of universities, the arts and creative and cultural institutions to forge a truly healthy democracy. Larissa Behrendt also advocates for the inclusion of ancient Indigenous philosophies into our traditional Western liberal traditions, to create a truly inclusive and engaging democracy. “The law is shaped by power. It reflects who has a voice, and who does not. If we want a fairer society, we must ensure the law listens to those too often silenced.  And we have to acknowledge that at the heart of the Constitution, there lies an historic and structural wound.” Credits Presented by Larissa Behrendt, AO  Series curated and introduced by Julia Baird Executive Producer, Julia Baird Producer,  Gail Boserio Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite

In the second Boyer Lecture for 2025, the Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia, takes a sweeping look over our history and concludes that the liberal world order that has so far defined us, is ending. While such turning points require big and important decisions, what happens to Australia, he understands, is inextricably linked to what happens to the global democratic order. John Anderson argues for the need to counter distrust, disengagement and other pressing social issues, and has found in talking to many young participants in his podcast series, that the views of the young need to be far better respected to foster new Australian leadership. “As the great American economic historian Thomas Sowell put it best, ‘Civilisation doesn’t always sustain itself, it has to be built, maintained, defended, and most importantly understood.’   When that understanding is lost, decline is not just likely, it becomes inevitable.  And that’s the illusion we’re living under today – that civilisation is permanent – but it isn’t.” Credits: Presented by Hon John Anderson, AC, farmer, grazier and former deputy prime minister of Australia Series curated and introduced by Dr Julia Baird Executive Producer, Julia Baird Producer,  Gail Boserio Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite

The Keynote Boyer Lecturer for 2025 is Justin Wolfers, Professor of Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan and visiting Professor at the University of NSW. After many years teaching in the USA, he argues that Australia’s political institutions are unique; in fact, they are the very key to its prosperity and asks if we require a form of conservative radicalism to preserve them. “Australia’s institutions are world-leading – which might seem like an unlikely argument if you follow the news. Every day we’re bombarded by bulletins of broken institutions: Power-hungry politicians; dysfunction and deadlocked debate, and the maddening messiness of democracy. But travel the world and you’ll get a different perspective. Australia’s rules aren’t perfect, but just about every other country is imperfect-er.”   Credits: Presented by Justin Wolfers.,  Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. Series curated and introduced by Julia Baird Executive Producer, Julia Baird Producer,  Gail Boserio Sound Engineer, Simon Branthwaite

"Whilst our new Australian choral music began in a classical context, artistic collaborations have extended our musical realm to a point where it no longer fits this classification – it is simply choral music."  As the founder of Gondwana Choirs, Lyn Williams AM is particularly well placed to talk about the future of classical music. Her work with children over 30 years has created a whole new choral repertoire and a new standard for children’s choirs. In the final Boyer Lecture for 2024, she looks at different kinds of excellence, what accessibility really means, and the pathways that choral singing reveals to young musicians.

Iain Grandage is a composer, a cellist, a pianist, a festival director, and a career collaborator.  In his Boyer Lecture, he asks whether classical music has been underestimated in its capacity to connect communities. His work with Indonesian Gamelan ensembles, Noongar elders, theatre companies and the late, great Jimmy Chi, provide waypoints on a long journey from childhood piano lessons to a mature acquisition of knowledge that only serves to reveal how much more understanding is still to seek.

“There is much to be gained by tapping into the tens of thousands of years of culture that we have available to us in this country. Exposing more people to it can only help to highlight our shared humanity, and to advance the cause of reconciliation.” Aaron Wyatt is a Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi musician: a conductor, composer, violist, educator and programmer. And as the Artistic Director of Ensemble Dutala, Australia’s first First Nations chamber ensemble, he’s working to rectify the conditions in the classical music industry that often see him being the only Indigenous person in an orchestra.  In their 2024 Boyer Lecture, Aaron traces the ways that classical music in Australia has attempted to fold in Indigenous ideas, music, and people – from the appropriative, to the naive, the collaborative, and the groundbreaking.  This lecture was written on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Land and produced on Gadigal Land.

"There is a continuity to the inner experience of what it is to be human. And it is this inner experience that this music addresses directly." Professor Anna Goldsworthy is a pianist, an author, a festival director and the Director of the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide.  In her keynote Boyer Lecture for 2024, she traces how mentorship, music education, and opportunity have led her into a deep relationship with so-called classical music that reaches far beyond her career. Through the lens of her twenty six year collaboration with Helen Ayres and Tim Nankervis, the other two members of her Seraphim Trio, Anna talks about finding kairos: "the right, shared moment".

