AMBCQ: Event with Senator Bob Carr, Foreign Minister, 7th May

Some of our guests - Stu Myerscough from Air Asia,
Dr Peter Yeoh OAM and Mrs Alice Yeoh, with
Kiong Chan, AMBCQ President

The last month has been extremely busy for AMBCQ - so much so that I have not had much of a chance to update this blog. Although there is a lot to write about, I will just share with you first our recent event with the Senator the Hon. Bob Carr, Australia's Foreign Minister. This event was a real highlight for all members and guests who attended and we considered it an enormous privilege to host the Foreign Minister. We also hosted another special guest, the Hon. Bernie Ripoll MP who is Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer and Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business. The significant positions they both hold and the high degree of relevance of their portfolios to AMBCQ members meant that the presence of both gentlemen at our event was of great interest to members of our Business Council.

Bernie Ripoll speaking to Kiong Chan and Scott Hutchinson,
of Hutchinson Builders

Senator Carr covered a wide range of topics in his speech - ASEAN, MAFTA, US-Australia and US-China relations, the Asian Century, Australia's position on the Security Council, Australia's economic resilience and many more topics. And of course, he had some lovely stories to share with us regarding Malaysia, as his wife Helena is Malaysian-born. He is a great speaker and the depth and rigour of his analysis and his knowledge is of course impressive. But you would expect no less from a leader of his calibre, a former Premier of New South Wales and current Foreign Minister.

Bernie Ripoll also made a great speech, speaking about some of his recent experiences representing the Australian Government at the Asian Development Bank meetings in India. He brought up the issue of Australia's economic resilience and spoke about what Australia is doing right in an international context.

Senator Carr

Both of our guests participated in a discussion panel with Kiong and I toward the end of the event, and we discussed a series of strategic and international issues, focusing on Australia's trade agreements, Malaysia, US relations, and of course China. It was a robust and insightful discussion, and much appreciated by the audience. Senator Carr and Mr Ripoll were very generous with their time and spoke to many of the guests before the official event started and stayed until the end to hear from them as well. The AMBCQ presented Senator Carr with a gift - a replica antique map from 1680 crafted by master map maker Edwin Clark. The map shows some of the gaps in knowledge that were around in that era, and how much time and technology has advanced our knowledge of the world. We also presented Bernie with a gift - another replica antique map crafted by Edwin, this time the 1823 Oxley map, which is the first map of Brisbane, made by John Oxley in the earliest days of European contact. Bernie is the member for Oxley and was thus delighted to receive it.

Rather than write too much about the event, the video below provides some of the speeches from the event. It was a truly great event, a privilege to be involved and a joy to interact with these two wonderful leaders.