Climate change: Managing the transition
Department of Climate Change secretary Dr Martin Parkinson has told a forum organised by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) that climate change deniers have misappropriated the term "sceptic". He says the weight of scientific evidence is real and Australia is likely to be hardest hit.
[Department of Climate Change secretary Martin Parkinson speaks at CEDA forum]
Tom Burns Memorial Lecture
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gives the inaugural Tom Burns Memorial Lecture in Brisbane, to honour the former Queensland deputy premier who died in 2007. Mr Rudd lauded Mr Burns' involvement in reforming the Labor party, and said the late politician was ahead of his time in understanding Asia.
[Kevin Rudd presents Tom Burns Memorial Lecture]
African immigration
Minister for Finance Lindsay Tanner calls on Australia's business community to support African migrants with workplace mentoring and work experience, in the 2008 Redmond Barry Lecture, delivered at the State Library of Victoria overnight.
[Transcript: Lindsay Tanner delivers 2008 Redmond Barry Lecture]
Defence reform
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon presents a speech, titled Labor's Defence Reform Project - Meeting the Strategic Challenges of the 21st Century, at the National Press Club in Canberra.
[Text of Joel Fitzgibbon's speech to National Press Club]
Detention changes
The majority of asylum seekers will no longer be detained under major immigration reforms announced by Immigration Minister Chris Evans in this speech to the Australian National University.
[Immigration Minister Chris Evans' speech on changes to mandatory detention]
Obama's Berlin speech
United States presidential hopeful Barack Obama has called on Europe to "come together again" with the United States to help quell violence in Afghanistan, during a speech to tens of thousands of people in Berlin, Germany.
[Video and transcript: Barack Obama's speech in Berlin]
National security and climate change
Former WA governor Lt Gen (Retd) John Sanderson has presented the Banksia Association lecture at Murdoch University. He calls for a deeper security structure in Australia's north and new alliances as a response to global climate change and the demise of North Atlantic culture.
[Transcript: John Sanderson's speech on northern Australia]
Gender equality
Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has launched the findings of a year-long national listening tour with this speech at Sydney Girls High School.
[Transcript of Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick's launch speech]
Defence and foreign policy priorities
Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon presents a speech titled Shaping peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region: the new Australian Government's defence and foreign policy priorities, at the Brookings Institution in the United States.
[Joel Fitzgibbon's speech to the Brookings Institution]
Confronting global challenges
Economist Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University presents the keynote address at the ANU Crawford School's annual China update.
[Video: Jeffery Sachs - China Update 2008]
Balance of power
Greens Leader Bob Brown addresses the National Press Club in Canberra and vows to use his party's new power in the Senate to push for a tough emissions trading scheme.
[Text of Bob Brown's National Press Club speech]
Bill Henson speech
Photographer Bill Henson opens the Picture Paradise: Asia Pacific photography 1840s - 1940s exhibition at the National Gallery in Canberra, using the occasion to hit out at what he calls "a world of moralism and clap trap".
[Transcript: Bill Henson speech, National Gallery]
ANZSOG public lecture
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh tells the Australia and New Zealand School of Government that a federation of states is the most effective way to govern, to manage and to provide services.
[Text of Anna Bligh's inaugural ANZSOG public lecture]
Edmund Barton lecture
The Federal Member for Hunter and Minister for Defence, Joel Fitzgibbon, presents the inaugural Edmund Barton lecture at the University of Newcastle. In his speech New Thinking for a New Century - Building on the Barton Legacy, Mr Fitzgibbon says Australia is the most over-governed country in the world and calls for the abolition of the states.
[Text of Joel Fitzgibbon's Edmund Barton lecture]
Science education
Professor Julie Campbell, science education and public awareness secretary at the Academy of Science, speaks to the National Press Club about inquiry-based science education in Australia: a national curriculum.
[Transcript: National Press Club address by Professor Julie Campbell]
Emissions trading
In a keynote address to the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, Business Council president Greig Gailey says business and industry cannot be expected to absorb the inevitable higher energy costs of an emissions trading scheme.
[Greig Gailey's keynote address to CEDA]
People of the Book
At the invitation of the La Trobe University Centre for Dialogue, Justice Michael Kirby will present this paper to the Globalisation for the Common Good official conference opening, at the Sidney Myer Asia Centre, Melbourne University.
[Transcript: Justice Michael Kirby's speech.]
Open market operations
The Reserve Bank's assistant governor Guy Debelle addressed the Australian Debt Markets conference and spoke about the RBA's operations in the domestic money market.
[Transcript: RBA assistant governor Guy Debelle speech to the Australian Debt Markets conference.]
Democrats farewell
The Australian Democrats leader, Lyn Allison, says media coverage of her party contributed to its demise.
[Lyn Allison's valedictory to the Senate Chamber.]
Delivering for consumers
The chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Graeme Samuel says he's frustrated by constant criticism of his role.
[Transcript: Graeme Samuel's address to the National Press Club.]
Building the nation
Professor Michael Pusey says the prospects for a resumption of constructive nation building are on balance very promising.
[Transcript: New Prospects for Nation Building?]
Farewell to the Senate
Natasha Stott Despoja says the end of the Democrats is not good for anyone and they will be hard to replace.
[Natasha Stott Despoja's valedictory to the Senate Chamber.]
Northern Australia Forum
Prime Minister Rudd describes the ABC's Northern Australia Forum as a conversation about a region "critical to our nation's future".
[Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's address]
Advocating For Patients
Australian Medical Association president Dr Rosanna Capolingua has attacked the workability of proposed super clinics as a myth that could lead to misdiagnosis in patients.
[Transcript: Dr Rosanna Capolingua's National Press Club address]
Economic Conditions
Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens' address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia.
[Transcript: Glenn Stevens address]
