AIIA

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been in the media frequently recently because of the four Genocide Convention cases before it. The cases have been brought against a variety of countries, Myanmar, Russia, Israel and Germany, and for a variety of reasons. This talk from two Australian international law experts will give an overview of the current Genocide Convention cases before the ICJ...

Since Ireland was partitioned in 1920 its reunification has seemed impossible. Many still feel that way, partly because of the bloody legacy of past conflict. In the North, however, the demographic majority of Ulster Protestants is lost, and Ulster unionists are no longer the largest voting bloc: in the 2023 local government elections their combined support fell below 40 per cent, compared to the...

Please join us at this special event at which our distinguished guest speaker Professor the Hon Gareth Evans AC KC FASSA FAIIA will provide his insights on the evolution of Australia's regional security environment. He served as Australia's long term Foreign Minister during a period when much of the then existing regional security architecture was revamped, including the creation of APEC and the A...

At this event Professor Kadambot H.M. Siddique talked about Future Smart Foods and Global Food Security.  Professor Siddique's PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded here Asia and the Pacific continue to suffer from a high prevalence of malnutrition. An estimated 479 million undernourished people, 58 % of the worldwide total, live in this region. Chronic undernutrition is due to the persistent...

At our March Event, Professor Samina Yasmeen (AM) talked about how Pakistan is passing through a critical juncture in its history as an independent state. Since the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government led by Imran Khan was removed by a coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in April 2022, the country has been sliding into a dysfunctional state. Economic decline with prospects of...

In partnership with AIIA Tasmania, AIIA WA was pleased to host a Webinar-only discussion on Malaysian politics following the elections held on 19 November 2022, which resulted in a hung parliament and a patchwork coalition led by long term opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. The 2018 ground-breaking election, at which the Barisan Nasional (National Alliance) lost government for the first time since...

In December 2019 Australians were shocked by the "Forever Fires" that raged through 12 million hectares in Australia's South East. Since then, prospects that once seemed abstract have materialised in rapid succession: a global pandemic, massive floods, and the biggest military conflict in Europe since WW2. These events changed how we live, the way our economies are managed, and (arguably) governme...

As our first event in 2023, in collaboration with the Forrest Research Foundation, we had the pleasure to host Dato' Sri Saifuddin Abdullah, until recently the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia talking to us about the evolution of politics in Malaysia in an address titled "New Politics 2.0: Multiracial and Moderate Malaysian Democracy". In the discussion after his address he  also shared his...

It is now clear that the fracture in US-China relations goes very deep. It is not driven by disagreements about trade, freedom of navigation, or even human rights. It is driven by fundamental and seemingly irreconcilable differences between Washington and Beijing about the nature of the international order and their respective roles in it. Washington seeks to preserve its place as the primary powe...

At this event, Kamahl shared, through a discussion with the AIIA WA President Brendan Augustin, his reflections and perspectives on how Australia's image of itself - and how others have seen us - has changed in the nearly 70 years that he has lived here. Kamahl arrived in Adelaide as a 19-year-old student from Malaya (now Malaysia) in 1953. He was part of a first wave of students from Asia who wer...

As head of Australia's consular service, Ian Kemish played a central role in the nation's response to some of the most dramatic events of the early twenty-first century, including the September 11 attacks and the Bali bombings. He led the small band of Australian consuls as they confronted the new challenges of global jihadism, supporting families who lost loved ones, and negotiated the release of...

At our July event Robbie Gaspar and Chris Ciriello, two sportsmen who have been involved in sports at elite levels in Indonesia, Malaysia and India, shared their views on Australian sports diplomacy Australia's recognition as a sporting nation has delivered soft power dividends over many years. But few of these dividends have been delivered in Asia.  Arguably, because Australia is focused on parti...

More than a decade ago, Michael Sheldrick helped co-found an Australian initiative known as Global Citizen after being one of the first recipients of the AIIA WA Bursary for Studies in Asia Program.  In March 2020, at the request of the World Health Organisation, Global Citizen turned its attention to supporting Covid-19 relief efforts worldwide. Within weeks, the organisation produced its biggest...

At our May Event, AIIA WA  hosted a panel discussion to mark the 20th anniversary of the independence of Timor-Leste.  Less than 600km from Australia’s North, Timor-Leste has featured prominently in Australia’s foreign policy for many decades: from its annexation by Indonesia in 1975, its struggle for independence, and its development since. Two of AIIA WA’s past presidents, Sue Boyd and John Good...

On 2 April 2022, Australia and India signed the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI ECTA), after more than ten years of negotiations.  In this event, Dr Jeffrey Wilson, one of Australia’s pre-eminent trade and investment policy experts, provides his analysis on the prospects for the new agreement to move the dial in the economic relationship. Despite strong historical and...

At our March event, Professor Peter Newman AO, an author of the next IPCC mitigation report, showed how producing solar energy and green hydrogen is likely to transform Western Australia’s economy in a geopolitically significant way.  The slides used in this presentation can be downloaded here The existing geopolitical order of manufacturing was based firstly in places near coal in Europe and Amer...

To start our 2022 program, the WA Branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs hosted a discussion with Ian Kortlang who reflected on his 50 year career in the making of Australian foreign and domestic policy.  From his first deployment to Vietnam in 1970 as an officer in the Australian Army to diplomatic postings in Asia, Africa and Europe, to senior domestic advisory roles in Stat...

At our traditional Christmas event we were pleased to have John R Goodlad as our end-of-year speaker.  In this special lecture, John took his lead from the Ian Drury and the Blockheads song “Reasons to be Cheerful” expanded on what is going right in the world as we enter 2022.  John reflected on noteworthy positive developments to show that it is not all darkness and gloom when it comes to interna...

At our October event, Dr Jie Chen reviewed the tumultuous political transformation of Hong Kong after the 1997 handover from Britain to China.  While Deng Xiaoping had pledged “one country, two systems” for the governance of the former British colony, the implementation of the principle was always lopsided. For example, the central government failed to honour the promise of universal  suffrage for...

On 16 September the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced the creation of an enhanced trilateral security partnership called “AUKUS”.  Through AUKUS, the three governments reinforced their commitment to support each other’s security and defense interests; and as its first initiative the three leaders committed to support Australia in acquiring nuclear-powered su...