Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, olympic athlete Ian Thorpe and civic leader Jess Scully each name what they see from where they stand: the political, physical and civic body under pressure.

Honest but not despairing, we are here. From AI, energy and political power, the forces reshaping humanity are not separate crises, but interconnected conditions.

With barely six per cent of the world living in a full democracy and backsliding well underway, the conversation turns to what it now takes to hold one. They ask what an honest update to our institutions would require, from countering culture wars with uncommon ground to treating property as shelter for the next generation rather than an asset to be banked by this one.

Australia, as a middle power, has more room to act than it tends to admit.

Hosted by Eleanor Gammell.

Guests

Malcolm Turnbull

29th Prime Minister of Australia

Australia’s 29th Prime Minister (2015–2018) and former leader of the Liberal Party, Turnbull built a career as a barrister, journalist and tech investor before politics. Since leaving office he has written prolifically on climate, media power and the future of liberal democracy.

Ian Thorpe

Five-time Olympic gold medallist · founder, Fountain for Youth

One of Australia’s most decorated Olympians, Thorpe won five Olympic gold medals before retiring at 24 and reinventing himself as an advocate for Indigenous youth literacy and LGBTQ+ rights. His foundation partners with remote Aboriginal communities on early-childhood education.

Jess Scully

Writer, civic strategist · former Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney

A writer, curator and former Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney (2017–2021), Scully spent two decades championing creative industries, digital democracy and participatory governance. Her 2020 book Glimpses of Utopia gathered hopeful case studies of communities reinventing politics, work and care from the ground up.

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