Join this award-winning investigative journalist as she reveals why Australia is doubling down on fossil fuels in this new Quarterly Essay.

Discover the ways of corporate power and disruption with Marian Wilkinson as she investigates the new face of resistance and disruption.

The world may have committed to addressing climate change, but Australia's fossil-fuel giant Woodside is doubling down on gas production out to 2070. How convincing is their argument that gas is a necessary transition fuel, as the world decarbonises?

About the author

Marian Wilkinson is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist and a reporter at ABC TV's Four Corners. She has been a foreign correspondent and deputy editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and an executive producer of Four Corners.

Organised in partnership with Constant Reader Bookshop.

Join us to hear Marian Wilkinson in conversation with Michael Williams about Quarterly Essay 99: Woodside Vs. the Planet.

This is a story of power and influence, pollution and protest. The world may have committed to curbing fossil-fuel use in the 2030s, but Australia's fossil-fuel giants have doubled down. They have plans for increased production into the 2070s. Support from the major parties is locked in, so something has to give.

In this ground-breaking essay, Marian Wilkinson reveals the ways of corporate power and investigates the new face of protest and disruption. The stakes could not be higher.

Free, but bookings are essential.

Going all electric will save up to $3,500 annually. Come hear how saving the planet will now save you money!

Join us for a special in-conversation event with ‘Rewiring Australia’s Dr Saul Griffith’, award-winning engineer, inventor and bestselling author of The Big Switch, as he launches his powerful new handbook: Plug In!: The Electrification Handbook. With wit, clarity and data-backed solutions, Saul will take us through five key decisions every household can make to transition away from fossil fuels – and why this movement is more urgent and empowering than ever. 

From solar to EVs, induction cooktops to heat pumps, Plug In! is your go-to guide to electrifying your life. Saul will share practical tips, visionary ideas and insights from his work as founder of Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia, where he champions large-scale policy and grassroots action to accelerate our clean energy future. 

In conversation with local ABC Broadcaster Geraldine Mellet, this is a must-attend for anyone curious about energy, climate and how everyday choices can drive national change. Whether you’re a renter, homeowner, tradie, or just electrification-curious, this event will leave you fired up and ready to plug in. 

Books will be available for sale and signing after the talk.

Nazis in Australia: The Special Investigations Unit, 1987–1994 edited by Mark Aarons and Graham Blewitt

Please join us for the launch of Nazis in Australia at the Avenue Bookstore in Elsternwick on Thursday 11 September 2025.

Mark Aarons and Graham Blewitt will be in conversation with Dr Helen Durham.

Doors open at 6pm and light refreshments will be served.

About the Book

The story of the special investigations unit that tracked down the Nazis who called Australia home after World War II.

The Special Investigations Unit investigated over 800 suspected war criminals living in Australia. This book gathers the recollections of historians, archaeologists, police investigators, SIU leaders, translators and lawyers to create a detailed insiders' account of the unit's efforts to prosecute Australian residents and citizens believed to have participated in horrific war crimes.

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.

Dr Helen Durham

Dr. Helen Durham has been involved in international humanitarian law for three decades. She was actively involved in the development of jurisprudence focusing on rape as a war crime, played a role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court as well as the treaty on the Prohibition of nuclear weapons. Helen was the Director of International Law and Policy for the International Committee of the Red Cross, 2014- 22 in Geneva. She is currently the CEO of RedR Australia which specialises in sending highly skilled technicians to conflict zones that require rebuilding of basic infrastructure.

Marian Wilkinson will be in conversation with David Pocock on her Quarterly Essay Woodside vs. the Planet: How a Company Captured a Country.

Why is Australia doubling down on fossil fuels? The world may have committed at Paris to hold back dangerous climate change, but Australia's fossil-fuel giant Woodside is doubling down: it has bold new plans to keep producing gas out to 2070. Support from the major parties is locked in, so something has to give.

This is a story of power and influence, pollution and protest. How does one company capture a country? How convincing is Woodside's argument that gas is a necessary transition fuel, as the world decarbonises? And what is the new ""energy realism"" narrative being pushed by Trump's White House. In this engrossing essay, Marian Wilkinson reveals the ways of corporate power and investigates the new face of resistance and disruption. The stakes could not be higher.

