Talkback Classroom is a monthly
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n political forum broadcast on
ABCThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC", is Australia's national public broadcaster. With a total budget of AUD$1.13 Billion annually, the corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, as well as...
Radio NationalRadio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
as part of the
Life Matters program. The forum is held at the
National Museum of AustraliaThe National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....
, and involves
secondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. It follows on from elementary or primary education....
students from around Australia interviewing various prominent politicians, business and community leaders on
current affairsCurrent affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
issues. Past guests have included two heads of government:
John HowardJohn Winston Howard, AC was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
(Australia) and
Helen ClarkHelen Elizabeth Clark , a New Zealand politician and administrator, is the head of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position. Clark was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008 and led the Labour Party from 1993 until it lost...
(
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
).
The initiative itself began at a regional high school in
AlexandraAlexandra is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and Maroondah Highway , 26 kilometres west of Eildon, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area...
,
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
, and was then broadcast on
Triple Jtriple J is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station , mainly aimed at youth...
for five years.
Talkback Classroom is a monthly
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
n political forum broadcast on
ABCThe Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC", is Australia's national public broadcaster. With a total budget of AUD$1.13 Billion annually, the corporation provides television, radio, online and mobile services throughout metropolitan and regional Australia, as well as...
Radio NationalRadio National is an Australia-wide non-commercial radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.Radio National broadcasts national programming in areas that include news and current affairs, the arts, social issues, science, drama and comedy...
as part of the
Life Matters program. The forum is held at the
National Museum of AustraliaThe National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....
, and involves
secondary schoolSecondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of compulsory schooling, known as secondary education, takes place. It follows on from elementary or primary education....
students from around Australia interviewing various prominent politicians, business and community leaders on
current affairsCurrent affairs is a genre of broadcast journalism where the emphasis is on detailed analysis and discussion of news stories that have recently occurred or are ongoing at the time of broadcast....
issues. Past guests have included two heads of government:
John HowardJohn Winston Howard, AC was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He is the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
(Australia) and
Helen ClarkHelen Elizabeth Clark , a New Zealand politician and administrator, is the head of the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position. Clark was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008 and led the Labour Party from 1993 until it lost...
(
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
).
The initiative itself began at a regional high school in
AlexandraAlexandra is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located at the junction of the Goulburn Valley Highway and Maroondah Highway , 26 kilometres west of Eildon, in the Shire of Murrindindi local government area...
,
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
, and was then broadcast on
Triple Jtriple J is a nationally-networked, government-funded Australian radio station , mainly aimed at youth...
for five years. The program moved to the National Museum where television recording was introduced through use of the museum's
television studioA television studio is an installation in which television or video productions take place, either for live television, for recording live to tape, or for the acquisition of raw footage for postproduction. The design of a studio is similar to, and derived from, movie studios, with a few amendments...
.
International forums
The forum has begun to incorporate one international forum in each four shows per semester, with three panellists from Australia and three from another country interviewing a guest via video link.
Talkback Classroom has an ongoing partnership
Smithsonian InstitutionThe Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its shops and its magazines...
in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to run forums, and in 2005 worked with the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
when
Shashi TharoorShashi Tharoor is the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and a member of the Indian Parliament from the Trivandrum constituency in Kerala. He served as the UN Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information between June 2002 and February 2007, during the term of...
, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, was interviewed from
United Nations headquartersThe United Nations Headquarters is a distinctive complex in New York City that has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1950...
. In June 2006, the first international forum featuring all students interviewing in a country other than Australia included two Australians working with two students from
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
in
SeoulSeoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea. With a population of over 10 million, it is one of the world's largest cities. The Seoul National Capital Area, which includes the major port city of Incheon and most of Gyeonggi-do, has 24.5 million...
; the guest was Chung-in Moon, a Professor of Political Science at
Yonsei UniversityYonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive universities in the country...
.
Most recently in 2007 students from Korea visited Australia to join two Australian to undertake an investigation into issues pertaining to the theme of Energy. The students then recorded an interview with the then Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. The student investigation and subsequent interview with Downer was the subject of a one hour documentary broadcast on Korean television network EBS.
External links