The May 21 election has been branded by some commentators as a ‘khaki election’, one in which national security and foreign policy issues will be pivotal in deciding the result. The Coalition government has questioned the ability of the Labor Party to manage increasingly tense relations with China, and its commitment to higher defence spending. But do national security issues sway votes in Australia, and in what circumstances?  And how do voters see the relative strengths of the two parties on national security? Richard McGregor, the Lowy Institute’s Senior Fellow for East Asia, chaired this discussion between three experts on the issue.
 
Brian Loughnane, Federal Director of the Liberal Party for 13 years from 2003, is one of Australia’s most experienced political campaigners. An adviser to federal and state government ministers, he ran four federal campaigns for the Liberal Party. He is also tied into global networks as Deputy Chairman of the International Democrat Union, an alliance of centre-right political parties.

Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s foremost researchers and authors on social trends. She has led research at Essential Media and Vox Populi and was a director at Ipsos Australia. She now heads her own research and consultancy firm working with climate and environment NGOs, government and business on climate change strategy and communication. Rebecca was a broadcaster with the ABC and is on the Executive Board of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party.

Tony Mitchelmore, the founder of Visibility, a leading strategic communications firm, is a veteran of 12 state and federal elections. He has also advised state and federal political leaders of both major parties on research, messaging and communications.

The event was broadcast on Thursday 5 May 2022.

In April 2022, the Lowy Institute launched a new opinion poll on Indonesian attitudes to the world and foreign policy. The poll offers unique and fascinating insights into how the citizens of one of Asia’s most important rising nations perceive their neighbours, US-China competition, the major threats facing Indonesia, and Indonesia’s position in this increasingly contested world. It has been a decade since the Institute last surveyed Indonesian public opinion. To discuss the poll and its findings, the Institute hosted an online panel event which was chaired by Natasha Kassam, Director of the Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program, alongside Ben Bland, Director of the Institute’s Southeast Asia Program, Dr Evan Laksmana, a Senior Research Fellow with the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore and Dr Lina A. Alexandra, Head of the Department of International Relations at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta.

The United Nations’ declaration of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032) raises a critical issue: Indigenous languages are in an endangered state. The UN’s declaration is hoped to spur preservation and promotion of them and curb the tide of extinction. Papua New Guinea holds more Indigenous languages than anywhere else in the world. Current estimates of its living languages are between 830 to over 850, but that number is in steady decline as Papua New Guinea’s communities become more mobile and interconnected. Yet, while extinction to local languages remains a severe problem in Papua New Guinea, in 2020, a new language was added to its list – and there’s potential for more. Jessica Collins, the Lowy Institute’s Research Fellow for the Aus-PNG Network and Pacific Islands Program, talks with four experts about language, diversity, and cultural identity in Papua New Guinea. The panel includes Dr Kilala Devette-Chee, Senior Research Fellow and Program Leader of the Education Research Program at the Papua New Guinea National Research Institute; Dr Sakarepe Kamene, Head of Linguistics and Modern Languages at the University of Papua New Guinea; Adjunct Professor Craig Volker, of The Cairns Institute, James Cook University; and Dr. Lidia Federica Mazzitelli, post-doctoral researcher at the Slavic Institute, University of Cologne and scientific consultant at the Australian National University.

Whether Australia leases, buys or builds nuclear-fuelled submarines as part of the AUKUS pact with the United Kingdom and the United States, it will be the first non-nuclear state to do so. How nuclear non-proliferation issues are addressed by these three countries is not the sole test of AUKUS, but it will form an important part of managing its future trajectory and global reception.

On 14 March 2022, the Lowy Institute hosted Dr Alan J. Kuperman, Associate Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Texas for a discussion with Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Research. They discussed the implications of AUKUS for the nuclear non-proliferation regime and how the current negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna aim to mitigate any proliferation risks stemming from AUKUS.

Dr Alan J. Kuperman is Associate Professor of Public Affairs and founding coordinator of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. He was previously Senior Policy Analyst for the nongovernmental Nuclear Control Institute, and Legislative Director for Rep. Charles Schumer in the US Congress. He holds an AB in Physical Sciences from Harvard University, an MA in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has authored and edited books including Plutonium for Energy? Explaining the Global Decline of MOX (2018) and Nuclear Terrorism and Global Security: The Challenge of Phasing out Highly Enriched Uranium (2013).

In the midst of increasing global geopolitical tensions, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese will address the Lowy Institute on how a Labor government would deliver national security in a complex world.

Join us online on Thursday 10 March for this major speech, live from the Lowy Institute in Sydney. Mr Albanese’s speech will be followed by a Q&A session chaired by Dr Michael Fullilove AM, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute.
 
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP is the Leader of the Opposition. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government; Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy; and Leader of the House. He has represented the electorate of Grayndler in the federal Parliament since 1996.

The event will be broadcast live at 12:30pm AEDT on Thursday 10 March 2022. 

The events in Europe over the past week have global economic and strategic implications. Prime Minister Scott Morrison will address the Lowy Institute on the situation in Ukraine, how it affects the Indo-Pacific and what Australia is doing in response.  

Join us online at 12.30pm on Monday 7 March for this major address by the Prime Minister on the situation in Ukraine, the implications for the Indo-Pacific, and Australia's response.

After the speech, the Institute’s Executive Director Michael Fullilove will put some questions to the Prime Minister, including audience questions.

The Hon Scott Morrison MP is the 30^th Prime Minister of Australia. He previously served as Treasurer, Minister for Social Services and Minister for Border Protection. He was first elected to Parliament as the Federal Member for Cook in 2007.

On Friday 21 January, the Lowy Institute hosted the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP. She spoke on the topic of ‘building a global network of liberty’. The event will began with opening remarks by Senator the Hon Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, and Ms Truss's speech was followed by a Q&A session with Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove.

Elizabeth Truss has served in the cabinets of Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson in various senior offices before her appointment as Foreign Secretary in September 2021. She is also the UK government's chief negotiator with the European Union.

Read the full text of the event here. 

The White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell spoke to Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove as part of the digital conference 'The Indo-Pacific Operating System'. Broadcast on 1 December 2021.

Since 2013, the annual Owen Harries Lecture has honoured the significant contribution made to the international debate in Australia and the United States by Mr Harries, who was a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.

The 2021 Owen Harries Lecture was given by former Australian Finance Minister and Secretary-General of the OECD Matthias Cormann. Mr Cormann will speak on “Levelling the playing field – an agenda for growth, climate and a rules-based international order”.

His lecture was followed by a conversation with Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove. The Hon. Mathias Cormann is the 6th Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Prior to his appointment, he served as the Australian Minister for Finance, Leader of the Government in the Senate, and as a Senator representing Western Australia.

Dr Michael Fullilove AM is the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute. He writes widely on global affairs in publications such as The New York Times, Financial Times, The Atlantic and Foreign Affairs.