What will a quantum computer look like? Will quantum computing supercharge AI? Can it save us from the climate crisis? Professor Michelle Simmons has the answers.

Doubt is often seen as a something to be overcome — a failing, or even a sign of incompetence. But in her fourth and final lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons tells us why doubt is her greatest asset.

In her third Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons maps how science has changed from 1927 to now — moving from the theoretical to the applicable.

In her second Boyer lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons details the international race underway to build the first error-corrected quantum computer.

Computing machinery that used to fill an entire room has now shrunk to the size of individual atoms. In her first lecture, Professor Michelle Simmons tells the story of miniaturisation  — and how Australia found itself at the forefront.

In his fifth and final Boyer lecture Noel Pearson looks at the question of identity, Australian identity, and he argues that our extraordinary diversity and distinctiveness are undermined when we forget the great similarities and commonalities we all share.

In his fourth lecture, Noel Pearson addresses the educational barriers facing young Indigenous people, and the critical need to raise literacy and numeracy rates through transformational school programs.

In his third lecture Noel Pearson argues that Indigenous Australians have become trapped in the 'bottom million' of the nation when it comes to economic development. He describes the ongoing effect of welfare dependency, or 'passive welfare', which he says is not just a problem afflicting Indigenous communities, it's a human problem.

In his second lecture, Noel Pearson reflects on the words of 1968 Boyer lecturer W.E.H. Stanner who said that Aboriginal people seek, 'a decent union of their lives with ours but on terms that let them preserve their own identity'. Pearson traces the long process that led to the final proposal for a Voice to parliament enshrined in the constitution. He identifies a speech by John Howard in 2007, which Pearson says offered 'the core rationale for constitutional recognition', and began the 15-year process to a referendum.

Noel Pearson argues the case for why a Voice to parliament, enshrined in the constitution, is so important to Indigenous people, ‘to be afforded our rightful place’.

There are examples from around the world, of community and government actions that make a difference to health inequalities. Creating the conditions for individuals to take control over their lives will enable social flourishing of all members of society.

Unemployment is bad for health, but work can damage health, too. When work is no longer the way out of poverty, health suffers.

Absence of the nurturing and presence of the harmful are important for the whole of life and are strong contributors to inequalities in adult health. There is much we can do to make things better at both the level of national policy and at the local level supporting families and children.

There are large inequalities in health within and between countries. To explain this we have to look at the social determinants of health—the conditions in which people are born, grow, live work and age; and inequities in power, money and resources.

There are examples from around the world, of community and government actions that make a difference to health inequalities. Creating the conditions for individuals to take control over their lives will enable social flourishing of all members of society.

Unemployment is bad for health, but work can damage health, too. When work is no longer the way out of poverty, health suffers.

Absence of the nurturing and presence of the harmful are important for the whole of life and are strong contributors to inequalities in adult health. There is much we can do to make things better at both the level of national policy and at the local level supporting families and children.

There are large inequalities in health within and between countries. To explain this we have to look at the social determinants of health—the conditions in which people are born, grow, live work and age; and inequities in power, money and resources.

Australia now finds itself on the centre stage. Staying there is the challenge. In the final of the 2015 Boyer Lectures series, Dr Michael Fullilove calls for a larger and more ambitious foreign policy; one that ensures that our national interests once again align with our national capabilities.

In his third Boyer lecture, Michael Fullilove argues the need for a larger politics and some big thinking on the economy in order to respond to global challenges, like immigration and climate policy.

In his second Boyer Lecture, Dr Michael Fullilove examines how the dizzying rise of China has pulled Australia onto a new world stage as a key player, a leap that calls for a serious examination of foreign policy

In this first lecture, delivered at Peking University in Beijing, Dr Michael Fullilove explains the crumbling of world order. As wealth and power shifts to the East,  Australia finds itself in a new and precarious position.

In the fourth and final lecture Professor Cory highlights the concerning scientific brain drain in this country: "We are losing women from all areas of science and the deficit at senior levels is particularly disturbing."

In the third lecture Professor Suzanne Cory reflects on her other great passion, the environment, and warns that 'humankind is fouling the nest' and that if action is not taken soon, by 2100 Earth will be hotter than any time in the last few million years making mass species extinctions and global human conflicts over energy and water inevitable.

In the second lecture Professor Cory shows how extraordinarily important scientific research and development is for our economy.

In this first lecture Professor Cory reflects on where medical science has come from and where it is heading, drawing out implications for health and the economy.

Looking to the future of Australian Citizenship

Courage, compassion and resilience in everyday life

The powerful role of Australian Women

A personal story of equal rights advocacy

In her final lecture, Professor Langton reflects on the economic transformation underway in the lives of Aboriginal people -- from increasing Indigenous enrolments in higher education, through rising employment in mining and other rural industries, to the explosion of cultural production by Aboriginal people into the Australian mainstream not only on canvas and on the stage, but also in music, literature, cinema  and television.

In her fourth lecture, Professor Langton examines how some beliefs within the nature conservation movement in Australia have perpetuated the idea that Aboriginal people are the enemies of nature, and describes recent examples of Indigenous tractional land practices which combine western ecological knowledge to create sustainable and economically viable custodianship of country,

In her third lecture, Professor Langton illuminates the experiences of two Aboriginal communities who are levering economic advancement through agreements with mining companies, and examines why it is that the private sector is leading the way in forging new working models with Indigenous Australia while government policies lag far behind.

In her second lecture, Professor Langton examines the confluence of historical, political and social factors which have created entrenched barriers against the economic advancement of Aboriginal people in Australia.

In this first lecture Professor Langton explores the changing relationship between Aboriginal communities and mining companies since the 1993 Mabo agreement and native title legislation, and asks whether this could offer a model for the economic empowerment of all Indigenous people in Australia.

It is my great good luck that the words I use are English words, which means I live in a very old nation of open borders; a rich, deep, multi-layered, promiscuous universe, infused with Latin, German, French, Greek, Arabic and countless other tongues. I would not be able to swim so far, dive so deep, in a linguistically isolated language such as Hungarian, or even a protectively elitist one such as French.

If one definition of the word 'home' is a goal or objective, then I have to be clear that becoming the kind of journalist who covered war was never my goal or intention.

The idea of home is bigger than the floorplan of any given four walls or the mass of any roof line. It cannot be compassed by rote recitations of suburb or postcode, nation or state. In last week's lecture, I mentioned the various definitions that dictionaries give for that small, heavily laden word, home. Tonight I would like to explore some of them: home as 'a place of origin, a native habitat', home as 'an environment offering security and happiness' and home as 'the place where something is discovered, founded, developed or promoted. A source.'

In dictionaries, definitions of home are various. It is both 'a place of origin, a starting position' and 'a goal or destination.' It may also be 'an environment offering security and happiness' or 'the place where something is discovered, founded, developed or promoted. A source.'

Universities may appear unchanged and enduring, yet the world of the mind is shifting quickly. This is a moment of unparalleled growth, but also of new challenges — the web, on-line learning, and international competition. Australian higher education must think about its role in the republic of learning, so there is a place for every citizen, for every community.

In the modern university, the new sits awkwardly alongside the ancient — medieval gowns and corporate branding, academic board and a chief financial officer. Yet despite its many contradictions, campus remains a place of vitality and imagination, as each new generation seeks its place in the world.

Who gets to university will set the pattern for the life to follow — not just in income and profession, but across almost every dimension of health and happiness. So access to higher learning is a profound matter of social justice. Ensuring equality of opportunity to higher learning must start at the very beginning of education.

Research is not an ancient feature of the university, yet has become central to their identity. To tackle the really big questions, such as containing malaria, requires networks of researchers across many institutions. It is the republic at its most inspirational as it discovers and communicates the excitement of new knowledge.

On Open Day across the nation, the republic of learning is on display. Amid the multitude of courses on offer, the classroom is changing — new technology, new ways of teaching, and an old debate about how best to share knowledge with the next generation.

During the Renaissance, a new generation, living for the first time in a world of printing, created a conversation across borders and languages.

With climate change, the republic, national security, a bill of rights, and the economy, what kind of future are we creating for our children and their children? Every decision we make on the big issues will have a profound effect on their lives, so what can we do now to ensure that we give them the best possible Australia?

How did we get to where we are as a nation? How many mistakes did we make along the way and how many things did we get right? Over General Peter Cosgrove's lifetime we have grown from a population of 7.5 million to just over 22 million, and in that time our society -- and as a result our nation -- has changed.

