Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 12 June
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
The Fifth Estate is the Wheeler Centre’s new series of fortnightly forums: a more measured approach to news and current affairs. Provocative and studied, authoritative and unhurried, this is real analysis that will be pulling no punches. Hosted by broadcaster, journalist and anthropologist Sally Warhaft, The Fifth Estate is indispensible live journalism. All events are recorded, with podcast episodes posted on our website by noon the following day.
What is the role of Australia’s Defence Force in the 21st century? In the recent federal budget, defence spending was cut to the smallest proportion of national wealth since 1938. Does Australia have the capacity to defend itself? What are the most important issues in the defence forces? And what are the national security priorities of the federal government? To discuss these questions, and the culture and values of our defence department, Sally Warhaft meets with Australia’s Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison and veteran foreign affairs analyst Greg Sheridan.
Featuring
David Morrison
Lieutenant General David Morrison joined the Army in 1979, after completing a Bachelor of Arts at the Australian National University. He was appointed Chief of Army on 3 July 2011.
His work in his current role has encapsulated the winding down of Australian operations in Afghanistan and Timor Leste and a significant review of the Australian Defence Force’s culture and values.
Morrison holds a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies from the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the Australia Day Honours List of 2010.
His hobbies include remembering when he used to play golf, staying fit, cooking and reading. He is married to Gayle and has three adult sons from a previous marriage.
Greg Sheridan
Greg Sheridan is the Australian’s foreign editor, and one of the most influential foreign affairs analysts in Australian journalism. After 35 years in the field, he is a veteran of international affairs who has interviewed leaders all over the Asia Pacific and America.
He began journalism in the late 1970s at the Bulletin magazine. He has had a life-long love affair with Asia and knows its leaders and societies intimately, having interviewed presidents and prime ministers in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand and numerous other countries.
His work has appeared in newspapers around the world, including the Sunday Times of London, the Wall Street Journal, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Jakarta Post and the South China Morning Post. He is a frequent foreign affairs commentator on radio and television and is a sought-after speaker at conferences around the region.
Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...