Global conversations
Australian sports minister, Senator Kate Lundy, must be a glutton for punishment. She’s already had to pay a forfeit over her bet with UK sports minister Hugh Robertson about the results at the London Olympics. Now she’s signed up for further wagers with him over the forthcoming Ashes and the Lions’ tour. It was all done in good humoured fashion, at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, which the … Read more »Sports Ministers wager on forthcoming Ashes and Lions’ tours
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Defence Minister Stephen Smith launched Australia’s new Defence White Paper in an RAAF hangar in Canberra. They were flanked by Australia’s senior military chiefs and defence officials, against the backdrop of some impressive looking hardware and a military band. The hangar was open to the elements, so we could all enjoy one of those crisp autumn days which Canberra does so well. The Defence WP … Read more »New Australian Defence White Paper
The silence of 35,000 people gathered in pre-dawn darkness is a genuinely spine-tingling experience. Every year more and more Australians seem to want to turn out for what is both an annual commemoration of Australia’s war sacrifices and a proud expression of national identity. Before the service, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, one of Australia’s four living Victoria Cross holders, read out letters from Australian soldiers serving in Afghanistan. I was reminded … Read more »35,000 silent mourners at ANZAC Day commemoration
This was the interesting title I was asked to talk about by the NSW Community Relations Commission. In Parramatta, unofficial capital of Sydney’s sprawling Western Suburbs, home to some 10% of Australia’s population and the heartland of the “new Australians”, I met young leaders from a range of different communities: Iraqi, Afghanistani, Indian, Coptic Christians from Egypt, Chinese, Malay, Jewish, Polish. In my speech I talked about four things: Australian … Read more »How Anglo is Australia?
Standing in his moleskins in a grove of gum trees in rural Victoria, British Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Owen Paterson looked every inch the countryman. Me, in my dark suit, not so much. He was here with scientific and policy officials to look at several aspects of Australian agriculture. The gum trees were part of a “Biodiversity offset” project where developers had been required to … Read more »Country matters
There are few things more important than education. Our Chevening scholarships benefit the individuals who come to the UK to study, the communities from which they come, and the societies to which they return, often to play future leadership roles. So it was a great pleasure to be sending four more young indigenous Australians off to Cambridge and Oxford, through our cooperation with the Charlie Perkins programme. We were delighted … Read more »Four more indigenous scholars head to Cambridge and Oxford
By a strange coincidence, I found myself down a coal mine on the day Margaret Thatcher died. The 1984-5 miners’ strike had been one of the many significant events of her premiership. There has been massive coverage of her death in the Australian media and comments from across the political spectrum paying tribute to Lady Thatcher’s profound role in shaping the UK’s economy and its place in the world. Opposition … Read more »Down a coal mine
In the Northern Hemisphere the backdrop to the great Christian festival of Easter is Spring and renewal. In Australia it’s Autumn. Seasons matter: it feels different. But Autumn can be beautiful here, and it’s also a time of festivals. Sydney’s Royal Easter Show, is a massive event with nearly a million people visiting the showground at Olympic Park over a two week period. It has been organised by the NSW … Read more »Australian Easter Festivals
Because of its fantastic tourist attractions, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Gold Coast, many of the 640,000 Brits who come to Australia each year visit Queensland. The vast majority of visits are completely trouble-free, but the sheer volume means that our Consular team in Brisbane are kept busy. Some people get ill, or have accidents, particularly in the sea with Australia’s unexpected rip-currents, and others become crime victims … Read more »The Brits in Brissie – consular assistance
“Thursday” is a new play based on Gill Hicks, the Adelaide-born lady who lost both legs in the London tube bombings, and who has been such an inspiration with her bravery and dignity. It was with mixed feelings that I went along to the Canberra theatre to see this fascinating collaboration between the English Touring Theatre and Adelaide’s Brink Productions. None of us who were in London on 7 July … Read more »Anglo/Australian play about the 7/7 London bombings