Wednesday, 4 September 2024 85 years ago today, England and France declared war against Germany. What was to follow was both calamitous and fortunate; tragic yet heroic. Freedom loving people owe everything to this generation of leaders and lifters, who carried the day in World War II against oppression and aggression. Their victory,…
DetailsThank you very much for that welcome and for the opportunity to be with you all once again for this important parliamentary breakfast this year. I’d like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples of the Canberra area and all of Australia’s traditional custodians. To Pat Conroy, Minister for International Development, thank you very much…
DetailsAustralian Institute of International Affairs Monday, 13th November 2023 Canberra, ACT [Thanks/greetings omitted] Let’s face it, the world has rarely been a stable place. If it were a stable place, we would still be cave dwellers and hunter-gatherers. Today we are in a time of a growing number of regional wars, and…
DetailsThursday, 2 November 2023 Cameron Stewart: Fascinating observations about the situation we’re in right now. I’d like to start off with the biggest story in the world. Just weeks ago, of course, 14 other Israelis were killed by Hamas. We now have a terribly large amount of Gazan civilians being killed. The divisions in…
DetailsEconomic and Social Outlook Conference Thursday, 2 November 2023 Crowne Palladium, Melbourne VIC Well, thanks very much, Cameron, for that fabulously gloomy introduction. And here we stand between all of you and cocktail hour, as it was just billed, with the very depressing topics to discuss. So, let me start by saying I’m an optimist.…
DetailsWednesday, 1 November 2023 Prof. Peter Dean: Thank you so much, Senator, for that. Mike, please take note next time we need a fire for the fire side chat. Great broad ranging speech. I particularly love any speech that uses the phrase forlorn hope. I think we all we can all look forward to, hopefully,…
DetailsKeynote Address Wednesday 1 November 2023 Disruption [Thanks/greetings omitted] Let’s face it, the world has rarely been a stable place. If it was, we would still be cave dwellers and hunter-gatherers. Today we are in a time of a growing number of regional wars and facing the threat of greater conflict. We…
DetailsWednesday, 18th October 2023 Canberra, ACT Disruption [Thanks/greetings omitted] The Australia China Business Council – congratulations on the 50th anniversary year. It is a remarkable achievement, particularly when we put that in the context of the fact that we are just marking still the 50th anniversary of Australia and the People’s Republic…
DetailsMonday 16 October 2023 The attacks by Hamas against Israel just over a week ago, were amongst the worst examples of terrorism in the modern age. That word – terrorism – speaks of horror… …it speaks of violence…. ….it speaks of instilling fear in a people to achieve a political or…
Details13 September 2023 Senator BIRMINGHAM (South Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (17:31): There are very few people, particularly very few senators, who I could compare with or draw an analogy to involving a horse and not land myself in trouble, but I suspect that my dear friend Marise—or, at least, I hope—as a…
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