Jenny Macklin held many social policy portfolios over her long political career. As Federal Disability Reform Minister in the Gillard Government she ushered in the NDIS. Jenny talks about the process of winning support for big social policy changes.

If citizens have open access to data and can shape policy will they have more faith in government and the law?

Digital Humanities: It’s the coming together of digital computing technology and human cultural artefacts. This academic discipline embraces a variety of topics, from curating online collections to data mining large cultural data sets. Willard McCarty from King’s College London explains two specific features of digital humanities: modelling and stimulation. If modelling, so he says, is...

The EU has committed itself to a 40% carbon reduction goal by 2030. In spite of the economic difficulties brought on by the GFC, Europe continues to set ambitious climate targets. Former EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedergaard, speaks about the upcoming UN climate change conference in Paris, the challenge of getting Europe to...

Big Ideas examines the role of our watchdog agencies. Generally, they only draw public attention when they show someone up: corrupt behaviour by a government official, a waste of public money or maladministration. Less dramatic but just as important is another side of the agencies’ work: monitoring and improving standards and processes. Hear from the...