In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nation’. This third episode features David Furse-Roberts's paper 'A Twentieth Century Australian Whig: Robert Menzies and the Nineteenth Century British Liberal Tradition', Charles Richardson's paper 'Menzies, Burkean liberal or Burkean conservative?', Alex McDermott's paper 'When Menzies met Baldwin: Australian and English conservatism, difference and convergence', & Kit Kowol's paper 'Australia in the post-war British Conservative Political Imagination'. David Furse-Roberts presently works as a speechwriter and researcher for a Federal Senator. He holds a PhD in history from the University of NSW and is the author of God and Menzies (2021). He is also the editor of Howard: The Art of Persuasion (2018) and Menzies: The Forgotten Speeches (2017). Since joining the MRC in 2016, he has written for the ABC, Quadrant, Spectator Australia and other publications on the history and contemporary relevance of liberalism in Australia. This has covered such topics as the founding philosophy of Robert Menzies, the remarkable life of Prime Minister John Gorton and the rich legacy of John Howard. David also comments on topical issues such as free speech and education from a conservative and liberal perspective. Charles Richardson has a law degree from Melbourne University and a PhD from Rutgers University, specialising in ethics and political philosophy. He has worked in a variety of positions in government and politics, and is a former director of Above Quota Elections Pty Ltd. His work has appeared in numerous publications, and he has been featured as a commentator in newspapers, radio, and television. Since 2012 he has written on world politics at his blog, The World is Not Enough, and does periodic consulting work on electoral matters. His research interests include the history of liberal democratic structures and the comparative study of European party systems. Alex McDermott is a Curator and Fellow at the Robert Menzies Institute. He is an author, historian and Executive Producer. He was Historical Curator for the “Democracy DNA” exhibition (2022) at the Museum of Australian Democracy, authored Australian History For Dummies (2022) and various commissioned histories which explore the crucial role played by civic associations in Australia’s democratic history, such as Of no personal influence: how people of common enterprise unexpectedly shaped Australia (2015) to mark the 175th anniversary of Australian Unity. Across more than two decades as public historian he has contributed his expertise to Screen Australia, State Library of Victoria, La Trobe University, the Institute of Public Affairs, Channel 7, SBS, ABC, Sky News Documentaries, and many other organisations. Kit Kowol received his DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford in 2014. He subsequently taught at Oxford and at King’s College London where he was an Early Career Development Fellow in Modern British History. His first book, Blue Jerusalem: British Conservatism, Winston Churchill and the Second World War was published by Oxford University Press in 2024. He now lives in Brisbane where he works for the Queensland Government. OXWIVWOO9M1CFSCV

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nations’. This second episode features Lee Rippon's paper 'Britain, Australia, the Empire and prisoner of war diplomacy, 1939–1942', Wayne Reynolds's paper 'Navigating Imperial Overstretch east of Suez: Menzies and Australian foreign and defence policies 1935–1965, & Sue Thompson's paper 'Menzies’s Balancing Act in Southeast Asian Security'. Lee Rippon is an academic status holder at Flinders University and works as a historian in the Commemorative Events Branch of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She is the author of the book Australia’s Forgotten Soldiers in the Empire, 1939–1945: Prisoners of War, International Diplomacy and Australian Foreign Policy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Currently, Lee is researching her second monograph, which investigates Australians’ roles in the Special Operations Executive and MI9 in Europe during the Second World War. Wayne Reynolds is an Hon Associate Professor at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He has worked on the history of Australian defence and foreign affairs with a focus on nuclear policy. Recent works include Australia and the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty 1945–1974 (Canberra: DFAT, 2013); ‘An Astute Choice: Anglo-Australian Cooperation on Nuclear Submarines in Historical Perspective’, Security Challenges, December 2013; ‘Whatever Happened to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership’, Australian Journal of Politics and History, December 2023. Forthcoming works include a book chapter on Australia in The Cambridge History of the Nuclear Age (2026); Manuscript Australia and Global Power 1756–2021. Sue Thompson is an Associate Professor at the ANU National Security College and current Secretary of the Britain and the World Society. Her research specialisation examines the history of regional cooperation in Southeast Asia during the Cold War with a focus on foreign and defence policy influences in the post-war evolution of Southeast Asian regionalism. She is the author of The United States and Southeast Asian Regionalism: Collective Security and Economic Development, 1945–75 and British Military Withdrawal from Southeast Asia and the Rise of Regional Cooperation, 1964–1973. 03BRBST0TCDQE2Z6

