Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret’d) and Professor Rory Medcalf address the National Press Club

Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret’d) was awarded the Knight of the Order of Australia in January 2015 for extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit in service to Australia, through distinguished service in the Australian Defence Force, continued commitment to serve the nation in leadership roles, particularly the national responses to the MH370 and MH17 disasters, and in a variety of roles in the community.

In July 2011 Sir Angus retired as Chief of the Australian Defence Force after 41 years of service in the military. Sir Angus was the Chief of the Defence Force from 4 July 2005 until 4 July 2011. Prior to his role as Chief of the Defence Force he was Chief of Air Force for four years.

Sir Angus is Chair of Airservices Australia; the Defence South Australia Advisory Board; the Order of Australia Council; the Queensland Mind and Neuroscience Institute; the Victorian Police Corporate Advisory Group; the University of NSW Canberra Advisory Board and the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. He is a Board Member of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, the Anzac Centenary Public Fund Board and GreaterGood Canberra. Sir Angus is also a visiting fellow of the ANU National Security College and the South Australian Special Envoy for International Trade and Investment. In addition, he is patron of numerous charitable organisations.

Sir Angus was Chair of the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board from July 2011 until March 2014. The Board provided strategic advice to the Government on the national program for the Anzac Centenary 2014 – 2018.

In July 2014 Sir Angus was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to lead Australia’s efforts to help recover, identify and repatriate Australians killed in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash. Sir Angus also led the Joint Agency Coordination Centre coordinating the Australian Government’s support for the search into missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in 2014. In 2012 Sir Angus led the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers.

Sir Angus is married to Liz and they have three sons and three grandchildren. In 2011, he was named the Australian Father of the Year and in 2012, the ACT Australian of the Year.

Professor Rory Medcalf has been Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University since January 2015.

He has led the expansion of the College into policy engagement as well as education, executive development and research. His professional background involves more than two decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks and journalism, including a formative role as Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute.

In government, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Canberra’s peak intelligence analysis agency. He was also an Australian diplomat, with wide experience including a posting to New Delhi, a secondment to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, truce monitoring after the civil conflict in Bougainville and policy development on Asian security institutions. He has contributed to three landmark reports on nuclear arms control: the 1996 Canberra Commission, 1999 Tokyo Forum and 2009 International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. His earlier work in journalism was commended in Australia’s leading media awards, the Walkleys.

Professor Medcalf has been prominent in developing Australia’s relations with India. He has been Associate Director of the Australia-India Institute and Senior Research Fellow in Indian Strategic Affairs at the University of New South Wales. He is the founding convener and co-chair of the Australia-India Policy Forum, an influential informal dialogue between the two countries.

Professor Medcalf was a member of the expert panel providing independent advice on the Australian Government’s 2016 Defence White Paper. His research areas include Australia’s security challenges, the further development of an Indo-Pacific concept of the Asian strategic environment, China-India relations, and prospects for maritime and nuclear stability in Indo-Pacific Asia, on which he has led projects funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Professor Medcalf is a member of the editorial boards of A_sia Policy and the Australian Journal of International Affairs_. He is a Non-resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy with the Brookings Institution in Washington DC and retains affiliations as a Non-resident Fellow with the Lowy Institute for International Policy and the Seapower Centre of the Royal Australian Navy.

Professor Medcalf also teaches the NSC’s National Security in the Indo-Pacific and National Security Policymaking courses.

Arrive from 11.30am, lunch 12 noon, speaker 12.30 concludes 1.30pm