This information concerning the Thursday, December 1, Council program remarks of Australian Consul-General and Senior Trade Commissioner Alastair Walton is provided by Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) and the Australian Consulate General in Houston.

American and Australian troops first fought together in World War I in the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918, under the leadership of Australia’s most famous military commander Sir John Monash. From this small beginning almost 100 years ago, the United States’ strategic, security, defence and intelligence relationship with Australia is now remarkably integrated and interoperable.

In this in-depth lecture Australia’s Consul-General Alastair Walton explains the historical development of the Australian U.S. alliance over the past century. Australia is the only country in the world to have fought alongside the U.S. in all major wars including both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. It covers the relationship and the framework developed to ensure a continued and strong alliance. This includes the recently released 2016 Defence White Paper of Australia that will significantly increase Australia’s defence expenditure, including advanced weaponry, and even greater military interoperability between the armed forces of both countries.

It will cover the strategic importance of Australia in navigating relationships in the Asia Pacific region, as well as discuss the unique intelligence relationship between the United States and Australia, including the Presidential Decree signed by President George W. Bush in 2004 in which laws preventing foreign powers from seeing classified intelligence do not apply to Australia.