Why have public conversations become so fraught? We seem to have lost the art not just of civil discourse but of having any semblance of a robust and nuanced debate.

Over a career spanning nearly 40 years, journalist Laura Tingle has been in the unusual position of being both a reporter and a commentator. In the 2024 John Button Oration, she examines the quality of our national debate.

Supported by the Melbourne School of Government and the Faculty of Arts, 
University of Melbourne.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024. 

Why have public conversations become so fraught? We seem to have lost the art not just of civil discourse but of having any semblance of a robust and nuanced debate.
Over a career spanning nearly 40 years, journalist Laura Tingle has been in the unusual position of being both a reporter and a commentator. In the 2024 John Button Oration, she examines the quality of our national debate.
Supported by the Melbourne School of Government and the Faculty of Arts,   University of Melbourne. 
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival 2024.

Australia's boldest literary festival.

Melbourne Writers Festival

Conversations from Australia's boldest literary festival.

Conversations from Australia's boldest literary festival.

John Button Oration: Off-course Discourse with Laura Tingle

Pioneering Noongar doctor and medical researcher Professor Sandra Eades (co-author of First Knowledges Health: Spirit, Country and Culture) and Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media) explore the enduring, transformative role of First Nations knowledge in the fields of healthcare and media.

With host Cheryl Leavy, they'll draw on their combined decades of practical experience and intellectual rigour to reflect on the importance of self-determined practices that uphold cultural integrity and prioritise Aboriginal leadership, and how non-First Nations practitioners can respect and learn from these approaches. Curated by Nardi Simpson. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

Pioneering Noongar doctor and medical researcher Professor Sandra Eades (co-author of First Knowledges Health: Spirit, Country and Culture) and Darumbal and South Sea Islander journalist Amy McQuire (Black Witness: The Power of Indigenous Media) explore the enduring, transformative role of First Nations knowledge in the fields of healthcare and media.
With host Cheryl Leavy, they'll draw on their combined decades of practical experience and intellectual rigour to reflect on&nbsp;the importance of self-determined practices that uphold cultural integrity and prioritise Aboriginal leadership, and how non-First Nations practitioners can respect and learn from these approaches. Curated by Nardi Simpson.&nbsp;
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

First Knowledges First

In this stunning conversation, celebrated authors Emily Maguire (Rapture) and Josephine Rowe (Little World) cover the mundane, the miraculous and writing the ineffable. 

Hear them discuss their latest works exploring faith, fate and the nature of belief, with Jaclyn Crupi. 

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

In this stunning conversation, celebrated authors Emily Maguire (Rapture) and Josephine Rowe (Little World) cover the mundane, the miraculous and writing the ineffable.&nbsp;
Hear them discuss their latest works exploring faith, fate and the nature of belief, with Jaclyn Crupi.&nbsp;
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

Emily Maguire and Josephine Rowe: Are You There, God?

Santilla Chingaipe (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) and Steve Vizard (Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary) come together to bring to light misunderstood, mythologised or lesser-known dimensions of Australian history.

From the global slave trade and Gallipoli to the women who shaped our country but were omitted from the history books, this discussion addresses how the stories we choose to tell – and those that are left out – shape our national identity.

Hosted by ABC Radio National's Natasha Mitchell. 

Supported by ARA.

Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

Santilla Chingaipe (Black Convicts: How Slavery Shaped Australia), Sita Sargeant (She Shapes History) and Steve Vizard (Nation, Memory, Myth: Gallipoli and the Australian Imaginary)&nbsp;come together to bring to light misunderstood, mythologised or lesser-known dimensions of Australian history.
From the global slave trade and Gallipoli to the women who shaped our country but were omitted from the history books, this discussion addresses how the stories we choose to tell &ndash; and those that are left out &ndash; shape our national identity.
Hosted by ABC Radio National's Natasha Mitchell.&nbsp;
Supported by ARA.
Recorded live at Melbourne Writers Festival.

John Button Oration: Off-course Discourse with Laura Tingle

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