Whiplash! Disruption as the New Normal in International Affairs

AIIA National Conference - Hyatt Hotel, Canberra, November 16, 2026

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Program

Speakers

AIIA Gala Dinner Keynote

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Hon Richard Marles MP

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Hon Richard Marles MP is the keynote speaker for the AIIA Gala Dinner. Join us for a night out with breathtaking views and conversations at the National Arboretum in Canberra. Tickets for the dinner are available as a bundle with the conference or separately.

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Gala Dinner

Plenary Panel - 3:30pm-5pm

Australia's Strategic Choices

The assumptions that have underpinned Australian foreign and security policy are being shaken by great-power rivalry, an increasingly unpredictable United States and a rapidly changing Indo-Pacific. How effective are our diplomatic and military establishments at charting a course in this new world? Hear experts debate where Australia should go next, with:

🌟 Frances Adamson, Former Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and former Governor of South Australia
🌟 Hugh White, The Australian National University Emeritus Professor and author of the recent “Hard New World”
🌟 Huong Le Thu, Deputy Director, Asia Program, International Crisis Group
🌟 Greg Sheridan, Foreign Editor for The Australian
🌟 Jennifer Parker, Adjunct Professor of Practice at the UWA Defence and Security Institute and a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.

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Hyatt Hotel Canberra

Conference Venue Info

National Arboretum

Gala Dinner Info

Learn from the best

Masterclass Info

See who’s coming

Speaker info

About the conference

The premier event on Australian foreign policy

The AIIA National Conference is Australia’s leading event on Australian foreign policy. The annual conference has hosted many distinguished guests who shape the nation’s policies including ministers, academics, top government officials and industry leaders. The day brings together some of Australia’s most prominent international affairs experts examining new developments in international affairs and the place of Australian foreign policy within them.

The conference regularly draws around 400 attendees. In the last national conference, in 2025, attendees included current and former ministers, over 30 ambassadors, officials from 12 government departments, engagement by participants from more than 20 of Australia’s most prestigious tertiary education institutions and guests from around 50 different countries. Masterclasses attract highly-engaged early-career professionals and tertiary students from around Australia, allowing selected participants to engage in intimate discussions with experts in international affairs.

Register for our November 16 Conference today. Should you wish to sponsor the conference to assist us in bringing the world to Australia, and have your contribution recognised during the conference, contact the AIIA national office today.

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2025 Conference

Masterclasses

Last Year’s Conference:

Highlights and Audience Views

With thanks to our sponsors

Konrad Adenauer Stiftung

Platinum Sponsor

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Gold Sponsor

Embassy of Ireland

Diplomatic Sponsor

The premier event on Australian Foreign Policy

AIIA National Conference 2026

Recent years have seen not only disruption in international relations, but a more fundamental challenge to the norms and principles that have underpinned the global order. The resurgence of great power politics has been accompanied by a wider willingness among major and revisionist powers to test, sidestep, or openly violate established rules of sovereignty, legality, and multilateral restraint. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s coercive behaviour in the South China Sea and across the Taiwan Strait, and the use of proxies and regional escalation in the Middle East all point to a more contested international environment. These trends have been sharpened by US actions, most notably during the Trump administration, from renewed pressure over Greenland to the capture of Venezuela’s sitting president and the use of force and coercion against Iran. Together, they signal a shift towards a more transactional and power-driven international system.

Such developments have contributed to a sense of strategic “whiplash”: sudden, disorienting shifts that challenge assumptions about stability, predictability, and the durability of international norms. For Australia, these changes are not abstract. They shape the country’s strategic environment, its economic resilience, and its capacity to act as a middle power committed to a rules-based order.

This conference places Australia at the centre of analysis, examining how it can respond to—and shape—a world in which disruption is no longer episodic but enduring. It asks what it means to pursue security, prosperity, and influence in an era where norms are contested, power is exercised more bluntly, and the boundaries of acceptable state behaviour are increasingly uncertain.