Page 6 - Luce 2016

N ews a nd Events

Leadership through

moral conviction:

General David Morrison AO
speaks out

In thinking about the requirements
of ethical leadership, I have spoken
of General David Morrison’s 2013
‘Then Get Out’ address as a signal example of transformative
leadership, reflecting everything that was best in the Defence
Force’s push to change its culture around the treatment of
women.* So it was a great pleasure to welcome General
Morrison into the College to speak on lessons in leadership,
and an honour that he accepted, despite the unrelenting
demands upon his time as 2016 Australian of
the Year.

David brought passion and straight talk to his address,
engaging with students and guests with humility and candour
and reflecting thoughtfully on power, gender, and Australian
culture. While it would be not quite fair to say that his
audience was in awe of his comments (delivered without
notes and away from the rostrum) there was a palpable sense The Hon. Peter Costello addresses his audience
that we in the room needed to reflect on the basic challenge
he set for us – take up the cause of equality, and prosecute it
with passion.
In Conversation
Dr Damian Powell with Peter Costello
* ‘The Australian Defence Force Academy Skype sex scandal: Can Australia meet its current challenges?
lessons on leadership and ethics’; see the College website at
http://www.jch.unimelb.edu.au/leadership.html The Hon. Peter Costello AC raised this question at Sunday
Afternoon in Conversation with friends and alumni of the
College on 23 October.

Challenges he identified included: the weakening of
internationalism and international institutions (such as the
IMF); flaws in how the European Union was set up with a
lack of control over its budget; the anarchy of the internet
with lack of editorial/legal restraint in reporting of the news;
populist movements shifting to the left and the right; stagnancy
in income whilst property prices go through the roof; and
Australia’s recent history of short-term governments and failed
Prime Ministers.

A lively speaker, Peter located the discussion within history,
identifying Sir William Clarke and Janet Lady Clarke with
Australia’s boom period of the 1880s, and lauding them as
significant contributors to society.

General Morrison addresses the College Students Arman Bhagat, Aly Teuben and Maddie Spencer
engage with Mr Costello
6 LUCE Number 15 2016