Australia: Sleepwalking off a Cliff?
Australia: Sleepwalking off a Cliff?

Australia: Sleepwalking off a Cliff?

Sun
26
Sun 26 Oct 12:00 PM

Senate Chamber | Museum of Australian Democracy Old Parliament House
Wheelchair
General Admission
60 Mins
October
Sun 26 Oct

Deep down, many Australians suspect we've succeeded as a nation largely through good luck...but is our luck running out? In the era of an unreliable USA, devastating wars, AI, climate change disasters and falling living standards do we have the democratic engagement and institutions required to cope? It’s time to take the pulse on our democratic resilience. Incisive commentator and The Australia Institute chief political analyst Amy Remeikis doesn't pull any punches about where we're going wrong. She's joined by Thomas Mayo (Always Was, Always Will Be) who through the Voice Referendum process and its aftermath has thought long and hard about the state of Australia’s democracy and First Nations people, and Tracey Kirkland (Age of Doubt), who sheds light on how misinformation and disinformation can poison democracy.

Tracey Kirkland is an Australian news journalist who has worked in broadcast and print for more than thirty years. She is currently the Continuous News Editor in charge of TV and video at ABC News Channel, and was previously the ABC’s national senior newsgathering editor. Since joining the ABC in 1999, Tracey has been a reporter, presenter or producer for all of the public broadcaster’s major news programs. She is the co-editor of Pandemedia: How COVID Changed Journalism.

Thomas Mayo is a Torres Strait Islander man born on Larrakia country in Darwin. As an Islander growing up on the mainland, he learned to hunt traditional foods with his father and to island dance from the Darwin community of Torres Strait Islanders. In high school, Thomas’s English teacher suggested he should become a writer. He didn’t think then that he would become one of the first ever Torres Strait Islander authors to have a book published for the general trade. Instead, he became a wharf labourer from the age of seventeen, until he became a union official for the Maritime Union of Australia in his early thirties. Quietly spoken in character, Thomas found his voice on the wharves. As he gained the skills of negotiation and organising in the union movement, he applied those skills to advancing the rights of Indigenous peoples, becoming a signatory to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and a tireless campaigner. Following the Uluru Convention, Thomas was entrusted to carry the sacred canvas of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. He then embarked on an eighteen-month journey around the country to garner support for a constitutionally enshrined First Nations voice, and a Makarrata Commission for truth-telling and agreement-making or treaties. Thomas is the author of Finding The Heart of The Nation, Dear Son and the children’s books - Finding Our Heart and Freedom Day.
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Concession Tickets apply for children under the age of 16, full-time students, Commonwealth Health Care Card holders, Commonwealth Seniors Card Holders and Commonwealth Pensioner Concession Card holders. Please have your eligible card with you at the venue.
October
Sun 26 Oct

Senate Chamber | Museum of Australian Democracy Old Parliament House

18 King George Terrace Parkes , Australian Capital Territory, 2600