So South Africa is often portrayed internationally as a place for all the dooms and glooms of the world. There are ever two areas of our law that are highly legislated and tightly controlled. Our government's obsession with collecting our taxes and our surrogacy laws. While hijackers and thieves roam our streets more often without sanction, may the force be with you if you ever enter into a commercial surrogacy agreement. I've extrapolated some salient features of our regulatory approach. However, unfortunately, Julia's plagiarized some of my speech, so please forgive her. I think the most important part of our present legislation that works incredibly well in practice is the fact that we have a preconception surrogate motherhood agreement. Now, the purpose of having a preconception surrogate motherhood agreement is a two-pronged purpose. An application is brought before the High Court of South Africa, requesting that the agreement be confirmed prior to conception taking place. Now, the High Court's order creates absolute certainty as in advance amongst all the parties as to their parental rights and responsibilities and the respective role of the surrogate mother, as well as all the obligations of the parties during the surrogacy process. It declares the commissioning parents to be the parents up front of the child prior to conception and to the exclusion of the surrogate mother. We have previously spoken about the fact that there is one exception to this rule and that is where you enter into a traditional surrogacy motherhood agreement. In that case, the traditional surrogate has an elective to keep the baby and she may exercise her right at any point during the pregnancy and she has a 60-day cooling period after the birth of the child to elect to claim full rights and responsibilities of the child. So in practice, traditional surrogacy agreements are often thought of as difficulty. As a rule in my practice, I will not touch a traditional surrogate motherhood agreement unless it is a sister or perhaps a niece of the intended mother. The second approach of our pre-conception surrogate motherhood agreements, the effect of that is to authorize the reproductive medicine specialist to then proceed with the artificial fertilization treatments on the surrogate mother. So no embryos may be transferred into the uterus of the surrogate mother until such time as we've been to a high court and a high court order is issued to this effect. So what happens in practice is that upon the birth of the child, the birth certificate is then issued in the names of the commissioning parents and it's clear cut. The commissioning parents hand their court order to what we call the department of home affairs. Departments of home affairs then registers the commissioning parents on the day of the birth as the parents of the child to the exclusion of the surrogate mother. So you can see that's a highly effective method in practice. So Julia's already gone through the persons that may be eligible for surrogacy in South Africa. I'm just going to recap very quickly on that. Our liberal constitution has embodied following parents to have rights to be eligible for surrogacy. So you have our heterosexual commissioning parents. Heterosexual commissioning parents have a bigger burden of proof in our high courts because the intended mother needs to show the court that she has a permanent and irreversible medical condition and that she cannot give birth to a child. So we do not make allowances for any Hollywood style surrogacy. So we have our same sex male and female commissioning parents. Obviously same sex female is highly unusual. We both have issues with their uterus.  And although it's not been specifically mentioned in our legislation, persons who cannot give birth to a child due to their gender, such as transgender persons. This on the domicile aspects. The commissioning parents have got to be domiciled in South Africa. The rationale behind this enactment was to prevent the possible abuse of a surrogacy legal system and to prevent potential trafficking of children, stateless born children and the potential of children being abandoned in our country by foreign commissioning parents. This is an excellent safeguard in practice. And I just hope it's going to continue. I see there are some changes in terms of habitual residence, which I don't think is safe. I think there has been some submissions made that if the parents are habitually resident in South Africa that they may then be eligible for surrogacy. I think this is going to create great difficulties in practice because people will set up shop in South Africa for the purposes of showing that they are habitually in South Africa and then leave the minute the baby's born. So the genetic link requirement. Section 294 of Act Encourages Commissioning Parents to always attempt to use their own genetic material, where that is not medically possible, then the genetic material of at least one of the commissioning parents must be utilized. Now this scenario often poses great difficulty and injustice in practice, where your commissioning parents are both infertile and particularly where we have single intended, single intended parent, where that parent is infertile. Now, the biggest anomaly in our regulatory approach and the argument that we led at the constitutional court case, which Julia deferred to earlier, is that we're an intended mother carries the pregnancy herself. She has the elective to use what we call double donor gametes, provided that she is carrying the pregnancy herself. However, when in the context of surrogacy, this is prohibited. So the constitutional court case, as you know, refused to overturn this section of our act on the basis that this class of infertile persons will not be given equal rights and protections under the law. And our arguments that they were being discriminated against. Anybody, so as Julia showed you previously, there has been some submissions made to the new certain cases, a judge may at his own discretion dispense with a genetic length requirements. Okay, so commercial surrogacies is prohibited in South Africa. Now the practical difficulty with this prohibition must be read in conjunction with the provision that a surrogate mother may be reimbursed for her out-of-pocket expenses. Medical expenses, life insurance, maternity clothing, vitamins, et cetera. Now our courts require absolute transparency with regard to the amount of out-of-pocket expenses which are contracted to be reimbursed. And in every one of my contracts, which is confirmed before the High Court of South Africa, I set up an individual budget. There's been a custom that we've established in the High Courts of South Africa that a budget of between 6,000 and 8,000 rand per month should be a reasonable allocation of expenses. But the difficulty with this often is that a 6,000 rand, which is a 330 pound monthly reimbursement, might be seen by one judge as a reasonable form of out-of-pocket expenses, but to another judge, and as this happened often, another judge may perceive this as a form of commercial surrogacy. So in every, I think there was a gentleman here from Hong Kong, he asked the question earlier about the list. So in each and every surrogacy application that I bring before the High Court, I draw an itemised list of what she's entitled to spend the 6,000 rand monthly allowance on. How I came up with this list was that I actually did a personal shop, maternity clothes, vitamins, special nutritional requirements. We did a budget for travelling expenses that obviously varies from place to place. And we came up with a figure of between 6,000 and 8,000 rand per month. I normally take it a step further in my agreement, so that in my cap limits on each individual expense based upon what we feel is reasonable for vitamins, for maternity wear, et cetera. And in this way, we safeguard any issue that may result in an interpretation of there being a commercial surrogacy. Now evidence of the surrogate mother's financial position has to be placed before the courts. We have to show the court that the surrogate mother is able to fully provide for all her monthly living requirements. The difficulty with our courts is that the courts tend to draw an adverse inference in a situation where a surrogate mother is not financially well resourced. Now the difficulty in our country is that it's incredibly difficult to find surrogate mothers as it is. And then the surrogate mothers that we are entitled to use have to be financially supported. Now a workable solution in our act, and there is a big lacuna with this regard is that I believe that monthly reimbursement should be regulated, published from time to time in what would be our government gazette, and then an escalation should be provided for on a year-to-year basis to make allowances for inflation. Okay, so this is a topic I'm sure none of you were expecting, but HRV in the context of surrogacy. I don't know if any of the practitioners around the world have come across any cases where there are potential parents who are either one or both or HRV positive. Now the incidence of HRV infection in South Africa is significant to the extent that I'm now seeing many HRV positive commissioning parents who also require the assistance of a surrogate mother. The number of HRV infected persons in South Africa during the course of 2017 was reported to be 7.2 million. Of those persons, 61% are presently taking anti-retroviral treatment. These cases require special attention. They must be carefully managed before the courts. It's a balancing act on the one hand of protecting the right to privacy and dignity of the HRV positive commissioning parents, while also on the other hand ensuring that the surrogate mother is aware of any risk factors associated with potential onward transmission to her. Now generally the way I deal with the HRV cases in practice is that firstly, any person in South Africa who is HRV positive has a legal and a moral obligation to advance their sexual partners of their status. And by correlation, a surrogate mother has the right to know the status of the commissioning parents. She's going to be carrying the pregnancy for. So the right to know is protected in practice with a confidentiality agreement of absolute non-disclosure by the surrogate mother. Now HRV tests are carried out regularly prior to the court order being obtained and thereafter on a three month basis right throughout the pregnancy. Now in practice when a commissioning parents is HRV positive, a consultation is then arranged between myself, the HRV expert and the positive commissioning parents to ensure that there is rigid compliance with the anti-retroviral treatment protocol. The commissioning parents' viral load is required to be suppressed to the extent that it is undetectable. The surrogate mother is also required to consult with the HRV expert and then all the risk factors of potential onward transmission are explained to her. A further consultation then takes place between the surrogate mother and the reproductive medical specialist. The purpose of which is to explain all the techniques which will be used such as sperm washing and other precautionary measures which will be taken within the laboratory as well as prophylactic treatment to prevent any onward transmission to her. Now the manner in which the courts view these cases is to ensure that adequate measures have been and will be taken in the future to prevent an onward transmission to the surrogate mother. The health of the commissioning parents is obviously of crucial importance. Evidence must be submitted to the court to the effect that the HRV positive commissioning parents is in excellent health, that is viral load is completely suppressed and that further that it doesn't suffer from any other opportunistic infections associated with HRV. Now the health aspect of the HRV positive parents also extends to the parents where a parent has a serious medical condition. We need to show the court that the longevity of the commissioning parents is not going to be affected. You've got to look at the best interest of the child in this context as to whether it would be in the best interest of a child to have a parent whose health is compromised to the extent where they may not live for a long period of time. Now long expectancy of those infected with