Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 26 July
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
‘Democracy is the worst form of government,’ Winston Churchill famously said, ‘except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’.
But democracies come in very different shapes and sizes. And they’re always evolving; sometimes in response to pressure from within the body politic, and sometimes because of shifts outside sovereign control. Lately – with the emergence of Donald Trump, the shock Brexit result and Australia’s confusing recent turn at the polls – talk of democratic dysfunction has been on the rise. But are things really worse than they were in the past? And what can we learn from other models of democracy around the globe?
For this conversation, host Sally Warhaft speaks with two observers deeply familiar with democracy here and abroad – academic, lawyer, international policymaker and former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, and the Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan.
Featuring
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 ...
Gareth Evans
Gareth Evans is a writer, academic, lawyer and former cabinet minister.
He was a Cabinet Minister in the Hawke and Keating Governments for thirteen years, as Attorney General, Minister for Resources & Energy, Transport & Communications, and Foreign Affairs; Leader of the Government in the Senate for four years; and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representative for three years. After 21 years in the Australian Parliament, he led the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2000-2009.
Gareth Evans has been Chancellor and Honorary Professorial Fellow of the Australian National University since 2010, and has written or edited twelve books on international relations, government, and legal and constitutional reform.
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.