Dr Peter Edwards to give paper at Australian Prime Ministers Centre Seminar

On 19 June Dr Edwards will give a paper at the Australian Prime Ministers Centre seminar titled ‘Prime Minister Bob Hawke, Justice Robert Hope and the development of the Australian intelligence community’. This arises from an APMC fellowship Dr Edwards held earlier this year. It reflects an interest in the history of Australia’s intelligence and security agencies, with particular reference to the two Royal Commissions and one judicial inquiry to which Justice Hope was appointed by three successive Prime Ministers (Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke) in the 1970s and 1980s. Professor David Lowe of Deakin will lead the discussion in this session.

Other recent activities include the publication of a Strategy Paper for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute entitled ‘Learning from History: Strategic Lessons of the Forward Defence Era’ (May 2015). This arises from Dr Edwards’ recent book, Australia and the Vietnam War (NewSouth, 2014). He was interviewed about this publication by Amanda Vanstone for her ABC Radio National program Counterpoint on 15 June (repeated 19 June).

On the 17 May Dr Edwards was interviewed at Deakin’s Waterfront Campus by the former Prime Minister, John Howard. He is preparing a documentary on the former Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies. The documentary is likely to go to air on the ABC in early 2016.

Dr Edwards is an adjunct member of the Contemporary Histories Research Group.