Yesterday I went to hear the Chief of Army, Lieut. Gen. David Morrison, launch a book by one of his officers, our friend Malcolm McGregor.
The book “An Indian Summer of Cricket” is about a love for cricket and for the army. It also tells the story of his brave gender reassignment over the last year while the book was being written. Malcolm is now Cate. Her book launch was a moving event, which showed the modern Australian army at its most compassionate.
I’ve had quite a busy week on the Defence side. The EU ambassadors collectively met Secretary for Defence, Dennis Richardson, who had recently moved over from running the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. We had a wide ranging discussion of Australia’s security challenges, and the international relationships which underpin its response. And I had dinner with Australia’s Chief of Defence Staff, General David Hurley, and some of his colleagues at his historic residence, Bridges House at the Duntroon Royal Military College. The house is named after an Australian military hero who died at Gallipoli.
The previous week we had been hosting Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, the UK government’s special Envoy for Climate and Energy Security. He was here to discuss the impact of Climate Change on security.
We have done a lot of work on this in Britain, which he was able to share with a range of interlocutors from government, the military and academia.