"The gas companies and the Labor governments in WA and Canberra had refined their defence: the gas industry was helping the world decarbonise, curbing its emissions and providing energy security. It sounded like the planet could hardly have a better friend than Australia's LNG industry and companies like Woodside." 

Marian Wilkinson is a multi-award-winning investigative journalist, including two Walkley awards, and a reporter at ABC TV's Four Corners, where she was its first female executive producer . She has been a foreign correspondent and deputy editor for The Sydney Morning Herald. Her books include The Fixer, Dark Victory (with David Marr) and The Carbon Club.

David Pocock , a former captain of the Wallabies rugby union team, is currently an independent Senator for the Australian Capital Territory in the Australian Parliament, elected in 2022 and re -elected in 2025.He is a co-founder of Rangelands Regeneration.

Emeritus Professor Mark Howden AC, former Director of the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions, will give the vote of thanks.

Books are available for signing from 5.30 pm and again after the event.

Join us for a special in-conversation event with ‘Rewiring Australia’s Dr Saul Griffith’ , award-winning engineer, inventor and bestselling author of The Big Switch, as he launches his powerful new handbook: Plug In!: The Electrification Handbook. With wit, clarity and data-backed solutions, Saul will take us through five key decisions every household can make to transition away from fossil fuels – and why this movement is more urgent and empowering than ever. 

From solar to EVs, induction cooktops to heat pumps, Plug In! is your go-to guide to electrifying your life. Saul will share practical tips, visionary ideas and insights from his work as founder of Rewiring America and Rewiring Australia, where he champions large-scale policy and grassroots action to accelerate our clean energy future. 

In conversation with local sustainability advocate Pam Townsend, this is a must-attend for anyone curious about energy, climate and how everyday choices can drive national change. Whether you’re a renter, homeowner, tradie, or just electrification-curious, this event will leave you fired up and ready to plug in. 

Join the PHA NSW & ACT and Linda Jaivin, author of Bombard the Headquarters!: The Cultural Revolution in China for this timely presentation:

Bombard the Headquarters! From Mao to Musk

Almost six decades before the newly elected US president Donald Trump and his then closest-comrade-in-arms Elon Musk were planning their attack on America’s ‘deep state’, Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party of China, called on his comrades to ‘bombard the headquarters’. Bureaucrats were a common enemy for both leaders, who perceived them as impediments to their very different, but equally urgent and sweeping revolutionary visions. China’s Cultural Revolution was enormously destructive for China’s education system and cultural institutions, its economy and its social cohesion. It was horrifically violent as well, with nearly two million people beaten, tortured or otherwise driven to their deaths, and millions more left with life-changing injuries. Its memory still shadows China. What lessons does this traumatic period offer the world today?

Join us for a conversation with Marian Wilkinson about her Quarterly Essay Woodside Vs. the Planet.
 
A story of power and influence, pollution and protest. The world may have committed to curbing fossil-fuel use in the 2030s, but Australia's fossil-fuel giants have doubled down. They have plans for increased production into the 2070s. Support from the major parties is locked in, so something has to give.

In this groundbreaking essay, Marian Wilkinson reveals the ways of corporate power and investigates the new face of protest and disruption. The stakes could not be higher.

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

In his new book 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. It is a book that will galvanise, uplift and inspire its readers. 

​Join Bob Brown, one of Australia's living legends, for a conversation about his new book with the ABC's Michael Rowland. 

There is little doubt that climate change is impacting the world around us, From the weather to the wildlife and to humanity itself. But are we really making the changes necessary to half and turn the tide?

To discuss we have an exceptional panel, headlined by renowned journalist and author of The Carbon Club, Marian Wilkinson. Few know the political and climate landscape like she does.

Joining Marian is Distinguished Professor of Biology at Macquarie University, Lesley Hughes. The conversation will be moderated by fellow journalist Margot Saville.

