Questions for the Nation: Perth

Where

Discovery Lounge, State Library of Western Australia

When

Saturday, 29 Jul 2017, 04:30pm - 05:45pm

The Wheeler Centre is roaming Australia, collecting the nation’s most urgent questions and thrashing them out with some of the sharpest thinkers we know. We’re doing it in panel discussions at Brisbane Writers Festival, Perth’s Disrupted Festival of Ideas, Darwin Festival and National Young Writers Festival in Newcastle.

At these sessions, we’ll scan the horizons, break deadlocked debates and dust off the issues rotting for too long at the bottom of the nation’s too-hard basket. What are the faultlines and tensions in Australian society, and where do we turn for fresh ideas for the future? Who do we want to be, and how are we going to get there?

In partnership with the State Library of Western Australia’s Disrupted Festival of Ideas, social researcher Rebecca Huntley hosts a discussion on the present and future of the nation. Join Sisonke Msimang, Nayuka Gorrie, Zoe Coombs Marr and Brad Ness for their take on the most important question facing Australia today, before the microphone turns to you: what questions should Australia be asking?

Presented in partnership with the State Library of Western Australia’s Disrupted Festival of Ideas.

Featuring

Featuring

Rebecca Huntley

Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s most respected researchers on social and consumer trends, and head of research at Essential Media. She is the author of Still Lucky: Why You Should Feel Optimistic About Australia and Its People.

@rebeccahuntley2

Nayuka Gorrie

Nayuka Gorrie is a Gunnai/Kurnai, Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta essayist and screenwriter.

@NayukaGorrie

Brad Ness

A towering presence in Australian wheelchair basketball, Brad was the Australian flag bearer at the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Rio Paralympics, and won a gold medal in Beijing, and silver medals Athens and London Paralympics. Brad set up basketball teams for kids with disabilities in Cantu and Rom... Read more

@BradNess15

Sisonke Msimang

Sisonke Msimang is the author of Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela: A biography of survival. She is a South African writer whose work is focussed on race, gender and democracy. She has written for a range of international publications including... Read more

@Sisonkemsimang

Zoë Coombs Marr

Zoë Coombs Marr is a performer, writer, artist and comedian. She grew up in Grafton, where she and her best friend staged a musical instead of going to schoolies week. Zoë has performed stand up comedy extensively in Australia, London and New York. Her solo show, Trigger Warning, won the 2016 Me... Read more

@zoecoombsmarr

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