Canberra Writers Festival presents

Objects and records tell tales, spark imagination and are fascinating sources of social history. In Playtime: A History of Australian Childhood, Emily Gallagher explores the history of childhood play and imagination in Australia, with reference to the toys and artefacts that inspired generations growing up between the 1890s and WW2. After thirty years confined within museum walls, Anne-Marie Condé, a restless history curator, steps out for air with The Prime Minister’s Potato and Other Essays. She tours cemeteries, war memorials and junk shops asking fresh questions about the significance of objects and places. A session for those who love hearing about precious objects and the stories they contain. Moderated by Kathryn Favelle.

Canberra Writers Festival presents

Jenny Macklin was known as a Minister on a Mission and implemented life-changing reforms for many Australians through the Rudd & Gillard eras. Now she issues her must-read book Making Progress: How Good Policy Happens on how to lock in progressive change and deliver on-the-ground results. Sarah Hanson-Young is Greens Senator for South Australia and is a passionate environmentalist, community campaigner, feminist, and human rights activist. With over 17 years in the Parliament, Sarah has become one of the country's leading voices on women in politics, environmental protection, climate change, media laws and diversity, and human rights policy.

There is no shortage of big policy issues that must be tackled in Australia including family violence and rising inequality. Together the panel will bring different perspectives on how to create impetus for much needed big ideas and bold reforms. And deliver!  This is an essential session for politics-watchers, public service reformers and engaged community members alike. Moderated by Jess Hill who will draw on years of experience working with government, researchers and the community sector trying to achieve better outcomes for families and communities.  

Canberra Writers Festival presents

What's the true cost of progress, and what do we lose in trying to attain it? Facing a rapidly approaching Artificial Intelligence existence, Big Tech promises that geoengineering, nanotech and AI can solve our health, environmental and social crises. So why does it feel so dystopian? In Brave New Wild, Richard King shows us that corporations and governments are attempting to remake nature itself – and could break the foundational connection that sustains us as a species. In her novel One Story, Pip Finkemeyer dives into the power of narrative in an AI world, and a turning point for Big Tech in the 2010s that paved the path we are on today. Saul Griffith lives in labs and boardrooms trying to harness the power of innovation, tech and corporate might for good – because if innovation can’t save us, what can? Moderated by Jennifer Mills (Salvage).

Join us for the launch of Nazis in Australia: Exploring the Legacy of Australia’s Special Investigations Unit, 1987-1994, which will be available for purchase and signing on the night.

Nazis in Australia tells the story of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) tasked with tracking down Nazi war criminals who had made Australia their homes after World War II. Join authors Mark Aarons and Graham Blewitt, as well as Dr Grant Niemann and Michael David in a conversation facilitated by David Bevan as they reflect on the SIU’s work and share their personal experiences investigating Nazis in Australia.

In 1986, journalist Mark Aarons released a groundbreaking radio documentary that exposed the presence of former Nazi perpetrators living in Australia. The public outcry led to a parliamentary inquiry and then the establishment of the SIU, Australia’s first body dedicated to investigating suspected war criminals. The SIU examined over 800 cases, excavated mass graves in Ukraine, and pursued prosecutions on Australian soil.

The SIU left an important legacy. As well as pursuing justice for victims of the Holocaust, it demonstrated that historical investigation of war crimes was possible, even decades later. In the words of former SIU director Graham Blewitt, "Australia should be proud that, for a brief period in our legal history, we stood up and did the right thing. There was a time when Nazi collaborators living in Australia were wondering when the SIU knock on the door would come."

Dr Grant Niemann was the former Commonwealth Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions in South Australia and was responsible for the three prosecutions arising from the SIU’s investigations in that State.

David Bevan reported the Polyukhovich case for The Advertiser and the ABC. He wrote the book-length account of the proceedings in “A Case to Answer”. 

Michael David, King's Counsel, appeared as defence counsel for all three accused indicted for war crimes following the SIU’s investigations. He is now a retired Supreme Court Judge.

The Australia Institute Webinar

For half a century, Bob Brown has been standing up to the powerful interests who would put profit before planet.

In Defiance, he draws on this experience to inspire a new generation of individual and collective action. He reflects on the people and places that have shaped him, celebrates the irreplaceable beauty and value of nature and shares what motivates him to keep fighting. He considers the challenges facing nature’s defenders – hostile corporate lobbyists, vilification in the press, the powerful pull of consumerism – and shows how courage, persistence and community can defeat them all.

Told with Brown’s trademark warmth and humour, these stories will galvanise, uplift and inspire.

About the author

Bob Brown is an environmental and social justice campaigner and former senator. A founding member of the Wilderness Society, from 1978 he led the successful campaign against the construction of the Franklin Dam. He served in Tasmanian state parliament for a decade, was leader of the Australian Greens, and in 1996 was elected to the federal Senate. His books include Memo for a Saner World and Optimism. After retiring from the Senate in 2012, he established the Bob Brown Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation supporting environmental causes.