Embassy of Australia, United States of America

The G’Day USA Defence Industry Dialogue returns to Washington D.C. Thursday October 17, 2024.   Presented by Team Defence Australia & QinetiQ, this one-day conference, now in its 10th year, brings together US and Australian Defence Industry leaders for discussions on innovation and commercialization, emerging issues, and opportunities for continued collaboration in the AUKUS era.   The event will feature keynote addresses by senior US and Australian officials, expert panel discussions, a networking lunch and a post dialogue networking reception.   Join attendees from defence industry, policy makers, academics, investors, economists and national security experts.   📆 Thursday, October 17 📍 Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center ➡️ To learn more, become a sponsor, or purchase tickets, please visit the link in our bio.

Congratulations to the successful 2024-25 awardees of the Quad Fellowship, launched by Prime Minister Albanese at the 2022 Quad Leaders’ Summit. The Quad Fellowship supports outstanding STEM leaders, deepening partnerships across the Indo-Pacific.

Senators Penny Allman-Payne, Wendy Askew, Maria Kovacic, and Louise Pratt from Australia’s Standing Committee on Community Affairs visited Washington DC this week to study innovative approaches to a range of health and social issues.   Building on the growing research collaboration between Australia and the United States on rare cancers, the senators met with the world-leading specialists at The White House Cancer Moonshot and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to discuss the international partnership on diagnoses and treatments. Australia leads the world on cervical cancer elimination and the United States remains at the forefront of pioneering cancer research. Combining our strengths and working together greatly improves the chances of finding lasting treatments and cures for the toughest cancers in the world.   Thank you to Representative Kim Schrier, MD for hosting the delegation in Congress to exchange thoughts on health policy, particularly women’s reproductive health and the challenge of raising awareness of the economic and social impacts of menopause and perimenopause.   The committee also explored access to short-term housing, renting affordability and policies that support the availability of housing stock for growing populations. The senators visited Arlington County Government, Studio Twenty Seven Architecture, and D.C. Policy Center, holding rich discussions on the changing housing dynamics across the metropolitan region.

We couldn’t take all our trade and agriculture policy friends to 🇦🇺 so we brought a Taste of Australia to Washington! So great to see so many try Vegemite for the first time (and admit they like it!). Thanks to Meredith Dairy, Woodside Cheese for the Kris Lloyd Artisan cheeses, King Island Dairy, Chris’ Foods Heritage Dips & Pepe Saya Cultured Butter. Our guests were delighted to sample wonderful Australian artisan cheeses and butter. Delicious with our world class wines and beers and our newly invented ‘Aussie Fashioned’.

Join us for a special series of panel discussions hosted by Brenda L Croft and the Embassy of Australia, celebrating NAIDOC Week and this year’s theme: Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud. Featuring illuminating discussions with Australian First Nations Women Elders and Rising Leaders, we’re honouring the strength and resilience of Australia’s First Nations women. Join us for the opportunity to hear from Brenda L Croft, multidisciplinary creative-led researcher, 2024 Gough Whitlam & Malcom Fraser Visiting Chair of Australian Studies, @harvard-university, and experience Brenda’s brand-new exhibition opening in our gallery, ‘Naabámi (thou shall / will see): Barangaroo (army of me)’ – a series of large-scale photographic portraits of contemporary Australian First Nations women and girls, with cultural connections across Australia. Registration is essential (and free) at this link: https://lnkd.in/g9Vb-qyZ The Australian National University Lendlease Creative Australia

Today, we welcomed guests from the The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Conference on Architecture and Design and gave them the grand tour of our new chancery - the art, the spaces, the design theory, and our commitment to sustainability - with members of the Embassy team sharing our story alongside partners from KCCT Architects and Interface Engineering, Inc. #AIA24

“Deterrence matters not just for avoiding war, but also in avoiding escalation and preserving the peace. Or what others call ‘scenarios short of war’”. Ambassador Rudd is in Honolulu - home of Indo-Pacific Command - and will deliver a second address on deterrence in a few hours, at the   Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies

Natasha Stott Despoja - Australia’s candidate for the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women - is a fierce advocate for women's human rights and women's political and economic participation. She has proven herself a collaborative and constructive member of #CEDAW in her first term. If re-elected, she will continue to prioritise the lived experiences and priorities of women and girls in all their diversity.

As we commemorate National Reconciliation Week, we are highlighting Djinama Yilaga, an intergenerational Choir established in 2019, under leadership of Walbunga/ Monero-Ngarigo Artist, Cheryl Davison. Djinama Yilaga perform songs in Dhurga, the predominate language of the 13 Tribes of the Yuin Nation. The community led Choir emerged as a mechanism to rematriate and revitalise language through song. The Choir sing of things that are important to maintaining stories and cultural identity of First Nations people and their connection to Traditional Ancestral Lands. Writing and telling stories through song helps members and other Aboriginal people heal from intergenerational trauma created by having their language taken from them through past policies. #NRW2024 You can see Djinama Yilaga perform at Golden Triangle DC’s Lunch Culture series: 📅 10 July 2024 ⏰ 12:00-1:30 pm 📍 Murrow Park, 18th Street and Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington DC, 20006 1- by Pia Johnson 2- by David Rogers 3- by Elise Idiens 4- (from left to right) Melanie Horsnell, Michelle Davison, Tamsin Davison, Maria Walker, Requia Campbell, Shakeela Uta, Kobi Davison, Iris White, Cheryl Davison, Robyn Martin

We are honoured to spotlight the renowned artist of our upcoming exhibition. Brenda Croft is from the Gurindji/ Malngin/ Mudburra peoples from the Victoria River region of the Northern Territory of Australia, and Anglo-Australian/Chinese/ German/ Irish/ Scottish heritage. Since the mid-1980s Brenda has been a key participant in Australian and international First Nations and broader contemporary arts/ cultural sectors as a multi-disciplinary creative practitioner – artist, author, curator, educator, researcher and scholar. Brenda is based at the Australian National University as Professor of Indigenous Art History & Curatorship, living and working with Ngambri/ Ngunnawal/ Walgalu/ Wiradjuri Traditional Custodians on their unceded Ancestral Country. Currently, Brenda is the 2024 Gough Whitlam & Malcolm Fraser Visiting Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University, living and working on the Ancestral Homelands of the Massachusett. 📸 © Daniel Boyd, Barangaroo precinct