Date: Friday 3 June 2022
Time: 12.00-1.30pm
Location: The University of Sydney Law School, Law School Foyer, New Law School Building (F10) Eastern Avenue, Camperdown NSW 2006
Registration
Australia-China relations after the Federal Election
About the event
China has loomed fairly large in the Federal Election of May 2022. Now that the election has come and been won, how will Australia-China relations evolve in the future? Join an expert panel of commentators on Australia’s relationship with the People’s Republic of China to discuss the possibilities, the probabilities and the parameters of future development.
The discussion will be chaired and moderated by Glenda Korporaal of The Australian, and panel members will include:
- Jocelyn Chey, Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney
- James Curran, Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney
- Helen Zhi Dent, Partner within KPMG Australia’s China Business Practice
- Kevin Hobgood-Brown AM , Managing Director of HHK Advisory Pty Ltd
- James Laurenceson , Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
About the speakers
Jocelyn Chey is Visiting Professor at the University of Sydney and Adjunct Professor at Western Sydney University and UTS. Her career with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spanned thirty years from the 1970s to 90s, including two postings in Beijing and as Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau 1992-5. She was awarded the Medal of Australia (AM) in 2009.
James Curran is Professor of Modern History at the University of Sydney, where he specialises in Australian and American political and foreign relations history. A former analyst with the Office of National Assessments, he was also a Fulbright Scholar at Georgetown University in Washington DC and later the Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin. James has authored a number of books, including The Power of Speech: Australian prime ministers defining the national image, Curtin’s Empire, The Unknown Nation: Australia after empire (with Stuart Ward), Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at war, Fighting with America: Why saying no to the US wouldn’t rupture the alliance and, most recently, Campese: The last of the dream sellers. He writes a fortnightly column on foreign affairs for the Australian Financial Review. His next book, Australia’s China Odyssey: From Euphoria to Fear,will be published by Newsouth Press in August.
Helen Zhi Dent is a Partner within KPMG Australia’s China Business Practice.
Helen started her career with the Foreign Affairs Office in Jinan, China before she moved to the UK to study, and joined KPMG UK in 2004 after her MBA degree. Helen transferred to Sydney in 2012 and was made a Partner at KPMG in 2015. She is the first Mainland Chinese-background Partner in KPMG Australia and the first China Markets Partner within the KPMG global network outside of China firm. She has been working with Chinese investors in international markets and with western businesses who are looking to invest and partner with Chinese businesses for 18 years.
She is the co-author of KPMG’s signature Thought Leadership Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia which is a joint research with the University of Sydney for the last 10 years over 18 reports. She is the co-author of the New Chinese Australian Entrepreneurs report which is the first of its kind in Australia studying the new generation of Australia-based entrepreneurs with Chinese background. Through these two Thought Leadership pieces and her work at KPMG, she is experienced in presenting at high profile business forums, hosting events and talking to media including AFR and the Australia, Sky News, ABC News, SBS News, CCTV and many other smaller media.
Kevin Hobgood-Brown AM is the Managing Director of HHK Advisory Pty Ltd, a corporate advisory firm focussed on investment and infrastructure projects involving Australia and China. Kevin was an international law firm partner where he had postings in Beijing, San Francisco, Taipei and Sydney. Kevin served as the Deputy Chair of the Australian government’s Australia-China Council. He was the national President of the Australia China Business Council from 2005 through 2008. He is the Chair of the Advisory Board of the China Studies Centre of Sydney University and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture of Western Sydney University. Kevin taught at the Law School of Beijing University from 1983-87. Kevin is the immediate past Chair of the Foundation for Australian Studies in China, a non-profit foundation created in 2011 to support the BHP Chair of Australian Studies at Beijing University and to support the 37 Australian Studies centres located at Chinese universities and institutes throughout China.
James Laurenceson is Director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
He has previously held appointments at the University of Queensland (Australia), Shandong University (China) and Shimonoseki City University (Japan). He was President of the Chinese Economics Society of Australia from 2012-2014.
His academic research has been published in leading scholarly journals including China Economic Review and China Economic Journal.
Professor Laurenceson also provides regular commentary on contemporary developments in China’s economy and the Australia-China economic relationship. His opinion pieces have appeared in Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, South China Morning Post, amongst many others.
Glenda Korporaal (Chair) is a Sydney based journalist and writer with a focus on business, economics, and international relations.
The author of several books, she has worked for the Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, The Bulletin magazine, and the Australian newspaper.
She has worked in Canberra, London, Washington, New York, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Beijing.
She is currently a contributor to the Australian newspaper, a member of the board of advisers to Sydney University’s China Studies Centre and an adjunct industry fellow at the Australia China Relations Institute at UTS.
She has been interested in China since visiting the country on a “farm study tour” in 1978. She followed up with many visits to the country including covering the Beijing Olympics in 2008, travelling to the Expo in Shanghai in 2010 and attending several Boao Forums on Hainan Island.
Her interest in China saw her appointed the China correspondent for the Australian in 2018 -2019.
She has a Commerce Degree from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Arts (Economics) from George Washington University in Washington DC.
Her latest book is Making Magic: The Marion Mahony Griffin story, the first biography of one of the first woman architects in America who, with her husband Walter, developed the winning plan for the design of Canberra in 1911. She is also a board member of the Walter Burley Griffin Society of Australia.
She was awarded an OAM for her services to newspaper journalism in the Australia Day Honours of January 2019.