Australia US Alliance Conference in Canberra

Greetings from the conference "Australia US Alliance Conference in Canberra Australia-US: The Alliance in an Emerging Asia" being held in Canberra today (and streamed live online). The conference was opened by John Berry, United States Ambassador to Australia. Also speaking will be Julie Bishop, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, David Johnston, Minister for Defence, Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, as well as assorted generals and former generals.

I am not quite sure why I received an invitation to this event (it is unlikely to be due to my proposal for equipping the Australian LHD ships with F-35B aircraft). The conference covers Asia in relation to energy and advanced manufacturing and I have a little to do with that teaching engineering and computing students from Asia and North America as well as Australia. In August I will be presenting a proposal for Chinese and Australian students to be trained together online.
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Ambassador Berry mentioned the upcoming G20 meeting in Australia.  John E. Ruthrauff, talked on the G20 Summit at ANU yesterday.  Ambassador Berry also mentioned the Gladstone LNG project, funded by the USA and China, which he described as an example of cooperation an leadership between their countries.However, that project has been controversial, due to environmental concerns over the port development and the questionable climate change effect of LNG.

Daniel R. Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, US Department of State mentioned tensions between China and other nation several times in his presentation.

The organisers of the  conference have invited Tweeting with hashtag #Alliance21 and the event is being streamed and some speakers are by video-conference from the USA.  However, apart from that the event is relatively low-tech and very highly structured. This contrasts with the high-tech events I attend which have the technology more integrated and are more interactive and fluid. I suggest that event organisers need to incorporate some un-conference features to make the events more interesting and productive.

The same online working approach is also one which the US and Australian defence forces are yet to learn. The Internet is now a primary field for warfare, both in terms of direct cyber-warefare, attacking systems online and in terms of propaganda campaigns. Wars can now be lost by not defending online systems and by not being able to present a credible online threat to deter attack. Wars can also be lost by not being able to present the appropriate perceptions via social media. Worryingly other nations have shown more interest in cyber-warfare and even small terrorist organisations have shown greater ability to use the Internet to further their views online than have the USA and Australia. I helped put an Australian military exercise online in 1995 and a joint US Australian Exercise online in 1997. Australia's ability to use the Internet to further strategic interests does not appear to have expanded appreciably in the following decade. I asked Major General Richard L. Simcock, II (Deputy Commander, US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific) about this and he responded that "cyber information warfare is the critical battle space of today".

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Program

0830 MC INTRODUCTION Mr John Barron
WELCOME
Professor Bates Gill, Chief Executive Officer, the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney
The Honourable John Berry, United States Ambassador to Australia

0845 KEYNOTE VIAVIDEO LINK
Mr Daniel R. Russel, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, US Department of State
Introduced by Professor Bates Gill
0915 Major General Richard L. Simcock, II, Deputy Commander, US Marine Corps Forces, Pacific
Introduced by The Honourable Robert Hill AC

0945 RESOURCES AND ENERGY
Keynote address: Mr Roy Krzywosinski
Managing Director, Chevron Australia
Introduced by Mr Tony Wood
1005 Panel discussion
The Honourable Martin Ferguson AM, Director, BG Group/ Chair, Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association Advisory Board
Mr Ian Kemish AM, Strategic Advisor, Asia Pacific, ExxonMobil
Mr Roy Krzywosinski, Managing Director, Chevron Australia
Chair: Mr Tony Wood, Energy Program Director, Grattan Institute

1100 MORNING TEA

1115 KEYNOTE
The Honourable Julie Bishop MP, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs
Introduced by Professor Bates Gill

1200 LUNCH

1230 TRADE AND INVESTMENT
Lunch Keynote address: The Honourable Andrew Robb MP, Australian Minister for Trade
Introduced by Professor Geoffrey Garrett
1310 Video address: Ambassador Michael Froman, United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President
1315 Panel discussion
Mr Grant Aldonas, Principal Managing Director, Split Rock International, Former US Undersecretary for International Trade
Mr Andrew L. Stoler, Consultant, international trade issues and negotiations, Former Deputy Director WTO, Former Executive Director, Institute for International Trade, University of Adelaide
Chair: Professor Geoffrey Garrett, Co-Director Alliance 21, Dean, Australian School of Business, University of NSW, Dean (Designate), The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

1400 KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY / ADVANCED MANUFACTURING
Video interview:
Mr Jason Miller, Deputy Director, National Economic Council, The White House
Mr Kevin Kolevar, Vice President, Government Affairs and Public Policy, The Dow Chemical Company
Chair: The Honourable Robert Hill AC, Co-Director Alliance 21, Adjunct Professor in Sustainability, US Studies Centre, Former Australian Minister for Defence, Minister for the Environment, Ambassador to the UN
1415 Panel discussion
Mr Innes Willox, Group Chief Executive, Australian Industry Group
Mr John Pollaers, Chief Executive Officer, Pacific Brands, Chair, Advanced Manufacturing Council, Australia
Dr John Daley, Chief Executive Officer, Grattan Institute
Chair: The Honourable Robert Hill AC, Co-Director Alliance 21, Adjunct Professor in Sustainability, US Studies Centre, Former Australian Minister for Defence, Minister for the Environment, Ambassador to the UN

1530 AFTERNOON TEA

1545 POLITICS AND SECURITY IN AN EMERGING ASIA
Keynote address: The Honourable Tanya Plibersek MP, Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development
Introduced by Professor Russell Trood
1615 Panel discussion
Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, William J. Perry Fellow in International Security at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, former US Ambassador to Afghanistan, retired US Army Lt. General
Mr Douglas H. Paal Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Former Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, former Senior Director for Asian Affairs and Special Assistant to the President, US National Security Council
Mr Allan Gyngell AO, Former Director-General, Office of National Assessments, Australia
Lieutenant General Peter Leahy, National Security Institute, University of Canberra, Former Chief of the Australian Army
Chair: Professor Russell Trood, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University, Adjunct Professor, Defence and Security Program, US Studies Centre, Former Liberal Senator for Queensland

1715 CLOSE
Professor Bates Gill, Chief Executive Officer, the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney

1745 DEPART FOR AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL

DINNER WITH GUEST OF HONOUR THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL THE HONOURABLE SIR PETER COSGROVE AK MC (Retd)
Australian War Memorial

1800 DRINKS RECEPTION
1845 GUESTS SEATED
1910 PROFESSOR BATES GILL, Chief Executive Officer, the United States Studies Centre
Entrees served
1925 THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL, HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL THE HONOURABLE SIR PETER COSGROVE AK MC (RETD)
1930 THE HONOURABLE DR BRENDAN NELSON, Director, Australian War Memorial
Mains served
1950 SENATOR THE HONOURABLE DAVID JOHNSTON
Minister for Defence and Senator for Western Australia, also officially representing the Honourable Tony Abbott MP, Prime Minister of Australia
2010 THE HONOURABLE ROBERT HILL AC, Co-Director Alliance 21, Adjunct Professor in Sustainability, US Studies Centre, Former Australian Minister for Defence, Minister for the Environment, Ambassador to the UN
2015 END OF FORMAL SPEECHES
Dessert served
2130 FINISH