With Anthony Albanese now sworn in as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister in our first Labor Government in nine years, one third of voters supporting a minor party with their first preference, the Liberal Party decimated, up to 10 moderate Liberal MPs’ seats turning Teal, and the largest crossbench in our history, this is a watershed moment for Australian politics.

What does this mean for us for the next three years and beyond, especially in an environment of geopolitical uncertainty, as well as economic challenges, significant climate change and the ongoing impacts of Covid?

Please join us on Wednesday 1 June 6-8pm with John Hewson AM, Geoff Gallop AC and Kerryn Phelps AM for a robust conversation on the 2022 Federal Election Wash-up at the Union University & Schools Club. John is one of Australia’s best known political and economic commentators, Geoff will share his expert knowledge of the workings of government, as well as his insights into what happened in WA, and Kerryn will comment on the likely effect of the Teals on the crossbench. Tickets are $75 (includes wine, antipasto and cheese) and can be purchased by clicking this link.

Please call Dianne Cassen on 0414243326 or email dcassen@sydneysalon.org if you have any special requirements or questions. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday 1 June.

Speaker Bios

Dr John Hewson AM is a highly respected economist, business leader and political commentator. He is currently a Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU, an Adjunct Professor at Curtin, UTS, Canberra and Griffith Universities, former Professor and Head of the School of Economics at UNSW, and former Dean of Macquarie Graduate School of Management. He is Chair of Sustainable Business Australia and BioEnergy Australia, and Patron of the Smart Energy Council and Ocean Nourishment Foundation. John was chair of ABN Amro Australia and a founder of Macquarie Bank, and has worked for the Australian Treasury, International Monetary Fund, Reserve Bank, United Nations (UNESCAP) and Asian Development Bank. John is a former politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995 and was previously Leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Federal Opposition from 1990 to 1994. He also chairs Sydney Salon’s Advisory Board.

Dr Geoff Gallop AC is Emeritus Professor and former Director of the Graduate School of Government at the University of Sydney. Geoff is a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, former chair of the Australian Republic Movement and served on a number of Commonwealth Government bodies, including the Hospitals and Health Reform Commission, COAG Reform Council and Australian Awards Board. Geoff was a member of the International Education Advisory Council, and recently chaired an independent inquiry into the teaching profession in NSW. He was a member of the WA State Parliament from 1986 to 2006, including Leader of the Opposition (Labor), and Premier of WA from 2001 to 2006. Geoff has published three books including Politics, Society, Self: Occasional Writing (UWA Press, 2012) and has contributed chapters and general content to a number of books and publications. He is also a member of Sydney Salon’s Advisory Board.

Dr Kerryn Phelps AM is one of Australia's best known doctors, health communicators and civil rights advocates, and was former president of the Australian Medical Association. She is the founder and principal clinician at her two Sydney clinics, previously a city councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of the City of Sydney, has published five books, and was the first independent candidate to win the federal seat of Wentworth, after Malcolm Turnbull's resignation. Kerryn is Conjoint Professor in the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at Western Sydney University, and was a board member of Hockey Australia and an ambassador for Barnardos Australia.

Emeritus Professor Hugh White AO
and former Ambassador Bill Fisher discuss:

What our clumsy launch of AUKUS says about Australia’s ability to navigate the security environment in our region and the world

Free virtual event on Zoom
Suggested donation $20 per group

President Joe Biden called the launch of the AUKUS strategic partnership clumsy. President Emmanuel Macron said that he ‘did not think, he knows’ that Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him about it, as recently as three months before the announcement. The Lowy Institute reports that ‘AUKUS is just the tip of a deep and enduring divide between Australia and Indonesia over the future of power in the Indo-Pacific’. We will look not just to the clumsiness of the launch of AUKUS, but at the deeper flaws in its conception. Are nuclear submarines a good idea for Australia? Is the US really a ‘forever partner’, as the PM described it? Is the UK? The AUKUS issue provides a platform for a multi-layered discussion of Australia’s ability to navigate the security environment in our region and the world.

Please join Hugh White AO, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and Bill Fisher, visiting Fellow at the ANU Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs, former Australian Ambassador for Counterterrorism and former Ambassador to France, in a lively discussion on this complex and significant issue.

This is a free virtual event with a suggested donation of $20 per group (to assist us cover our fixed costs). Please register on this link or the button below so we can send you the Zoom details or contact Dianne on 0414243326 or dcassen@sydneysalon.org if you have any questions or special requests.

Speaker Bios:

Hugh White AO is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at ANU. His work focuses primarily on Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, and global strategic affairs especially as they influence Australia and the Asia-Pacific. He has served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, as a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald, as a senior adviser on the staff of Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, as a senior official in the Department of Defence, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence, and as the first Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Hugh was the principal author of Australia’s 2000 Defence White Paper. His major publications include Power Shift: Australia’s future between Washington and Beijing, (2010), The China Choice: Why America should share power, (2012), Without America: Australia’s future in the New Asia (2017) and How to defend Australia (2019).

Bill Fisher was the Australian Ambassador for Counter-Terrorism until joining the ANU in 2014, where he is a visiting fellow at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs. He was previously the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to La Francophonie and the Francophone States of Africa.

Bill served for many years as a career diplomat with the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, most recently as Australia’s High Commissioner to Canada (2005-08). Prior, he was Ambassador to France (2000-04), Ambassador to Thailand (1997-2000), Ambassador to Israel, Consul-General in Honolulu, Charge d’Affaires in Tehran, Consul-General and Head of Post in Port Vila and in Noumea, as well as earlier postings at the Embassy in Laos and at the Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.

In Canberra, Bill’s earlier positions included First Assistant Secretary, Public Affairs Division; First Assistant Secretary, Consular Programs and Security Division; and First Assistant Secretary International Organisations and Legal Division. He was Principal Adviser, Americas and Europe Division; and Head, South Pacific Section. He also held the position of Assistant Secretary, Defence Branch of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.