The successful ‘Australian Diplomacy Today Symposium’ was held on Friday 28 August 2015 at the Gareth Evans Theatre in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s R.G. Casey Building, Canberra.

The Australian Institute of International Affairs partnered with the Australian National University’s Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy and Bond University to present the Symposium and also received generous support from DFAT.

The full day Symposium brought together the small but growing community of practitioners, scholars and members if the public with an interest in Australian diplomacy to reflect, share ideas and critique recent successes and developments in Australian diplomacy and to consider challenges and opportunities ahead

Secretary of DFAT, Mr Peter Varghese AO opened the Symposium with an insightful talk on Australian diplomacy followed by a lively question and answer session. His remarks are available here. Media coverage included 9News, Sky News and NT News

The prominent and engaging speakers coupled with the open discussion received a very positive response from attendees who rated the event at 4.5 out of 5.0 and the speakers at 4.7.

Selected papers will be published in a special issue of the Australian Journal of International Affairs in 2016 and footage from the event will be added to the AIIA’s YouTube channel.