Afternoon Light

How did a person of Chinese descent rise to become one of the nation's top barristers at the height of the White Australia Policy?

On this week’s Afternoon Light, Andrew Godwin tells an astounding multicultural success story that long predates the very concept of multiculturalism. Offering lessons on integration and the process of 'becoming Australian', by shedding light on the life and times of Menzies's friend and contemporary, William Ah Ket.

Professor Andrew Godwin is Professor of Commercial Law at Melbourne Law School, Director of the Melbourne Law Masters, Joint Associate Director of the Corporate Law and Financial Regulation Research Program at the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and Associate Director (Commercial law) of the Asian Law Centre. Prior to joining Melbourne Law School as a member of the academic staff in 2007, Andrew was in legal practice for over 15 years, 10 of which were spent in Shanghai where he was a partner of an international law firm. He is a co-author of Sackville & Neave Australian Property Law and Ford, Austin and Ramsay Principles of Corporations Law, and co-editor of Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law, The Cambridge Handbook of Twin Peaks Financial Regulation, and Technology and Corporate Law. He was one of the editors for William Ah Ket - His Life and Times by William’s daughter Toylaan Ah Ket, which was posthumously published earlier this year.

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Is 'Asia' a real place, or just an arbitrary mashing together of distinctive cultures and regions?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Nick Bisley about how globalisation made the area Western maps had long designated as 'Asia' into an interconnected reality. Shedding light on the remarkable rise and fractured future of the continent that will dictate Australia's destiny in the 21st Century.

Nick Bisley is Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Professor of International Relations at La Trobe University, Australia. He recently completed a term as President of the Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, has been Visiting Fellow at the East-West Center, Washington, DC and previously served as Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs. He is the author of Asian Crucible: Globalization, Geopolitics and the Contest for the Future.

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How has almost a decade in power left such a severe dent in the Liberal Party's reputation & viability?

On this week’s Afternoon Light special guest hosts Alexander Downer and Chetna Mahadik speak with Paul Kelly about his latest book The Twilight of Exceptionalism. Exploring the failures, contradictions and redeeming achievements of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, and Scott Morrison, and how the limitations of their prime ministerships have played into the rise of One Nation.

Paul Kelly is editor-at-large and a former editor-in-chief of The Australian. He writes on Australian politics, policy, history and international relations, and has covered every prime minister from Gough Whitlam to Anthony Albanese. He has written or co-authored twelve books on our politics and history, with the latest being The Twilight of Exceptionalism: The Liberal and Conservative Era 2013-22. Kelly is a regular television commentator. He has been a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a visiting fellow at Kings' College London and a fellow at the Lowy Institute in Sydney. He has a doctorate from the University of Melbourne and is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

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Is Australia's security most directly determined by our regional neighbours?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Michael Wesley about how Southeast Asia has become a 'blind spot' of Australian diplomatic relations. Discussing whether Australia's most immediate and important regional relationships have taken a back seat to great power struggles, in a manner that has left us unnecessarily isolated and vulnerable.

Michael Wesley is Professor of International Relations and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global, Culture and Engagement) at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on three key themes: Australian foreign policy, particularly in relation to the Asia-Pacific; security competition and geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region; and state-building interventions. His work on Australian foreign policy began with a collaboration with Allan Gyngell on Making Australian Foreign Policy (Cambridge, 2003; second edition 2007), an influential study of how Australian foreign policy is formulated. He has also examined traditions of thought in Australian foreign policy, comparative approaches to foreign policy under Labor and Coalition governments in The Howard Paradox: Australian Diplomacy in Asia 1996–2006 (ABC Books, 2007), and the objectives, techniques and challenges of Australia’s engagement with Asia in There Goes the Neighbourhood: Australia and the Rise of Asia (NewSouth Books, 2011). His latest output is the 2026 Quarterly Essay ‘Blind Spot: Southeast Asia and Australia’s Future’.

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How did Australians first commemorate the Anzac spirit, when the men were still fighting overseas?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Rae Frances & Bruce Scates, the authors of the new biography Mary Booth: The Woman who Shaped the Anzac Legend. A conversation uncovering the story of a pioneering feminist and nationalist, who helped devise Australia's most significant annual tradition and a mythology that continues to define Australia's national identity.

Raelene Frances is Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. She is internationally recognised for her contributions to social, gender and labour history, particularly to the understanding of the intersections between work, gender, class and war.

Bruce Scates is a Fulbright Scholar and Emeritus Professor of History at the Australian National University. He has pioneered new forms of life writing, published widely on the culture of commemoration and the human cost of war, and is a major contributor to debates in social, labour and gender history.

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