Australia is Breaking: The Minefield
One of Australia’s greatest strengths has been the remarkable diversity of its multicultural society. However, is this strength a potential source of weakness? One of the surest means for weakening a liberal democracy is to exploit latent divisions – to ‘divide and conquer’. We explore the internal and external forces that risk undermining our sense of national unity. Where might the remedies be found? How do we stitch together the fraying fabric of social unity?
This session will be recorded and broadcast on ABC Radio National’s The Minefield.
Waleed Aly
Waleed Aly is a broadcaster, author, academic and musician. He lectures in politics at Monash University, where he completed his PhD in 2018 researching global terrorism, and is a Patron of the Street Library. For over a decade, Waleed co-hosted Network 10’s The Project. He now co-presents The Minefield on ABC Radio National with ethicist Scott Stephens. Waleed’s work has earned wide recognition, including the 2014 Walkley Award for Commentary, Analysis, Opinion and Critique. In 2016 he won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Australian TV Personality, the Silver Logie for Best Presenter, and delivered the Andrew Olle Media Lecture.
Stan Grant
Stan Grant is a proud Wiradjuri man, and the Vice Chancellor’s Chair of Australian-Indigenous Belonging at Charles Sturt University. He was formerly ABC’s Global Affairs and Indigenous Affairs Analyst. He is the award-winning and bestselling author of several books, including Talking To My Country, The Queen Is Dead, Murriyang and Australia Day. When Words Fail Us: Truth beyond time is his most recent book.
Scott Stephens
Scott Stephens is the ABC’s Religion and Ethics online editor and co-host, with Waleed Aly, of The Minefield on ABC Radio National. He and Waleed Aly co-authored Uncivil Wars: How Contempt is Corroding Democracy (Quarterly Essay 87, 2022). He is editor of Justice and Hope by Raimond Gaita, and co-editor and translator of two volumes of selected writings by Slavoj Žižek. He has published widely on moral philosophy, theological ethics and democratic theory.
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We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country on which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
The views and opinions expressed by the Festival participants are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.