 Now ladies and gentlemen it's customary to have a leading person in the community, a good speaker, to come and give the occasional address. And I have to tell you I've given a lot of graduations or been involved in them. Some speeches have been good, some have been not so good. But tonight I'm prepared to guarantee it's going to be an excellent one because the occasional address is to be delivered by one of my favourites, Dr Michael Fullilove AM. Over the past two decades Dr Fullilove has played a leading role in the establishment and development of the Lowey Institute. He wrote the Institute's feasibility study for Sir Frank Lowey in 2002 and he served as the director of its Global Issues program from 2003 until his appointment as executive director in 2012. He's also worked as a lawyer, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington DC and an advisor to Prime Minister Paul Keating. He remains a non-resident senior fellow at Brookings and serves on the advisory council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Dr Fullilove writes widely on Australian foreign policy, US foreign policy and global issues in a wide variety of publications. He's a sought after speaker and we're very lucky to have him here this evening. He's also a commentator who is widely quoted. I am delighted when I read that he is a graduate of our university but also I must say a few others such as Sydney. He was also a Rhodes scholar at some other university called Oxford and he also there completed both a master's degree and a doctorate in international relations. In 2015 Dr Fullilove delivered the Boyer lectures and if you haven't listened to them you still can and they're absolutely marvellous. He is the author and editor of many books and publications but I decided there's too long a list and time is getting away from us. In 2019 Dr Fullilove was appointed a member of the Order of Australia for significant service to international relations. It's a great honor for me and I'm absolutely delighted to invite Dr Michael Fullilove AM to speak to us. Chancellor, acting dean, distinguished guests, graduates and families. I'm honored to be giving this occasional address this evening and I must say I'm delighted to be able to finally attend a graduation ceremony at this university at this law school which I myself attended. I missed mine because by the time the ceremony came around I was overseas studying for another degree. So let me say thank you David Gonski for finally giving me my afternoon tea albeit a quarter of a century later and to those sitting in front of me let me say congratulations. What a tremendous achievement it is to graduate from one of the very best law schools in the world. All of those classes, all of those moots, stewvacs, exams, all of those torts and contracts and clauses they've all paid off and congratulations to your families who are sitting in the audience you probably feel like you sat many of those exams yourself. So well done. As David mentioned I had a great time at this law school. I was here in the mid 1990s when John Nyland was the Vice Chancellor. The university had real energy and momentum as it does now. The students were diverse and interesting. The law school was brimming with superb teachers such as Margaret Stone, Mark Aronson and the late great George Winterton and I admired its guiding commitment to social justice. Education is a bridge across which people walk to a better richer more interesting future and universities like this one in particular with an egalitarian spirit serve a democratic function. If like me you are the first person in your immediate family to attend university you know what I mean. And now you are about to step off that bridge on to the land and let me tell you that the fields are green on this side. I'm sure that student life during a pandemic hasn't been much fun but I promise you the world is a tremendous place. I've been out in the world now for 25 years so I thought it might be useful to share with you three lessons that I've learned. David had two but I have to one up him so I have three. Let me say I'm conscious that I'm the one standing between you all and about 350 graduation dinners so I'm going to keep it brief. Here are fully loves three lessons for life. First put your hand up in life the world doesn't reach down and pluck you from the back of the auditorium. If you want to do the things you love then you need to have a go and brilliant young men and women like you should aim high. I've had a lot of luck in my life but the most enjoyable and satisfying opportunities I've had are ones that I helped to make for myself. When I was in my early 20s in fact in the middle of law school I talked my way into a job as the assistant speech writer to Prime Minister Paul Keating. After I graduated from Oxford I talked my way into a volunteer job at the UN mission in East Timor and a few years later bored of my work as a lawyer and a management consultant I talked my way into a meeting with Frank Lowey a great friend of this university with a pitch a pitch for a small think tank that would look at Australia's place in the world and fortunately for me Mr Lowey was himself looking to give a gift to mark the 50th anniversary of his arrival in Australia and Sir Frank listened to me listened to what I said and he replied I don't want to do that but I might like to do something bigger. Now that is not a reply that you often get when you are pitching an idea to a philanthropist but Mr Lowey asked me to write a feasibility study for a new institute. He told me that when he travelled abroad he combed the newspapers for references to Australia but he found only stories about shark attacks and tennis players and he said I want Australia to be known for its deeds and its ideas and when he founded the Lowey Institute he gave us two missions to bring the world to Australia and to take Australia to the world. 18 years later the institute is one of the world's best think tanks we have a distinguished board including your Chancellor our research is read in capitals around the region and around the globe we've hosted leaders from Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson to Joe Biden none of that would have been possible without the generosity and public spiritedness of the Lowey's and certainly I would not have been part of the fun if I hadn't put my hand up. Australia is Clive James once wrote the birthplace of the fortunate but you are responsible for most of your own good fortune you should try to shape your circumstances trusting in your abilities and knowing that Providence favours those who help themselves my second piece of advice is this go for the psychic income I told you that I was an advisor to Prime Minister Keating when I was a young person and I can tell you to work for a brave and imaginative Prime Minister at the peak of his powers was a huge privilege I learned a lot I hung on his every word and one day Mr Keating took me aside to give me some advice he said you don't get much fine much financial income out of public life but you get good psychic income now Keating was talking about politics but these days there are lots of different ways you can engage in public service you can work for a non-profit you can serve on a community board you can do pro bono legal work you can speak up for those who can't speak up for themselves I'm lucky enough to spend my days thinking and writing about how a country should conduct itself in the world believe me I'm not against financial income anyone with a mortgage or school fees to pay is a fan of financial income but personally I derive the greatest personal satisfaction from working in the public interest to me psychic income has the greatest value third and finally focus on the people you love in the end is my mom often tells me we're just a bag of bones true happiness doesn't come from professional accomplishments though you clearly have many it comes from looking after and being with the people to whom you are closest love your parents and your siblings have kids if you can kids are great stay close to the the people sitting beside you today many of my best friends are people I met at university and if you can find someone to walk with and beside throughout your life in my case that's my wife Gillian whom I met in Oxford the year after I left this law school I'll tell you how we met in 1998 Javier Solana the secretary general of NATO gave a speech to the Oxford Union the debating society at Oxford and I was sitting up in the gods and Solana gave a long somewhat boring speech my attention wavered and my eyes wandered and I saw an attractive young woman with curly hair and just as I looked down at her she looked up at me and gave me a big smile now I didn't meet Gillian that night but a few weeks later I saw her at a party and I went across to introduce myself and a courtship ensued and a couple of months later we were having a candlelit dinner and we were at that point in the relationship some of you know it where you say what did you think when we first met and what did you think and what did your friends say and I looked at Gillian I said darling the moment our eyes met at that Solana speech I knew this was something special and Gillian looked very confused and she replied were you at that speech so like I said in life you have to put your hand up so there you have it ladies and gentlemen fully loves three life lessons put your hand up go for the psychic income and focus on the people you love if you employ them will you succeed yes you will 98 and three quarter percent guaranteed professor Lynch knows his constitutional law but dr. Zeus knew about life and so ladies and gentlemen let me finish in this way you're off to great places today is your day your mountain is waiting so get on your way thank you