Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Wednesday 09 September
6:15 PM - 7:00 PM
Location
wheelercentre.com
A full transcript of the event is available here.
'We must always recall the lessons of the 1930s,' Penny Wong writes. 'Humanity has seen what happens if we allow nationalism and xenophobia to take hold.'
The global pandemic has thrown the weaknesses of our global economic system into sharp relief. It’s also aggravated the animosity between America and China to an ugly and dangerous degree. In a new essay for Australian Foreign Affairs, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong sizes up the magnitude of change Australia faces in the Covid-19 era and its aftermath – pointing to the serious threats posed by a fraying global system and macho nationalism, to our economy, to our security and our national interests. She outlines foreign policy opportunities, too, including cooperation with South-East Asian and Pacific neighbours and reform to multilateral institutions like the World Trade Organisation.
Join us at this online event to discuss Australia's place in a changing world. Following an introduction from the University of Melbourne’s Professor Michael Wesley, Wong will expand on her ideas for consistency, discipline and creativity in Australia’s foreign policy future, in conversation with Laura Tingle.
Presented in partnership with Australian Foreign Affairs and the University of Melbourne.
Our online bookseller for this event will be Readings.
Featuring
Penny Wong
Penny Wong is the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Penny was born in Malaysia. As an eight year old she moved to Australia with her family and settled in Adelaide.
Penny graduated in law and arts from the University of Adelaide. She went on to practice labour law, advocating for the rights of workers. She also secured better pay and conditions for workers as a union representative, and served as a policy adviser in the New South Wales Government.
Penny was elected to the Australian Senate in 2001, with her first term commencing in 2002. She was re-elected in 2007, 2013 and in the double dissolution election of 2016.
After just two years in the Senate, Penny was promoted to the Shadow Ministry.
Upon the election of the Labor Government in 2007, Penny was appointed Minister for Climate Change and Water. In Labor’s second term, Penny served as Minister for Finance and Deregulation.
In 2013 Penny was appointed Leader of the Government in the Senate, the first woman to hold this role. After the change of government she became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.
Since 2016, Penny has served as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Penny lives in Adelaide with her partner and their two daughters.
Laura Tingle
Laura Tingle is chief political correspondent for ABC TV’s 7.30. She won the Paul Lyneham Award for Excellence in Press Gallery Journalism in 2004, and Walkley awards in 2005 and 2011. She is the author of Chasing the Future: Recession, Recovery and the New Politics in Australia, In Search of Good Government and three acclaimed Quarterly Essays, Great Expectations, Political Amnesia and Follow the Leader. Her new Quarterly Essay on Australian and New Zealand is due out in late 2020.
Michael Wesley
Professor Michael Wesley is Deputy Vice Chancellor International of the University of Melbourne. He has extensive experience in international strategy and relations and has worked in higher education, government and the private sector. He has published on Australian foreign policy, Asia’s international relations and strategic affairs, and the politics of state-building interventions. His most recent book is Restless Continent: Wealth, Rivalry and Asia's New Geopolitics.
Previously, Professor Wesley was Professor of International Affairs and Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at ANU, the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, Director of the Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University, and Assistant Director-General for Transnational Issues at the Office of National Assessments.