The United States Studies Centre in partnership with the American Australian Association and Perth USAsia Centre hosted the Alliance Dinner on Monday, 28 March 2022 in the Great Hall at Parliament House, Canberra. The dinner was held to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS Treaty. Thanks to the generosity of Presenting Sponsor Pratt Industries, the event was a tremendous success.
Over 400 distinguished guests attended, including the Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison, Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese, Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, Minister for Defence Industry Melissa Price, Minister for Communications Paul Fletcher, Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ken Wyatt, Minister for Resources and Water Keith Pitt, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Defence Brendan O’Connor, Shadow Minister for Education Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations Tony Burke, Shadow Minister for Trade Madeleine King, Shadow Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland, Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, Former Prime Minister John Howard, Former Australian Ambassador to the US Joe Hockey, Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, US Charge d’Affares Michael Goldman, Pratt Foundation Chair Heloise Pratt, News Corp Co-Chairman Lachlan Murdoch, News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson, HWT Chair Penny Fowler, News Corp Australia Executive Chairman Michael Miller, ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott, Bank of American Merrill Lynch Australia CEO Joe Fayyad, Boeing Australia President Brendan Nelson, Citi Australia CEO Marc Luet, AI Group CEO Innes Willcox, BAE Systems CEO Ben Hudson, Westpac Institutional Banking Chief Executive Anthony Miller, Lockheed Martin Australia Chief Executive Warren McDonald, Australia Pacific LNG CEO Nick McKenna, Norton Rose Fulbright Global CEO Gerard Pecht, Business Council of Australia CEO Jennifer Westacott, KPMG Australian Chair Alison Kitchen, Austal CEO Paddy Gregg, Northrop Grumman Australia CEO Chris Deeble, Lockheed Martin Australia Chief Executive Warren McDonald, EOS Space Systems CEO Glenn Tindall, Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt, University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott, University of Queensland Chancellor Peter Varghese, Macquarie University Chancellor Martin Parkinson and Group of Eight CEO Vicki Thomson.
The dinner included remarks by inaugural 2002 Sir Keith Murdoch Scholar Professor Jodie Bradby, marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the American Australian Association Education Fund.
The evening concluded with the lighting of Parliament House with the Australian and US flags in honour of the Alliance.
The American Australian Association, United States Studies Centre and Perth USAsia Centre extends a sincere thank you to all sponsors and guests at the dinner.