Paul Madden

Coming through immigration at Heathrow and Gatwick just got easier for regular Australian travellers. When PM David Cameron was here last month he announced that the Registered Traveller scheme was being extended to Australia and a handful of other countries. What this means is that Australians who have visited the UK more than four times […]

Australia has just completed its second period as UN Security Council Presidency, in November. It’s up to each member how much they want to make of their month of rotating Presidency. So it was good to see Australia being both ambitious and effective. It enabled strategic consideration of some important thematic issues, alongside dealing with […]

330,000 Australians, 900,000 Britons and 44 million people around the world are living with dementia. These numbers are set to at least double over the next 30 years. It’s not only a human tragedy for those who suffer, but there are big economic and social costs for society. For 70% of Australians in their fifties, it […]

Up close, warships look enormous. As we approached Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney for the commissioning ceremony, HMAS Canberra, Australia’s newest – and largest ever – naval vessel loomed over the invited guests. Navies do these things in style. The Governor General, Prime Minister and senior naval officers all spoke, Padres blessed the ship, the band played. […]

We’re flying the Scottish Saltire at the High Commission today for St Andrew’s Day, as we do with the flags of the other nations that comprise the rich tapestry of the United Kingdom on their national days. Around Australia my colleagues are attending various events hosted by local Scottish societies at this time. Last week […]

British literature is alive and flourishing in New South Wales. I hosted the annual reception for the Dylan Thomas Society at the Consul General’s Residence in Sydney on Friday. It is a special year for them as it is the Centenary of the Welsh poet’s birth. There are many events taking place in Wales and […]

A number of the world leaders who came to Australia for the Brisbane G20 stayed on afterwards for formal Guest of Government visits, taking in several different states, including Tasmania. I suspect by the end of this week Australians, and particularly Canberrans, were getting pretty blasé about having Presidents and Prime Ministers in town. In the course […]

You always look forward to your Prime Minister visiting the country you’re posted in, even though it means a lot of extra work for the whole team. David Cameron has just been back in Australia for the second time. He began his official bilateral visit on Friday with a stroll around Sydney’s beautiful harbour with […]

The sun shone brightly on Canberra’s national war memorial on Remembrance Day, which Australia celebrates actually on 11 November, rather than on the nearest Sunday as in the UK. Wreaths were laid by the Governor General; Senator Ronaldson (for the Prime Minister who is overseas) and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and senior parliamentary, military and veteran […]

One of the privileges of being a High Commissioner is being invited to represent Britain at great state occasions that tell the story of a country. Yesterday I was in Sydney for the State Memorial Service for former PM Gough Whitlam who passed away at the grand old age of 98. All seven living Australian […]