In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2024 conference entitled ‘The Final Chapter: Purpose, Endurance and Legacy 1961-66 and Beyond’. This fourth episode features Damien Freeman and Senator Dean Smith on 'Recommending an Appointment to the Sovereign', Josh Woodward's paper '"A cure for prejudice": Robert Menzies, Travel and Nationalism in the 1960s' (begins at 27:03), and Michael de Percy's paper 'From the bottom of the sea to the moon: Menzies and Australia’s communications golden age' (begins at 43:27).

Damien Freeman is a Fellow of the Robert Menzies Institute and an Honorary Fellow of Australian Catholic University, whose most recent book is The End of Settlement: Why the 2023 referendum failed.

Dean Smith has been a Liberal Senator for Western Australia since May 2012. He is a member of the Coalition’s Shadow Economic Team, having been appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury in June 2022. He was previously a member of the Coalition Government’s Senate Leadership Team – elected Chief Government Whip in the Senate by his Liberal Senate colleagues in January 2019. Dean was awarded the McKinnon Prize in Political Leadership in 2018 by a panel of eminent Australians, including John Howard and Julia Gillard. Prior to entering the Senate, he held senior executive roles at Insurance Australia Group and SingTel Optus. Dean brings to his Senate role extensive policy experience, having worked as Policy Adviser to both Western Australian Premier Richard Court and Prime Minister John Howard. His Parliamentary Committee roles include member of the Senate Economics Committee and Senate Select Committee on the Cost of Living Committee, Chair of the Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee and Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the Implementation of the National Redress Scheme. He was previously the Coalition Government’s nominee to the Advisory Council of the ANU China in the World Centre, and was appointed to the National Archives of Australia Advisory Council in July 2022. In 2011 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Liberal Party of Australia.

Josh Woodward is an Australian environmental historian whose research explores representations of nature in tourist advertising. He has published several articles on the tourist promotion of Australian national parks and their emergence as important sites of the settler-nation. He completed his Master’s at the University of Western Australia, where he was the 2019 recipient of the Frank Broeze scholarship. Josh will complete his PhD on twentieth century Australian tourist advertising at the Australian National University in 2025.

Michael de Percy is Senior Lecturer in Politic 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 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILTA), and a Member of the Royal Society of NSW. He is National Vice President of the Telecommunications Association, Chairman of the ACT and Southern NSW Chapter of CILTA, and a member of the Australian Nuclear Association. Michael is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon where he received the Royal Australian Artillery Prize. He was appointed to the Australian Research Council's College of Experts in 2022 and as the Managing Editor of the Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy from 2025. Michael's political commentary appears regularly in The Spectator Australia and on Spectator Australia TV.