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We need to get to as wide an audience as possibleDear , If we want to win the battle of ideas we need to be recruiting new believers, not just talking to ourselves. The McIlwraith Lecture gives us that chance. It’s an attractive event with an outstanding speaker who has a great story to tell. This year that speaker is Steve Baxter, a successful entrepreneur in his own right initially through SE Net and Pipe Networks.He is also a creator of entrepreneurs through venture capital companies TEN13 and Beaten Zone and well-known from his time as a panelist on The Shark Tank. What’s more Steve is a proud and eloquent libertarian which puts him on the same side of issues as us. That means it should be easy to invite family and friends along and it is also an opportunity to reach out even further, particularly to a younger generation. Over the last few years, due to the generosity of a number of our members, we have had a couple of tables of school students at the dinner. We intend to do that again this year, but we need to know how many scholarships we can offer now so we can give the schools reasonable notice. In my experience you will rarely argue someone into agreeing with you, but you can frequently inspire them to change by exposing them to stories and experiences and engaging them emotionally. We prattle on endlessly about things like the need to balance budgets and to borrow only what you can repay; or how important families and culture are to good societies; or how individual rights and freedom of speech matter more than almost anything else; but these will only register if there is an emotional hook. The point of the McIlwraith is to showcase someone who has a great story to tell to provide just that hook. If you can help spread the word by sponsoring a student, or two, please email me: graham.young@aip.asn.au. We have schools who are happy to send students and have a discounted cost of $130 per student to make this as affordable as possible. But students should be only the beginning. Why not organise a table of friends and family? Just let me know if you can, and we can book them in directly, avoiding the online booking system, and making it as easy for everyone as possible. I’ll handle their bookings personally. Details of the dinner are: Date and time: Wednesday October 29, 2025, 7:00 for 7:30 pm 
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