HRV and who are highly compliant with their antiretroviral treatment protocol have been found to be virtually identical to those living without the HRV infection. And now by following these practices, we are then able to embrace the rights of HRV infected persons within the realm of our constitution. They also have the right to reproductive autonomy. So some further slides on the prevention of transmission. I'm just gonna talk quickly about my personal journey. I've got five minutes, it's not that long. So my struggle with infertility started approximately 20 years ago and I'd undergone several failed in vitro fertilization attempts using my own eggs as well as donor eggs. After undergoing a number of failed RVF treatments, the accumulation of hormones in my body triggered on an autoimmune disease that was a genetic family related disease and I was then advised to immediately come off all hormone treatments. Very unfortunately for me, this obviously left very little opportunity for me to use my own eggs due to the fact that high levels of hormone stimulation are generally required for egg stimulation and extraction. What I did do is undergo a few natural cycles and eventually resorted to donor eggs as that was going to be the only solution to potentially give me a positive outcome. Now 19 years ago in South Africa, I think there were only two other reported cases that I'd known about surrogacy. It's a very lonely place to be when there are no guidelines, no support, no one to turn to and the facility clinic that I was working with at the time who were rated as probably the most, the clinic with the biggest reputation had never done a surrogacy before. Now the first logical step for me to do was to speak to as many people as possible to try and source the assistance of a surrogate mother and I started to tell my story to so many people which was quite subdued in the 90s. In the 90s infertility was not something that was openly discussed, it was something that needed to be very deep, it was something quite shameful. I never felt any shame and I was determined to become a mother through surrogacy and I started to speak to everybody as I said and eventually one of the employees at the law firm that I was working at eventually volunteered her assistance. Now when you're doing surrogacy in an era where there are absolutely no laws, there's no support, there's not even medical support, it was quite a terrifying place to be and I felt this enormous sense of responsibility towards my surrogate mother. So I sat down and we went through all the medical procedures, the medical protocols, because a very long story short, I underwent about five IVF cycles with her each and every one of them failed. My surrogate mother was becoming incredibly disfunded so I then decided to close the door and we terminated our agreement with each other. That agreement was not a commercial agreement because in the pre-2010 era, persons could enter into surrogacy agreements and commercial surrogacy wasn't prohibited so you could technically pay your surrogate whatever you wanted to. I didn't pay my surrogate but I did reimburse her for loss of earnings because there was so much time for her out of her work situation, I didn't want to compromise her. I then approached an adoption agency and I asked them to source a surrogate for me. They had met a lot of birth moms through the process and I thought that would be a good place to start. So my second surrogate mother came through an adoption agency and she was physically in fabulous health and I was quite optimistic that it was going to work well. So another interesting challenge came my way with my second surrogate mother on the day that my two embryos, I'm a lost, only two embryos were going to be transferred into her uterus. I met her at the clinic at the day hospital and on her bed lay our open agreement and she then at the 11th hour raised queries that she no longer wanted to have two embryos transferred into her uterus because she was not willing to carry twins. This was something that was discussed openly between us but a motivating factor behind us was the fact that she wanted more money and she made monetary demands on me at the hospital bed and what does an intended mother do when you have the last two embryos left and all you wanna do is have a baby so I conceded to her demand. But I walked away the day after embryo transfer knowing that I had made the biggest mistake of my life and believe it or not, I went home and I prayed like mad that that surrogacy was not going to work. Fortunately for me, the pregnancy test was negative and I could terminate my agreement with her. At the time it seemed like the cruelest punishment that could ever happen to any parents. When you walked a 10 year journey like I had walked with infertility where every single door was closing in my face it was just nowhere to turn anymore. I still remained very determined I was gonna become a mother by any means and I then looked to adoption and very fortunately for me after lots of trauma involved in adoption as well I was able to adopt two girls and both from birth. So I was really satisfied after that and then two years after my second daughter was adopted I was approached through a mutual friend and she had met someone who had heard my story and she felt a lot of empathy towards me and she wanted to be considered as a surrogate. At this point in time I had my children and I was really not interested in going down a surrogacy route again. I was encouraged to meet her and after I met her I realised that this was a very, very special person. This was a person doing it for all the right reasons. She had life, she had compassion, she had a tremendous amount of empathy towards me and my infertility journey. I did things completely different this time. I changed fertility clinics. That was the best thing I could ever have done. I always tell my clients that when you're in a rut with a fertility clinic, get up, take your file and move on to somebody that is going to have a whole fresh new approach towards your case. So we moved fertility clinics and to cut a very long story short, we felt pregnant first time. It was incredible. I mean I couldn't believe it, it's quite surreal. And then of course when things have gone so wrong for 10 years you kind of expect the worst outcome during a pregnancy. But thank heavens the pregnancy was completely uneventful. It was a beautiful experience. I was very much involved in the day-to-day pregnancy with my surrogate mother. And my son, as you can see in the photo, is now 10 years old. He's the light and love of my life. There's just one thing I want to talk about. I think I've got like a minute. My third surrogacy arrangement was in a sense a commercial surrogacy arrangement. In a sense that you might feel for this commercial. I never believed and I never regarded this as a commercial agreement. The surrogate mother offered me her womb. She offered to love and nurture this child and to make me a parent through surrogacy. And I in turn gifted her with money. She was a single mom. She had two kids and she was alone and needed financial support. It was an agreement based on the reciprocal needs. It was a beautiful arrangement. It worked very, very well. Today my surrogate mother and I are very good friends. I have a niche surrogacy law practice in South Africa which also registered the surrogacy advisory group, a non-profit organization which gives free advice, support, facilitation services, matching of surrogate mothers. And I'm now living the dream, doing what I'm passionate about every day of my life. Thank you. Thank you.


Well, welcome. The Center for Arab and Islamic Studies at the ANU is very pleased to have as a visiting professor, Professor Amr Hamzaoui, who is here for a few weeks and is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is one of the world's great experts on Arab politics and especially on Egypt. So we're delighted. Welcome, Professor Hamzaoui. Thank you very much. Obviously the events of Egypt are of great concern to many people across the world and you have been living it as well as studying it. And I wonder if you could tell us about how you see the state of the political development in Egypt today. Many of us, of course, are concerned about what appears to be an increasing authoritarianism. So I'd be interested in hearing your view on that. Right. I mean, it's a new breed of authoritarianism which has emerging, has been emerging since the military coup in July 2013. It's more aggressive when it comes to human rights abuses and violations as compared to Egypt prior to the revolution of 2011. So in the three decades long era of former President Mubarak, human rights abuses and violations were not in such a disastrous situation as they are now. In fact, Egyptians are waking up every day to hear about cases of forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture in prison and most of these cases were not as common since the 1980s and all the way to 2011. Secondly, it's a new breed of authoritarianism because it has been using extensively low making as a way to entrench itself into the state apparatus as well as into the management of a social fabric. So just to give you a round figure between the coup in July 2013 and today close to 400 laws were passed by the current government, most of which undermine safeguards for personal liberties and freedoms. Well, that's very interesting. One of the laws that has gained sort of a lot of attention in the West is the NGO laws, the non-governmental laws. And I know that in the past, the law was pretty draconian, but appears to be now even more so. I wonder if you could tell us about that. Sure, you're very right. I mean, through legislation it's yet to be enacted low pending the President's signature. So there's a new legislation which passed parliament in, in fact, two days, which is remarkable for any legislation to pass parliament in two days. And it's a long piece of legislation close to 100 articles. Passing parliament in two days is a signal that this was approved by the government and was pushed to parliament to pass it quickly. When you look at the details, it's more draconian as compared to still existing law of 2002. It imposes more punishments on civil society organizations and civil society activists. And it creates a new environment, quasi-legal environment in which surveillance becomes a key tool of the government to manage civil society. So you can no longer get funds internally or externally without the approval of not simply the Ministry of Social Affairs, as it used to case. In fact, the legislation creates an intelligence-driven government giant, a new body, which is called the Agency to Monitor NGOs. And you have to get permission from that agency to get donations domestically or get funds from outside of the country. It subjects you to additional layers of financial oversight. It subjects NGOs to licensing issues, which basically make it impossible for NGOs to operate freely. So yes, I mean, this is one of the key legislations, which were passed in the last three and a half years. Along with it are the legislations on terrorism, on a demonstration, a demonstration law, different amendments to the penal code, all of which seriously eat safeguards for personal rights and freedoms. So what I take from what you're saying is that you believe that civil society really has deteriorated even more so than it had been under Mubarak. Yes. And I think you're on record as saying that the situation is worse than since the 1950s. Right. And you believe that yes, I mean, it's quite, in fact, there are different similarities between the current situation and the period between 1952 and 1956. We have been looking at a huge number of laws, as I was just saying, passed with the one objective of closing off the public space, in fact, pushing and imposing on civil society a war of extinction. This is no longer a siege, which is imposed on civil society organizations, it's a war of extinction. And as a result, most independent organizations, in fact, left the countries they are operating right now, increasing the out of Tunisia, Egyptian organizations operating out of Tunisia, or out of different European destinations. Similar to the 1952-1956 period, it is the military and the security services, which are directly in charge. This