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AIIA National Conference 2017

Published 14 Jun 2017

AIIA National Conference: Foreign Policy in an Uncertain World

Monday 16 October 2017 | Hotel Realm, Canberra

The AIIA’s National Conference, Australia’s premier event on Australian foreign policy, took place on Monday 16 October and attracted over 380 attendees. The 2017 National Conference brought together some of Australia’s leading international affairs experts across four sessions:
Australian Foreign Policy:

Enhancing Australia’s Prosperity:

  • Dr Stephanie Fahey, CEO of Austrade
  • Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU
  • Mukund Narayanamurti, CEO of Asialink Business
  • Professor Andrew Walter, International Relations, University of Melbourne

Strengthening Australia’s Security:

  • Tom Switzer, Presenter on the ABC’s Radio National and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies
  • Linda Jakobson, CEO and Founding Director of China Matters
  • Gordon Flake, CEO of the Perth USAsia Centre
  • Dr Joanne Wallis, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU

Australia’s Contribution to Global Issues:

  • Senator The Hon Lisa Singh, Senator for Tasmania
  • Professor Ramesh Thakur, Crawford School, ANU
  • Johanna Weaver, Acting Director, Cyber Policy Section, DFAT

The full program of the event is available here.

 

AIIA Masterclasses

The 2017 national conference was preceded by masterclasses for young professionals and tertiary students between the ages of 18 and 40. The 2017 masterclasses were held on Sunday 15 October with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The masterclasses enable motivated young people to engage one-on-one with AIIA Fellows who are leading figures in Australian international affairs. The overriding criterion for the selection of our Fellows is a very high level of distinction in and contribution to Australia’s international relations.

Four Masterclass sessions took place in 2017:

Defence and Security

  • Richard Smith AO PSM, former Secretary of the Department of Defence and former Australian Ambassador to China and Indonesia
  • Professor James Cotton FAIIA, Emeritus Professor, UNSW Canberra, Australian Defence Force Academy

Intelligence and Diplomacy

  • David Irvine AO FAIIA, former Director-General, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), former Australian Ambassador to China and former High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea
  • Geoffrey Miller AO FAIIA, former Australian Ambassador to Japan and South Korea, former High Commissioner to New Zealand and former Director-General of the Office of National Assessments

Diplomacy and Crisis

  • Dr Sue Boyd FAIIA, former High Commissioner to Fiji and Bangladesh, Consul-General in Hong Kong and Ambassador to Vietnam
  • John McCarthy AO FAIIA, former Ambassador to the US, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and Thailand and High Commissioner to India

Australia and Asia

  • Jenny McGregor AM FAIIA, Group CEO of Asialink at The University of Melbourne and founding Executive Director of the Asia Education Foundation
  • Dr Alison Broinowski FAIIA, former Australian diplomat, author and research affiliate at ANU.

 

Partners:
The AIIA 2017 National Conference was proudly presented in partnership with our sponsors: