With a new administration in the US government, and a global financial crisis, where do we stand now? Robin Niblett is director of the UK's prestigious Chatham House, arguably the world's foremost international affairs think tank.
Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) is concerned with global security, prosperity, and is a source of independent analysis and ideas for decision makers in government and the private sector. Professor Stephen King and The Age's Daniel Flitton respond to Robin Niblett's speech and The Hon Michael MacKellar chair's the discussion.
Bio
Daniel Flitton
As diplomatic editor of The Age, Daniel Flitton writes on world affairs and Australia's foreign policy. In a career focused on international relations, he previously worked as an analyst for the Office of National Assessments, Australia's peak intelligence assessment agency, specialising in threats that cross national borders - particularly terrorism and illegal migration. Prior to ONA, he held academic positions at the Australian National University and at Deakin University, where he developed a wide breadth of knowledge on the Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.
Flitton was a Fulbright scholar in early 2004, studying the Australia-United States alliance at Georgetown University in Washington DC. He has written analysis and articles for a range of publications, including The Age, The Canberra Times, Griffith Review and other academic journals.
Prof. Stephen King
Professor Stephen King is Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to joining Monash University, King was a Member of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Before that, he was a Professor of Economics at the University of Melbourne and a Professor of Management (Economics) at the Melbourne Business School.
His main areas of expertise are in Trade Practices economics, regulation and industrial organization. While at the ACCC, Stephen chaired the Mergers Review Committee and was closely involved with a wide range of merger decisions. He was involved in the full range of activities undertaken by the Commission. These included both on-going functions such as authorisation decisions, regulatory determinations and enforcement actions under the Trade Practices Act and ad hoc activities undertaken by the Commission.
For example, he was one of the three Commissioners who undertook the Part VIIA inquiries into the price of unleaded petrol in Australia and into the Australian grocery industry. He was also one of the two Commissioners presiding over the Services Sydney-Sydney Water Access Dispute. This was the first arbitration completed under Part IIIA of the Trade Practices Act.
King was a Lay Member of the High Court of New Zealand and in 2007 assisted the Court in the appeal by Woolworths and Foodstuffs against a decision of the New Zealand Commerce Commission.
His research in industrial economics has been published widely, including articles in major international economics journals such as the Journal of Political Economy and the Journal of Industrial Economics. He was a member of the Victorian Infrastructure Planning Council between 2000 and 2002 and a member of the Executive Committee of the Prime Minister's Home Ownership Task Force in 2002-2003. King has also provided expert evidence to the Courts on a variety of matters involving Trade Practices and regulation.
In 1985, he received the University Medal from ANU for his undergraduate studies in economics. He completed his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1991. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.
King is a Director and founder of CoRE Research.
Michael MacKeller
Michael MacKeller is the President of Australian Institute of International Affairs, VIC.
Dr. Robin Niblett
Robin Niblett is the Director of Chatham House, President of The Center for Strategic and International Studies, former director of the CSIS Atlantic Partnership Project, and co-editor of Rethinking European Order: West European Responses, 1989-97.
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