is no longer president ruling with a ruling party or putting himself and his ruling establishment behind the facade of semi-pluralist dynamics or limited pluralism. This is a military establishment and security apparatus ruling and interfering everywhere. The parliamentary elections 2015 were managed directly by the security services, intelligence services. Parliament is in a submissive moment unseen before. They recently expelled an MP, a serving MP, who was occasionally critical of the government, and at literally no opposition, only eight MPs out of over 500 opposed it or abstained. So this is a phase in which a new ruling establishment is entrenching itself using the executive branch of government, but dominating the legislative and the judicial branch of government as well. This is your idea about indirect repression. Yes, exactly. So it's not that they are only depending on human rights abuses and violations. They do have a web of tools, primary judicial legal tools, which have been put in place to create an indirect repressive environment. I'm interested in the external connections here, because it seems that on the one hand, financial assistance from America or the European Union or whatever can be supportive of civil society. I know that bothers the state in some way, but on the other hand, America in particular has a very strong military relationship and the great amount of money, of course, that goes for the support of the military. So in your view, do the external relations would say the European powers are America in particular? Do they help or do they hinder the development of, say, pluralistic order or do they support authoritarianism? Well, it's unfortunate that I have to say that in looking at Egypt's development between 2013 and today, it's unfortunate that European and American tools, different tools related to economic cooperation, diplomatic cooperation, but military cooperation as well, that these tools have not been used in any significant manner to not only not to push for a pluralist arrangement, pluralist state society relations, but even to hinder the government's, current government's appetite for human rights abuses and violations. They haven't been used in any significant manner. In a way, Egypt moving away from the brief democratic opening of 2011 to 2013 into a new authoritarian government seemed to have been fine with most European governments and with the previous, as well as with the current American administration. But moving beyond the West, it's important to look at Middle Eastern actors too. Yes, I would ask you that. Yes, because I mean, any observer of Egypt cannot understand the shifts which have been happening in the last years unless the role of Saudi Arabia, the role of the United Arab Emirates, of key Middle Eastern countries is factored in. Saudi Arabia and the UAE were instrumental in backing the military and in pushing for the military. Why is that? Is it because it's an anti-Muslim brotherhood? That to an extent, yes.  In a way, pushing against a movement which seems to be creating tensions in the respective country away from Egypt was confused with pushing against the Muslim brothers in Egypt and of course, benefiting from a stream of mistakes, which a brotherhood committed between 2011 and the coup in 2013. Secondly, it's simply because democracy is not a favored governance model from a Saudi or a UAE perspective. And in a way, there was always a conscious attempt since the Arab uprisings in 2010 and 2011 to undermine the democratic potential of these uprisings. It happened in Egypt, in fact, was attempted in Tunisia in the last parliamentary elections. When you look at the details in Yemen, in Bahrain, which was crushed, a democratic uprising crushed by direct, direct military march of the Saudis. So in a way, it fits into their own vision. This is not a region where they would like democracy emerging, whereas they would like democratic accountable governments emerging and that shaped their behavior vis-à-vis Egyptian development since 2011. Well, thank you very much. Professor, I'm sorry we don't have more time, but we wish you all the best in your time in Australia and with your work.


Moving on, the civil society organizations in River State have appealed to the state government to pay teachers of the state their six-year salaries. The chairman of the state civil society organization in Nefer George, who said they're stirring a press briefing in Podakot, urged the state governor, Yesamuike, to withdraw their appeal court case and do well to pay the school's teachers their salaries. Nefer George said some of the teachers had died while some were critically ill due to non-payments of their salaries. I want to plead that the government of River State should please withdraw the court case against the demonstration teachers at the court of appeal and reinstate and pay these teachers their six-year salary. These teachers are dying. They are suffering as I speak to you. Just recently, we have recorded more deaths. He also called on the government to pay the gratuity of pensioners who have been deprived their benefits over the years. We are saying that the SNC should do well to pay our old friends their pension and the government had promised that in May they are going to pay. And from course, we have put through to this our old parents who have served states judiciously. Optional, there is no signal yet. But we believe that the governor who have just less than one year to go will not allow us to go to that part. We want him to be remembered with these demands that we have made, that has his living. Our teachers, our pensioners and of course the city of Potankot, the environment of Potankot, we smile and have a reason to thank.


Thank you very much secretary Campbell. It's really fantastic to hear your perspective and you've really highlighted One of the incredible aspects about the new Colombo plan, which is the diversity Look around the room. We've got scholars and alumni here from across Australia from a diverse range of backgrounds So it's wonderful to have you all together So now we're going to move into our first panel session. That's what these chairs are here for I know you've been wondering and The first panel is entitled the view to 2030 because we want you to have a bit of a forward gaze now Where are we headed over the next eight years? We're really lucky to have an informed and wide range of expertise on our panel this morning And I would first like to welcome the panel facilitator who is Susanna Patton Susanna is a research fellow at the and project director in the power and diplomacy program at the Lowe Institute and Susanna will introduce the rest of the panel members who are invited onto the stage now too. So without further ado over to Susanna Thank you Thank you very much Shona and it's a real privilege for me to be here this morning and to be chairing this Wonderful panel on such an important topic of the view out to 2030 So let me briefly introduce the panel and set the scene for the conversation that we'll have over the next 45 minutes or so. So first we have Christine Clark Australia's ambassador for women and girls We're joined by Doug Ferguson the New South Wales chairman and head of Asia and international markets at KPMG John Wellard the policy director international at Universities Australia and Ellie Williams director of Australia Indonesia Consulting and a PhD candidate here at ANU So the theme for this discussion is the view out to 2030 and we'll be discussing the Changes that we'll see in Australia and our region over the next eight or so years what they mean for Australia's connections to the region the opportunities Including through programs like the new Colombo plan and the impact that these changes will have on the opportunities that you'll all face during your careers So to kick off our discussion, I'm going to ask each of our speakers to give their view on what the region looks like in 2030 How does it look compared to where we are today? What are the key trends shaping the region and what's that going to mean for young? Australians such as yourselves who are looking to kickstart their careers in the Indo-Pacific and Participate in the new Colombo plan So I'll turn over to our speakers in the order that they're sitting and I'll start with you Christine Can you give us your view on the view out to 2030? Thanks, Susanna It's probably is no surprise to These very intelligent people in this room that COVID-19 is really challenging the region And it will continue to challenge the region for a protracted period of time We're dealing with you know the intersectionality of climate change conflict instability And and against that we're trying to advance gender equality Gender inequality is a real challenge and You know that assessment has been made you know we were we were tracking We were moving to toward the goal of gender equality And we were already facing the likelihood that that would take us around a hundred years COVID-19 has pushed that back a further 36 years So we're starting behind where we started but the things that we really need to address And what we've observed is that women are shouldering the burden the economic burden of COVID-19 because of the Industries that they're primarily employed in in the hospitality And and though you know primarily hospitality tourist tourist industries in the and the Pacific One of the Statistics that really concerns me greatly is the increase in gender-based violence That has occurred as a result of COVID-19 it has seriously Increased and I can get to some statistics later But I think you know we sort of need to move across the increase in unpaid domestic labor for women as they meet the caring responsibilities and those other responsibilities that come with COVID-19 The impact on girls education many girls will not return to school Once schools reopen That is a real challenge for us. We need them to return to school. We need those opportunities to increase The unavailability of sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls is a real issue and so we need you know all of those things to be a part of our focus as we move forward and Ensuring that development in the Indo-Pacific and global recovery Actually gives a voice to women and girls that they are included in the conversations They're not just in the room see serving tea and coffee. They're actually at the table Making decisions and having their voices heard We act you know and we need you to be part of that conversation of how we Empower those young women to get in the room and the older women to get in the room and have their voices heard and These new connections that the secretary was talking about will help us to grow Understanding in the region of what is possible by your actual presence You will be able to have those conversations with people about growing those opportunities for women and Trying to counter the lost development that's occurred One of the other challenges for us in the region Is the geo strategic? competition that will make Connections that you make a little more difficult a little more challenging But you need to be aware of those and and work through those and there is education available to you on how to do that But what I would like to say is You have a wonderful opportunity to be part of what 2030 Actually looks like in the region you can bring your influence to bear to empower women and girls in our region That's great And I think we can come back to that topic of how that new Colombo plan can be part of that change in terms of women's Empowerment later in our discussion, but I'll throw it to Doug now for your for your thoughts on this question Thanks, Suzanna, and thanks Christine Can I add my congratulations to you all? For for receiving scholarships, can I thank the alumni and members of the diplomatic corps and the NCP? Secretariat they've done an outstanding job in bringing this together today 2030 gosh I'll do the maths. I'll be 55. It's a bit scary and don't don't worry. You'll be 28 or 29 You'll be in the midst of your career. You'll be taking on leadership roles Hopefully progressing Australia's Role and engagement with the region. So this is the start of a really important journey for each of you and I would grab it with both hands and Especially the next couple of days Those that were here