EVENT POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Michael Bliss, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Gary Quinlan AO, Former Deputy Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Lisa Sharland, Stimson Center

In conversation with

Allan Gyngell AO, AIIA National President

Moderated by

Dr Bryce Wakefield, AIIA National Executive Director

Guests may attend this event either online or at the AIIA National Conference Center in Canberra. Times are UTC+10 (Sydney, Canberra Melbourne). After you register, you will be sent a link by 5:45pm on the day of the event. There will be cameras present at the event and you may be filmed if you attend in person.

The AIIA National Office is delighted to host a panel discussion with Michael Bliss to celebrate the launch of his recent book “An Enduring Contribution? Australia’s Term on the United Nations Security Council (2013 – 2014)”. As a senior Australian diplomat, having served twice in Australia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Michael has unique insight into the complex internal dynamics of the Security Council and the diplomacy which underpinned Australia’s achievements. In his monograph, Michael Bliss evaluates the role Australia played during its 2013-2014 term to develop multilateral solutions to global crises and whether Australia did in fact have an enduring contribution. Seven years on from Australia’s term, Michael makes the compelling case that Australia should seek to again “serve with distinction” as an elected member on the Security Council in 2029-2030.
 
Michael Bliss will be joined by former Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations (2009-2014) Gary Quinlan AO, the Stimson Center's Lisa Sharland, and AIIA President Allan Gyngell AO. 
 
The panel discussion will be moderated by Allan Gyngell AO FAIIA, National President of the AIIA. 

AIIA National Office invites you to join the panellists for the launch of Michael Bliss’ new book. Free copies will be available for signing on the night and a PDF can be downloaded for free from this page of the AIIA Website.
 
Biographies:
 
Michael Bliss is a senior Australian diplomat, international lawyer and public servant, with over two decades experience with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has served twice at the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York – as legal adviser in 2001-2004, and as political coordinator of Australia’s UN Security Council team in 2013-2014. He has also served in Jakarta (2008-2012) as head of the Political and Economic branch, and in senior multilateral and international law roles in Canberra. His work has taken him to every continent, including Antarctica. He has law and commerce degrees from UNSW, and Masters of Law degree from Columbia University in New York, which he attended as a Fulbright Scholar. Michael has taught as a Visiting Fellow at Columbia University and ANU, and published on a range of international law and multilateral issues.

Gary Quinlan AO was Australia’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 2018 to 2021. Prior to that he was Deputy Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Australia's Senior Official to ASEAN and to the East Asia Summit (2015-2018). He was Acting Secretary of DFAT June-August 2017. He was Australia's chief negotiator with Timor-Leste (East Timor) on maritime boundaries (2016-2018). He was Australia’s Ambassador to the United Nations, New York (2009-2015); and Australia's Representative on the United Nations Security Council (2013-2014) and President of the Council in September 2013 and November 2014. He has held senior positions in DFAT responsible for North Asia; the Americas; Europe; and in management. He was in charge of Australia’s operational response to the East Timor crisis in 1999. He was a lead negotiator for Australia in international negotiations on Law of the Sea and on Antarctic matters. His overseas assignments, prior to Ambassador to the United Nations, have been as Deputy Ambassador in the Australian Embassy in Washington DC and as High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Singapore. And assignments to the Australian Mission to the United Nations, New York; the Australian Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, Paris; and the Australian Embassy, Dublin. 
 
Lisa Sharland is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center with the Protecting the Civilians in Conflict Program. Lisa was previously the Deputy Director of Defence, Strategy & National Security, and the Head of the International Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Canberra, Australia. Her research has focused on UN peace operations reform, peacekeeping effectiveness, protection of civilians, preventing and countering violent extremism, and women, peace and security. She has undertaken field research in countries in Africa and the Pacific, authored numerous research publications, and provided expert commentary to media and news outlets. Lisa was previously a Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Center and the National Institute for Defence Studies in Japan. She has also worked as a Consultant for the International Forum for the Challenges of Peace Operations. Lisa served as the Defence Policy Adviser at the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations in New York from 2009 to 2014, where she provided advice on peacekeeping and defence-related policy issues and represented Australia in multilateral negotiations in the UN Security Council and General Assembly bodies, including the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations (C-34).

Allan Gyngell AO was appointed the National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) in September 2017, having previously been named a Fellow of the AIIA in 2010. He is an honorary professor with the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific and was most recently Director of the ANU Crawford Leadership Forum. Gyngell has had an extensive career in Australian international affairs. He was the Director-General of the Australian Office of National Assessments (ONA) from 2009 to 2013. Prior to leading the ONA, he was the founding Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy from 2003 to 2009. Additionally, he has worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, serving as an Australian diplomat in Rangoon, Singapore and Washington. He was Senior Advisor (International) to Prime Minister Paul Keating between 1993 and 1996. Gyngell was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2009 for services to international relations. 

Dr Bryce Wakefield is the national executive director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University. He has lived, worked and researched in the United States, Japan, Europe and New Zealand. He trained as a political scientist with particular expertise in International Relations and the international affairs of East Asia. From 2008 to 2012 Bryce was the associate responsible for Northeast Asian programs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. From 2012 to 2018, he was a tenured lecturer of area studies and international relations at Leiden University in the Netherlands.