Lowy Institute

As a follow-up to the Lowy Institute MDG conference held in Sydney in June and the recent UN MDG summit in New York, the Lowy Institute, through The Myer Foundation Melanesia Program, convened a special panel of diverse commentators and experts from government and non-government sectors to tackle some of the key issues that are of particular importance for Australia as a large and growing provider of overseas aid.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Obama administration inherited a complex and interrelated set of problems in the Middle East - a prolonged war in Iraq, Iran's quest for a nuclear weapon capability and a moribund Middle East peace process. On 13 October in our Wednesday Lowy Lunch series, Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer examined the U.S. administration's efforts to deal with these issues and the prospects for success.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 6 October, Professor John McAneney, the Director of Risk Frontiers and a Professorial Fellow in the Division of Environment and Geography at Macquarie University, addressed the contribution of global climate change to the rising cost of natural disasters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The realm of international affairs has become a 'state of nature' with asymmetrical powers of a kind that Thomas Hobbes would recognise as entirely familiar. What, then, should be the prescription to cure this ill? At the Wednesday Lunch on 29 September, Dr Simon Longstaff, Executive Director of the St James Ethics Centre, explored how the discipline of ethics helps to address this question.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this panel discussion on China Radio International's Beyond Beijing program, Research Associate and Asia Security Project Coordinator Raoul Heinrichs explores the future prospects for the Six Party Talks, and for security on the Korean Peninsula.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aviation is one of the world’s more challenging industries. On 22 September, as part of the Lowy Institute's Distinguished Speaker Series, Alan Joyce discussed the Qantas approach to managing short- and long-term risks and seizing commercial opportunities within a complex and rapidly changing operating environment. Alan Joyce was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Qantas on 28 November 2008.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 15 September, Professor Hugh White spoke about Australia's choices as China grows. Hugh White is a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What sort of world will a new Australian government be dealing with, and how is it likely to approach it? Deputy Director Martine Letts, Director of Studies Andrew Shearer, International Security Program Director Rory Medcalf and Myer Foundation Melanesia Program Director Jenny Hayward-Jones briefed guests on the big strategic issues shaping Australia's future in the world as well as the foreign policy challenges closer to home for this special post-election Food for Thought session.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cyber attacks in Estonia and Georgia are one recent prominent example of cyber space being challenged by growth in crime, espionage and disruptive activity. Disruptive activity targeting governments, cyber infrastructure providers and commercial enterprise is growing significantly around the world. For Australia, where over 90 per cent of the networks that now underpin our economy are in private-sector control and increasingly interconnected to global sources of vulnerability, this an important national issue. Paul Twomey discussed this growing global phenomenon and suggested some policy responses for managing this growing threat.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2010 Dr John Gee Memorial Lecture, 'Can we eliminate nuclear weapons?', was presented by Joseph Cirincione, who has devoted a long career to the study of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. He is currently the President of Ploughshares Fund.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.