yesterday and those are going to be here tomorrow So we only have to look to understand what's going to be looking like in five to eight years Think about what's happened in the last five years in our region so much has fundamentally shifted China under Presidency has has changed direction has become far more assertive in its foreign policy settings the US Under firstly President Trump slightly withdrew from the region and under President Biden are reengaging We've seen Australia is a middle power play a really important role in adapting to our reality of being a Major trade partner with China and a major military alliance partner with the US And we've played an instrumental role in bringing the quad together orcus We're supporting the rules-based order, you know the WTO the World Bank all of the things that have been Incredibly important for stability of our region And protecting human rights and the climate so a lot has changed Australia's played a leading role if we look forward For the next five to eight years. I'm afraid It's going to be continually bumpy and I've come up with six D's Doug's six D's Bear with me. The first D is disruption Constant geo strategic competition is going to lead to geopolitical contest in the region We're not through with COVID it isn't done with us yet and many countries in our region are in various stages of COVID battles and it will impact us now and into the future and Perhaps the biggest battle is the one for climate and also social equity massive disruption first D second D decoupling We've seen Australia as I've mentioned Lead the formation of orcus the quad We're a member of five eyes. We support the WTO the United Nations and the World Bank Some of our major regional partners have joined a different team Which has been called the arc of? autocracy So we can expect some decoupling to continue in the in the areas of the internet in in in areas of financial services like currencies Laws and also freedom of media and the way that we treat media the third D is the constant digital transformation and That can be applied very generally, but if you think about trade We're going to move to a digital a digital trade Currency around blockchain that's going to remove a lot of the the language and cultural barriers that have been a real hindrance to trade in our region and it's going to help us expedite trade and quality standards But but digital transformations a big one the fourth D is diversification Frankly, Australia has had an incredible run with China But when it gets up to 40 or 50 percent of our total exports going to one market We needed to we needed to change anyway. We've got great relationships in many other countries. We've got FTAs in place With Indonesia with India now with the UK. We're working on one with the EU So diversification is something that you're all going to have to play a role in as emerging business leaders So that we have balance and we can also have more reliability on our inbound supply chain and investment corridors The fifth D is defense the merger of defense with business around things like AI quantum science biotechnology and space So defense and business are going to align the private sector is going to have to support Defence and national security and the final D is decarbonisation and I think we all know what I'm talking about there So six days disruption decoupling digital transformation diversification defense and decarbonisation Have you all got it? Thank you That's great and that gives us it's a great sort of Horizon scan that I think we can we can come back to in the conversation So John can I get your views? How do you see these these changes and how are they affecting universities in particular? I? Was late, so I got the bad microphone Which I apologize for an advanced So look I will concentrate my comments on on universities. I think Doug's pretty much done a very good coverage of some of the points I would have raised but I think in terms of The university perspective is going out to 2030 It's issues around diversification as has been mentioned both in terms of where students may come from in terms of International student markets where we send students to in terms of outward bound mobility But also who we do research with and that research dimension is is going to be a fraught one for universities moving forward and Cohort such as a self play an important role in that because you actually act as sort of the The vanguard so to speak and speak in terms of a lot of our soft diplomacy efforts but There's a there's an imperative for Australia to be engaged internationally both in the region as well as in other regions in terms of our research capability just by virtue of the fact that whilst we're a very productive Research nation and we have a have a fantastic research enterprise. We're reliant upon international collaboration and To do that we need to maintain relationships with countries that are important us from a research perspective and those are countries that are currently in favor for want of a better word from a geopolitical perspective and some of those countries that perhaps Form part of the axes that Doug mentioned And the question is how we go about doing that How do we maintain those sorts of links and so there's a bit of attention at the moment in terms of the way the Government would like us to do research and the way that research actually happens and we as universities have to have to Find the balance, but a high degree of uncertainty a lot of the initiatives and Thinking that was probably in place back in 27 2018 has been put by the wayside So we're gonna have to reinvent ourselves in many respects in terms of what happens by the time we get to we get to 2030 But as I said, I think the importance of these sorts of programs the NCP can't be understated in these sorts of situations despite the geopolitical tensions despite the rhetoric that comes from various governments in relation to government-to-government relationships the educational relationship between Australia and other countries remains strong and will continue to remain strong and That's where you guys in the program and the program that you're in becomes so important and it sounds like I'm kind of over-egging it a little bit, but it is of primary importance for Australia that programs such as the new Colombo plan continue and develop and Provide that that that service to Australia but there's also thinking within the sector about what the NCP might look like in 10 years time as well and you know, we've touched a little bit about First nation populations and whether we need to be looking at ways in which we can engage Our indigenous communities in more meaningful and deeper ways through the new Colombo plan, so that's perhaps looking at other target countries looking at programs that specifically support indigenous outward-bound mobility students So they can have the experiences that are important to them and important to the indigenous communities But also important to the first nation communities that they want to engage with in in other countries But a high degree of uncertainty Universities are coming out of what has been a fairly tough period for them over the last couple of years To be honest with you. I think we're looking to sort of try and I Don't want to say balance the books, but write the ship use whatever metaphor you like between now and the end of the year Because at the end of the day our job is as educators our job is as researchers our job is to make sure that we provide you guys with the facilities and experiences that you need In terms of education journey and so the priorities on that at this point in time We do have one in I one eye in the future, of course and we're very interested in things that are happening in terms of orcas and The quad of obviously we're not diplomats We leave that to that leave that to the professionals But I think it is quite telling that both in terms of the quad Both in terms of the Australia indie relationship that one of the things that the government has really pushed one of The things that we really support is that idea of student mobility and so we have the quad fellowships Which we are keen supporters of we have the material fellowships from India Which would see Indian students come into Australia, and we think this is the the future We've had a pivot away from from some other countries The focus is going to be on these These other fellowships these new range of fellowships how we're going to support them And so I think it's sort of a it's going to be a constant case of perhaps Decoupling to use one of Doug's days and recoupling so we'll be doing our own pivoting and supporting those sorts of those sorts of Programs moving forward. I guess the other thing too is just Australia's role in terms of providing Opportunities for people in the region through more unconventional means and so I'm thinking of things such as short courses micro-credentials, you know We talk a lot about the need for upskilling in the area of medtech FinTech, you know choose whatever tech you like Australia has worked very hard over the last couple of years to look at ways in which we can provide short courses There's been regulatory changes made by government that's allowed us to deliver them offshore online And I think that is going to be one of the major ways that Australia contributes to the well-being of the region over over the next few years and Last we'll hear from Ellie you've had a long experience of Working with Australia's student mobility programs, especially in Indonesia and elsewhere How do you see things evolving over the next eight years out to 2030? Thanks, Susanna. I look first and foremost. I'd like to also thank Auntie Violet for that wonderful welcome to country and extend my Thank yous and respect to the Nganawal and Ngambri people whose land we meet on today And I'd like to extend that respect to other First Nations people with us today as well Like Doug I'd also like to say a huge congratulations to all of you in the room It is wonderful to see so many NCP scholars and alumni business champions university partners Everybody in the room gathered together again face-to-face. It's so nice not to be looking at zoom tiles So welcome to you all welcome to the ANU about this big if They'd all be about this big Tiny screens Look, thanks, Susanna for the question As we've been hearing a lot about this morning, you know secretary Campbell spoke about it Christine's just spoken about it as well. There are many challenges in our region that you know climate change gender equality social inclusion You know recovery from COVID both economically and strengthening health systems Ensuring the stability of democracies in our region. These are all incredibly important challenges that we face together But I think more important than that underpinning our response to these challenges as regional partners is actually focusing on the quality and the health of our bilateral Relationships in the region we can't do this work together if we don't actually have functioning and respectful bilateral relationships So to take an example with Indonesia Just last week Lowy released their poll looking at what Indonesia thinks of the world and in that I think there's some pretty alarming statistics that we see 55% of Indonesians don't have trust in Australia to do the right thing in the region in the world This is actually more alarming when you think that this is a 20% drop since the 2011 Polling data that Lowy did and of course Susanna correct me from these numbers At if they're incorrect at all, but a 20% drop since 2011 when that poll was last conducted So what does this actually say about the quality of that relationship and the way that our neighbors perceive us? I think this is really important to think through in terms of our Relationships in the region and if we're getting them right We need to get these relationships right. We need to get public diplomacy right in our region The new Colombo plan of course is an incredible part of all of that and as we've been hearing this morning already You all have a role to play in that if we focus it back to looking towards 2030 and the role that you can all play in this we know that there's 60% of the world's young people that live in the Indo-Pacific region So in the next eight years moving towards tackling