Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) gives thanks for the life and service to the nation of Allan Gyngell AO, who passed away in May 2023;

(b) recognises Mr Gyngell's remarkable contribution to Australia's engagement with the world, having offered sage advice, both official and unofficial, to the Australian Government for decades and as the definitive historian of Australian foreign policy;

(c) acknowledges Mr Gyngell's long and distinguished career in Australian international affairs, which included:

(i) appointments as National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs 2017-23, and Director-General of the Office of National Assessments 2009-13, as well as the founding Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy for six years from 2003, and an honorary professor at the Australian National University, and

(ii) service as Senior International Adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating from 1993-96, and previously in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, including as First Assistant Secretary International 1991-93, having begun his foreign policy career as an officer at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where he served as a diplomat in Rangoon (1970-72), Singapore (1973-76) and Washington (1981-84);

(d) notes Mr Gyngell was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2009 for his services to international relations;

(e) observes Mr Gyngell always promoted respectful and informed national discussion on Australia's foreign policy, and had the intellectual and personal courage to provide frank advice and analysis;

(f) values Mr Gyngell's contribution as a mentor to many Australian diplomats and foreign policy analysts, which ensures his legacy lives on in all of those whose lives and careers were touched by his leadership and quiet wisdom; and

(g) offers its deepest condolences to Mr Gyngell's family and to his friends.