Global & Australian Advisory Councils joint meeting, Melbourne 6 December 2022
The Global Foundation convened the first ever joint meeting of its Global Advisory Council and Australian Advisory Council, co-chaired by Dr Mark Cutifani and Prof. Sir Edward Byrne AC, in Melbourne on 6 December 2022. This was followed by the Annual General Meeting, chaired by Ms Louise Watson, Chairman of the Board. The meetings were hosted by Ms Simone Menz and Mr Murray Prior, Global Head of Business Development, on behalf of Key Partner, King & Wood Mallesons.
The joint advisory meeting involved 35 eminent global and Australian leaders, attending in person and online, including His Grace, Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa; Prof. Stefania Proietti, Mayor of Assisi; Ms Sharan Burrow, outgoing Mr Pascal Lamy, President of the Paris Peace Forum; Professor Enrico Giovannini, former Italian Minister of Sustainable Infrastructures; Mr Thomas Tayler (for Dr Steve Waygood), Chief Responsible Investor Officer, Aviva Investors; and Dr Wang Haiyou (Henry), President of the China Centre for Globalization.
A letter of support and encouragement for the joint meeting was received from Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State to His Holiness, Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Matters discussed included:
- the necessity to marshal efforts for the overall reform of global governance and, in tandem, of the international financial system to make it more fit for purpose, in addressing vital matters such as effective climate change-related investment action.
- the potential for global application of the successful Italian Government model for designing national infrastructure planning to better achieve the global sustainable development goals; a copy of the presentation by Dr Giovannani may be found here.
- the importance of supporting the indigenous Voice to Parliament, unanimously supported by the Foundation members at its National Roundtable meeting held in Canberra in May 2021; Mr Danny Gilbert, the most prominent Australian business leader promoting the success of the Voice referendum, addressed the meeting and later circulated his recent major speech on the matter, which may be found here.
A report of the joint advisory meeting will be submitted to the Board of the Foundation for its consideration in setting the agenda of the 2023 year.
Annual General Meeting, 2022
Chairman of the Board, Ms Louise Watson, chaired the AGM of the Foundation, adjacent to the joint advisory meeting, in Melbourne on 6 December, 2022
All matters on the Agenda were approved unanimously by the meeting, including the re-election of Ms Watson and Mr Howard to the Board.