On what felt like the first sunny sunday in months, it took a special sort of event to lure hundreds to sit in the Melbourne Town Hall for a day of debates and discussions.
With their debut event (under the title of Interrobang) a few years ago, the Wheeler Centre have focused on putting their energy into a single day of sessions at a larger scale. The line for the first session of the day wound up past the theatres on Collins Street, a whole stretch of people raring for a full day.
The event consisted of four separate sessions. I’m a keen bean, so was at every single one, notepad in hand and brain sponge-like.
Deborah Frances White
The day started off high energy, with human coffee Deborah Frances-White hosting a panel of wonderful folks as they asked their important Questions to the Nation.
Gareth Evans, Julian Burnside, Shireen Morris, Helen Razer, Jamila Rizvi, Geraldine Doogue and Jack Latimore made up a large and very clever panel, each getting their own time to ask a question of current day Australia.
Speeches covered every corner of Australian society, from Australia’s addiction to debt to this country’s obsession with optimism, as well as the prerequisite political avenues. Alongside moments of laughter and witticisms, there were plenty of sobering facts – Jamila Rizvi reminded us that one woman dies each week at the hands of someone who once said ‘I love you’, and Julian Burnside reiterated that our government spends $560k per person each year to keep asylum seekers in offshore concentration camps.
Session two was a more traditional panel format, with a Q&A style panel of every political opinion, from GetUp!’s Human rights campaigner Shen Narayanasamy sitting next to Liberal member Tim Wilson, to Herald Sun columnist Rita Panahi placed next to U.S. journalist Lauren Duca. It got fiery at times, with debates over economic stability and wage inequality, racial discrimination inside free speech, and the inevitability of climate change. The event was documented by illustrator Oslo Davis, who interjected with caricatures of the audience and panellists.
The highlight of the day was a live recording of the Guilty Feminist podcast in the form of the final session – ‘What the Hell? The Handmaid’s Tale in 2017’. Hosted by still-energetic Deborah Frances-White with co-host Jamila Rizvi, the event began in a formula familiar to anyone who has listened to the podcast before (which before this point I had not). Unsurprisingly, the panel (featuring Lauren Duca, Krissy Kneen, Celeste Liddle, and Quinn Eades) all had differing views and ideas about the book and recent screen adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale. Celeste Liddle gave me the most to think about, pointing out that the casting of the TV show hurt the messaging behind it, with women of colour historically the first dehumanised or removed by people who share the values of the main characters. It essentially became a book club on a major scale, and had me itching to find my own to join.
The event ended with the Brunswick Women’s Choir (equipped with pink ‘pussy’ beanies) performing ‘I can’t keep quiet’ from the women’s marches held worldwide last year, which was a lovely end to a very full day that left me with lots to think about.
– Jasmin
Jasmin Ashton is a designer, marketer and freelance writer from Melbourne who has a lot of feelings. Find them at @Jasmanna.
For The Wheeler Centre’s excellent program of events, visit www.wheelercentre.com.