In this special summer series of the Afternoon Light podcast you can enjoy the presentations delivered at our November 2025 conference entitled ‘Menzies and the British Commonwealth of Nation’. This first episode features the keynote address delivered by Martin Farr, Josh Woodward's paper 'Enlarged horizons and excited imagination: Rereading Robert Menzies’s 1935 overseas diary', & David Lee's paper 'Menzies and Imperial Unity, 1934–1942'. Martin Farr teaches contemporary history at Newcastle University (UK). His research interests centre on British politics and public life, foreign policy, and foreign relations. He has published on politics and strategy in the two world wars, political life-writing, US-UK relations, tourism, and popular culture. He is currently writing Margaret Thatcher’s World, an international history of Thatcherism. He heads Britain and the World, with its annual conference, book series, and peer-reviewed journal. Joshua Woodward is an Australian environmental historian whose research explores representations of nature in tourist advertising. He has published several articles on the tourist promotion of Australian national parks and their emergence as important sites of the settler-nation. He completed his Masters at the University of Western Australia, where he was the 2019 recipient of the Frank Broeze scholarship. Josh will complete his PhD on twentieth century Australian tourist advertising at the Australian National University in 2025. David Lee is an Associate Professor in history in the University of New South Wales, Canberra. He has published widely on Australian history in the twentieth century. His most recent books are Australia and the World: International Relations and Global Events since Federation (Circa, 2022) and John Curtin (Connor Court, 2022). He is also author of The Second Rush: Mining and the Transformation of Australia (Connor Court, 2016) and Stanley Melbourne Bruce: Australian Internationalist (Bloomsbury, 2010). He is Chair of the Commonwealth Working Party of the Australian Dictionary of Biography and Cabinet Historian of the National Archives of Australia. Current projects are a history of the Australian Department of Trade and its Antecedent Agencies, 1941–87; a history of Australian independence; Governance During the Howard Era, 1996–2007; a biography of JB Chifley; and an edited volume, Conduits of War: Dominion Governors and Governors-General during the Great War. U3FPMTLOBZGP9ZGK

Robert Menzies served 18 years as PM, but were they all as good as each other? On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Andrew Kemp, who has recently ranked Australian Prime Ministers by the best and worst terms of government we have experienced. A fun and enlightening exercise that highlights how good governance can be judged not merely on the policy programs for which governments are elected, but ultimately on rising to the unique & unforeseeable challenges of the day. Andrew Kemp is a Melbourne-based writer and a former economist at the Commonwealth Treasury and the Department of Treasury and Finance in Victoria. He has written for the Australian Financial Review, The Australian, contributed a chapter to Unity in Autonomy: A Federal History of the Founding of the Liberal Party, and recently launched an Australian history themed Substack titled ‘Australia Past and Present’. EFUPQI5G2QXDV26F

How did the shopping centre become a ubiquitous part of Australian life & is its retail and cultural hegemony greater here than anywhere else on the planet? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with retail historian Matthew Bailey to reveal the fascinating stories associated with the rise of the Australian Shopping Centre. An outgrowth of Menzies-era prosperity, automobility and suburban growth that we not only made our own, but which, through the likes of Westfield, we then began exporting to the world. Dr Matthew Bailey is an Associate Professor at Macquarie University and one of Australia’s leading retail historians. His book, Managing the Marketplace: Reinventing Shopping Centres in Post-War Australia (Routledge, 2020) is the first book on the subject, and one of the few to comprehensively examine Australian retail history. Dr Bailey has published widely on retail and retail property history, including in leading international and Australian journals such as Urban History, Enterprise & Society, Australian Economic History Review, Journal of Australian Studies, History Australia, and the Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 8FVZGY9NLPRNML79