these issues You'll all be playing an important role in that work in building the connections as you go out into the region and for those Alumni that are in the community here today as you're reflecting how you do that work when you come back to Australia How you maintain those connections with the people that you met in the region? This is really important work And I think we only need to look at this sort of enduring connections that we've seen with previous scholarship programs like the old Colombo plan or now the Australia Awards to look at the way that those Connections and those relationships can be built between individuals and then can actually impact the government to government level as well So it's it's really important and I think all of you can play a role in that moving towards 2030 as young people in the region Thank you, maybe we can just stay with you now Ellie for for my next question, which is How do you think the new Colombo plan has already changed Australia's relationships with countries in the region? And how will it continue to do that over the next period of time? Yeah, thank you, Susanna. Look as I mentioned, I think you know, we know over many years We've seen the effects and we've seen the results of international education as a form of public diplomacy When you look at it along with you know a suite of activities that the Australian government runs tourism cultural diplomacy sports diplomacy and the like Education international education in particular as a form of public diplomacy works. It builds these relationships It encourages you out into the region to make these connections with people your own age and then form those friendships and maintain those friendships for many years. I Mentioned just before the old Colombo plan now the Australia Awards We've seen these connections in due over many years through those scholars But for the NCP if we look at the last eight years alone You know, we now have a community of more than 70,000 young people in Australia who've gone out to the Indo-Pacific region between 2014 to 2019 We saw an 83 percent increase in the number of Australian students traveling to the Indo-Pacific Understanding our nearest neighbors having those experiences of being in the region and building friendships and this is not that you know These are not insignificant numbers. This is quite substantial But in more importantly, I think when we look at that, you know, the numbers only tell one part of the story And one of the things that I'm really interested in my research here at the ANU looking at the NCP and relationship building in particular is when we think of this as part of our Public diplomacy in our people-to-people engagement our soft power You know, I almost think that the term soft power is a bit of a misnomer It implies that it it's easy. It doesn't take work. It doesn't take investment But we know that it does we know that building effective and enduring Relationships in our region does take time and it does take investment You know and the NCP for the past eight years has been a wonderful step in the right direction in doing that You know the numbers alone as I mentioned they point to that they show the kinds of engagement. We've been having the examples That we heard from earlier From secretary Campbell about what alumni have been achieving since they've returned home This paints a picture of the kinds of engagement we can see which is really important But I think we can extend that even further when we look to 2013 We look at what the next eight years of the NCP might actually be I think we need to really think about a couple of things in particular The first of these is looking at how we engage with our host communities I think host communities are so important to the NCP They you know, they're on the ground This is where you'll be living and studying and interning the people you're meeting every day when you're over there And the relationships you're building in these communities. I Want to see the host communities? I think there's a much greater role they can play in the design and the planning and the evaluation of the NCP and to see them Really engaged and involved in that Secondly, I hear time and time again from students who return from their NCP experiences and say I have the most incredible Experience I learned the language. I'm so passionate about this now and it's carving out my path I know what I want to do, but I've come back and there's no room in my degree to study a language I've come back and I've got no more Asia focused electives So what do we do for these students? We've piqued their interest We know that they want to work back in this region and this is a path for them But if we're not actually embedding the NCP as part of degree structures by funding Asian languages and Funding Asia Pacific Studies in our degree structures. We're only doing half the work Finally, I also think that there is a role for our students when they return from an NCP program And we can be embedding this in the community more if they can see and have the visibility in employability That their skills are valued and I'll probably don't will probably speak more on this in a moment But things like job adverts advertisements things like position descriptions when students are seeing that their skills are valued in Selection criteria in job ads and not just in the desirable but in the essential You know, so I think there's a greater role that business can play here in terms of actually saying we value your skills We want it to be essential that you can speak in Asian language Essential that you've had experience in turning in the region and we're going to hire you and then promote you later and have that Visibility that says we value Indo-Pacific skills. I think they're all really important in terms of how we embed the NCP That's that's really fascinating and I'm going to come back to John on the question about How the NCP can fit into university studies and to Doug on the question about Employability and skills, but first I thought I might ask you Christine you spoke earlier about the The challenges in the rise of gender-based violence discrimination against women in our region But also we've heard about the potential of the new Colombo plan to be a force for change in our bilateral relationships Is there potential for the new Colombo plan to play a role in actually addressing some of the problems of gender discrimination to empower women both in Australia and our region and How can the scholars who are going out to study in the Indo-Pacific? engage with some of the potentially gendered perspectives and be a force for change Thanks, Susanna Something that I'm particularly passionate about Because you are all a force for change you Can take your knowledge you can take your knowledge of what is fair with you But my first thing is you need to be culturally competent you need to be across the the country that you are going to and Understand the complexities that are impacting women Gender is but one of them if you then lie You know and this comes to your awareness that Ellie was talking about of of doing your environmental scan of where you are and and how the intersection of religion class disability and Gender and and a whole range of other things actually impact the ability to win on women to Contribute in an economic sense I've attended events recently on impact investing. So how you draw money into women's businesses There are micro businesses There are some and then there are small and medium enterprises that you can lend your knowledge and advice to That women are running they run micro businesses Simply to put food on the table for their families. And so how do we actually get across? All of the things that are impacting women. We need to hear their voices You need to be present in a conversation Understand what the issues actually are and lean into that community in a sensitive culturally sensitive way that actually makes a difference and and I'll just share a really simple example for my former life in uniform and I was the Defence advisor and attache to New Zealand Cook Islands and Chile and on a visit to the Cook Islands my very first visit in Uniform we were there for defense cooperation program talks an important part of the defense connection that Doug was talking about and I You know in my scan of the environment I found that there were no women in the in the police maritime wing that you know and the maritime wing in the Cook Islands operates the patrol boat that Australia has gifted One of the Guardian class patrol boats in their case still the Pacific patrol boat But there were no women in the maritime wing and I said to the police commissioner quite casually. Oh I don't see any women in the maritime wing. Are they not on duty? It's a very loaded question. I knew they weren't on duty. They didn't actually have a job there And he said oh, oh, no, we don't have any women in the maritime wing And I said, oh, why is that and he said I don't think they want to join I said, oh, could I talk to them? And he said I said could I talk to them and he said well, yes Yes, I he said I'd like to know why they don't want to join and I said great And he said and and I just left it we went on with the rest of the meeting and he came back at the end And he said so if I arranged a meeting would you have time to meet with them this time? Or would it need to wait until next time you come? I know no this time will be fine So he organized he actually brought in all of the police women Those who were on duty and those who are off duty so that I could have a conversation with them and so I didn't know what I was going to find when I actually sat down with them and Far different outfit to what I have on today I was in my lovely white navy uniform with all of the bling and looking quite intimidating and I pointed out to them that this wasn't intimidating it was a position of privilege that I was prepared to use to further their cause That it was not about me it was about them but what I could use this position for to actually help them And once I'd broken that issue we got all sorts of conversations going Who'd have thought they might one of their greatest concerns was they didn't know how to swim My stupid brain had said you live on a Pacific Island Surely you can swim well Aussies get taught how to swim at school. They don't get taught how to swim I can send you an astra you know an Australian defense force female physical training instructor to teach how to swim Oh issue gone Let's talk about you know and they'd seen that the men had joined the maritime wing and they'd only ever stayed there They hadn't rotated back into the the general police service So they thought that they would not be able to have families because they would always be at sea We can do some workforce planning and and just Gradually just sitting in the conversation and having that backwards and forwards free flow to understand what the actual issues were And then I went back and had the conversation with the police commissioner with their permission and took the head of the Cook Islands police service women's Group with me and we had a conversation There are now two women in the maritime wing of the Cook Islands police service And they are in Australia currently Studying to sail back the new guardian class patrol boat So that's a simple but effective win and and you can build on that it is really Sitting in those conversations hearing them and and a phrase that I have you know a hashtag even that I've heard in the disability group is Not about us without us And I think that is the key to it is we can foster this growth in the region We can empower women if we walk with them. We walk beside them. We don't stand behind them They do need our support. They do need potentially need our advocacy to have their voices heard And so be with them on the journey Thank you Christine for sharing that lovely story and I think it's just a wonderful example of how Being curious and asking the right questions done in a sensitive way can really be something tremendously Positive so I think that's wonderful that you shared that with us And perhaps it's a good Segway to turn back to Doug and talk about this question about cultural competence and And how having skills and experience of the countries in our region Can be brought to bear in