The Sir Robert Menzies Lecture is an annual lecture delivered in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, by a prominent politician, academic or other noteworthy individual, about various aspects of modern liberalism. The lectures have been held annually since 1978, and are named in honour of Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...

 and one of the world's most respected post-war statesmen.

History

The lecture was first proposed by the Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

 Liberal Club in 1976, when the president of the club was Michael Kroger

Michael Kroger

Michael Norman Kroger is a businessman and a powerbroker within the Victorian division of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne.-Early Life :...

, and it was held in its early years at the Robert Blackwood Hall on the Clayton campus

Monash University, Clayton campus

Monash University, Clayton Campus is the main campus of Monash University located in Clayton, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria....

 of the university. The inaugural speaker was the then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. The establishment of an on-campus conservative lecture was a bold move in a time where student politics were predominantly left-wing. The 1981 appearance of Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

 drew strong protests from students; at the same time, Thatcher's lecture was one of the best-remembered of the series.

Since the first lecture, the Sir Robert Menzies Lecture Trust, chaired by Dr Alan Gregory AM, has been established to ensure the year-to-year running of the finances and organisation of the lecture. With the exception of Thatcher's 1981 speech, the lecture has been maintained as a free event, and is now held each year at Parliament House, Melbourne

Parliament House, Melbourne

Parliament House in Melbourne, located at Spring Street in East Melbourne at the edge of the Melbourne city centre, has been the seat of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia, since 1855 .- History :In 1851, even before the colony of Victoria acquired full parliamentary self-government, Governor...

. The Monash University Liberal Club continues to be involved with the Trust in the operation of the lecture.

John Howard

John Howard

John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

 is the only person to have given the lecture on two occasions (in 1980 when he was the Federal Treasurer, and again in 1996 after he had become Prime Minister).

Patrons

Sir Robert Menzies willingly agreed to lend his name to the Trust, but died before the inaugural lecture was delivered. The founding patron of the lecture was Sir Robert's widow, Dame Pattie Menzies

Pattie Menzies

Dame Pattie Maie Menzies GBE was the wife of Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies.-Biography:...

, and the current patron is their daughter Heather Henderson.