Was an Aussie more essential to the development of the Atom bomb than J. Robert Oppenheimer, & if so why don't we remember him? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Roland Perry to reveal the remarkable story of Mark Oliphant. A man who arguably won the Second World War twice: first by developing radar to stave off the Nazis, and then by developing the bomb that knocked out Japan. Perhaps the most amazing part of the story is that he is not a household name - reflecting Australia's own discomfort with the destructive power that Oliphant helped to unleash upon the world. Roland Perry OAM is one of Australia’s best-known authors whose books have sold more than two million copies. He has published 40 books, many of them bestsellers, including Bill the Bastard, Horrie the War Dog, The Australian Light Horse, The Changi Brownlow, Monash & Chauvel, and Anzac Sniper. His latest book is Oliphant: The Australian genius who developed radar and showed Oppenheimer how to build the bomb. JRKBJVMY3HIC5ZF9

What did it mean when Australians used to boast that we were 'more British than the British'? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Stuart Ward to discuss the complexities of British identity, as it once held sway across Australia and the broader British Empire. A defining yet evasive term that meant many different things to many different people, and perhaps because of this, has proven very difficult to replace. Stuart Ward is the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University for the 2025-26 academic year. He was previously Professor and Head of the Saxo Institute for History, Ethnology, Archaeology and Classics at the University of Copenhagen, specialising in imperial history, particularly the political and social consequences of decolonisation. He is the author inter alia of Australia and the British Embrace: The Demise of the Imperial Ideal, Unknown Nation: Australia After Empire (with James Curran), and Untied Kingdom: A Global History of the End of Britain (recently re-released as a paperback). 27VRIQZQOA6HRHBP

How did a PM who only ever won one election become as iconic as Ben Chifley? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with David Day to discuss Australia's 16th PM. The pipe smoking Bathurst train driver who suffered a trade unionist's martyrdom, before rising to become the architect of Australia's post war settlement. An endearing pragmatist respected even by his opponents, who ironically came unstuck in attempting to push beyond the welfare state towards fully fledged state socialism. David Day is an Australian historian and author. Day has written widely on Australian history and the history of the Second World War. Among his many books are Menzies and Churchill at War and a two volume study of Anglo-Australian relations during the Second World War. His prize-winning history of Australia, Claiming a Continent, won the prestigious non-fiction prize in the 1998 South Australian Festival Awards for Literature. An earlier book, Smugglers and Sailors, was shortlisted by the Fellowship of Australian Writers for its Book of the Year Award. John Curtin: A Life was shortlisted for the 2000 NSW Premier's Literary Awards' Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction. He is the author of Andrew Fisher: Prime Minister of Australia and Chifley: A Life. STMN2HVPPB0GILNX

Did Gough Whitlam crash through or simply crash? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Troy Bramston about his new book, Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New. The first full length biography of the iconic Labor PM since his passing in 2014, and one replete with lessons for Australia's present generation of political leaders. Troy Bramston is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian newspaper. His critically acclaimed book, Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics (2019), is the only full-length biography of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister published in the past 20 years. Troy wrote the introduction to the official guide to Robert Menzies’ papers published by the National Archives of Australia in 2021. He is the best-selling and award-winning author or editor of 11 books in total, including Bob Hawke: Demons and Destiny (2022), Paul Keating: The Big-Picture Leader (2016), and most recently Gough Whitlam: The Vista of the New (2025). Troy won the Australian Book Industry Award for The Dismissal (2015) co-authored with Paul Kelly. 1BUAAKCIJAI1NB7K

How did Robert Menzies develop his skillful way with words? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Julian Leeser & Damien Freeman about the new book Fancies I Dare Not Speak: The Hidden Verse of R.G. Menzies. Revealing how poetry helped to shape the young Menzies, Australian culture, and our nation's quest to understand who we are. Julian Leeser is the Shadow Minister for Education and Early Learning and for the Arts, and Federal Member for Berowra. Dr Damien Freeman is a philosopher, lawyer, and Fellow of the Robert Menzies Institute, who wrote the introduction to the book. SPAK4T2JSOJEXT0A

What did the Iron Lady have in common with Pig Iron Bob? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Margaret Thatcher's official biographer Charles Moore to explore her life and legacy on the centenary of her birth. Revealing how the grocer's daughter from Lincolnshire drew inspiration from the shopkeeper's son from Jeparit, in her trailblazing quest to reinvigorate Britain and defeat global communism. Charles Moore joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph in 1979, and as a political columnist in the 1980s covered several years of Mrs Thatcher's first and second governments. He was Editor of The Spectator 1984-1990; Editor of the Sunday Telegraph 1992-1995; and Editor of the Daily Telegraph 1995-2003, for which he is still a regular columnist. He was created Lord Moore of Etchingham in 2020. He is the author of the three-volume authorised biography of Margaret Thatcher, which has recently been re-released in a single-volume centenary edition. I18CSCALCJLVFOJG

