On 14 November 2024 NZIIA's National Office hosted an expert panel discussion on how geostrategic competition is affecting the Pacific region and how New Zealand, Pacific countries and regional institutions can respond to this. The discussion included suggestions on how Aotearoa New Zealand can better engage with the Pacific.

The event features a summary of the report’s findings from Guy Fiti Sinclair and a moderated discussion with some of the foremost experts in international politics in the Pacific:
Esala Nayasi, Deputy Secretary-General, Pacific Islands Forum 
Dr. Guy Fiti Sinclair, Rapporteur and Associate Professor at Auckland Law School, The University of Auckland
Anna Powles, Associate Professor at Centre for Defence & Security Studies, Massey University
and Dr Iati Iati, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington
moderated by Caren Rangi, ONZM, FCA.

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Hosted by the Australian Institute of International Affairs and the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs on 5 December 2024. 

It is difficult to think of two countries more closely aligned than Australia and New Zealand. Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade describes the neighbours as 'natural allies with a strong trans-Tasman sense of family' and New Zealand's Ministry of Defence says that New Zealand has 'no better friend and no closer ally'.

But the perceived and practical closeness of Australia and New Zealand also means that their alliance is so taken-for-granted that it is seldom analysed. In the November special issue​ of the Australian Journal of International Affairs scholars from both sides of the Tasman address this gap by examining the current state of the alliance and identifying issues likely to test it in the future.

The event brought together Anna Powles and Joanne Wallis, the guest editors of the special issue, for a stocktake of the current state of the Australia-New Zealand alliance. They were joined by contributors Darren Lim and Jason Young, who will focus on the allies' differing relationships with China and consider what that means for the future of their relationship. The discussion was chaired by David Capie.

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NZIIA Event held in Wellington on 7 August 2024. 

In essence, Australia’s commitment to AUKUS is a vote to help preserve Asia’s US-led unipolar strategic order. But what are the alternatives?  What kinds of new regional order might emerge to take the old order’s place if it cannot be preserved?  And how would we fare in them?

Professor Hugh White’s presentation explores these questions, looking at the global context as shaped by the war in Ukraine and the alignment between China and Russia. It asks if the global Rules Based Order fails, what will take its place – authoritarian hegemony or politically diverse multipolarity? And what would it mean for Asia, and more particularly for Australia and New Zealand?

Professor White’s address is followed by additional expert discussion from John McKinnon, Chair of the New Zealand-China Council and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.

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Prof Harsh V Pant, Vice President, Studies and Foreign Policy, Observer Research Foundation talk focused on Modi 3.0 and India's Global Outreach, touching on its implications for the Indo-Pacific.

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Recent international tensions have brought the twentieth-century Cold War battle of ideas back into the public consciousness, including via films such as Oppenheimer. But the Cold War was not only fought by militaries, politicians and scientists. Behind the scenes, a group of economists clashed over economic theory and ideologies, with far-reaching real-world effects up until the present day, including in New Zealand.

This topic was discussed by Alan Bollard, who has published a new book Economists in the Cold War, by Oxford University Press. Dr Bollard’s talk was discussed by Dr Malcolm McKinnon, adjunct associate professor at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. 

Held at Craigs Investments Partners in Wellington on 4 October 2023.  This event launches the 'International History Series', jointly run by the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs and Centre for Strategic Studies at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington.

About Dr Alan Bollard

Dr Alan Bollard is a Professor of Practice at the School of Government, Wellington School of Business and Government, and inaugural holder of the Chair for Pacific Region Business. The Chair is intended to help the Business School focus on Asia-Pacific economies.

In addition, he is Chair of the newly-formed Infrastructure Commission, Chair of the cross-university Centres for Asia-Pacific Excellence, and Chair of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery. He is NZ Governor of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

From 2012 - 2018 Alan was the Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat based in Singapore, the world’s largest regional body that promotes trade, investment and sustainable economic growth in the Asia-Pacific.

Prior to joining APEC, Dr Bollard was the Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 2002 to 2012. In that position, he was responsible for monetary policy and bank regulations, helping steer New Zealand through the global financial crisis.

From 1998 to 2002, Dr Bollard was the Secretary to the New Zealand Treasury.  As the government’s principal economic adviser, he managed the Crown’s finances and helped guide economic policy. He has served as New Zealand’s Alternate Governor to the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

From 1994 – 2008, he was the Chairman of the New Zealand Commerce Commission.  Prior to this from 1987 to 1994 he was Director of the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Auckland.

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On 17 August HE Ms Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand, presented to the NZIIA Christchurch Branch on 'A Roadmap for the future: Taking the Trans-Tasman relationship forward.' 

About HE Ms Harinder Sidhu

Ms Sidhu was appointed as Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand on 31 March 2022.

Ms Sidhu is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and was most recently Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Secretary. She has previously served overseas as Australia’s High Commissioner to India and in Moscow and Damascus.

In Canberra, she has served in DFAT in senior leadership roles, as well as in the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Office of National Assessments and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Ms Sidhu holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.

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On 25 July 2023 in Wellington, David McAlister MEP delivered an address on trade, development, and security in the Pacific.

This event iwas delivered in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the EU Delegation to New Zealand. It was chaired by Hamish McDougall, Executive Director of the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs.

About David McAllister MEP

In the European Parliament, David McAllister is Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, substitute member of the Committee on International Trade and the Sub-Committee on Security and Defence.

He has been a MEP since 2014, when he was the CDU’s lead candidate in the European Parliament election campaign. In November 2014, he was elected Vice Chair of the International Democratic Union (IDU) in Seoul and has been Vice President of the European People’s Party since October 2015.

David studied law at the University of Hannover between 1991 and 1995. In 1996 he passed the first state examination in law. After his training as a junior lawyer, he took the second state exam in 1998 and has been a lawyer ever since.

He was Member of the for Lower Saxony parliament from 1998 to 2014, where from 2003 to 2010 he was Chair of the CDU Group. On 1 July 2010, the Lower Saxony parliament elected him Prime Minister of Lower Saxony as Christian Wulff’s successor, an Office which he held until 2013.

McAllister was born in Berlin on 12 January 1971. His father was from Glasgow and, as civilian official for the British Army, was stationed at a number of bases in Germany from 1955 onwards; prior to that, he had served in the 51st (Highland) Division of the British Armed Forces during the Second World War. His mother was a teacher of German and music. David and his two sisters grew up in Berlin-Charlottenburg. He was raised bilingually in German and English, and initially went to a British primary school. In 1982 his family moved to Northern Germany.

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In this episode of the NZIIA Podcast, Lachie and Tejas are joined by guest speaker Marçal Sanmartí, who in his second appearance with us discusses the what and why of Space Command. We explore New Zealand’s position in the geopolitics of space, and what we can and should do to best operate in this domain. The militarisation of space, the risks of space junk, and environmental concerns of rocket launches down here on Earth are just some of the topics covered in this discussion.

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On this episode of NZIIA Youth Panel, we discuss briefly some of the impacts of climate change including but not limited to both international and domestic obligations of NZ, as well as some of the environmental impacts, in particular, the most at-risk communities with our guest Ri Theodore, Youth Climate Activist. Does something brief like this work or is there a need for something more detailed

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In this episode of the NZIIA podcast, Tanis, Lachie and Patrick are joined by guest speaker Professor Rob Rabel from Poland about the ongoing war in Ukraine, how those close to the conflict are reacting and why Putin continues to attempt to legitimize his position. We will also explore how New Zealand's position in this conflict has changed and why it is important to us at home. 

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