Lowy Institute

On Monday 19 April, Peter Khalil MP and Dave Sharma MP had a discussion about Australia’s place in the world with Lowy Institute’s Director of Research Alex Oliver. They covered: what Australia should be doing in the world as an engaged middle power, Australia-China relations, and the fight against climate change.

Peter Khalil is the Federal Labor Member for Wills, elected to Parliament in 2016 and re-elected at the 2019 election. Prior to his parliamentary career, Mr Khalil was a Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, an Executive Director at SBS and a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Washington DC. He was foreign policy adviser to the prime minister (2007–08), served in Iraq (2003–04) with the Department of Defence and worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Mr Khalil has bachelor’s degrees in arts and law from Melbourne University and a master’s degree in international law from Australian National University.

Dave Sharma was elected to Parliament as the Liberal Member for Wentworth at the 2019 federal election. He was formerly a career diplomat, serving in Papua New Guinea and Washington, DC before being appointed Australia’s Ambassador to Israel in 2013. He has been an adviser to Australia’s foreign minister and was head of the International Division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2010 to 2012. He graduated in law with first class honours from the University of Cambridge.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the Australian-American diplomat, Middle East scholar, and author Dr Martin Indyk. Martin worked in both the Clinton and Obama administrations as Assistant Secretary of State, US Ambassador to Israel and Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. He is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Affairs and a long-serving Board member at the Lowy Institute.

Michael and Martin discuss his career working on Middle East peace, as well as Israeli politics, recent events in Jordan, and the Biden administration's approach towards Saudi Arabia. Martin reflects on growing up in Sydney, what Bill Clinton was like as a boss, and what we can learn from Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with Dr Samir Saran, President of the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a leading Indian think tank.

Michael and Samir talk about India’s devastating second wave of COVID, the time it will take for India to recover from the crisis, and what the pandemic means for US-China relations. Samir speaks about his own experiences with the virus and analyses how the crisis may affect India’s position in the world.

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In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Roland Rajah, Lowy Institute lead economist, sits down with Dr John Edwards and Jennifer Hewitt to discuss Australia’s economy after COVID-19.

Dr John Edwards is a Lowy Institute Senior Fellow, an Adjust Professor at Curtin University, a former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and was senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating. Jennifer Hewitt is national affairs columnist at The Australian Financial Review.

Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

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In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Roland Rajah, Lowy Institute lead economist, sits down with Dr John Edwards and Jennifer Hewitt to discuss Australia’s economy after COVID-19.

Dr John Edwards is a Lowy Institute Senior Fellow, an Adjust Professor at Curtin University, a former board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, and was senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating. Jennifer Hewitt is national affairs columnist at The Australian Financial Review.

Conversations is a Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

With a priority vaccination program underway, Papua New Guinea is striving to get control of a mushrooming outbreak of Covid-19. The virus is putting immense strain on the country’s health system, with hospitals and facilities struggling to cope.

PNG Health Minister Hon. Jelta Wong has been a key figure in the country’s response. Mr Wong was first appointed Minister for Health in 2019, and after a reshuffle in late 2020 was reappointed to the key post. Mr Wong has also served in the portfolios of Police and Civil Aviation after being elected to the East New Britain seat of Gazelle Open in 2017.

Listen to this special Aus-PNG Network online event with Minister Wong in conversation with Jonathan Pryke, the Director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program. Recorded on 1 April 2021.

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In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the distinguished policymaker and policy entrepreneur Michèle Flournoy. Michèle is a former senior Pentagon official, managing partner of WestExec Advisors, and chair of the Center for a New American Security.

Michèle is a leading expert on US defence and strategic policy. She served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy in the Clinton administration. Michèle also served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration, which made her, at the time, the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Pentagon.

Michael and Michèle discuss the rise of China, the resilience of America and Australia’s and New Zealand’s approach to the world. Michèle also reflects on the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq, the workplace environment at the Pentagon, and risk of conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

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In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of the Southeast Asia Program Ben Bland sits down with Nathan Law to discuss exile, China’s repressive policies and the long struggle ahead for democracy in Hong Kong.

Nathan Law is a Hong Kong democracy activist who was elected as the city’s youngest-ever legislator in 2016 before being disqualified by the government and then jailed for his role in the 2014 Umbrella Revolution. He fled Hong Kong last year for London after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law, and he remains on a Chinese “wanted” list for his advocacy of human rights and democracy. In between protests, politics and prison, he found time to take a master’s degree in East Asian Studies at Yale University.

Conversations is a new Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of the Southeast Asia Program Ben Bland sits down with Nathan Law to discuss exile, China’s repressive policies and the long struggle ahead for democracy in Hong Kong.

Nathan Law is a Hong Kong democracy activist who was elected as the city’s youngest-ever legislator in 2016 before being disqualified by the government and then jailed for his role in the 2014 Umbrella Revolution. He fled Hong Kong last year for London after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law, and he remains on a Chinese “wanted” list for his advocacy of human rights and democracy. In between protests, politics and prison, he found time to take a master’s degree in East Asian Studies at Yale University.

Conversations is a new Lowy Institute podcast in which Institute researchers and some of the world's leading experts delve into the big issues in international affairs.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with award-winning journalist, author, and editor Anna Fifield. Anna, the editor of the Wellington newspaper The Dominion Post, has previously reported for the Financial Times and The Washington Post from London, Washington, Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing. Anna is the author of a celebrated biography of Kim Jong-un titled The Great Successor.

Michael and Anna talk about reporting from Beijing and Tokyo and writing about Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un. Anna also speaks about human rights abuses against the Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang province, the recent summit meeting in Anchorage, and the contrasting policies of Australia and New Zealand towards China.