the workplace We heard ellie mentioned earlier About the challenges that some new colombo plan scholars find when they come back to australia in terms of Translating what they've learned into sort of employment reality. Are you able to give your perspective on those questions about? Let's call it indopacific literacy I'll have a crack So I think you know you already in a very strong position in terms of employment employability I've sat on the panels to interview scholars before and I'm blown away by the diversity The intelligence the very high university marks that show consistent application But most importantly Two things one is the focus on community service Which I think is increasingly a really important standout in your CV or your LinkedIn profile a sense of giving rather than taking and also Your interest and your courage To take yourself out of your comfort zone and go into You know into an international market So you're in a very strong position and it's what you do From here to to soak up as much valuable experience And then when you come back as our alumni know there are pathways whether it's attending the Lowe Institute or Asia link or the Asia society or other other platforms that have been built to ensure that you can stay in touch with the business leaders as junior members to stay Updated and and have a voice in the shaping of foreign policy because these organizations do feed directly into into government so A bit of a personal story since we're telling stories I I I started my career As a university student at UTS And in 1995 I got a scholarship to go to taiwan and learn mandarin chinese And that was the start of of my Unbelievable career to date. I had had an amazing year over there For those of you that were born I had a At the time it was the first presidential elections in taiwan The chinese didn't like it. So they started firing missiles off the northern tip of taiwan the us moved to aircraft carriers In there and my mum and dad at home were having apoplectic fits But I was there and I was fairly You know casual. I was so young. I didn't didn't really worry about it too much But but whilst I was there we had earthquakes. We had typhoons We had incredibly Interesting food and it just shaped me and I decided from that point on that I was going to try and carve a career out of out of an asia focus And I have I joined kpmg's the graduate as soon as I qualified as a chartered accountant I moved to hong kong then to beijing and then to hong kong and then I worked across the region On the leeman brothers Liquidation and and finally came home in 2012 to run our asia business here So it can be done and you're in the perfect position to to continue these sorts of these sorts of experiences Not only is it good for you, but it's really important for our country In terms of in terms of employment You're coming into the market at an incredibly good time We have a we have a shortage of people but do stay focused not only on the technical content And if you're into digital cyber AI space biotechnology renewable energy Well done But if you're into law accounting management HR philosophy arts and culture Also fantastic and and directly Applyable to to the future that we that we have I think it's just a matter of making sure that You amplify Your your profile around the new colombo plan experience. It really does stand out In a in a in a market where we're looking for all-rounders not just Technically brilliant people. So I'll probably pause there sit down. Yeah. No. Thank you, Doug and I mean your mention of just the range of disciplines and academic backgrounds that That students are coming from on the new colombo plan is is really useful and and perhaps john Can I invite you to to weigh in here? Really on on anything that we've been discussing But I thought ellie made an interesting observation about the need to embed the new colombo plan experience within What students are studying at university within the broader range of experiences that's available to them? Are you able to to speak to that? I can I can have a crack I was sitting here thinking I need to come up with a personal story to Um and sadly Sorry working policy and advocacy and I have no Good stories to share But I will come back to one thing that was is personal, but I'll get to that at some point. Um, look, I think From our perspective at least Universities and there there are university people here today who can probably speak to this Much better than what I can Are doing everything they can to afford as much flexibility to students as they possibly can in terms of their course of study So the sort of degree that I did in the good old days, uh, you know a four year honours degree You know a little bit of choice in terms of electives, but very structured in terms of what you did Um Not that the new colombo plan was around at that point in time. Um, that was several years ago. Um Just afforded no ability to actually engage in those sorts of programs As we move towards modular degrees Double degrees higher flexibility in terms of what you can study when you can study Changes to modes of delivery And I think this is going to be one of the things we'll see is an outcome of the pandemic is Not necessarily a reversion to online delivery But an inclusion of online Into some courses that may not have had it in the past so as to create more flexibility for students Is going to lead to a situation of where the sorts of limitations that have been placed on integrating New colombo plant of activities into the curriculum are removed It's never going to be simple because one of the things that we would like to see to go to dug point dug's point about disciplines is that The new colombo plan is not just about students studying Ppe or international relations or whatever it happens to be it should be for Students who are interested in having an international experience Students who wanted to develop that cultural competency students who feel as though they've got something that they could actually Contribute and so we would like to see students From courses such as those ones I mentioned but also in the creative industries In arts and social science students doing philosophy students doing veterinarian studies, whatever it happens to be And we think that's an important point for us to focus on as as we progress But what happens after the ncp to go to ellie's point about students coming back and not having much else This is where my fantastic personal story comes into play So I did do the traditional undergraduate then I came to this fantastic institution here and to do my phd And I was my I had a very proactive supervisor who said look there's this fantastic program called the endeavor awards Maybe you might want to do one of those and I thought well, I don't know what it is, but it sounds pretty good And you know my one piece of advice to you, although you probably don't need it now is Just look out for the opportunities You know, there's no such thing as a bad choice in many respects the choice that you don't make is the bad choice But anyway, so he said to me look you can go overseas for a few months and do some of your study overseas I did six months in in oxford as far away from The Indo-Pacific region as you could possibly imagine My big regret is not so much about Going to oxford my big regret is the fact that I've never learned an asian language and in many respects at my advanced age It's probably not gonna happen So I am sort of monolingual in many respects Anyway, the endeavor program is fantastic. So more flexibility Students of and also People who have graduated of various stages of the career can go out now. We don't have that type of program now Which I think is is actually a shame Unfortunately it it ceased a couple of years ago and there's now a gap In our ability to actually provide Senior students postgraduate students other sorts of students with the opportunity and students in other sectors as well With that opportunity to go and have a mobility experience and outward bound mobility experience as well as students coming the other way And we'd like to see that rectified at some point in time We're not a government organization. We're not in caretaker mode. So we can kind of say what we like about what governments should do and we'd Possibly go to government and say look, this is an idea that we'd like you to consider whoever comes in in Following the election in May some time To sort of try and have a continuity to have a continuum if you like of mobility experiences I think I mentioned in in my initial statement that the importance of the new climber plan And I don't want to use the term soft diplomacy. I might use the term track to diplomacy How does that sound that is right? But soft diplomacy does sound a little bit Passive and it's not passive at all It's one of the fundamental things that we have in our arsenal in Australia that we probably Under recognize and underutilize we put in a submission to the government's review of soft diplomacy a number of years ago And we probably spent half of our submission talking about the benefits of international education both in terms of recruiting As well as outward mount There's a lot of focus on the economic benefits of international education and don't get me wrong We recognize that but the thing that we treasure cherish support more than anything else is the the familiarity the the understanding the The cultural cross connectivity that comes with actually sending young smart enthusiastic people from our country To another country and we're receiving those those students And we think that that is one of the primary reasons that we want us will continue To advocate and support for for ncp The issue around the skill the recognition of the skills that come through or with cross cultural competency through international exchange through inter-country experience is sort of an interesting one in terms of our Skills program moving forward and probably the one thing I didn't touch on when I talked about what the future holds Is there's going to be a lot of conversation about how Australia feels at skills gaps? We're going to need people such as yourself domestically trained Qualified You know potentially leaving the country but then coming back and filling those skills gaps But we're also going to need people from international jurisdictions coming to Australia To actually fill some of those skills gap as well And I think there's actually a lot of work to be done to make sure that we actually recognize The contribution that those people can actually make to our our Uh And I don't use the term labor shortages because that doesn't sound quite right. It's actually skills. It's high skills It's very high skills in in many respects. It's not about people coming in flipping burgers and driving uruba It's the people who actually are the gps. It's the people who are working in places things such as ai Medtech and what have you there's a bit of work to be done in terms of making sure that We have the mechanisms in place to recognize qualifications having you guys spend time overseas work with those people come back Move into government become employers. I think that actually helps because you recognize what those people bring And the fact that they can be valuable contributors to to our economy Thanks, john. So we're we're reaching the end of our time. So as we wrap up I'm going to ask each of our panelists in reverse order to how we started To give their kind of key piece of advice or tip that they would have if they were starting their career in the Indo-Pacific today But I thought ellie you haven't had a chance to tell a story So if you have a story you would like to tell us then feel free to do so as well Okay Well, thank you um, I guess like dug I my career and my journey really got started through in country study But to indonesia not to taiwan Um, but well before that it was through language. So my real passion is I really may have picked this up He's around languages And it really set me on my path. So I was very fortunate to study indonesian At primary school at high school and then at university I also did my undergrad at uts And it was part of the international studies degree program and combined with communications. So five-year degree Double degree and fourth year is overseas So I was very lucky to spend a