Join Allegra Spender MP and Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University, Hugh White, on Zoom for a conversation on AUKUS, Australia's defence capabilities, and our broader geopolitical standing.

Will we actually get our submarines? Do we need them in the first place? And what does the state of the US relationship mean for the future of the deal? I know many of you are sceptical about AUKUS - I share some of that scepticism myself - and I can't think of anyone better placed to help us work through these questions than Hugh, one of Australia's foremost thinkers on defence and strategic policy.

Bring your questions about AUKUS, our defence spending priorities, and what a shifting geopolitical landscape means for Australia's security.

Hugh White AO is Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University, focusing on Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia-Pacific security, and global strategic affairs. Over his career he has worked as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, a journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald, senior adviser to Defence Minister Kim Beazley and Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence at the Department of Defence (1995–2000), and the first Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI); he was also principal author of Australia's 2000 Defence White Paper. He is the author of several major books on Australian and Asia-Pacific strategy, including The China Choice (2012) and How to Defend Australia (2019).

The Zoom link will be sent in an email upon RSVPing.

The event will be recorded and put on our past events page here afterwards.

We can't wait to see you online.