Motion: We Need a Nanny State

An Intelligence Squared Australia Debate at the University of Sydney co-presented with Sydney Ideas and the University of Sydney Union

From internet filtering to junk food advertising, everyone has an opinion on how much government should be able to regulate our lives. Does government edict save lives, improve our social well-being and protect the vulnerable; or does it interfere with our fundamental freedom and the incentive to take responsibility for our own actions? Does it hamper our need to experiment, take risks and the challenges that ensure we mature as individuals and as a society? Should regulation to protect or curb a minority be imposed on the majority? Where do we draw the boundary between private choices and public obligations?

Speakers include:

• Simon Chapman, Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney
• Christopher Zinn, Director for Communications at CHOICE
• Rowan Dean, Executive Creative Director for Euro RSCG, a global integrated marketing communications agency
• Chris Berg, Research Fellow with the Institute of Public Affairs

Visit the Sydney Ideas website for more information about this event.