The Melbourne Writers Festival returned to Ballarat on Saturday with a line-up of writers, journalists, poets and activists discussing how change affects culture, and why we need to embrace it.
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Held at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka, featured guests included authors and academics Arnold Zable, Anne Summers and Dennis Altman, Baptist minister and World Vision Australia CEO Tim Costello, poet Nathan Curnow and Youth Without Borders founding chair Yassmin Abdel-Magied.
The session began with a round table featuring David Miller and Joel Deane. Seasoned political advisers, they were led in a discussion about the future of news and the the newspaper by The Courier’s Caleb Cluff. The session included questions from the audience about news gathering in the future, the decline of newspapers as a force, and whether those relying on social media for their news are really getting the full picture.
Veteran gay rights activist Dennis Altman spoke about his latest book Queer Wars, which examines identity politics and marriage.
“The change has been extraordinary,” Mr Altman said.
“If you think back 30 years, homosexual activity was criminalised in Australia. People who were homosexual were regarded as deviant, possibly sick, as sinners. That language now seems archaic and even the conservative right would be careful in using it.”
Yassmin Abdel-Magied helped establish Youth Without Borders from its initial conception in 2007. The youth-led, youth-run organisation restricts its membership to those aged 15 to 25, and focuses on achieving change through project-based collaboration.
“We’ve grown into an organisation that is about helping every young person realise their full potential in whatever way that is, and we do that through helping them develop their own projects,” said Ms Abdel-Magied.
“You come in: it’s non-alcoholic, non-denominational – it’s as neutral a space as possible to allow people to create their own reality.”
Other topics discussed at the festival sessions in Ballarat included the impact of foreign wars on Australia, the politics of poetry, fighting poverty with faith, and the respected author and academic Anne Summers reflecting on the forthieth anniversary of her influential book Damned Whores and God’s Police, and the challenges of contemporary feminism.