Speeches

Bean Dinner 2014

In April 2014, the CEW Bean Foundation held a dinner at the Australian War Memorial. The Guest of Honour and Guest Speaker was Hon Tony Abbott MP. The night was a great success, attended by 150 people. The CEW Bean Foundation gratefully acknowledges the support of Boeing Australia and the Australian War Memorial. See here for more details and photos.

Bean Dinner 2010 – February 26, 2010

In 2010, Defence Minister John Faulkner addressed the Bean dinner (held over from 2009) at the National Press Club on the subject of the responsibilities of the defence forces to provide reasonable disclosure to media involved in reporting their activities. Author Graham Freudenberg spoke at a pre-dinner event on his new book “Churchill and Australia’’. The Freudenberg conversation was moderated by Bean Foundation chair, Rodney Cavalier.

Bean Dinner 2008 – April 26, 2008

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave the annual Bean oration – the third by a serving Prime Minister (if Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is included) – in the ANZAC Hall at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra. Mr Rudd argued that Australia’s presence in Afghanistan reflected its commitment to “doing our fair share to tackle international security challenges as an engaged middle power and as a real partner in our alliance with the United States.’’

Bean Dinner 2006 – April 25, 2006

The Director General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, Paul O’Sullivan gave the annual Bean dinner address. He spoke at the National Press Club on the subject of security threats following the terrorist attacks on the United States in September, 2001. A pre-dinner seminar addressed challenges facing journalists in dealing with the global war on terror.

Bean Dinner 2005 – April 26, 2005

The 2005 dinner was held at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra and addressed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The pre-dinner symposium was addressed by the Attorney General of Australia, the Hon. Phillp Ruddock MP, Mr Warren Beeby of News Ltd and author and journalist Mr Fred Brenchley. The topic was sedition and censorship in relation to the War on Terror.

Bean Dinner 2004

The 2004 dinner was held in Sydney with NSW Premier Bob Carr as the dinner speaker. The pre-dinner symposium was addressed by Alisdair McGregor, the biographer of WWI photographer Frank Hurley; Neil McDonald the biographer of WWII broadcaster and author Chester Wilmott and Phillip Knightley, journalist and author of The First Casualty.

Bean Dinner 2003

The historian Geoffrey Blainey gave the annual Bean dinner address.

Bean Dinner 2002

The Defence Minister Senator Robert Hill delivered the annual Bean dinner address at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. The title of his speech was “Asia Pacific Security After September 11 – Continuity and Change”. Senator Hill spoke about the “arc of militant Islamic influence” which stretched across South-East Asia, and the organisation Jemaah Islamiyah which was central to this threat.