Discussion, food and music – join us and have your say.

Saturday October 14th  

10.00 – 4.30 pm

Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest

MCH members, government income support and full-time students $30. Non-members $40.00

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The democratic experiment in countries around the world has been about the free contest of ideas, interests, and groups, along with tolerance for opponents and respect for their legitimacy. But the history of democracy globally is strewn with examples of extremists and demagogues manipulating prejudice, insecurity, and fear in a bid for power. Recent events in the United States of America and Europe suggest these examples are not relegated to history.

So how does Australia fare in this environment? Join us, and have your say as to whether democracy in Australia needs revamping and if so, what might we do about it?

Program covers presentations and discussion on:

• what people think about our political parties
• who controls the policy agenda
• perspectives from different community groups
• limitation of ideas covered in election campaigns
• does French President Macron offer new approaches
• what can we do to increase real democratic engagement.

13 October, 6.30 pm

The Muse Restaurant, East Hotel, 69 Canberra Avenue, Kingston

Dinner $90 per person OR Festival Ticket: 13-14 October Dinner and Day of Ideas, $110 (members) $120 (non-members)

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Australians have prided themselves in the myth that opportunity is open for all. But the evidence that birth and luck play an outsized role in our lives is overwhelming. So how has the idea of a meritocracy survived for so long?

Join Professor Frank Bongiorno for fine dining at the Muse restaurant. For dinner, wine, and conversation with one of Australia’s most active public intellectuals on the future of opportunity and merit in Australia’s social democracy.

Speaker: Frank Bongiorno is Professor of History at the Australian National University. He is an Australian labour, political and cultural historian. His recent works include The Sex Lives of Australians: A History (2012), and The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (2015)

Monday 9 October 2017, 5.30pm for 6pm 

Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle, Forrest

MCH members, concession (Government Support) and full-time students $5

Non-members $10.00

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Dr Leonid Petrov is one of Australia’s leading experts on North Korea. In this talk he will summarise the domestic and international policies of Pyongyang and provide several possible scenarios for Korea and the region that include peaceful co-existence, violent unification and even a nuclear Armageddon.

Leonid Petrov graduated from the Department of Oriental Studies, St. Petersburg State University in 1994, where he majored in Korean History and Language. In 1994-1996, he worked as interpreter for the South Korean National Soccer Team and participated in the 26th Olympic Games in Atlanta. In 1996-2002, Leonid Petrov worked on a doctoral thesis at the Australian National University. Between 2003 and 2005, Dr. Petrov conducted post-doctoral research at the Academy of Korean Studies in Seongnam and taught Korean History at the Intercultural Institute of California in San Francisco. In 2006-2007, he was Chair of Korean Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris. Between 2009 and 2012, Dr. Petrov taught Korean History and Language at the University of Sydney. Currently, he teaches Cross-Cultural Management, Strategic Intelligence and other subjects at the International College of Management in Sydney (ICMS). Starting from 2007, Dr. Petrov has been involved in a number of projects sponsored by the Australian Research Council.