On 20 July at Paddington Town Hall, United States Vice President Joe Biden addressed the Lowy Institute and the United States Studies Centre on the Australia-US relationship.

On Monday, 20 June the Lowy Institute hosted the Hon. Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, as part of a series of lectures by political leaders in the lead-up to the 2016 federal election.

On 13 May, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Aaron Connelly spoke to the BBC on the Permanent Court of Arbitration case between China and the Philippines.

On 31 May the Lowy Institute hosted the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP. Ms Plibersek spoke on ‘How Australia can be a better international citizen’.
 
Elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Sydney in 1998, Ms Plibersek’s ministerial appointments have included Minister for Health, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for Human Services, Minister for the Status of Women, and Minister for Housing.

In 2013, Chinese president Xi Jinping put forward the proposal to boost Eurasian economic integration and infrastructure building through its ambitious “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” initiatives. It is widely regarded as President Xi’s signature economic as well as foreign policy undertaking. The project could involve trillions of dollars of potential investment across many continents including Australia’s immediate neighbouring region: Southeast Asia.

On 30 May, the Lowy Institute’s Peter Cai spoke to one of Australia’s leading experts on Chinese infrastructure investment, Grant Dooley, the head of Hastings Infrastructure Fund Asia’s practice and the former Australian Consul-General in Guangzhou, China. 

The Lowy Institute is grateful for the support of our event partner, AMP.

Panellists: James Fallows, American writer and journalist; Laura Tingle, Political Editor, The Australian Financial Review; George Megalogenis, Author and Commentator; Iain Walker, Executive Director, The newDemocracy Foundation; and Pru Goward, NSW Cabinet Minister.

The Q&A panel discussed stalled reforms, politician’s promises, sensationalism, unrepresentative reps, parties out of touch, a selfish public, refugee policy and re-election.

On 17 May, Richard Di Natale address the Lowy Institute on how to build a more confident Australia for a challenging world.

Panellists: John Hewson, Former leader of the Liberal Party; Amanda Rishworth, South Australian Labor MP; John Stackhouse, Visiting Christian Scholar; Michael Ware, War correspondent and filmmaker; and Alex Oliver, Director, Polling Program, Lowy Institute.

The Q&A panel discussed: peace & religion, the Bible, origins of ISIS, terrorism in perspective, freedom of speech, Shorten at TURC and the Pope, capitalism & communism

Panellists: Bob Carr, Former Foreign Minister; Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy; Alison Broinowski, Former Australian Diplomat; Emily Howie, Director of Advocacy, Human Rights Law Centre; and Sow Keat Tok, Deputy Director, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Melbourne.

Q&A's foreign policy panel discussed: revolving door PMs, South China Sea, choosing between US and China, ties to the US, alternatives in Syria, global climate change policy and human rights in China.