Thursday 15 August 2024

The Lowy Institute was delighted to host the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, Prime Minister of New Zealand, for a special foreign policy address on Thursday 15 August.

Rt Hon Christopher Luxon is the 42nd Prime Minister of New Zealand. Since coming to power in October 2023, Prime Minister Luxon has focused closely on issues of foreign, defence and trade policy, including re-engaging and reinvigorating New Zealand’s relationships with traditional and like-minded partners. He is also the Minister for National Security and Intelligence and the Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services. He entered Parliament at the 2020 election as the MP for Botany and was elected Leader of the National Party in November 2021.

Prior to entering Parliament, Prime Minister Luxon enjoyed a long career in the private sector: as Chief Executive Officer of Air New Zealand from 2013 to 2019, and at Unilever where he worked in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, the USA and Canada.

On Tuesday 3 September 2024 we had a conversation with Sean Turnell about his latest book, Best Laid Plans, a unique first-hand account of the radical reforms implemented in Myanmar under the ill-fated civilian government of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. These reforms, designed both to turn around Myanmar’s dire economy and lay the economic foundations for democracy, were brought to a dramatic end following the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021. Sean Turnell was one of Suu Kyi’s key economic advisers who was imprisoned alongside her in the wake of the coup.

The event was moderated by the Lowy Institute’s Hervé Lemahieu and will include questions from the audience.
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Dr Sean Turnell is a Senior Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute. He has been a Senior Economic Analyst at the Reserve Bank of Australia, a policy adviser to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and is a Professor of Economics at Macquarie University. From 2016 to 2021, he served as the senior economic adviser to Myanmar’s democratic government, led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hervé Lemahieu is the Director of Research at the Lowy Institute.A copy of the book is included in the ticket price.

Memorial Event 
Ambassador Martin Indyk AM

20th August 2024  

Speeches:

Dr Michael Fullilove AM  

Steven Lowy AM, on behalf of Sir Frank Lowy AC and the Board of the Lowy Institute

Peter Khalil MP, on behalf of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

US Consul General, Christine Elder, on behalf of the Government of the United States

Shelley Indyk

David Gonski AC

Robert Goot AO SC, on behalf of

Emeritus Professor Murray Goot  

Tony Jones

Bruce Solomon

On Monday 12 August 2024 we hosted the FDC-Lowy Institute Pacific Panel with leading experts and practitioners on advancing gender equality in the Pacific Islands.

We heard from those making a positive difference in the region and why gender equality is essential to addressing local and global challenges‍Special introductory remarks were delivered by the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Senator the Hon Penny Wong.‍

The panel was moderated by Dr Jessica Collins, Research Fellow on the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute, with special guest speakers from around the region including:‍

Stephanie Copus Campbell AM - Australia’s Ambassador for Gender Equality.‍

Lailanie Burnes - Westpac Women in Business Executive “Manager of the Year” awardee; host of Fiji’s first dedicated women’s sports television program Soaring Marama; World Rugby Women in Rugby Leadership Scholar; Fijian Drua and Super Rugby commentator; and former captain, Fijian Women’s Rugby team.‍

Dr Fiona Hukula - Gender Equality Policy Adviser, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Former Senior Research Fellow and Programme Leader Building Safer Communities, PNG NRI, former Deputy Chair PNG Constitutional and Law Reform Commission.‍‍

Loau Donina Va’a - CEO, Samoan Ministry for Women, Community and Social Development; Chair, Pacific Women’s Professional and Business Network; former Board member, NSW Council for Pacific Communities; and founder of the first Pacific Women’s Network in Australia.

Panellists discussed progress towards Pacific women’s advancement drawing on their experience in business, leadership, sport and economic empowerment, sharing inspirational stories of success and thoughts on where further gains can be made.‍

This Pacific Panel was supported by the Foundation for Development Cooperation, which established the FDC Pacific Fellowship in conjunction with the Lowy Institute.‍

Eminent military historian and strategist Sir Lawrence Freedman talks with the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen about whether there is a plausible path towards peace or a ceasefire, the implications of a Trump Administration on support for Ukraine’s war effort, whether Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets are working, and innovations on the battlefield. Roggeveen also asks Freedman: what did you get wrong in your early analysis of the war? 

Recorded on Wednesday 24 July 2024

The Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Aid Map is the most comprehensive account of development projects in Southeast Asia ever assembled. Using millions of data points, the Aid Map tracks more than 120,000 projects from more than 100 development partners to all eleven Southeast Asian countries. In this digital launch, Lowy Institute scholars Roland Rajah, Alexandre Dayant, Grace Stanhope and Susannah Patton discuss the key findings and what they mean for development and geopolitics in the region.

The Treasurer will speak on the domestic and international economy, and the government’s agenda to position Australia as an indispensable part of the global economy. After his remarks, the Lowy Institute's Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM will chair a Q&A session with the Treasurer.

The Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP is the Treasurer of Australia. He has been the Member for Rankin in the House of Representatives since 2013. He served as Shadow Treasurer from 2019 to 2022, and Shadow Minister for Finance from 2016 to 2019. Prior to Dr Chalmers’ election to parliament, he was the Executive Director of the Chifley Research Centre and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer. He has a PhD in political science and international relations from the Australian National University and a first-class honours degree in public policy from Griffith University and is a qualified company director.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has entered its third year and is seemingly no closer to resolution, either on the battlefield or at the negotiating table. 

The Lowy Institute hosted Mick Ryan and Zoya Sheftalovich in July 2023 for an update on the Ukraine war. Now, with Ukraine’s counter-offensive having fallen short of expectations and Russia maintaining its battlefield resolve, we again hosted these two compelling experts to discuss how the war is evolving. The conversation was hosted by Lowy Institute International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen, and included questions from the audience. 

Major General (Ret’d) Mick Ryan is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute. His book, War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict, was published in 2022. 

Zoya Sheftalovich is a contributing editor for POLITICO, based in Sydney. She is a regular commentator on the Ukraine war for ABC News 24.

A conversation with Admiral John Aquilino on the increasing dangers in the Indo-Pacific, the bilateral relationship between Australia and the United States, and the importance of the AUKUS security partnership. Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove moderated the discussion, which also featured questions from the audience. 

Admiral John Aquilino is the 26th Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, responsible for all US military activities in the Indo-Pacific, covering 36 nations, 14 time zones, and more than 50 per cent of the world's population. Aquilino graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1984 and earned his wings in August 1986. He served in numerous fighter squadrons, graduated from Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN), and completed Harvard Kennedy School's executive education program in national and international security. Prior to his assignment to US Indo-Pacific Command, Aquilino served as the 36th Commander of US Pacific Fleet.

RECORDED:
Tuesday 9 April 2024