Welcome to Episode 45 of Good Will Hunters, with Allan Gyngell.

This episode is sponsored by SolarBuddy, the organisation providing solar lights to children living in energy poverty all over the world. The future is brighter with SolarBuddy!

Allan Gyngell AO was appointed the National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) in September 2017, having previously been named a Fellow of the AIIA in 2010.

He is an honorary professor with the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific and was most recently Director of the ANU Crawford Leadership Forum.

Allan has had an extensive career in Australian international affairs. He was the Director-General of the Australian Office of National Assessments (ONA) from 2009 to 2013. Prior to leading the ONA, he was the founding Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy from 2003 to 2009. Additionally, he has worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, serving as an Australian diplomat in Rangoon, Singapore and Washington. He was Senior Advisor (International) to Prime Minister Paul Keating between 1993 and 1996.

Allan was appointed as an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2009 for services to international relations. In 2007, he co-authored Making Australian Foreign Policy with Michael Wesley. His most recent book, Fear of Abandonment: Australia in the World Since 1942, was released in 2017 to considerable acclaim.

In this episode we chat about Australian foreign policy, including the importance of inclusive and accessible public debate, our impact on world order over the last 70 years, relations with the Pacific, foreign aid and more. Allan is a brilliant intellectual who continues to make an enormous contribution to foreign policy in Australia.

Enjoy,

Rachel and the GWH Team