Why are we so quick to try to censor opinions with which we disagree? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, to discuss the current fight for free debate across the Anglosphere. Giving insights into his own experience of being 'cancelled', the massive legislative encroachment on free expression, and what the FSU is doing to protect those who have been brave enough to openly speak their minds. Lord Young of Acton is the Founder and General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, co-founder of the West London Free School, and co-founder of the Knowledge Schools Trust. He is an associate editor of The Spectator, The Critic, and editor-in-chief of The Daily Sceptic. He was made a Conservative peer in 2024. The Free Speech Union is a non-partisan, mass membership public interest body that stands up for the speech rights of its members and campaigns for free speech more widely. It champions the right of people from all walks of life to express themselves without fear of punishment or persecution. It defends its members who get into trouble for exercising their right to lawful free speech, whether in the workplace, at university or on social media. GA4X7AQ8KSUFUAX2

What happens to an ex-prime minister's legacy when they repudiate the political party that would otherwise have championed it? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Margaret Simons to unpack the complexities of the career, beliefs and impact of Australia's twenty-second prime minister Malcom Fraser. A leader whose profound contribution to our nation has sadly been obscured by their infamous role in the dismissal and later-life political apostacy. Margaret Simons is an award-winning freelance journalist and the author of many books and numerous articles and essays. She is also a journalism academic and Honorary Principal Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne. Since September 2022, she has been a board member of the British based Scott Trust, which is the owner of The Guardian worldwide. Simons has won the Walkley Award for Social Equity Journalism, a Foreign Press Association Award and a number of Quill Awards, including for her reporting from the Philippines with photojournalist Dave Tacon. Her most recent work is a biography of Labor Minister for the Environment, Tanya Plibersek, released in March 2023. She co-authored Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs. 19QSQ77DWMVGW8RV

How did long have politicians been dodging criticism by appointing elaborate Royal Commissions and inquiries? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Kirsten McKenzie to explore how the famous Bigge Report denouncing Lachlan Macquarie's liberal treatment of convicts fit into a broader attempt to regulate and rationalise the kaleidoscopic British Empire, as it had emerged from the Napoleonic Wars. A discussion which reveals how our 'national' story cannot be understood in isolation, but only as something inextricably linked to the cultures and currents of a wider 'British world'. Professor Kirsten McKenzie holds the Chair in Australian History at the University of Sydney’s School of Humanities and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She was recently appointed as Harvard University’s Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Visiting Professor of Australian Studies for 2026-7. Born in South Africa, Kirsten’s work focuses on British imperial history, specifically by connecting British, South African and Australian history in the period 1780 – 1850. Her latest book is Inquiring into Empire: Colonial Commissions and British Imperial Reform, 1819–1833. 1EQCL9ROSYK9L329

How did Book Week grow to become an Australian institution, inspiring children & stressing parents nation-wide? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with children's authors Jackie French & Kate O'Donnell to mark 80 years of Book Week. Exploring the annual celebration's wartime origins, the hope its founders had for promoting understanding and world peace, the role of the Children's Book Awards in promoting Aussie literature, and whose bright idea it was to introduce elaborate dress-ups and annual parades. Jackie French AM is an award-winning writer, wombat negotiator, the 2014–2015 Australian Children's Laureate and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. In 2016, Jackie became a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to children's literature and her advocacy for youth literacy. She is regarded as one of Australia's most popular children's authors and writes across all genres — from picture books, history, fantasy, ecology and sci-fi, to her much-loved historical fiction for a variety of age groups. 'A book can change a child's life. A book can change the world' was the primary philosophy behind Jackie's two-year term as Laureate. Kate O'Donnell is a Young Adult author from Melbourne. She has worked as a bookseller, editor and in digital marketing but it's a fascination for people, music, the future, as well as small, unexplored places that inspires her writing. Her first novel Untidy Towns was published in 2017, and This One is Ours was released in October 2020. She is a third generation committee member of the Children’s Book Council of Australia. JDO9999VKWUXQXBZ

