 Chancellor Gareth Evans. Gareth, you can still draw a media pack, can't you? Vice-Chancellor Ian Young, delighted to be at ANU Always. I remember the last occasion, we also had a crowd of students who were delighted to see me. And Michael Wesley, the director of the school. Michael has been a great source of advice and support since I became foreign minister. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we are paying tribute to the life and times of Coral Bell as we name the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs. Good public policy requires open and honest debate and the healthy competition of ideas. The Australian National University and this school continues to be at the forefront of the public discourse on issues that shape the direction of this country. In the field of foreign policy, this school has been instrumental in shaping thinking on issues such as China's re-emergence and the future of Asia, arms control, women's empowerment in the Pacific, peace building, transnational crime, a whole host of foreign policy and diplomatic issues more generally. As foreign minister, I have held what the Americans call deep dives on specific foreign policy concerns. And I have used this school's policy experts including Greg Feeley, Nicholas Farrelly, Anthony Reagan as we delve into potential foreign policy issues in our region in greater depth so that we can better inform our public policy. And I really do want to thank the ANU for taking part in these deep dives. I do look at this university as the federal government's own university and resource but you have always responded to my requests for access to your experts. This school emerged in the immediate period following World War II to undertake research in areas of national importance as we saw it then particularly around the Pacific and South East Asia. Its establishment reflected the change in the nation's understanding of our place in international affairs. And the Second World War pressed upon our nation's leaders the importance of developing a greater understanding of the region around us. The region that Sir Robert Menzies referred to as the near north rather than the far east. I've been known to quote the words of Sir Percy Spender, Minister for External Affairs on the eve of his departure to a meeting of the Commonwealth nations in Colombo in 1950. And I think it's worthwhile using these words again to demonstrate the thinking at that time. This is what he said, geographically Australia is next door to Asia and our destiny as a nation is irrevocably conditioned by what takes place in Asia. This means that our future depends to an ever increasing degree upon the political stability of our Asian neighbours, upon the economic wellbeing of Asian people and upon the development of understanding and friendly relations between Australia and Asia. Whilst it remains true that peace is indivisible and what takes place in any part of the world may affect us our vital interests are closer to home. It is therefore in Asia and the Pacific that Australia should make its primary effort in the field of foreign relations and so it is today. Interestingly it was the meeting that he attended in Colombo that gave birth to the Colombo Plan when thousands and thousands of students from the region came to Australia to live and study between the 1950s and the 1980s. And of course we have now revived, re-energised and reversed the Colombo Plan as a new Colombo Plan and this year alone about three and a half thousand Australian undergraduates will live and study and work in countries in our region in fact 38 countries are now members of our new Colombo Plan and I thank the ANU for its involvement in making it such a success. Academics like Coral Burl who made up the research school in its formative days drove Australia's new engagement with this region and Coral's life is a noteworthy one. From Sydney Girls High to Sydney University Coral's story is one of hard work, perseverance and an immense appetite for learning. As her brother once noted, she played no sport, had no hobbies, she studied. In 1945 she was one of ten cadet diplomats and the only female to be offered a cadetship at the then Department of External Affairs and that was a remarkable achievement given the times. As it turned out it was within academia far removed from the demands of demanding foreign ministers that she made her mark. From her beginning as an ANU academic with a close connection to the department's house in this school Coral Burl came to be regarded as one of the great international relations scholars of Australia and the world. Although apparently small in stature she has been described as a giant of the Australian foreign policy scene. In addition to her reputation as a distinguished scholar she was also highly respected by policy makers nationally and internationally. In fact Keith Waller, a former secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade described her work as quote bringing new luster to the reputation of Australia in all countries where people follow the serious study of foreign affairs. But perhaps the greatest admire of her work was Henry Kissinger the former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State during the Nixon Administration. In a personal letter to Coral Burl, Kissinger said that her writing displayed quote more understanding of US motivations and policies than almost anything else I have ever read. No other commentator has been as perceptive about our policies related to each other, the alternatives we face and the disasters we are seeking to avoid. Coral Burl paved the way for women entering the field of international politics. Today some of Australia's finest ambassadors are women of the calibre of Lyndall Sacks in Iraq, Francis Adamson in Beijing Jillian Bird at the United Nations. In the world of diplomacy women are no longer witnesses to history but participants. Now Australia has come a long way since Coral Burl stepped foot in the Department of External Affairs as a young cadet in 1945. Mind you it would take another 29 years before Australia appointed first female ambassador and well another 68 years for us to appoint the first female foreign minister but I digress. We can only wonder what could have been were more women of Coral Burl's skill and talent given the chance to be diplomats in those post-war years. It gives me enormous pleasure to honour Coral's legacy tonight by officially launching the Coral Burl School of Asia Pacific Affairs. I'm excited by the potential to further engage with this school as we embrace the great foreign policy challenges of the 21st century in our region and beyond. Congratulations to the school, to ANU.