Is Australia match fit for a post-COVID world?

Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA, Australian Institute of International Affairs

Bridi Rice, Australian Council for International Development

Hugh White AO FAIIA, The Australian National University

Moderator: Melissa Conley-Tyler FAIIA, Asialink Diplomacy at the University of Melbourne

This event is organised by the Australian Council for International Development

This interactive conversation will consider how the principal elements of Australia’s international engagement — diplomacy, development and defence — can be better integrated to deal with the strategic challenges, opportunities and choices likely to arise in a post-COVID world.

The event is part of an ongoing conversation — the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy, Defence Dialogue (AP4D) — involving experts and practitioners from each of these sectors dedicated to greater collaboration to address the unprecedented international environment Australia faces.

Learn more about AP4D here.

Speakers

Allan Gyngell: National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and Honorary Professor, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

Allan's long career in Australian foreign policy includes appointments as Director-General of ONA, the inaugural Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, and to senior positions in the Office of the Prime Minister, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Allan has written widely on Australian foreign policy and is the author of Fear of Abandonment: Australia in the World Since 1942 and, with Michael Wesley, Making Australian Foreign Policy. He is co-presenter of the podcast Australia in the World and a member of the board of China Matters. Allan is an Officer in the Order of Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

Bridi Rice: Director of Policy and Advocacy, Australian Council for International Development.

Prior to joining ACFID, Bridi was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young, delivering strategy, policy and project advice for domestic and international governments on social justice matters. She also worked in Papua New Guinea for three years as the Australian Government’s Senior Legal Adviser on anti-corruption and money laundering.

Bridi has over 12 years’ experience in Government policy and international development, having worked in Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Uganda, Qatar and the Pacific. She is a recent graduate of La Trobe University’s Institute for Human Security and Social Change – where her research focused on the power and politics of Australian Government advisers in Papua New Guinea.

Hugh White: Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU.

Before joining ANU, Hugh he was an intelligence analyst, a journalist, a senior ministerial and prime ministerial staffer, and a senior official in the Australian Defence Department, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence. He was the principal author of Australia’s 2000 Defence White Paper.

Hugh's recent publications include Without America: Australia’s future in the New Asia [2017] and How to defend Australia [2019].

Moderator

Melissa Conley-Tyler: Director, Asialink Diplomacy at the University of Melbourne.

Prior to joining Asialink, Melissa was the Executive Director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA). Under her leadership, the AIIA was recognised as the Top Think Tank in Southeast and the Pacific and one of the top 50 think tanks worldwide in the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tanks Index for three years running.

Melissa is a lawyer and specialist in conflict resolution, including negotiation, mediation and peace education. She was Program Manager of the International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne and Senior Fellow of Melbourne Law School.

In 2017, Melissa co-authored Think Tank Diplomacy, the first-ever book length discussion of the role of think tanks in modern diplomacy. In 2019, she was honoured as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in recognition of her distinguished contribution to international affairs.

Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/is-australia-match-fit-for-a-post-covid-world-registration-106068016292