Event description

Christiaan Van Vuuren is an everyday Aussie – a comedian and a father with a keen sense of fairness and justice. Christiaan is proud of his country, its peaceful society and its sound political system. So proud, in fact, that he might be a little complacent. Smug, even.

Big Deal begins with Christiaan mocking the fact that the US democracy has been taken over by big money, but he soon realises that the situation in his home country is not all that different. A wake-up call about the frightening extent to which money has infiltrated politics, Christiaan’s unlikely journey shows us why we should care, and how we might work together to ensure our democracy is safeguarded from being sold to the highest bidder.

The extent to which money has infiltrated our political process, and the non-transparent influence of corporate lobbying, is an issue of growing concern for many Australians. It is a bi-partisan problem that is leading to increasing disillusionment with the democratic process, and with our institutions of government.

Big Deal aims to shine a light on some of these challenges as well as demonstrate ways to improve fairness, transparency and confidence in our democratic system.

When you book your ticket, & you only require one ticket per screen viewing (ie please don't book two tickets for two people to watch one screen), you will be sent an exclusive link to view 'Big Deal' in the 48 hours prior to our Bradfield in Conversation event. Details on when the link will be sent will be forthcoming soon.

Big Deal - Official Trailer - Bing video

THEN, on Monday from 7.00pm, join Voices of Bradfield in a zoom conversation with special guests, Director - Craig Ruecassel, and the Independent Member for Indi - the Hon. Helen Haines. Your MC for the event is the irrepressible Dr. Samantha Graham.

Craig Reucassel is an Australian television and radio comedian. He is best known for being a member of satirical team The Chaser. He hosted the Australian version of Balls of Steel, which premiered in April 2011. Since 2013, Reucassel and fellow Chaser Julian Morrow have been main presenters on the ABC program The Checkout. In 2017, Reucassel presented the four-part ABC TV series War on Waste which focused on clothing and food waste in Australia, its environmental impacts and what can be done to help reduce waste. This was followed by a second series, Fight For Planet A: Our Climate Challenge in 2018, which focused on the use of plastics, and particularly 'single-use' plastics such as straws. He also published the program, Big Weather And How To Survive It, focusing on how to survive the most extreme of weather.

Helen Haines has lived and worked as a nurse, midwife, health administrator and medical researcher in North East Victoria for more than 32 years. She has committed her working life to the health, wellbeing and prosperity of communities across the North East.

Helen is a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne, Department of Rural Health, Melbourne Medical School, Director of the Rural Health Academic Network (RHAN) and Executive Director of the Education and Research Unit at Northeast Health Wangaratta.

Helen pursued an interest in epidemiology and public health through a master’s degree at the University of New South Wales which took her to Uppsala University, Sweden, in 2004. She later enrolled for her PhD at Uppsala University, completing a doctoral degree in Medical Science in 2012 and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, home of the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. Her doctoral research work is now implemented in healthcare across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Europe and Scandinavia.

Helen is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Alpine Valleys Community Leadership program. She is a board member of St Catherine’s Aged Care in Wangaratta and Indigo Power Community Energy Retailer. She is a former director of the Hume Medicare Local, former director, chair and now life member of Ovens and King (now Gateway) Community Health Service, and former board member and chair of Wangaratta Unlimited – Economic Advisory Board to the Rural City of Wangaratta.

Helen is the Independent Member for the federal seat of Indi.

Dr Samantha Graham has run a business consultancy for 18 years, first in corporate sustainability consulting (energy, water, waste, carbon reduction) and more recently in Executive Leadership Development to build greater resilience, focus and peace of mind amongst leadership teams. Her PhD explored the mindsets leaders require to think outside the square when dealing with unprecedented times and her recent political work has been fuelled by a quiet outrage at the ineptitude of the country's current leadership and its wilful dismantling of democratic processes.