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A Note from the Director
 Welcome to our August Newsletter. It’s a pleasure to acknowledge Centre members who continue with their outstanding research and innovative engagement under extraordinary circumstances. From ground-breaking publications to keynote presentations, members have made important contributions to pressing debates on pandemics, Indo-Pacific security, Australian federalism and multiculturalism.
More generally, the weekly Centre research seminars are now online, with the benefit of presentations from the foremost academics from around the world.
I’m also delighted to announce Lachlan Bourke as the winner of the 2020 Pat Weller Prize. Finally, congratulations to our newest graduate, Dr. Huma Siddiqi.
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2020 Online Research Sessions
 Due to global pandemic restrictions, the CGPP research presentations have been online since April. Organised by Professor Duncan McDonnell and Dr Ferran Martinez i Coma, these have featured seminars by major international scholars and paper workshops for Centre members.
You can watch the presentations by Steven Levitsky (Harvard), Sabrina Karim (Cornell), Cas Mudde (Georgia), John Gerring (Texas), and Laurel Weldon (Simon Fraser) and find details of upcoming sessions below.
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Pat Weller Prize 2020
 Lachlan Bourke is this year’s recipient of the Pat Weller Prize. This prize is awarded to the highest grade in the first year Trimester one course, Introduction to Politics within the Bachelor of Government and International Relations.
The Pat Weller Prize was established in 2014 in honour of the Centre for Governance and Public Policy founding Director Emeritus Professor Patrick Weller. The award is presented annually to encourage and recognise students’ academic excellence.
Lachlan says, "I found over the last few years during my economics studies that macro-level interactions between states are not only an area of great interest to me, but are also the determining factor in shaping the world we live in. Domestic forces from within a state have the ability to heavily influence these macro-level interactions."
Lachlan says this course provided an opportunity to further explore these domestic inputs and cultural debates. He adds, "I chose to write my major essay on whether revolution has the ability to bring about positive political change, arguing in the affirmative. Therefore, I believe this course actively invites students to think openly and critically about international relations, without taking any of the theoretical ‘lenses’, so-to-speak, for granted." Congratulations Lachlan.
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Institutionalizing the Indo-Pacific: Whither Asian Security Challenges?
 Professor Kai He was a guest speaker at the 60 Minutes for the EWC 60th Anniversary Alumni Seminar Series for the East-West Center. Kai shed some light on the dynamics of institution-building efforts in the Indo-Pacific as well as its implications for Asian Security. The ‘Indo–Pacific’ has become a popular political concept since the 2000s, however, we have yet to see any significant institutional presence associated with it. The litmus test for the Indo–Pacific concept in the future will be whether it can be institutionalized, that is, whether states are willing to develop meaningful institution-building mechanisms based on the concept.
Outside of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, the term Indo–Pacific has not been very popular until recently. Kai explored why states have not institutionalized the Indo–Pacific in the past ten years, how the concept be institutionalized in the future, and whether the “Quadrilateral Security Dialogue”—the so-called “Quad”—among the United States, Japan, Australia, and India will become the central construct in the future security architecture in the region.
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Women are Most Affected by Pandemics
 The global impact of COVID-19 on women’s wellbeing has been highlighted in a new UN Women report co-authored by Professor Sara Davies. Women’s access to education and health services has already been compromised by the pandemic, according to the report Spotlight on Gender, COVID-19 and the SDGs: Will the pandemic derail hard-won progress on gender equality?
COVID-19 does not discriminate, but it’s spreading through societies that do. This report showcases the latest evidence on the gendered impact of the pandemic, highlights potential and emerging trends, and reflects on the long-term impact of the crisis on the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Follow the link below to the full report and the journal article discussing findings in Nature.
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The Somyurek Controversy
 Professor Juliet Pietsch is an expert in the areas of migration and multiculturalism. She recently spoke to ABC's Religion and Ethics Report with Andrew West about the Victorian Labor Party branch stacking controversy – known as the Somyurek Controversy.
One of the central features of this controversy was the apparent mobilisation of several of Melbourne’s multicultural communities in preselection battles.
In secretly recorded tapes, former Labor minister Adem Somyurek referred to using Indian, Turkish and Vietnamese communities to help strengthen his influence in the ALP. But is joining a political party in large numbers the only way for ethnic and religious minorities in Australia to get a foothold, as citizens, in the political system?
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A Post Pandemic National Environmental Policy
 Dr Ellie Martus recently wrote for the Policy Innovation Hub’s Machinery of Government Blog an article that focuses on whether economic recovery will come at the expense of the environment as business and industry groups around the world lobby governments to restart the economy.
There has been considerable talk about the potential environmental positives that have emerged from COVID-19. These environmental gains however are likely to be short-lived as lockdown restrictions are lifted and people return to work, return to their cars, and industry starts up again. Long term change requires serious policy reform. Read her article below.
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Research Collaboration Formalised with Aboriginal Partners
 On 21 July 2020 the Ely Bauxite Mine Beneficiaries Trust signed a Research Agreement with Centre member Professor Ciaran O’Faircheallaigh to formalise collaboration on a research project designed to find more effective ways of implementing agreements between Aboriginal peoples and mining companies.
The research will be funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and in addition to the Ely Trust and Griffith University will include Laval University in Quebec, the Old Mapoon Aboriginal Corporation, the Bendigo-based Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, and Conseil de la Nation Innu de Matimekush-Lac John, a First Nation located in northern Quebec.
"Griffith University is delighted to be working with the Ely Trust and our other Aboriginal partners to find better ways of implementing agreements", said Professor O’Faircheallaigh. "Their cooperation is essential so that researchers can get access to current and accurate information, and to make sure that their research findings are used in practical ways to achieve better outcomes for Aboriginal peoples affected by mining projects."
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Managing the Australian Federation Beyond Covid-19
 Dr Tracey Arklay has written an article titled Managing the Australian Federation beyond Covid-19 – How to achieve long-lasting intergovernmental reform for the Griffith University Policy Innovation Hub’s Machinery of Government Blog. The article looks at the establishment of the National Cabinet and its usefulness going forward. The National Cabinet has brought decision makers together in a spirit of bipartisan cooperation to tackle a sudden and devastating health and economic crisis. Its success, according to the Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has been due to the lack of ‘theatre’ and politics that were a common feature of COAG meetings. Tracey explores ideas for achieving future reform of Australian Federalism.
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