year in indonesia as many of you in the audience have and will do And I mean I I can't even Express or or understate the impact that this has had on my life The people that I met the relationships that I forged But you know the things that you see that you're not expecting to see the way that it Allows you to see the world through a different perspective and to understand completely different Well views to your own to understand the way that time works differently the way that Social hierarchies are organized differently the way that people socialize differently You know and these are the the moments of you know people write them off I think it's culture shock and it's challenging and they're they're very Disorienting and discombobulating when you're in them, but I think It really is in those moments if you grapple with them and you push through with them That is where the real change happens for you personally and certainly for me That's that's where change happened for me in my worldview Um so to go back to the original question around I guess a piece of advice Um for those of you who are about to head out to the region I would I would really encourage you to Keep an open mind and to be curious But really to take you know say yes to opportunities We've been talking about this a lot this morning You know the ncp is an incredibly privileged opportunity that you all have And I think part of that is a responsibility as well. It's a responsibility to engage positively and proactively with your host communities Learn the language to learn about their culture and to be curious about it But saying yes to those things and in particular saying yes to having a different perspective and I think in doing that Seeing what you might learn by seeing the world in a different way That would be my my piece of advice to those of you going out And for those of you who've already been out in the region and you're back in australia Again taking the time to reflect on what you have learned from that experience and how you now see the world differently And can contribute those skills and apply that knowledge to making australia a more diverse and inclusive place In our region I don't think I can add much more Really it's about Saying yes to the opportunity As I said, there's no such thing as a bad decision really it's when you Put yourself in a situation where you try to risk manage things and you just take that overly conservative approach you just It's just lost opportunity. So The transformative Impact of an international experience is is fantastic. I don't think it can be replicated in any other way I think also the the the one point that I probably haven't really reflected on but we discuss quite a lot within our own organization is the impact of Technology on international experiences too. And so it's how you actually have that truly immersive experience whilst at the same time having technology at your fingertips to Stay in contact with friends and family and so you almost you sort of have like a it's a quasi immersion experience Where you're kind of immersed but you're still got that those contacts back home Which is probably very different to perhaps the sort of experience I had where I used to have to line up to use the public phone to call my mom When I was when I was overseas So say yes to the opportunity take advantage of the opportunities that then arise don't think you've You've scaled that hurdle and that's it I think once you get to wherever your destination happens to be There are going to be other opportunities that you should take advantage of and you should be prepared to take advantage of those Take advantage of the stresses and the concerns and the The problems that plague international experiences you get over there and some of them are really minor things like shops not being open on the weekend or the fact that There are religious activities which just close businesses down for for days or whatever it happens to be there's there's a myriad of them and Just kind of chill and say okay.   I think you guys have probably already done that But if you haven't go out and learn one An Asian language would probably be good Don't do German that doesn't help. I've done that No good in the Asia-Pacific region or not particularly good and You know, you know make sure that when you come back you do reflect on what you've done and there will be so many Transferrable skills that come out of that experience that you probably haven't really thought about And sometimes it's good to talk to other people who have gone through the process as well And you start to identify all of these things that are going to be eminently Attractive to employers moving forward Thank you Okay, I'll be I'll be a bit more Elderly or mature here. I'd say first and foremost Be safe and be careful Where you're going A lot of things are very different. So two eyes two ears trust your gut And speak later. There's a lot of differences and I do encourage you to Not take an Australian Attitude and a cultural tradition of speaking first and loudest, you know, really sit back watch Listen and then talk and in a way that is respectful to to the host community that you're living in I think there's a great opportunity not just to study the technical content but to To learn and immerse yourself in language do a short course. You'll be amazed If you apply yourself how quickly you'll pick things up you your sponges at this age So you'll do very well learn a language And most importantly, don't just hang out with the other foreign students You know really put yourself in the In the test yourself every day by putting yourself into the local market It's a I've lived in Beijing for a long time And I used to observe at the the local bar all the foreign students All the Americans and the Canadians and the Aussies all sitting together drinking beers I think that's great But you're kind of missing the point here, you know get get out and Eat at the local cafes and meet friends that are local local students and start to build a regional network The next thing is Let's all link in. Okay. Tell your stories along the way We've told you some of our stories today, but we'd love to hear how you're going As you're experiencing amazing things Start to share it reflects very positively. Hopefully on the ncp But do do share your share your insights and stories because they're very powerful And you know, I can remember some some great examples over the years. They're Dominic McCarthy and Talini Roger Park sir We've had some we've had some some James Fairley have done great jobs around coming back and that's my final point is The government here is investing in you There is a sense that you have to go on with the job as much as you personally can be your best and give back As an alumni and as an ambassador while you're overseas, but give back to the Australian You know people and and to our economy And be leaders because we are we're investing in you and we have great hopes for you. So Otherwise again, like we've been through a pretty terrible couple of years have fun You know really have a lot of fun and and get some get some great life experience. Thank you Thanks, I'd offer that you follow my Follow me via twitter and there will be information coming out to you regularly Via os and gender So you'll be able to find out what i'm doing in the region and and i'm planning to get out very shortly So if I am in your country and we can connect I offer the opportunity To check in with you and see how you're going Provide that now friendly face from home So please do check in To reiterate some of what others have said This is the accumulation phase of your career Accumulate those experiences, you know gather all of that don't say no to an opportunity Don't ever say no to would you like to your first answer should be yes Providing is safe. Yes to take those But but look for those opportunities take them They are there and you know through that cultural immersion piece You will actually get to experience the lives of the people that you are working with And and that will enrich your experience And please don't drop that when you get back those personal connections Enrich your life. I mean I we've talked about your business life and all the rest of but they actually enrich your lives and theirs So keep those connections going and live your dreams And to prove that you can learn language at a little at a little older age I'm going to share with you my today our Māori Fokatoki my music Māori proverb Which is kiahiku en awaka koutou kitētai e pariana Which in English is a rising tide lifts all boats Be that tide lift your fellow friends Well, thank you. That's a beautiful note for us to end on I think this is So much more optimistic and enjoyable conversation than the ones I normally have which are about many of the challenges that we face which have no real solutions And it's just a privilege to have moderated such an uplifting conversation about the opportunities that you're all going to have to really You know be be a force for connecting Australia with the region over the next decade or more So thank you so much for your time and attention and to our wonderful panel for their remarks Thank you. Thanks so much Susanna and thank you to our panel I'm going to ask our panel to please stay seated if you don't mind We're going to get a few photos of you in a moment But right now we are about to move into morning tea, which I know you're probably all very excited about So we'll have morning tea back out in the atrium and that will run until about 10 30 And following morning tea we have Then breaking up into those group sessions that you have all signed up to already I hope you remember which one you've signed up to Now if you don't remember which one it is or you're looking to see which you know room and breakout space You're supposed to be in you can find all that information on the ncp summit website Now you've all got a name tag if you flip your name tag over there's a qr code You scan the code you get to the website Pretty good, huh? So please check that out And for those that actually don't have a name tag yet because you were a bit too late to register Please head back outside to the registration desk and do feel free to register for the summit out there. Thank you I just one more Little point of admin is those of you that do have dietary requirements and that you've registered with us Please go to the main bar when you're outside for your morning tea and your personalized Dietary requirements will be there with your name on them If you have dietary requirements that you haven't registered with us Please do let the staff at the main bar know about those and I'm sure we can accommodate them So it's been a fantastic morning We've had such a wonderful and rich discussion here from our panel When you go back out to morning tea I would encourage you to ask your fellow scholars and alumni to tell their personal story And then also test them to see if they can remember Doug's six D's Just an idea. All right. Have a fantastic day and I look forward to seeing you a bit later on. Thank you


