IQ² live debates - past events
2010 series - Sydney
Below are past events from the 2020 IQ² series in Sydney.
You can also visit the future events page to see what's coming up. Details of debates from the 2008 series are also available, including recordings of each debate.
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?
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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.
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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 ...
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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.
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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!
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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.
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Special Ethics Education should be allowed for children not attending scripture classes
17 November 2010 - Sydney
It is eight years since a group of NSW parents first asked if it would be possible for those of their children not attending scripture to participate in ethics classes.
In recent months, a trial of this option has been held in ten schools – causing a storm of controversy to break over the heads of all concerned.
Read more ...
Illustration by Marc van de Griendt.
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