Why is the Melbourne University Liberal Club (MULC) older than the Liberal Party of Australia, & what grand tales and battle scars has it developed carrying the liberal banner on a hostile campus for over a century? On a special bonus episode of the Afternoon Light podcast Georgina Downer speaks with MULC President Kai Bowie to mark 100 years since the club's formation. A very timely discussion, considering the ability of universities to foster debate and accommodate a broad range over views has never been under greater challenge Kai Bowie is the President of the Melbourne University Liberal Club, a Commerce Student and Hansen Scholar. He has served as an Army Reserve Officer Cadet, and worked as an electorate officer with David Southwick MP.  VDRGAUMALHSNZR3G

How can Australians know who we are and where we're going, without skilled historians who can map how we even got here in the first place? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Alex McDermott to discuss the profound career and contribution of Australian historian John Hirst. An inquiring mind, who asked unorthodox questions and succeeded in explaining many of the paradoxes of our national story, including how a convict colony gave birth to one of the world's most successful liberal democracies. Alex McDermott is the Curator at the Robert Menzies Institute. An author, historian and Executive Producer, his passion is writing histories which tell the pivotal stories that help us understand how we came to be who we are today. He was Historical Curator for the “Democracy DNA” exhibition [2022] at the Museum of Australian Democracy, authored Australian History For Dummies [2022] and various commissioned histories which explore the crucial role played by civic associations in Australia’s democratic history, such as Of no personal influence: how people of common enterprise unexpectedly shaped Australia [2015] to mark the 175th anniversary of Australian Unity. Across more than two decades as a public historian he has contributed his expertise to Screen Australia, State Library of Victoria, La Trobe University, the Institute of Public Affairs, Channel 7, SBS, ABC, Sky News Documentaries and many other organisations. Alex studied under John Hirst and authored one of the forewords for the recent compilation John Hirst: Selected Writings, published by Black Inc. LGQXVK3SOGXGHJDH

Who is going to celebrate a prime minister who got kicked out of multiple political parties? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Hugh Rogers to explore the complex career and legacy of Billy Hughes. The man who ensured that Australia had its own 'seat at the table' in international relations & won the acclaim of foreign media, but who is now most often remembered for the bitter divisions sparked by his conscription plebiscites. Hugh Rogers is a PhD candidate in History at the University of New England. His thesis title is: ‘Billy Hughes and the British press, 1916-1918’. Hugh’s first love was history, and it was one of his majors in his first degree. After completing a M.Sc. and an MBA for work-related reasons, he returned to his first love, completing a Master of History at UNE in 2023. This included a thesis comparing the performance of Hughes at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and Doc Evatt at the San Francisco United Nations Conference in 1945, which led him into his current research. Hugh is using the digital newspaper archives to re-examine the coverage Hughes received in the British newspapers on his two visits to Britain during the First World War. IBNLBGXJFDYZZ0MD

On 16 September 1975 Papua New Guinea gained its independence, but how well did Australia prepare its former territory for that day? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Nicholas Ferns to unpack the ideology and policies known as 'developmentalism' - Australia's concerted attempt to help its neighbours achieve the same level of economic prosperity & political stability enjoyed in 'the lucky country'. Nicholas Ferns is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow in History at Monash University. He is a historian of development, empire, and decolonisation with a particular focus on Australia’s role in the Asia-Pacific region. His first book, Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945-1975, examined Australia’s colonial rule in Papua New Guinea and foreign aid policy in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He is now working on his second monograph, which examines Australia’s relationship with the World Bank and its impact on development and decolonisation in Australia and Papua New Guinea. CQEB3DVTYYAJSJLE

Should India be considered a democratic success story? On this week's Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with Salvatore Babones to explore the remarkable rise of democracy in India, and why it has recently become the subject of much international criticism. A story which reveals the importance of culture in maintaining democratic institutions, and how cultural differences therefore shape the differing nature of democracies around the world. Salvatore Babones is an Associate Professor at the University of Sydney whose current research focuses on the political sociology of democracy. In the past he has also published on economic development in post-socialist transition economies and quantitative methods for cross-national comparisons. He is the author or editor of fourteen books and several dozen academic research articles. His short book The New Authoritarianism: Trump, Populism, and the Tyranny of Experts was named among the Best on Politics 2018 by the Wall Street Journal. His latest book is Dharma Democracy: How India Built the Third World's First Democracy, published in 2025 by Connor Court. AWOQTUZWTUE2LBCD