Lecturers

Year	Lecturer	Position	Venue
1978	Malcolm Fraser	Prime Minister Prime Minister of Australia The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...	Robert Blackwood Hall Monash University Monash University Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
1979	Andrew Peacock Andrew Peacock Andrew Sharp Peacock AC, GCL , is a former Australian Liberal politician. He was a minister in the Gorton, McMahon and Fraser governments, and was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia 1983–1985 and 1989–1990...	Minister for Foreign Affairs
1980	John Howard John Howard John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....	Treasurer Treasurer of Australia The Treasurer of Australia is the minister in the Government of Australia responsible for government expenditure and revenue raising. He is the head of the Department of the Treasury. The Treasurer plays a key role in the economic policy of the government...
1981	Margaret Thatcher Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
1982	Sir Garfield Barwick Garfield Barwick Sir Garfield Edward John Barwick, was the Attorney-General of Australia , Minister for External Affairs and the seventh and longest serving Chief Justice of Australia...	Former Chief Justice of Australia Chief Justice of Australia The Chief Justice of Australia is the informal title for the presiding justice of the High Court of Australia and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Commonwealth of Australia...
1983	Sir Sridath (Sonny) Ramphal Shridath Ramphal Sir Shridath Surendranath "Sonny" Ramphal, GCMG, AC, ONZ, OE, OM, QC, FRSA served as the second Commonwealth Secretary-General from 1975-1990. Ramphal previously served as the Foreign Minister of Guyana from 1972-1975...	Commonwealth Secretary-General Commonwealth Secretary-General The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly...
1984	Sir Robert Muldoon Robert Muldoon Sir Robert David "Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH served as the 31st Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984, as leader of the governing National Party. Muldoon had been a prominent member of the National party and MP for the Tamaki electorate for some years prior to becoming leader of the party...	Prime Minister of New Zealand Prime Minister of New Zealand The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealand's head of government consequent on being the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand...
1985	Professor David Kemp	Professor of Politics, Monash University Monash University Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
1986	Hugh Morgan Hugh Morgan (Australian businessman) Hugh Matheson Morgan AC, , an Australian businessman, is the son of former Western Mining Corporation CEO Bill Morgan, and was himself CEO of WMC from 1990 to 2003. He was also President of the Business Council of Australia from 2003 to 2005. The Howard Government appointed him to the board of the...	CEO of Western Mining Corporation WMC Resources WMC Resources Limited was an Australian diversified mining and fertilizer company formerly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. WMC was an acronym for Western Mining Corporation. It was delisted on 29 June 2005 following a successful takeover by BHP Billiton...
1987	Dame Leonie Kramer Leonie Kramer Dame Leonie Judith Kramer, AC, DBE is an Australian academic, educator and professor.-Education:Kramer was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Melbourne, the University of Melbourne, where she gained a Bachelor of Arts in 1945, and Oxford University, where she gained a Doctor of...	Various positions
1988	Don Mazankowski Don Mazankowski Donald Frank "Don" Mazankowski, PC, OC, AOE is a Canadian politician who served as a cabinet minister under Prime Ministers Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. He was also Deputy Prime Minister under Mulroney....	Deputy Prime Minister of Canada Deputy Prime Minister of Canada The Deputy Prime Minister of Canada is an honorary position in the cabinet, conferred at the discretion of the prime minister. There is currently, , no deputy prime minister....
1989	Sir Paul Hasluck Paul Hasluck Sir Paul Meernaa Caedwalla Hasluck KG GCMG GCVO KStJ was an Australian historian, poet, public servant and politician, and the 17th Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...	Former Governor-General Governor-General of Australia The Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia is the representative in Australia at federal/national level of the Australian monarch . He or she exercises the supreme executive power of the Commonwealth...
1990	John Hewson John Hewson John Robert Hewson AM is an Australian economist, company director and a former politician. He was federal leader of the Liberal Party of Australia from 1990 to 1994 and led the party to defeat at the 1993 federal election.-Early life:...	Leader of the Liberal Party Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
1991	Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Blainey Geoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...	Former Dean of Arts at the University of Melbourne University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
1992	Jeff Kennett Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett AC , a former Australian politician, was the Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999. He is currently the President of Hawthorn Football Club. He is the founding Chairman of beyondblue, a national depression initiative.- Early life :Kennett was born in Melbourne on 2 March...	Premier of Victoria
1993	Sir Harry Gibbs Harry Gibbs Sir Harry Talbot Gibbs, GCMG, AC, KBE, QC was Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1981 to 1987 after serving as a member of the High Court between 1970 and 1981...	Former Chief Justice of Australia
1994	Professor Allan Martin Allan Martin Allan Jeffery Martin is a former Aberavon RFC and Welsh international rugby union player. He was noted for his long distance goal-kicking.-Biography:...	Professor
1995	Sir Zelman Cowen Zelman Cowen Sir Zelman Cowen, was the 19th Governor-General of Australia. He is currently the oldest living former Governor-General of Australia.-Early life:...	Former Governor-General
1996	John Howard	Prime Minister
1997	Peter Costello Peter Costello Peter Howard Costello AC is an Australian politician and lawyer who served as the Treasurer in the Australian government from 1996 to 2007. He is the longest-serving Treasurer in Australian history. Costello was a Member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1990 to 2009, representing...	Treasurer
1998	Don Argus Don Argus Donald Robert Argus AC is an Australian businessman, and the former chairman of BHP Billiton and Brambles. He stepped down as Chairman in favour of Jacques Nasser in 2010....	CEO of National Australia Bank National Australia Bank National Australia Bank is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia in terms of market capitalisation and customers. NAB is ranked 17th largest bank in the world measured by market capitalisation...
1999	Petro Georgiou Petro Georgiou Petro Georgiou , Australian politician, was a Liberal member of the Australian House of Representatives from November 1994 to July 2010, representing the Division of Kooyong, Victoria.-Early life:...	Member of Parliament (he held Sir Robert Menzies's former seat of Kooyong)
2000	Claude Smadja	Managing Director of the World Economic Forum World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-profit foundation, based in Cologny, Geneva, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, a mountain resort in Graubünden, in the eastern Alps region of Switzerland....
2001	Chris Patten Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....	UK Member of the European Commission European Commission The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
2002	Alexander Downer Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer is a former Australian Liberal Party politician who was Foreign Minister of Australia from March 1996 to December 2007, the longest-serving in Australian history...	Minister for Foreign Affairs
2003	Tony Abbott Tony Abbott Anthony John "Tony" Abbott is the Leader of the Opposition in the Australian House of Representatives and federal leader of the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott has represented the seat of Warringah since the 1994 by-election...	Minister for Health and Ageing Minister for Health and Ageing (Australia) The Minister for Health and Ageing is a portfolio in the Government of Australia with the responsibility for national health policy. The current Minister for Health and Ageing is Nicola Roxon...
2004	Philip Ruddock Philip Ruddock Philip Maxwell Ruddock is an Australian politician who is currently a member of the House of Representatives representing the Division of Berowra, New South Wales, for the Liberal Party of Australia...	Attorney-General Attorney-General of Australia The Attorney-General of Australia is the first law officer of the Crown, chief law officer of the Commonwealth of Australia and a minister of the Crown. The Attorney-General is usually a member of the Federal Cabinet, but there is no constitutional requirement that this be the case since the...
2005	Michael Thawley	Australian Ambassador to the United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
2006	Julie Bishop Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop is an Australian politician and the current Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Australia. She holds this title as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. She is the party's first female Deputy Leader and the third woman in Australian history to...	Minister for Education, Science and Training Minister for Education, Science and Training (Australia) The Australian Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth has responsibilities which include the following areas:*Education policy and programs including schools, vocational, higher education and Indigenous education, but excluding migrant adult education*Education and training...
2007	Richard Alston Richard Alston (politician) Richard Kenneth Robert Alston was a Liberal member of the Australian Senate from 1986 to 2004, representing the state of Victoria....	Australian High Commissioner High Commissioner (Commonwealth) In the Commonwealth of Nations, a High Commissioner is the senior diplomat in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another.-History:...  to the United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
2008	Gerard Henderson Gerard Henderson Gerard Henderson is a conservative Australian newspaper columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald.. He is also Executive Director of the Sydney Institute, a privately funded current affairs forum. His wife Anne Henderson is Deputy Director.-Education:Henderson attended the Jesuit Xavier College in...	Executive Director of the Sydney Institute Sydney Institute The Sydney Institute, founded in 1989, is a privately funded, conservative, Australian current affairs forum. The Sydney Institute took over the resources of the Sydney Institute of Public Affairs which ceased activity in the late 1980s...	Victorian Legislative Assembly Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...
2009	Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004, and was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009.Turnbull has represented the Division...	Leader of the Liberal Party Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...	Victorian Legislative Assembly Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the Parliament of Victoria in Australia. Together with the Victorian Legislative Council, the upper house, it sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Melbourne.-History:...

External links

• Menzies Lecture Homepage
• 1981 Lecture: Margaret Thatcher