Adult education has the power to change lives, and in Australia has always been made up of educators and providers capable of adapting to the changing environments around them. Today, however, there is declining support for adult education at a time when there is growing public disenchantment with the political system, an uncivil public discourse, technological disruption and well-grounded fear for our environmental sustainability. This makes the challenge for adult education to meet the varying needs of adult learners more difficult. How might we think of adult education and learning for today's challenging times?