Yes, it probably is.
Don’t miss this timely discussion, with Sam Roggeveen, author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace and director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program; Carl Rhodes, Professor of Business and Society at UTS Business School and author of Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy, and Melissa Phillips, WSU Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Acting Director, Policy and Research for the Whitlam Institute.
Democratically wrangled by facilitator Beejay Silcox, this event is presented in partnership with the Whitlam Institute.
Sam Roggeveen is Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace, published by La Trobe University Press in 2023. Before joining the Lowy Institute, Sam was a senior strategic analyst in Australia’s peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments. Sam has a long-standing interest in politics and political philosophy, and in 2019 he wrote Our Very Own Brexit: Australia’s Hollow Politics and Where it Could Lead Us, about the hollowing out of Western democracy and its implications for Australia.
Carl Rhodes is Professor of Organisation Studies and Dean of Business at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is author of the bestselling Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy. His fourteenth book, Stinking Rich: The Four Myths of the Good Billionaire was published in 2025. Carl's writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Times, Fast Company, Business Insider and The Conversation.
Dr Melissa Phillips is Acting Director, Policy and Research at the Whitlam Institute and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences. She has previously worked with international organisations in North and East Africa and the Middle East, with asylum seekers in immigration detention in Australia and managed a refugee resettlement project. Melissa is co-Managing Editor of the Journal of Intercultural Studies and is the author of multiple refereed journal articles and book chapters.
Beejay Silcox is a writer and book critic. Her work appears in high-profile publications across three continents and is renowned for its resolute (some might say, foolhardy) honesty. She has been described as “the most significant new Australian critic in decades”.
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This event is part of the Main Program and included as part of Platinum, Gold, Silver and Saturday Bronze Passes.
Subject to availability, a limited number of single tickets may become available 9 September.
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This venue is wheelchair accessible. Please visit our Accessibility page or email hello@bluemountainswritersfestival.com.au if you have any other accessibility requirements.