Australia has had its fair share of pivotal political moments over the years, moments that have engaged the interest and opinions of its people. Yet, through them all, our democracy and our institutions have stayed strong and we have remained peaceful.

Peter Cosgrove has led the army and then the entire defence force, so he is eminently well placed to talk about leadership. So for him, what makes a good leader? Does it matter if that leader is running a business, a country, or the school tuckshop?

If Australia were for sale how would the real estate agent describe it? If a potential buyer asked the neighbours what they thought, what would they say? In reality, the USA may be our closest ally but it's not our nearest neighbour, and how we interact with the countries closest to us will determine our challenges and our opportunities for the future.

He's spent a lifetime puzzling over national security and in his first lecture, General Peter Cosgrove makes mention of all the wars we've been involved in since WW2 and talks about their place in the Australian psyche. They might have been considered other people's wars, but we knew intuitively they were ours as well.

The Oxford of Rupert Murdoch's youth was one of the most privileged places on earth. But freedom and information have changed the order of things. On a global scale more people than ever are taking advantage of the revolution. And that's how it should be.

Rupert Murdoch's recent trips to China and India have convinced him of one thing: there is no alternative to economic growth as a remedy for poverty. Caste and communism have condemned hundreds of millions to wretched lives.

An important theme of the lectures is the pressing need for Australia to develop human capital. But to do this successfully our schools need serious reform, otherwise the global bar will seem set far beyond our reach.

Rupert Murdoch at heart is a traditional newspaperman. But he sees the wood for the trees. Newspapers will thrive in the 21st century if proprietors fully comprehend what it means to be alive in the era of information.

Technology has helped transform the world. Some say it has turned it upside down. Rupert Murdoch argues that we must not be prisoners of the past - modern day Luddites - if we are to succeed in the golden era.

In his first lecture Rupert Murdoch scans the future and beholds a golden era. But will we be part of it? The Australia he sees simply is not prepared for the challenges ahead. A classic Russell Drysdale painting provides inspiration.

In his final lecture, Professor Clark describes the unfolding possibilities of the new discipline of medical bionics. The hope of bionic nerve and spinal repair, a bionic eye, bionic epilepsy control, bionic drug delivery, bionic tissue repair, bionic muscles, organs and implantable sensors are only some of the magnificent achievements which this field may deliver for the benefit of humanity.

Professor Clark describes the realisation of his passionate desire to use the bionic ear to develop spoken language in children and the confrontation that this provoked with sections of the deaf community. He comments, 'It was ironical that I was now confronted by the very people whom I wanted to help hear. The criticisms affected all members of the team, and weighed heavily on us.'

'It is no exaggeration to say I was gambling my whole professional career on this day.' After twelve years of research Professor Clark describes the unbearable suspense of waiting to discover if the bionic ear would not only work but be commercially viable. Included are remarkable and moving recordings from the first test sessions of the bionic ear.

Loss of Contact is a detailed investigation of exactly what it means to lose a sense or senses including hearing, vision or touch. Clark, quoting the leprosy surgeon Paul Brand, describes how even to lose our sense of pain, 'the gift that nobody wants', can be catastrophic.

Professor Clark expresses his wonder, and inspires ours, at the complexity and continuing mystery of the operation of our senses.

The evolution of demand management policies, particularly monetary policy, over the past 30 years has largely been an exercise in overcoming conflict between short-term incentive and long-term stability.

The 1990 recession returned Australia to low inflation and paved the way for the sort of stability—15 years and counting—that earlier recessions had failed to achieve. Through the 1990s sustained economic growth re-emerged, and a new approach to monetary policy based on inflation targeting and central bank independence was put in place.

Finance excess saw boom turn to bust, and Australia experience its third recession in a quarter of a century. Then-treasurer Paul Keating would infamously observe it was 'the recession we had to have.' Perhaps it was—or was it caused by overly tight monetary policy?

By the 1970s the world's developed economies were stuck in the worst position they had been in since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

For the world's developed economies, the end of the second world war was the trigger for almost 30 years of sustained growth.

The end of the second world war ushered in an era of incomparable economic growth. In the era of post-war reconstruction the world's developed countries would enjoy a 'golden age' of low inflation and full employment. Guided by the theories of John Maynard Keynes, governments became increasingly confident in how to apply macroeconomic policy.

