Early notice of coming events

Dear ,

Our Emancipation Day celebration breakfast on August 1 this year will be bigger than last year, but there is room to make it even better. If you haven't booked already, you can book by clicking here. For AIP members it is $65 for a hot breakfast and a presentation by Hon Tony Abbott AC. We also have a rate for pensioners and students of $60.

Emancipation Day is an annual commemoration of when the Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 came into effect in the United Kingdom. It is becoming a world-wide celebration, starting in Trinidad and Tobago on August 1, 1985. The latest country to adopt it was Canada in 2022.

Both Trinidad and Tobago and Canada are countries where there was significant slavery, so why celebrate it in Australia?

A couple of reasons.

When Captain Phillip was sent to Australia the letters patent stipulated there was to be no slavery. So in 1788, the year John Newton published Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, Australia was one of the few countries where slavery was unlawful. That is something to be honoured as part of the story of Australia as a successful social experiment by the British government.

The second reason is that the Abolition of Slavery Act 1833 effectively began the era when it became accepted around the world that owning another person was universally wrong and that all people had inherent worth as people. This is a fundamental cultural value, and it was asserted and legislated by classical liberals and conservatives - our intellectual ancestors. Surely this is one commemoration that no one can take exception to.

Other dates

We still don't have a set date for the postponed Matt Barrie function, however we do have three other functions planned.

PNG Independence Day

Monday September 16, Hon Peter O'Neill CMG, former PM of Papua New Guinea, will deliver a lecture on the anniversary of PNG's independence. Australia played an honourable role in the management of PNG, and we believe Australia needs to play a larger role in the Indo-Pacific region - our status as a rich power dictates it, and our security demands it.

McIlwraith Lecture

Our annual McIlwraith Lecture will be held on October 16 at Victoria Park in the Ballroom. Guest speaker is Maha Sinnathamby AM, the founder of Springfield, Australia's newest city. Housing should be a big issue in the state election, and few have done as much as Mr Sinnathamby to house Australians in good quality housing at a reasonable price. The McIlwraith Lecture is named after Sir Thomas McIlwraith, an entrepreneurial early premier of Queensland. He also claimed PNG for the British crown to forestall the Germans. Imagine how events might have turned-out if he hadn't forced the British government's hands.

Climate The Movie (The Cold Truth)

We will be screening a matinee during the September School Holidays of Climate: The Movie (the Cold Truth). There will be a Q&A afterwards with Dr Peter Ridd. This is an opportunity to expose your young friends and relatives to some home truths on climate from an eminent panel of scientists , including Richard Lindzen, John Clauser, Steve Koonin, Nir Shaviv, Willie Soon, Henry Svensmark and many more, topped-off by the opportunity to further explore the issues with Peter Ridd.

So mark these dates down and when the booking sites are live I will let you know.

And don't forget the details of our Emancipation Day Breakfast

Date: Thursday August 1, at 7:00 for 7:30 am.
Venue: Tattersall's Club, 215 Queen Street, Brisbane
Tickets: General Admission $75, AIP mebers $65, Pensioners and Students $60. Tables of 10 $650. (All tickets include a hot breakfast)
Bookings: RSVP Tuesday July 30, 2024. To book: click here.

Kind regards,

GRAHAM YOUNG
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR