Hugh Mackay was in conversation with Alex Sloan on Hugh's new book, The Kindness Revolution. How we can restore hope, rebuild trust and inspire optimism. Hugh Mackay encourages us to find the best in ourselves and in our society in both good and troubled times.

Revolutions never start at the top. If we dare to dream of a more loving country - kinder, more compassionate, more cooperative, more respectful, more inclusive, more egalitarian, more harmonious, less cynical - there's only one way to start turning that dream into a reality: each of us must live as if this is already that country.

Following the ravages of 2020's bushfires and pandemic on our mental and emotional health and on the economy, Hugh Mackay reflects on the challenges we faced during that year of upheaval and the questions many of us have asked. What really matters to me? Am I living the kind of life I want? What sort of society do I want us to become?

Urging us not to let those questions go, and pointing to our inspiring displays of kindness and consideration, our personal sacrifices for the common good and our heightened appreciation of the value of local neighbourhoods and communities, he asks in turn: 'Could we become renowned as a loving country, rather than simply a "lucky" one?'

Absorbing, wise and inspiring, The Kindness Revolution is a distillation of Hugh Mackay's life's work. Written for our times, this truly remarkable book shows how crises and catastrophes often turn out to be the making of us.

Hugh Mackay AO is a social psychologist, and the author of 22 books, including eight novels. His non-fiction writing covers social analysis, psychology, communication and ethics. He has had a 60-year career in social research, and was also a weekly newspaper columnist for twenty-five years. He is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and the Royal Society of New South Wales, has been awarded honorary doctorates by five Australian universities. Hugh is an Honorary Professor at the ANU Research School of Psychology.

Alex Sloan AM, the 2017 Canberra Citizen of the Year, is a regular conversationalist for ANU Meet the Author events.

Professor Frank Bongiorno AM, Head of the ANU School of History and author of award-winning books The Sex Lives of Australians: A History and The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia, will deliver the vote of thanks.

In conversation with Hugh Mackay

Bill Birtles, ABC China correspondent, was in conversation with Hugh White on Bill's new book, The Truth about China, a compelling and candid examination of China, one that takes a magnifying glass to recent events, and looks through a telescope at what is yet to come.

Bill Birtles was the ABC correspondent in China for five years. In September 2020, Bill was forced to seek refuge in the Australian Embassy in Beijing while diplomats delicately negotiated his departure from China in an unprecedented standoff with China's government. His departure meant that there were no Australian foreign correspondents on the ground for the first time in decades.

Now, in The Truth About China, Bill shares for the first-time the details of his abrupt departure, and the very personal impacts. A journalist's perspective on this rising global power has never been more important, as Australia's relationship with China undergoes an extraordinary change that's seen the detention of a journalist Cheng Lei, Canberra's criticism of Beijing's efforts to crush Hong Kong's freedoms, as well as China's military activity in the South China Sea and its human rights violations targeting the mostly Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang province.

Chronicling his five-year stint in China as he criss-crossed the country, Bill Birtles's reveals why the historic unravelling of China's relations with the West is perceived very differently inside the country. The Truth About China shares fresh, keen insights into Chinese-Australian relations.

Bill Birtles was educated at Canberra Grammar School and the University of New South Wales. He began a career in journalism, working for Triple J, but decided to start learning Mandarin and arrived in Beijing when he was 24 to work in a Chinese television newsroom. He subsequently worked for the ABC in Sydney and Melbourne before returning in 2015 to Beijing as the ABCs China correspondent.

Hugh White AO is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at The Australian National University. His work focuses primarily on Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, and global strategic affairs especially as they influence Australia and the Asia-Pacific. He has served as an intelligence analyst with the ONA, as a senior adviser on the staffs of Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and as a senior official in the Department of Defence, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence. His major publications include Power Shift: Australia's future between Washington and Beijing , The China Choice: Why America should share power , Without America: Australia's future in the New Asia and How to defend Australia.

Professor Richard Rigby, Emeritus Professor at the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific delivered the vote of thanks. Richard joined DFAT in 1975, where he worked until the end of 2001. His postings included Tokyo, Beijing (twice), Shanghai (Consul-General 1994-1998), London, and Israel (Ambassador, 2000-2001). He then joined ONA as Assistant Director-General, responsible for North and South Asia, before becoming the founding Executive Director, ANU China Institute in 2008.

In conversation with Bill Birtles

The ANU campus is always alive with plenty to see, hear and do.

Listen here to one of the many fascinating talks delivered by the world’s finest thinkers.  

If you’re interested in finding out more about events at ANU then visit us at events.anu.edu.


In conversation with Bill Birtles

Experience ANU

Related tracks