Welcome back. It's still business insights and plus TV Africa. We'll be talking about rice mug. Let me just before we do that Small and medium-sized enterprises are the life load of Nigeria's economy Accounting for around eighty four percent of employment and contributing significantly to the country's GDP However, these businesses are from struggle to access the funding they need to grow and scale with many face in Significant challenges when it comes to securing financing from traditional sources like banks and other financial Institution well, I spoke with managing partner of power's consort in Baboye or Lua Femi as he gives his perspective to all of that take a look It's not a phenomenon that is affecting our school in Nigeria, but across African of the world at large SM is usually struggle through risk finance, but but thankfully with the in some in some economies able to develop programs such as incubators or accelerators had to set pin SM is to To to them bridge that gap And this is because one of the things that you want to see before you invest into any business is to see that the owner of This business or the managers of this business about you quit or press with requisite knowledge of running a business and when that is lacking That is where it's going to be a problem for any vessel to put their money in and that is why the Accelerators incubators are very very important because they not only invest money into you You'll see best knowledge which Brutica of You've been able to manage your business Effectively and what that is the one of the things you also see that the same is lack is because it's one of the things I've got the lack of In the prerequisite documents to show that the business is investments ready and that to show that the best is to see Investment Invaders as simple as your business As simple as your financial model is as simple as your business model your strategy As simple as your growth plans as simple as your marketing strategy all of these documents put together the some Some business plan you have all of them together And you work plan and how you want to implement this business All of these things are lacking most of the same is a funny investor to put their money into it They want to be able to see that you will you have an adequate or requisite knowledge of the industry You have played in and the market that's available and I you are going to play in and then you have Firm graphs of your figures. You know what your bottom line is going to be like You know what you need to do to achieve certain milestones that you have set for yourself You wouldn't like some of your business plan or the proof of the business except so the business are very very important because it Also, not only as you to answer the questions on the bottom line. It's great the path for The growth plan and the growth path for the business So people will see the trajectory of the business where it is heading and then that's when I mean that we now Arose the interest of investors who want to join you on that journey But if they are not saying where you are going from point a to point B And they are not saying to show that that is going to happen You have to understand how the firm grip of your business and to be able to see that some of the things so basically All of these things are factors out Are things that the businesses that investors look at and see whether they want to put money in the business or not? Because those things will also show to them the viability of the business the idea the market size And do not forget every investor at a point you want to exit and if they are looking at Investing on the business and there's no pathway to exiting the business in the next five seven ten years Most investors are not going to look that way They want to see that this as the capacity to generate enough cash flow Take care of your bills and all of those thoughts because they don't want to keep investing and investing and investing and The Mixed and difficult for them at the end of the day to even get toward the investment out of the business So all of these factors and and so many more are some of the reason that why reasons why some is don't get a The needed finance that they require to actually Support their business, but we believe that government can play a significant role in this area in the sense that you can encourage investors All right, that was some familiar Bobo you're talking about them the challenge of SMEs and funding in Nigeria. Let's now move on to rice mogul in I have joining me lofty Timothee Tahoula general manager grow soberi Nigra limited as we look at the issue of Smuggling in the country as we got some rice process and thank you for joining me lofty. Good morning to you All right, we'll try and I'm get some lofty back But these after an investigative report by economic confidential on how illicit rice importation is threatening federal government's agricultural sector intervention a major stakeholder has raised its voice on the situation now the rice processors Association of Nigeria repent Lamented that though the country's rice industry may have enjoyed considerable support from the administration of President Muhammad Buhari all is still not well with the agro subsector Repent explained that the illegal importation of rice has persisted. I still have them lofty Is he with us right now? All right, but it is actually a serious and consent for the rice processing sector in the country before now The federal government had to impose them a land border closure so that the issue of Smuggling can actually be nipped in the board after March and the borders were reopened and the Nigerians are all the rice and farmers For that time, maybe it is time for uhuru But I guess it was not really uhuru yet because a whole lot was still happening and Nigerians And of course among scrupulous and businessmen see have a way of smuggling this imported rice into the country and it is indeed affecting you know small Rice and processors here in the country. We're hoping that Timothy would bring more insights on this When we come back from this quick break still with us


Three lies most people believe about money. Sometimes last year, a long-term friend of mine visited my office. As friends, we started discussing different things, politics, life, and money. Then my friend said something that shocked me. He said, You see, our fathers were very lucky because things were better in their days. Really? Things were better in the last 50 years? It was easier to make money 7 decades ago? Well here's the thing, that's what my friend believes and until he changed that belief, he can never be rich. In today's video, I'll be sharing with you the 3 silly things most people believe about money. If you're new here, consider subscribing so you won't miss other interesting videos like this. Now, let's get into it. Think about what my friend said, Yesterday was better, our fathers were luckier, the economy was good last year. This is one of the lies most people believe about money. But you know what is funny? Listen to this, though my friend believes that our fathers lived at a better time, our fathers were poor. You think about that. He thinks and believes that our fathers lived at a better time, but mine and his father were poor. If truly they lived at a better time, why are they poor? Well, they are poor because they also believed that the generation before them was better. Now let me tell you the truth. Whenever you live in where you live, you can't fast forward or backward your life. One proverb from my culture says, When you wake up is your morning. Aside from the fact that no generation is worse than the previous one, even if the last generation was better, since you don't have any power to live there, you just have to figure out how to become successful right in this generation. Every generation comes with its own opportunities and challenges. The problem with most people in the world is that they are trained to focus on the woes of their generation. Stop seeing everything that's wrong in your generation. Start looking for opportunities in your generation. If you look, you'll find. If you seek, you'll see. If you knock, the door will be open to you. Yesterday was not better than today. Tomorrow will not be worse than today. The individual determines what kind of world they have, regardless of the generation they live in. I don't know how to be rich A woman once visited my home. She is a friend of my family. She saw how great we were doing and she wanted to know how we did it. She said something like, Can you please show my husband how to do what you're doing? I then sat her down and explained everything about my business model to her. Now that she knows how to do what I'm doing, she can then make as much money as I'm making right? Wrong. The second lie most people believe about money is that they think that the reason why they are poor is that they don't know how to be rich. Well that's not true. People are not poor because they don't know how to be rich. People are poor because they don't know why they must be rich or they have the wrong reason. Let me explain. As humans, you will never do any difficult thing except you have a strong reason to do it. The reason we are talking about here must be so strong that you hardly want to live without it. Most people think that there's a formula for becoming rich. I'm sorry, there's none. There's no formula for becoming rich. There's no desperation for becoming rich. Don't be deceived. You are not poor because you don't know how to be rich. You are poor because you don't know why you should be rich or because you have the wrong reason for wanting to be rich. If you have a strong reason to become rich, you'll become desperate. Nobody will tell you to throw your TV away. Nobody will tell you to spend fewer hours complaining. Nobody will tell you to reduce the hours you spend on social media. Nobody will tell you to read one or two books about money every month. Nobody will tell you to avoid luxuries now that you are broke. Nobody will tell you to save money. Nobody will tell you to start a business. And when you fail, nobody will tell you to try again. The only thing you need is to know why you must be rich. I've told you my personal story many times on this channel. What drove me was my thirst for freedom. I love freedom.  I knew that this is only possible if I own a business and that was the reason why I became desperate. I was so desperate to become rich that I was willing to do anything. When I use the word desperate here, I don't mean that you should go and do illegal things. That's not what I'm advocating. I'm a Christian and I believe in righteousness but I also believe in holy desperation. I believe that people should do difficult, ugly, and dirty things as long as those things are not sinful or illegal. Stop looking for how to be rich. Sit down and understand why you must be rich. If you know the reason why you must be rich, you'll become rich. Paul in Kale said, Where there is a will, there is a way. If you know why you must do something, you'll find a way to do it. My country is poor. Corporate America is corrupt. If you ask any Indian or African to tell you the reason why they are poor, the answer is simple, I'm poor because I was born in a poor country. If you ask any American or European to tell you why they are poor, it's the fault of corporate America or the system.  Many people believe that the opportunities in their country have been monopolized by a few people. Well, this is because most people don't know what opportunity looks like. If you know what opportunity looks like, then you will understand that no human being is powerful enough to monopolize opportunity. To start with, we have to understand that change is the father of opportunity and change is too powerful for any human to even understand. Let me give you some examples here. I read an article yesterday where Bill Gates was quoted saying that he regretted missing the opportunity to be the owner of the Android platform which Google own. What you have to understand here is that Bill Gates has become a billionaire since 1980s and the guy who owns Google then were still nobody, even after Gates had become the richest person in the world. But because opportunity comes with change and no human being can predict the wind of change, anyone who is searching can find the opportunity to be rich. IBM has been the giant in the computer world like forever but the poor guys like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak came from nowhere to beat IBM in the computer market. This is because no human being, no matter how powerful, can ever monopolize opportunity. healthcare was once the king in the mobile phone market. But get this right, change destroys the old and gives way to the new who are prepared. Nobody among humans is powerful enough to monopolize opportunity so never complain that all opportunities have been taken, you are not seeing those opportunities to become wealthy simply because you are not prepared and searching.  Yesterday wasn't better than today, nobody takes the opportunity you need to build wealth. What is stopping you is that you don't know why you must do it or your reason is not strong enough to drive you crazy.  Thank you so much for watching our videos, are you between the ages of 15 and 40? Then we invite you to join our new channel which was specially created to share with you inspiration and life's lessons to succeed in life. We call it Under 40 TV, kindly look at the description box to join the Under 40 TV. We love you.