In Conversation: Michael Wesley on Australia and Asia

We are delighted to invite you to hear Michael Wesley, Professor of Politics and Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Melbourne, talking about Quarterly Essay 101: The Crucible: Southeast Asia and Australia's Future

Southeast Asia has never been more important to Australia - and Australia has never been more alienated from Southeast Asia and with so little idea of what to do about it. This illuminating, original essay reveals Australia's blind spot. What do we need to know about Southeast Asia? What has our foreign policy elite's subservience to the United States stopped us from seeing and doing? What do our neighbours have to tell us, if only we could hear? This is an essay about values, imagination and a new way of seeing ourselves.