Six ideas to understand artificial intelligence today

Since Alan Turing first posed the question, ‘Can machines think?’, artificial intelligence has evolved from a speculative idea to a transformative force. The Shortest History of AI traces this evolution, from Ada Lovelace’s visionary work to IBM’s groundbreaking defeat of the chess world champion and the revolutionary emergence of ChatGPT. It also explores AI’s cultural journey, touching on classics such as Frankenstein, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Revealing how many ‘overnight’ successes were decades in the making, this accessible and illuminating book simplifies AI into six key ideas, equipping readers to understand where we’ve been – and where we’re headed.

TOBY WALSH is one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence. He is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales and chief scientist at its new AI institute, UNSW.ai. He is the author of four previous books about AI, including Machines Behaving Badly and Faking It.

Join us for an exclusive in-conversation with author Helen Trinca and literary expert Will Yeoman where they discuss Helen’s latest book, Looking for Elizabeth: The Life of Elizabeth Harrower.

In Looking for Elizabeth, Helen Trinca unravels the enigma of Elizabeth Harrower (1928 to 2020) — a celebrated author who published four acclaimed novels before vanishing from the literary scene at the peak of her career. 

This compelling biography vividly brings to life the literary circles and the cultural landscape of Australia during that fascinating era.

Books will be available for purchase and signing on the night.

Please join us for the Book Launch of Emily Gallagher’s book Playtime: A History of Australian Childhood - Black Inc Books

To be launched by Australian actress, singer, author and television host Justine Clarke

About The Book

This groundbreaking book is a history of children’s play and imagination in Australia between 1890 and the Second World War. It is a story about the generations that grew up at a time when nation and empire were being reimagined amid the globalising currents of war, technology and trade. Theirs were faces that would remain forever young in monochrome film, and whose thoughts and dreams would be preserved between the timeless blue lines of the modern school exercise book.

The book is built around six imaginative worlds amateur journalism, bird loving, war and adventure, dolls, the future, and monsters and fairies. It brings these worlds, and the voices of children, to life, exploring an incredible array of children’s artefacts and seeing the social history of Australia through a new lens.

'In this brilliant study, Emily Gallagher reveals childhood imagination and play as at once traditional and modern, conservative and forward-looking – a realm of joy, fantasy and fear entangled with the adult world, yet a kingdom that children also claim as their own. Playtime is a book of striking richness, originality and creativity that will change your understanding of the possibilities of Australian social history.' —Frank Bongiorno, author of Dreamers and Schemers

‘Emily Gallagher’s beautiful new history illuminates the ways children have imagined their worlds through play. Emerging from years of careful and creative historical research, Gallagher offers a new lens through which to examine Australian history. Brimming with empathy and intelligence, Playtime is a remarkable feat of historical imagination.’ ––Michelle Arrow, co-author of Personal Politics

'Beautifully written, Playtime is an innovative history of children's imaginative play that takes children seriously in their own right and on their own terms.' —Hannah Forsyth, author of Virtue Capitalists

'A joy to read, this landmark study demonstrates the significance of children's creative play, restive imaginations and slumbered dreamworlds. Emily Gallagher has written an instant classic of Australian history, according her young protagonists a central place in the national narrative … Playtime showcases a treasure trove of sources to tell vital stories about social relations, change and continuity.' —Simon Sleight, author of Young People and the Shaping of Public Space in Melbourne, 1870–1914

About Emily Gallagher

Emily Gallagher is a historian and research editor at the Australian National University. Her PhD thesis was awarded the Serle Prize in Australian History and the Lyndall Ryan Prize in Australian Studies.

About Justine Clarke

Justine Clarke is one of the most recognised and trusted faces on the Australian entertainment landscape: a best-selling children’s singer and author, internationally acclaimed film star, seasoned stage actor - currently starring in the Sydney Theatre Company production of Julia, playing the role of Julia Gillard, and a constant, reassuring presence on the daytime TV institution, Play School.

This is a story of power and influence, pollution and protest. How does one company capture a country? How convincing is Woodside’s argument that gas is a necessary transition fuel, as the world decarbonises? And what is the new “”energy realism”” narrative being pushed by Trump’s White House?

On Thursday 25th September at the Red Mill Distillery, Balmain, join Marian Wilkinson in conversation with David Marr.

Copies of Woodside vs The Planet will be available for purchase at the venue through Roaring Stories, with Wilkinson signing copies after the discussion.