The Fifth Estate The Wheeler Centre
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The Fifth Estate responds to the most important stories of the day and reignites those that have fallen off the front pages.
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Can You Keep a Secret? Media Rights and the Need to Know
Sally Warhaft, Peter Cronau and Scott Ludlam in conversation on stage at Bendigo Writers Festival.
Why is WikiLeaks so important? What is there to be learned from the documents released? According to the writers in A Secret Australia, the leaking of hidden government documents yielded knowledge that is essential for journalists and institutions to analyse the consequences of covert and unaccountable state power. “We open governments” is WikiLeaks’ motto, yet its crusade for transparent, accountable government has led to criminal charges being laid against its founder, Julian Assange, and whistleblower Chelsea Manning. Assange now faces espionage and hacking-related charges from the US government. A Secret Australia’s co-editor Peter Cronau and contributor and former Greens Senator Scott Ludlam joined Sally Warhaft at Bendigo Writers Festival earlier this year for a discussion about what is kept from public view and why. What are the limits of journalism when reporting on state apparatuses, and what is a publisher’s responsibility when dealing with state secrets?
#TWCFifthEstatePresented in partnership with Bendigo Writers Festival
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New Economic Futures
Sally Warhaft and George Megalogenis
Remember March 2020? When Australian borders closed, when we saw the first round of social restrictions? When the disturbing and surreal realities of COVID-19 finally hit home across Australia? March! We were so young.
Back then, Sally Warhaft caught up with George Megalogenis for a Fifth Estate conversation about political leadership during the pandemic, and about its historic and economic precedents.
So much has happened since. Six months on, the pair catch up again to take stock of the shifting situation and look to the future. How will the decisions made by Scott Morrison, his government, and the national cabinet affect us for decades to come? What are the long-term economic implications of closed borders? What will happen to global markets and local jobs? What will we rebuild in the post-recession economy and what can we create anew?
The Fifth Estate will take a break for the remainder of 2020, but the series will return fortnightly in 2021 with Sally Warhaft bringing you more live news, current affairs, politics and analysis. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for an exciting announcement about a new project from Warhaft and the Wheeler Centre, starting later this month.
#TWCFifthEstate
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Breaking the Climate Stalemate
What might the economic and social upheavals of 2020 mean for climate policy in Australia? For this Fifth Estate conversation, host Sally Warhaft brings together Judith Brett and Marian Wilkinson – two writers who have undertaken in-depth research into the resource economy and Australian climate scepticism.
Brett's recent Quarterly Essay, 'The Coal Curse', traces the history of Australia's resource dependence and its impact on our political culture. Wilkinson's book, The Carbon Club, explores the loose but powerful alliance of Australian media, mining and political figures whose scepticism has hindered meaningful climate policy development for decades.
There are signs, though, that the stalemate might be starting to shift. Amid widespread criticism during the bushfires earlier this year, Scott Morrison began to soften his climate rhetoric, speaking of ‘adaptation’ and ‘resilience’. James Murdoch spoke out against News Corp’s climate scepticism in January and, more recently, dramatically resigned from the board. Will the seismic impacts of Covid-19 set us back into our entrenched economic habits, or could 2020 mark a turning point? #TWCFifthEstate
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Kevin Rudd on Australia’s Post-Pandemic Future
Sally Warhaft and Kevin Rudd, live via video-link
What are the origins of COVID-19? How could the pandemic’s spread have been better contained? These are fraught and complex questions – and finding the right forum to ask them is a diplomatic minefield. How will Australia's call for a World Health Assembly investigation affect our relationship with China and other major global players? And how is the world's diplomatic and economic order being reshaped in the midst of the crisis – and of governments' widely varying responses?
Kevin Rudd joins Sally Warhaft for a live-streamed Fifth Estate discussion of these questions and more. As president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, a former Australian diplomat in China, and, of course, our former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Rudd shares his reflections on diplomacy and governance, his insights into how the pandemic is likely to alter international relations, and his thoughts on how Australia can continue to manage the far-reaching economic and political impacts of COVID-19.
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Tom Porteous on Human Rights and COVID-19
Sally Warhaft speaks with Tom Porteous, who joined us live from Paris
Tom Porteous is a former journalist for the Guardian and the BBC, and an expert on global conflict management and resolution. Now deputy program director at Human Rights Watch, he joined Sally Warhaft live from Paris to discuss human rights and COVID-19.
The pair talk through the existing tensions and inequities the pandemic has brought into sharp relief. They discuss, too, the immediate human rights challenges – from healthcare access and healthcare workers’ labor rights to family violence, education access and prisoners’ rights, to increasing incidents of racism.
Porteous also discusses post-pandemic life and the reasons for caution and optimism. What challenges can we anticipate, and mitigate, in terms of vaccine access? And could the post-COVID moment prompt a rethinking of social contracts, and an era of major public policy innovation?
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Joshua Wong: Unfree Speech
Sally Warhaft, left, and Joshua Wong
Joshua Wong was still a teenager when he rose to international prominence as a leader in Hong Kong’s 2014 Umbrella Movement, protesting increased Chinese Communist Party intervention in the city’s electoral system.
‘That’s the transformation of Hong Kongers … Before last summer, nobody could imagine more than 2 million people taking to the streets. […] But we did it. Almost one-fourth of the population [stood] up against the regime of Beijing.’
A lot has happened since. Wong has served two prison terms and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He's co-founded a new political party, Demosistō, and written a book, Unfree Speech. All the while, the protest movement in Hong Kong has simmered on, boiling over last year into extraordinary mass protests and brutal police confrontations.
With Sally Warhaft, Wong talks about the evolution of Hong Kong’s democracy movement and the impact of COVID-19. Assembly restrictions enforced due to the pandemic have hampered demonstrations and possibly cleared the path for more authoritarian rule in the city. In mid-April, more than a dozen high-profile pro-democracy activists were arrested.
How does Wong expect these arrests to impact Hong Kong's legislative elections in September? What effect might a weakened United States and an emboldened China have on the One Country, Two Systems principle that grants Hong Kong special autonomy?
Wong reflects on these questions and more.
#TWCFifthEstate
See also
The Fifth Estate: Joshua Wong: Unfree Speech / Activism
With Joshua Wong and Sally Warhaft
The Fifth Estate: The World’s Largest Party: China / Australian politics
What’s That Sound? Activism Today / Activism
With Tess Lawley, Gary Foley, Amelia Telford and 2 others
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