Speaker Biographies
The Honourable Kim Beazley AC, Governor of Western Australia
The Honourable Kim Beazley AC was installed as Governor on the 1st May 2018 as the 33rd Governor of Western Australia. Mr Beazley was born in Subiaco, educated at Hollywood Senior High School and completed two degrees at The University of Western Australia. He served for nearly three decades in the Australian Federal Parliament and for a period of six years as Ambassador to the United States of America. Prior to becoming Governor, Mr Beazley had a distinguished record of service to the public, leadership and representation of Australia. In 2009, Mr Beazley was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for service to the Parliament of Australia through contributions to the development of government policies in relation to defence and international relations, as an advocate for Indigenous people and for service to the community. Mr Beazley was born in Perth, Western Australia. He completed a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the University of Western Australia. In 1973, he was awarded the Rhodes Scholarship for Western Australia and completed a Master of Philosophy at Oxford University. He has honorary doctorates from the University of Notre Dame (Western Australia) and Murdoch University. Mr Beazley is married to Ms Susie Annus and has three daughters, Jessica, Hannah and Rachel. Mr Beazley was elected to the Federal Parliament in 1980 and represented the electorates of Swan (1980-96) and Brand (1996-2007).In the Hawke and Keating Labor Governments (1983-1996) Mr Beazley held, at various times, the portfolios of Defence, Finance, Transport and Communications, Employment Education and Training, Aviation, and Special Minister of State. From 1995 to 1996, Mr Beazley served as Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Australian Labor Party and was Leader of the Opposition from 1996 to 2001, and 2005 to 2006. Mr Beazley served on parliamentary committees, including the Joint Intelligence Committee and the Joint Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.
Professor Gordon Flake, Founding CEO, Perth USAsia Centre
Professor Gordon Flake is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia.
Professor Flake is one of world’s leading authorities on strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. Having spent twenty-five years in the US foreign policy community focused on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and now seven years in Australia’s Indian Ocean capital he is an expert on key strategic relationships in the broader Indo-Pacific. He has authored many scholarly and policy studies on security developments in the region, and their policy implications for the US and its regional partners.
Since establishing the Centre in 2014, Professor Flake has worked to build stronger international relationships between Australia, the US and the broader Indo-Pacific. He has led the growth of several major international conferences in Australia and the region; and established a range of high-level diplomatic and policy dialogues on issues of shared concern for the Indo-Pacific.
Professor Flake is a sought-after media commentator, particularly on issues to do with US politics and foreign policy and strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. His work has appeared in many leading international outlets, including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, as well as across the Australian media landscape.
Professor Flake holds a number of strategic leadership roles. He is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham), and serves on the board of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is Co-Chair of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, a member of the international advisory board of the David M. Kennedy Centre at Brigham Young University, and on the Board of the Australia Korea Business Council WA.
Prior to joining the Centre, he was the Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, an Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States, and Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Korean) and Master of Arts (International and Area Studies) from Brigham Young University. He speaks both fluent Korean and Laotian.
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