CAP fellows receive Australia Day honours

Two academics from The Australian National University (ANU) College of Asia and the Pacific (CAP) have been appointed as Members of the Order of Australia for services to the Asia Pacific.

Dr Peter McCawley, economist and Visiting Fellow at ANU Crawford School of Public Policy, and Dr Alison Broinowski, Visiting Fellow at ANU Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, received their awards in the Australia Day 2019 Honours List.

Dr McCawley, who completed his PhD in economics at ANU in 1972, was acknowledged for significant service to the Asia-Pacific region through economic advisory roles.

Specialising in economics in Indonesia and Asia more broadly, Dr McCawley was Head of the Indonesia Project at ANU between 1980 and 1985. He has also held roles in USAID, the Indonesian government, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Dr McCawley expressed hope this award would highlight the importance of Australia’s engagement with the Asia Pacific.

“I see the award as, hopefully, recognition of the value to Australia of the work on Asia carried out in universities and within government,” he said.

“Many scholars at the ANU and other Australian universities, over many years, have worked in the Asia-Pacific region. It is encouraging, I hope, for younger scholars if there is public recognition of the importance of professional involvement with our colleagues, and with institutions, in our nearby region.”

Dr Broinowski is a former Australian diplomat and has written extensively about relations between Australia and Asia. Currently a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Change, Dr Broinowski said, while Australian expertise on the region should be unparalleled, there is still more to be done.

“Australian expertise on Asia, which should be on an established, ascending trajectory, and the world’s best, goes through peaks and troughs,” she said.

“These reflect our lack of foreign policy independence and misunderstanding about Australia’s national interests - something I’m still working to change.”

Dr Broinowski completed her PhD in Asian studies at ANU in 2001, an experience she described as transformative.

“When I graduated in 1961, Adelaide University taught no Asian languages, which were considered a waste of money,” she said.

“Joining External Affairs (now the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) got me out of Adelaide and into Japan with my diplomat husband, and studying Japanese there and later Asian Studies at ANU changed my life.”

Dr Broinowski is also Vice-President of Honest History and Australians for War Powers Reform, and will soon publish a book on terrorism.

Find more about all the ANU recipients of Australia Day Honours.

Image credit: Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons.