All Melbourne Forum events are conducted under the Chatham House Rule – When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule , participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.
The rule is intended to provide anonymity to speakers and to encourage openness and the sharing of information.
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February 2020
Paradise Express by Neo Radio
- A Cultural Life Series event
Hosted by Pamela Creed
Be swept away by jazzified versions of contemporary songs, close harmonies and comedy amid a mysterious tale told in classic 1940s radio-play style, complete with sound effects. Hot on the heels of popular whodunnit La Petite Mort and wild west romp Cactus County, Neo Radio’s…
Find out more »Melbourne Stories
Lunch with Andrew Peters
Hosted by Professor Emeritus Barbara van Ernst AM
“At the moment, most people see Indigenous culture as a separate thing to them — but it should be a part of them.” Andrew Peters has a dream; a dream that would see Indigenous culture embedded in all aspects of society, starting with engraining it…
Find out more »Unrequited Love: Australia’s long love affair with the United States
Members' Lunch with Professor Dennis Altman AM
Hosted by Prof Andrea Hull AO
How does Australia imagine the future of the relationship between Australia and the US during the Donald Trump era? Dennis Altman is an academic, writer and self-styled “accidental activist”. He first went to the United States in the mid-1960s at the age of 21 at…
Find out more »Dangerous Dinner – Foreign Influence and Interference in Australia
An In-House Series event
Hosted by Nicholas Jackson
Dangerous Dinners is a members’ only, member led In-house event; exploring an issue in depth through members sharing ideas, experiences and expertise. How should we view the Impact of Foreign Influence and Interference in Australia today? Foreign influence and interference from other countries comes often…
Find out more »From Fundamental Research to Clinical Care: The Story of CAR T Cell Immunotherapy at Peter Mac
Members’ Dinner with Professor Ricky Johnstone
Hosted by Ian Dunn AM
For years, the foundations of cancer treatment were surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Over the last two decades, targeted therapies that home-in on specific molecular changes seen primarily in those cells have also cemented themselves as standard treatments for many cancers. But over the past…
Find out more »Double Delicious
- A Cultural Life Series event
Hosted by Pamela Creed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCFB7KVvJX8 The flavours and scents of our favourite dishes wind their way through the deepest recesses of our being and even the thought of a particular meal can transport us back to a pivotal moment in our life. Double Delicious is a sumptuous storytelling and…
Find out more »March 2020
The courage to speak up — lessons from a whistleblower
Members' Lunch with Dennis Gentilin
Hosted by James Garriock
In 2004, as a 29-year-old foreign exchange trader in the London office of National Australia Bank, Dennis Gentilin discovered that hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange losses were being covered up. Alone in a foreign country and at the brink of stellar career,…
Find out more »The Australia We Want
Members' Lunch with Cathy McGowan AO
Hosted by Prof Andrea Hull AO
“The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made. And the making of those pathways, changes both the maker and the destination.” Those words comprised the final statement in Cathy McGowan’s valedictory…
Find out more »Improving Australia’s plateaued school system
Members' Lunch with Professor Jim Watterston
Hosted by Nina Christesen
The recent release of the 2018 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) evaluation has heightened the intense scrutiny and deep concern in relation to Australia’s school and early childhood educational structure and performance. Additionally, our National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), initiated in 2008, also…
Find out more »April 2020
Single Ladies
- A Cultural Life Series event
Hosted by Sally Arnold
Set in the sanitised grunge of Collingwood, Single Ladies is a buddy story of lone women in the city told over the course of a day, from award-winning writer Michelle Lee. Developed through Red Stitch’s INK program, Single Ladies will celebrate its Australian premiere season at Red…
Find out more »