The COVID-19 pandemic has with great speed fundamentally altered the world in which we live. The changes it has wrought are of a type and on a scale unseen by most people alive. We are realising the truths we understood as immutable, the basis of our social order, are not rigid and inevitable, but constructions of our own making – and thus able to be reshaped.

Whichever path takes us out of this crisis will lead to a new and unrecognisable world. In the face of disaster and devastation, we are also afforded a great privilege: the chance to reconsider the principles and values that underpin our society, and rebuild accordingly.

What would the ideal Australia look like – a fair and equal, green and healthy, secure and smarter Australia? And what would it take to get there?

Identifying five major areas for discussion – government and politics, health and education, welfare, Indigenous affairs, and industry and climate change – award-winning journalist Sophie Cousins talks to some of Australia’s brightest thinkers about the possibilities for renewal and the best way forward.