IQ² Australia live debates
2010 series - future debates:
Melbourne and Sydney
Below are summaries of the forthcoming live debates taking place in Sydney and Melbourne in 2010.
Many of our 2009 debates sold out, so be sure to secure tickets early.
Events in Sydney will again take place at the City Recital Hall Angel Place in will commence at 6:45pm - you must be seated by 6:35pm.
Events in Melbourne will take place at the Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street. They will commence at 6:30pm and conclude at 8:30pm.
You can also read about and watch recordings of past IQ² debates from the 2010 series in Sydney, the 2010 series in Melbourne, along with the 2009 series and 2008 series.
Sydney live debates
Popular Culture: We’ve seen the future and it is junk
9 February 2010 - Sydney
There is a certain cast of mind that locates all virtue in the classics; a cast of mind that dismisses popular culture as worthless.
But in a society where so much popular culture is shaped by yesterday’s heroes, is the conservative critic just the ‘pot calling the kettle black’?
Read more ...
The pursuit of happiness is making us miserable
9 March 2010 - Sydney
The ‘pursuit of happiness’ has been claimed as an unalienable right of human beings.
Generations of people have taken the authors of the American Declaration of Independence at their word, pursuing happiness with a relentless zeal.
But is happiness really worth pursuing?
Read more ...
The Senate is still unrepresentative swill
13 April 2010 - Sydney
Paul Keating’s famous jibe has not lost its sting. The Senate still has the capacity to frustrate the will of government.
It is still the chamber designed to protect the interests of the States, rather than those of the nation as a whole.
Read more ...
Governments should not censor the internet
11 May 2010 - Sydney
Architects of the internet have championed its promise as an instrument of liberty – a free-wheeling republic in which the ordinary person can bypass the gatekeepers of power and influence.
Beneath the shiny towers of liberty electronic sewers run thick with child pornography, terrorist propaganda, racial hatred, crazy conspiracies ...
Read more ...
Better more cameras than more crime
6 July 2010 - Sydney
In a bid to combat crime, Britain has made a massive investment in closed circuit cameras – with as many as 4.2 million having been installed.
Yet, the evidence suggests that this may have been for little benefit – with only 3% of street robberies in London being solved with the help of the ubiquitous cameras.
Read more ...
Only capitalism can save the planet
10 August 2010 - Sydney
Critics of capitalism have been crowing ever since the onset of the global financial crisis.
Capitalism has been blamed for nearly every one of the earth’s ills – poverty, pestilence, exploitation, environmental degradation, the lot!
Read more ...
We'd be better off without our armed forces
12 October 2010 - Sydney
Australia spends a fortune on defence – money that could be invested in improving health, education and the security of our energy, food and water.
Some think that defence expenditure is the price of freedom – ultimately measured in blood and treasure.
Read more ...
The nation state is a rotten idea
17 November 2010 - Sydney
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace ...
John Lennon - 1971
Read more ...
Melbourne live debates
Further details about our Melbourne debate series - being held for the first time in 2010 - are still being confirmed. Please check back for further information.
Australia should embrace nuclear power
4 March 2010 - Melbourne
In the wake of grave scientific warnings about the role of carbon emissions in climate change, prominent environmentalists like James Lovelock have called for the world to employ nuclear energy as an alternative to fossil fuels. Yet, Lovelock’s call has divided the environmental movement – and sections of the wider community.
Read more ...
Old people must pay their own way
15 June 2010 - Melbourne
Australia’s baby boomers are getting older – and with their aging comes mounting expense ... for the community.
The elderly receive a broad raft of subsidies – especially for medical services, where the annual costs of care are spiralling out of control.
What, if anything, justifies these subsidies?
Read more ...
- Event details
- Buy tickets
- Vote on the debate
Feminism has failed
28 September 2010 - Melbourne
After generations of effort, women still bear a disproportionate burden of domestic labour. Women are under-represented in the senior ranks of politics, business and the professions.
Women continue to be denied equal pay for equal work.
Read more ...
- Event details
- Buy tickets
- Vote on the debate
Our obsession with self is destroying our communities
9 November 2010 - Melbourne
John Donne wrote that, “No man is an island, entire of itself ... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”.
Yet, does this sentiment hold true in the modern world?
Read more ...
- Event details
- Buy tickets
- Vote on the debate
2009 series
The 2009 series of IQ² Australia debates has now concluded. Learn more about the debates in this series - you can also watch online recordings of each debate.
2008 series
The 2008 series of IQ² Australia debates has now concluded. Learn more about the debates in this series - you can also watch online recordings of each debate.
