Pacific Conversations

The Honourable Bob Carr is an Industry Professor of Business and Climate Change at the University of Technology Sydney and former Foreign Minister of Australia (2012-2013). He is also the longest continuously serving Premier in New South Wales history (1995-2005).

Joining Ed Blakely and Tina Quinn, Professor Carr discusses carbon pricing, China, racial politics in both Australia and the US, and how US and Australia build a new post-Trump, post-COVID partnership.

Professor Dominic Dwyer is Director of Public Health Pathology in New South Wales and Director of the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research at Westmead Hospital in Sydney, Australia.

He has a clinical and research interest in viral diseases of public health importance, including COVID-19, influenza and other respiratory viruses, HIV, antiviral drug resistance, and arboviruses. As a member of the World Health Organisation Joint Mission on the Origins of SARS-CoV-2 he recently undertook an examination of the issues leading to COVID-19 arising in Wuhan, China.

Bruce Wolpe is a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the United States Studies Centre and regular contributor to US politics across media platforms in Australia. In recent years, Bruce has worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Barack Obama's first term, and on the staff of Prime Minister Julia Gillard. He has also served as the former PM's chief of staff.

In this chat with Ed Blakely and Tina Quinn, Bruce provides rich insights into what any US or Australian government can or cannot do post the American era and after the social and economic divisions arising post-COVID and Post Trump. It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

A long-time friend of President Barack Obama, Jeff Bleich joined the White House staff in March 2009 as Special Counsel to the President and was nominated later that year to become US Ambassador to Australia. Bleich served as ambassador from 2009 to 2013. After stepping down from his post, he returned to the United States and became a partner and group CEO at the Denton Law Firm, San Francisco. He served as a special master for multi-district litigation for the U.S. District Court and Currently the Chief legal officer at Cruise Corp.

Gabriel Metcalf is the CEO of the Committee for Sydney, a role he has held since January 2019. The Committee for Sydney is a research and advocacy organisation that works with leaders across Sydney to solve the problems of today and tomorrow. On this week's chat, Gabriel offers a view of how Australia’s state-based governmental systems offer more stability and quality outcomes for citizens than US counterparts. But the flip side is innovation at the grassroots is more difficult to assert and manage.

Prior to being installed as the Governor of Western Australia on the 1st May 2018, Kim Beazley had dedicated almost three decades to a career in Federal Parliament, representing the WA seats of Brand and Swan. Mr Beazley also took up an appointment as Ambassador to the United States of America from February 2010 to January 2016. Governor Beazley joined Ed and Tina with insights into how the US can and must with Australia restore world order to protect and advance democracy around the globe.

Next in this series: Gabriel Metcalf