Lowy Institute

Latest Episodes:

Event: An Address By Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese Mar 11, 2022

Show notes

On 10 March 2022, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese addressed the Lowy Institute on how a Labor government would deliver national security in a complex world.
Mr Albanese’s speech was followed by a Q&A session chaired by Dr Michael Fullilove AM, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute.
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP is the Leader of the Opposition. He previously served as Deputy Prime Minister; Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government; Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy; and Leader of the House. He has represented the electorate of Grayndler in the federal Parliament since 1996.
See more about this event including a transcript: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/address-opposition-leader-anthony-albanese

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: The war in Ukraine Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

From the brutal invasion to the imposition of crippling economic sanctions – where are we now? What are Putin’s goals? How is Europe responding? What should we read into China’s reaction, and what are the implications for the Indo-Pacific?
Natasha Kassam, Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute, hosted this conversation on International Women’s Day with Dr Olga Oleinikova, Zoya Sheftalovich and Dr Maria Repnikova.
Dr Olga Oleinikova is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication at the University of Technology Sydney. Zoya Sheftalovich is a contributing editor at Politico and editor of Politico’s Brussels and London Playbooks. Dr Maria Repnikova is an Assistant Professor in Global Communication at Georgia State University and a Wilson Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center.
Broadcast 8 March 2022
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/war-ukraine

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: An address by Prime Minister Scott Morrison Mar 09, 2022

Show notes

On Monday 7 March 2022, Prime Minister Scott Morrison addressed the Lowy Institute on the situation in Ukraine, the implications for the Indo-Pacific, and Australia's response. After the speech, Mr Morrison spoke in conversation with the Institute’s Executive Director Michael Fullilove.
The Hon Scott Morrison MP is the 30th Prime Minister of Australia. He previously served as Treasurer, Minister for Social Services and Minister for Border Protection. He was first elected to Parliament as the Federal Member for Cook in 2007.
See more about this event at https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/address-prime-minister-scott-morrison

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mick Ryan on Russian military strategy in Ukraine Feb 28, 2022

Show notes

The Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to surprise Western analysts, many of whom thought President Vladimir Putin’s incendiary rhetoric and troop build-up along Ukraine’s border were a bluff.
In recent days the surprises have kept coming – despite Russia’s encirclement of Kyiv, its air and ground forces appear to have been far less successful than expected. Likewise, Russia’s much-feared skills in information operations have been no match for Ukraine’s deft control of the propaganda narrative. In turn, this has helped harden Western resolve against Russia and inspired Sweden and Finland to pursue NATO membership.
What is Putin’s endgame and how serious is his threat of nuclear escalation?
In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Sasha Fegan speaks to Major General Mick Ryan about Russia’s military strategy in Ukraine, and his new book War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crisis in Ukraine and Putin's long game Feb 23, 2022

Show notes

There's been a significant escalation in the Ukraine crisis. The diplomatic pathway pursued by France and Germany - and backed up by the United States and Britain - was 'blown up' by a late-night televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In this special edition of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Director Hervé Lemahieu speaks to Nonresident Fellow Bobo Lo about Russia's tactics and ambitions in Ukraine, and the West's options in response.
Recorded: Wednesday 23rd February 2022

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Kelly on Scott Morrison's foreign policy 'mission' Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

When he emerged as Australia’s 30th Prime Minister in 2018, Scott Morrison was not known for his diplomatic credentials and had never made foreign policy a big feature of his political career. Yet he has presided over one of the most consequential periods in Australia’s international relations: from a recalibration of ties with China, Australia’s primary trade partner, to the announcement of the AUKUS agreement.
In this episode, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program Sam Roggeveen speaks to journalist and political commentator Paul Kelly about the factors and influences that have shaped Scott Morrison’s approach to foreign policy, which are detailed in Kelly’s new Lowy Institute Paper, Morrison’s Mission: How a Beginner Reshaped Australian foreign policy.
Paul Kelly is Editor-at-Large at The Australian. He writes on politics, public policy and international relations and is a former Editor-in-Chief at the paper. He has written or co-authored 12 books on Australian politics and history including The End of Certainty (1992) on the politics and economic reforms of the Hawke-Keating era, The March of Patriots (2009), offering a re-interpretation of the Keating and Howard prime ministerships, and Triumph and Demise (2014), an account of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. Morrison’s Mission follows his 2006 book for the Lowy Institute on John Howard’s foreign policy, Howard’s Decade.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: Building a global network of liberty - an address by The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP Jan 21, 2022

Show notes

On Friday 21 January 2022, the Lowy Institute hosted the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP. She was joined by Australia's Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Marise Payne and Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: Launch of the 2021 Asia Power Index Dec 14, 2021

Show notes

Our panel event to mark the release of the 2021 Asia Power Index. Launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018, this annual project measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia. The 2021 edition, which covers four years of data, is the most comprehensive assessment so far of the changing distribution of power in the Indo-Pacific region. The principal researchers behind the project, Hervé Lemahieu and Alyssa Leng, was joined by Roland Rajah, the Lowy Institute’s Lead Economist, to discuss the Index’s key findings:
Why the United States has registered the most substantial — albeit still modest — upswing in power of any country in the region.
What China’s losses across half of the Index’s measures of power in 2021 will mean for its trajectory to 2030 and beyond.
How the region is becoming more bipolar and less multipolar, and the difficulties this poses for Southeast Asian middle powers in particular.
Hervé Lemahieu is the Director of Research at the Lowy Institute, where he is responsible for the Institute’s team of experts and oversees its research output. Hervé leads the research for the annual Asia Power Index and authored the methodology to map the changing distribution of power in the region.
Alyssa Leng is a Research Fellow and Economist in the Power and Diplomacy Program and one of the principal researchers behind the Asia Power Index. Prior to joining the Institute, Alyssa worked on Australia’s economic policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the Australian Treasury.
Roland Rajah is Lead Economist and Director of the International Economics Program at the Lowy Institute. Before joining the Institute, Roland was a Senior Economist and Country Manager at the Asian Development Bank.
The event was chaired by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: In Conversation with Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang Dec 07, 2021

Show notes

An In conversation with Audrey Tang, who was appointed Taiwan’s first Digital Minister by President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. Lowy Institute Director of Public Opinion Natasha Kassam spoke to Audrey Tang about their journey from an activist and civic hacker to a senior minister, and how digital democracy and innovation have helped Taiwan to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of disinformation and tensions with China.
Audrey Tang held positions across a range of technology companies and start-ups before becoming involved in politics during Taiwan’s 2014 Sunflower Movement, when Tang volunteered to help the protesters occupying Taiwanese parliament to broadcast their message. Tang was then invited to build a media literacy curriculum for Taiwan’s schools, and appointed Taiwan’s first digital minister in 2016. Tang has been a key figure in Taiwan’s pandemic response, and was named one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 global thinkers in 2019.
Natasha Kassam is the Director of the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program, directing the annual Lowy Institute Poll and researching China’s politics, Taiwan, and Australia-China relations. She is also a Fellow of the ANU National Security College’s Futures Council and a member of the Advisory Board for the University of Melbourne’s Asian Law Centre. Prior to joining the Lowy Institute, Natasha was an Australian diplomat in China and Solomon Islands, and part of the drafting team for the Australian government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Event: In Conversation with White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell with Michael Fullilove Dec 01, 2021

Show notes

The White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell spoke to the Lowy Institute's Executive Director Michael Fullilove as part of the digital conference 'The Indo-Pacific Operating System'. Broadcast on 1 December 2021.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.