Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, the Chief of Army, delivered a special address before the Lowy Institute on Thursday 3 April 2025. He spoke about the state of the Army profession and proposed key actions to strengthen the institution.

This is the third in a series of significant speeches from the Chief of Army. The first laid the theoretical foundations for the Army profession, while the second examined the historical, cultural and institutional challenges faced by the Army. 

Following the address, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove AM, chaired a Q&A session with the Chief of Army.

Lieutenant General Simon Stuart, AO DSC, has more than 35 years of military experience, including leadership roles in operations, training, and capability development. He has commanded forces in East Timor, Afghanistan, and Egypt/Israel and most recently served as Head of Land Capability in Army Headquarters after commanding the Multinational Force and Observers.

A graduate of the Royal Military College – Duntroon, UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, US Army War College, and Harvard Business School, he holds advanced degrees in Project Management, Defence Studies, and Strategy. He has been appointed Officer of the Order of Australia and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

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Hear from former senior NATO figure and arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller on the prospects for peace in Europe’s bloodiest conflict since the Second World War. Donald Trump arrived as US president promising a swift end to the war in Ukraine. But can the war end in a way that will be fair to Ukrainians, and which closes off opportunities for further Russian aggression? Rose Gottemoeller will address these complex questions and analyse the unfolding peace process.

Rose Gottemoeller is the Lowy Institute’s 2025 Distinguished Fellow for International Security. She is currently the William J Perry Lecturer at Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Prior to this, she served as Deputy Secretary General of NATO from 2016 to 2019 and was Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security at the US State Department. In 2009 and 2010, she was chief US negotiator of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the Russian Federation, due to expire in 2026.‍

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Former senior NATO figure and arms control negotiator Rose Gottemoeller delivered the 2025 Owen Harries Lecture on Monday 24 March in Sydney. She reflected on a new era of nuclear weapons competition.

China is rapidly growing and modernising its nuclear arsenal while Russia has used nuclear sabre-rattling in its war in Ukraine. Rose Gottemoeller explores the advent of an unprecedented situation — three nuclear peers — and the implications for the United States and its allies. She will also discuss the possibilities for nuclear restraint and arms control.
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Since 2013, the Owen Harries Lecture has honoured the enormous contribution made to the international debate in Australia and the United States by Owen Harries, who was a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.

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Hear Lowy Institute and Carnegie Endowment experts discuss the most pressing topic in Australian foreign policy: the future of the alliance with United States. The AUKUS agreement of September 2021 raised the US-Australia alliance to unprecedented levels of cooperation and alignment. But the first two months of the Trump Administration – particularly its Ukraine policy and relations with its neighbour and ally Canada – have raised fundamental questions about the future of American foreign policy and its attitudes towards traditional partners such as Australia.

Some of the authors of a recent Carnegie Asia Program report — Evan A. Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment; Courtney Stewart, Senior Managing Consultant at OCRT; and Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor (Adjunct) at Griffith University — discuss these and other questions with Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, in an event moderated by Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.

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President Donald Trump's trade policies, particularly tariffs on steel and aluminium, have sparked retaliatory actions from long-standing allies and raised serious questions about the future of America's working relationships with the rest of the world.

In December, the Lowy Institute hosted a panel discussion about the impact of Donald Trump presidency in Asia — from US security and trade ties with Indo-Pacific, and the outlook for US-China tensions and key regional flashpoints, including Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Lydia Khalil convened this conversation with colleagues Daniel Flitton, Managing Editor of the Interpreter and Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, and Professor Bec Strating, Director of La Trobe Asia.

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In the second of our events analysing the foreign policy issues likely to dominate the international agenda in 2025, our panel discusses the first few months of the second Trump administration, the developments in Europe, Asia and the imminent Australian federal election.

The panel was chaired by Dr Jessica Collins and featured Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Research, with Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow for East Asia; Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program and Project Lead for the Asia Power Index; and Robert Walker, Research Associate at the Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre.

It was recorded on the 27 February at the Lowy Institute's Sydney headquarters.

Watch the video of this event.

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The Pacific is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the world, facing frequent and severe extreme weather events and rising sea levels. Adaptation and resilience-building are vital to helping Pacific communities cope, but financial assistance is insufficient and difficult to access.

Pacific leaders have responded to this gap with the creation of the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF). The PRF is the first Pacific-led, owned and managed fund dedicated to financing community-centred adaptation and resilience solutions in Pacific Island countries. The Australian government pledged $100 million to the Facility in 2023. However, far more is still needed and from a wider set of donors.

The Lowy Institute was delighted to host Finau Soqo, General Manager of the Pacific Resilience Facility, for a panel discussion on climate finance in the Pacific and Australia’s role. Ms Soqo was joined by His Excellency Samson Vilvil Fare, High Commissioner of the Republic of Vanuatu, one of the world’s worst affected countries by climate change, and Kristin Tilley, Australia’s Ambassador for Climate Change. The panel will be chaired by Dr Melanie Pill, Climate Change Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre. The discussion was followed by an audience Q&A.

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On Monday 10 February, the Lowy Institute hosted a panel event at State Library Victoria to discuss the key issues likely to dominate the international agenda in 2025.

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The Trump administration kicks off 2025 with a mandate for political and economic change. An Australian federal election looms. Russia’s war in Ukraine, an uneasy Middle East, and America’s contest with China will continue to dominate international headlines.

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Our expert panel included Jennifer Hewett, National Affairs columnist for the Australian Financial Review; Daniel Flitton, Managing Editor of the Lowy Institute’s international affairs magazine, The Interpreter; and Lydia Khalil, Director of the Institute’s Transnational Challenges Program. The event will be chaired by Sam Roggeveen, Director of our International Security Program.

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Darshana M. Baruah and Oriana Skylar Mastro launch their new books, The Contest for the Indian Ocean and Upstart: How China became a Great Power. The Contest for the Indian Ocean, Baruah explores how the Indian Ocean has become a central stage for geopolitical competition, highlighting its strategic importance and the ambitions of global powers vying for influence in the region. Meanwhile, in Upstart, Mastro offers a compelling analysis of China's unconventional path to great power status, revealing the strategies that enabled its rise without triggering a major global backlash.

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The inaugural Lowy Interview, featuring US President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

During all the moments that have defined US foreign policy over the past four years — from Afghanistan to Ukraine, from meetings of the Quad to the formation of AUKUS, from October 7 to the fall of Bashar al-Assad — Jake Sullivan has been at President Biden’s elbow.

In an extended interview at the White House in Washington, DC, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove AM, spoke with Mr Sullivan about America’s relations with the world under President Biden’s administration, and what comes next.

Dr Fullilove and Mr Sullivan discussed the monumental events in Syria, Iran’s annus horribilis, Russia’s recent setbacks and the war in Ukraine.

Closer to home, Mr Sullivan reflected on his “strategic channel” with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing’s growing alignment with Russia, Iran and North Korea, the “Biden doctrine” in foreign policy — and how AUKUS will fare under President Donald Trump.

On a more personal note, Dr Fullilove spoke with Mr Sullivan about imposter syndrome, Midwestern niceness — and the merits of Australian Rules football.

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