Ramsay Lectures
The sensible centre: can it hold?
Chris Uhlmann in conversation with Professor Simon Haines.
With the pressure point of Covid-19 putting our elected politicians, bureaucrats and fourth estate in full glare, is it possible to find a middle ground… a sensible centre? And if so, can it hold?
In a wide-spanning conversation, Professor Haines and Mr Uhlmann discuss Australia’s response to COVID-19, including the potential cost to young Australians, and its exacerbation of social and class divides. They look at whether it’s possible to find a ‘sensible centre’ between conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and health bureaucrats, and what our response to the pandemic has revealed about Australia’s federation, national psyche and media and political leadership.
Chris Uhlmann
Chris Uhlmann replaced Laurie Oakes as Nine News political editor in late 2017. Before that he spent 19 years with the ABC, working in a range of roles, on a variety of programs, including flagship national programs like 730, Insiders and AM. He won a Walkley Award for broadcast interviewing in 2008 and was part of the 4 Corners team that won the Golden Quill in 2017 for an investigation into China’s power and influence in Australia.
With Steve Lewis, he co-authored three works of political fiction: The Mandarin Code, The Marmalade Files and Shadow Game. The first two were adapted by Matchbox Pictures as a six-part television miniseries, Secret City.