Lowy Institute

The world economy is now characterised by intense international competition for skilled immigrants. At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 21 May, Professor Peter McDonald considered how Australia can recruit the migrants that it needs and what the potential obstacles may be. Peter McDonald is Professor of Demography and Director of the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at the Austra...

The annual Lowy Lecture on Australia in the World is the highlight on our events calendar. The 2006 lecture was delivered by one of Australia’s most respected international strategic thinkers and international security experts, Professor Robert O’Neill AO. In his lecture entitled Prospects and Perspectives for International Security, Professor O’Neill gave perspectives on key international securit...

On 31 October, the Lowy Institute hosted an election debate between the Trade Minister, the Hon. Warren Truss, and the Shadow Trade Minister, the Hon. Simon Crean. Both speakers reaffirmed their belief that the WTO Doha Round could still deliver a global deal and presented their parties' different views on bilateral trade deals, including the ongoing negotiations with Japan and the potential for a...

The Lowy Institute was pleased to present a lecture by the Federal Labor Leader, Kevin Rudd MP, on Thursday 5 July 2007, as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series. The title of Mr Rudd's lecture was 'Fresh ideas for future challenges in foreign policy', downloadable here. In this important lecture, Mr Rudd outlined Labor's approach to Australian foreign policy. He also took questions from the fl...

The Honourable Gordon J. O’Connor, PC, MP, Canada's Minister of National Defence, spoke at the Lowy Institute on 8 September as part of the Institute's Distinguished Speaker Series. Canada and Australia are two nations which enjoy a shared heritage, common interests and a long history of external military commitments. Like Australia, Canada is undergoing a major restructuring and re-equipping of i...

Professor Hans-Henrik Holm addressed the Thursday Lunch at Lowy on the topic of the Danish cartoon media controversy, which occurred when the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons of the prophet Muhammad on September 30 2005. Hans-Henrik Holm is Professor of International Relations at the Danish School of Journalism and Aarhus University. He has held several senior academic appointmen...

Despite the economic downturn following the global financial crisis, the United States remains Australia’s most significant commercial partner, taking into account the value and diversity of our two-way investment and trade flows. On Tuesday 18 May at a panel discussion on the prospects and trends in the commercial relationship between Australia and the United States, The Honourable Anthony Byrne...

The Wednesday Lowy Lunch this week was on Tuesday and it launched the Asia New Zealand Foundation’s Outlook Paper #13, 'Standing Together, In Single File', by the Lowy Institute’s Program Director East Asia, Dr Malcolm Cook. Malcolm was joined by Dr Brendan Taylor to discuss the paper. Brendan is a lecturer at the School of International, Political and Strategic Studies at ANU. Dr Andrew Butcher,...

The Mekong River basins are one of the most important and dynamic areas in the world for the battle between economic development’s demands for energy and environmental and social sustainability. As world attention shifts to the pending global climate change negotiations in far-off Copenhagen, the ongoing damming of the Mekong River and plans by the riparian states to build new dams threaten the li...

One if the biggest questions facing Asia, and Australia, is how is the global financial crisis affecting China and will the Chinese government's policy responses be effective. The front and opinion pages of Australia's broadsheets have been full of stories and editorials on this topic. At the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 25 March 2009, Professor Leong Liew looked beyond these headlines and discussed th...

The Lowy Institute was pleased to host the second ‘headland’ speech by the Hon. Tony Abbott MHR, Leader of the Opposition, on Friday 23 April. The speech covered Coalition views on foreign affairs and defence. Tony Abbott was elected Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party on 1 December 2009. He was previously Leader of the House and a senior Cabinet Minister in the Howard Government, se...

On the occasion of the publication of his political memoirs, the Lowy Institute was pleased to welcome former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser for a conversation on Australian foreign policy. From the Vietnam War to the Afghanistan War, from international law to the treatment of refugees, Mr Fraser discussed the meaning of liberalism in the global context. He was joined on stage by Michael Wesley, th...

Monday, 9 November, 2009 was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. To mark this anniversary, the Lowy Institute engaged three prominent commentators on the significance of the end of the Cold War. Lowy Institute Executive Director, Michael Wesley, moderated a conversation between veteran strategic analyst Owen Harries, Amnesty International Director Claire Mallinson, and Westpac int...

The 2009 Lowy Lecture on Australia in the World was delivered on 18 November by Mr Marius Kloppers, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of BHP Billiton Ltd. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Rudd Government has announced major reforms to our university system in order to ensure that Australia can meet challenges of the next century. At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 29th July, Professor Ian Chubb argued that it is imperative for Australia that we lift our sights and rebuild our capacity to perform alongside the world’s best in those fields of education and research. He argued the...

In the 2009 Australia-India Strategic Lecture, delivered at the Lowy Institute on 11 May, Ambassador Chinmaya Gharekhan examined India’s dangerous neighbourhood, and in particular the deep security challenges posed by the situations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He presented a sobering picture of the prospects for these countries, and the implications for India and other countries threatened by jih...

The Lowy Institute, in cooperation with the Sydney Democracy Forum, explored the state of West Asian democracy in a panel discussion held on Tuesday 2 October, 2007 at the Institute. The session compared and contrasted two different ends of the democratic spectrum in the region. It assessed the state of the region and the world’s largest democracy, India, and it explored democratic prospects in Eg...

The Symposium, Strengthening the Global and Regional Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, co-sponsored by Pacific Friends of the Global Fund, AusAID and the Lowy Institute for International Policy, was held at the Lowy Institute in Sydney on 24 February 2009. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2008 Australia-India Strategic Lecture was presented at the Lowy Institute on 25 March 2008 by Ambassador Lalit Mansingh. The title of his lecture was 'The promise and the limits of the India-US relationship: What it means for Asia and the world'. The partnership between India and the United States has been a central part of the story of India's changing place in the world in recent years, and...

As the George W Bush Presidency draws to a close, attention is increasingly focused on the likely policies of his successor, particularly in the Middle East. The Lowy Institute was pleased to present at the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 30 July 2008 a speaker eminently qualified to address this critical topic, Ambassador Martin S. Indyk. Ambassador Indyk is a Director on the Board of the Lowy Institute...

On 26 September at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Lucinda Holdforth, a former Australian diplomat and foreign policy adviser and the author of the recently published 'Why manners matter: the case for civilised behaviour in a barbarous world' gave a presentation on the link between good manners and international politics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Wednesday 22 August at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Amos Brandeis, an Ambassador for the International River Foundation, spoke about the links between the environment and conflict. Tim Flannery introduced Mr Brandeis. Mr Brandeis is the manager of the Alexander River Restoration Project, a unique partnership between Israel and Palestine. In 1995 Israelis and Palestinians came together to restor...

On 16 August at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Mr Les Murray from the SBS network discussed the broader social and cultural elements of the World Cup, and how our recent success has helped change perceptions of Australia around the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 19 July at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Whit Mason discussed how Australia can apply the lessons of the international community's experience in Kosovo to state-building in its own immediate region. Whit's presentation, 'Balkan lessons for Australia’s arc of instability: the Joe Namath school of state-building' can be heard here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday 17 May at the Lowy Institute, an audience heard five important voices in Australian cultural life examine the role of music in promoting understanding between nations and communities. Joining Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Sydney Symphony, Mr Vladimir Ashkenazy (pictured), in this unique public conversation were Lindy Hume, David Bridie, Andrew Ford and Geraldine Doogue AO. Se...