In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2023 conference entitled ‘The Menzies Ascendency: Implementing a Liberal Agenda and Consolidating Gains 1954-1961’. This fourth episode features Andrew Norton’s paper ‘Menzies and Higher Education’, Ted Ling’s paper ‘Robert Menzies, Canberra’s Apostle’ (begins 23:35), and Michael de Percy’s paper ‘Australia in the Atomic Age: Menzies’s legacy and nuclear’s unrealised potential’ (begins 46:05).

Professor Andrew Norton is Professor in the Practice of Higher Education Policy at the Centre for Social Research and Methods at the Australian National University. He was previously the Higher Education Program Director at the Grattan Institute. In the late 1990s he was higher education adviser to the then Minister for Education, Dr David Kemp.

Dr Ted Ling is a former employee of the National Archives of Australia and the National Library of Australia. He has a personal interest in the former National Capital Development Commission established by the Menzies government in late 1957 to coordinate Canberra’s expansion and development. Ted is the author of the research guides on Government Records about the Australian Capital Territory, published in 2013 and the records relating to former Prime Minister Robert Menzies, published in 2021. Ted also has a PhD in Northern Territory history from Charles Darwin University in 2010.

Dr Michael de Percy FRSA FCILT is Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Canberra. His qualifications include a PhD in Political Science from the Australian National University, a Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) from the University of Canberra, and a Bachelor of Arts from Deakin University. He is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, where he received the Royal Australian Artillery prize. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and Vice-Chair of the ACT and Southern NSW Chapter, Vice President of the Telecommunications Association (TelSoc - Australia's oldest learned society), Public Policy Editor of the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, and a member of the Australian Nuclear Association. He was appointed to the Australian Research Council's College of Experts in 2022.