Owen Harries summarises the four traditions of American foreign policy as identified by Walter Russell Mead, and conducts a similar overview of Australia's foreign policy traditions. Against this background, he looks at the policy of the Howard government over the last year and a half – the policy of unhesitating, unqualified and conspicuous support for the United States in its wars against terrorism and against Iraq.

Throughout history, hegemons have been challenged. What challengers is the United States likely to face in coming decades? Owen Harries assesses the prospects of the two most likely sources of challenge to American dominance, China and a united Europe. He looks at military, economic and political capabilities, and at the effects that demographic changes will have on them as well as on America itself. But will America's biggest potential threat be America itself?

Until recently cultures and the differences between them have played but a small role in the study of international politics. This is because virtually all serious relations between states took place within western civilisation. Owen Harries looks at how this has changed as a result of two interrelated processes: first, because of the spectacular - and in many cases unanticipated - economic progress of some non-western states; and second, because of the rapid progress of globalisation and modernisation.

As Owen Harries discussed in his previous lecture, America has proclaimed a policy of assertively promoting democracy around the world. Almost 30 years ago some commentators predicted that democracy was in decline, but such predictions have not come to pass - and indeed the reverse could be said to be true.

In his second lecture Owen Harries details how the United States has evolved since the fall of the Soviet Union. In the first decade it failed to define and activate a grand purpose of mission in line with its status as the sole superpower. September 11 2001 changed that, giving the country the clear purpose that had been lacking, with influence shifting to those who believed that the country's destiny was to reshape the world. 9/11 was not a disaster merely to be avenged, but an opportunity to reawaken and, some say, direct America back to its true historical mission.

With the break up of the Soviet Union 12 years ago, a new era of international politics began, fundamentally altering the structure of the global political system. For the first time the world faced a unipolar system in which only one superpower dominated - the United States became the first 'global hegemon'. The implications of this are still working themselves out - indeed it took over a decade for many, including America, to realise that the United States had hegemonic power.

Lecture 4 of A Truly Civil Society, the 1996 Boyer Lecture series presented by Eva Cox.

Lecture 1 of A Truly Civil Society, the Boyer Lecture series of 1996 presented by Eva Cox.

Lecture 2 of A Truly Civil Society, the 1996 Boyer Lecture series presented by Eva Cox.

Lecture 5 of A Truly Civil Society, the 1996 Boyer Lecture series presented by Eva Cox.

Lecture 3 of A Truly Civil Society, the 1996 Boyer Lecture series presented by Eva Cox.

Lecture 4 of A Truly Civil Society, the 1996 Boyer Lecture series presented by Eva Cox.

In this fourth and final lecture, John Bell discusses how William Shakespeare imagined a different world and encouraged his audience to do the same.

In this third lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses Shakespeare's Women and how through his female characters he imagined a better world.

In this second lecture of the Boyer series, John Bell discusses what Shakespeare can teach us about governance, about politics and power.

In the first lecture of the 2021 Boyer series, John Bell opens our eyes and our ears to how relevant William Shakespeare is in today's world and what he can teach us through his own observations from four hundred years ago.

How advances in genetics and biomedicine have quietly brought eugenics back from exile.

There's a dark side of stem cell research — John Rasko shines a light on the low points and scandals of unproven cell therapies.

In the third Boyer lecture, Dr Andrew Forrest discusses how inequality manifests in our modern capitalist system — through intergenerational dependence on welfare, lack of access to finance, a lack of policy focus on early childhood development in vulnerable communities and through modern slavery.

In the second of his 2020 Boyer Lectures, Andrew Forrest mounts a passionate defence of our oceans. Dr Forrest argues the key issues facing our oceans — deoxygenation, overfishing and plastic pollution — are our fault, and it's us who must fix them. He says it's philanthropic and government interventions, at a scale not yet seen, that will save our seas.

In this first Boyer lecture, leading philanthropist and businessman Andrew Forrest calls for an urgent move to green hydrogen "on a global scale". For Dr Forrest, the question is not whether green hydrogen will become the next global energy form, but who will be the first to mass-produce it?

In Rachel Perkins final Boyer lecture she details the dual proposal for a Makarrata Commission and a process of truth telling about our nation.

From colonial times to the present, Indigenous people have wanted a say about the laws and policies that affect them. Rachel Perkins discusses what needs to be done to guarantee that the Indigenous voice is heard.