On Monday night we move ahead with our Balmoral Lecture series in online format – and it promises to be a great evening (which, like the latest parent-teacher evenings, you can enjoy on your sofa with a glass of wine in your hand!).
Our speaker, Professor Annabelle Duncan, has had a distinguished career in science and education which has taken her to unexpected places. She has been Chief of the Division of Molecular Science at the CSIRO, Vice-Chancellor of the University of New England and a government advisor on biological weapons, which led to her appointment as a biological weapons inspector with the United Nations in Iraq. She will be sharing some of her experiences from this time and reflecting on some aspects that are highly relevant today, such as how technological advances made for military purposes which can be turned to humane ends (and vice versa) and the effectiveness of international systems of weapons control.
In Senior School Assembly this week, we considered the most pressing question of international weapons control – the imminent expiry of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). As I explained to the girls, this treaty and its predecessors have regulated US and Russian nuclear weapons for decades. It has limited the number of nuclear weapons on each side and provided measures for verification and transparency, thereby reducing the risk of nuclear war, whether deliberate or accidental.
With time running out in February 2021, commentators suggest that the treaty is likely to expire (despite Russia’s offer to extend) because the USA is unwilling and/or too distracted to renew and may have other objectives with respect to China. Whatever the reason, such an outcome would mean that for the first time in fifty years, nuclear weapons would be entirely unregulated between the two greatest nuclear powers. The USA is also suggesting that nuclear testing may recommence.
Australia’s policy has always been to seek non-proliferation, disarmament and a comprehensive test ban treaty and, being a middle power, we rely on international institutions to do so. These institutions have been weakening for some time and COVID-19 has exposed further cracks in the systems that have supported globalisation and the liberal international world order.
All of which is to say that these issues – the role of diplomacy, the challenge of arms control and verification – are more relevant to Australia’s future security than they have been for many years. The current pandemic has also opened our eyes to the impact of disease and the potential power of biological weapons. So it is timely to have the opportunity to hear Professor Duncan’s talk, entitled Black Death and Yellow Rain.
Now, I’m the first to admit that the topic above is an unusual one for a school assembly. These are big issues and many would argue that they are beyond teenagers’ understanding, or at least that it would be difficult to spark a teenager’s interest in them. I don’t believe that.
If we set the bar low and expect young people to be interested only in themselves, we will find our expectations sadly fulfilled. If we never expose them to ideas that fall outside the experience of their own short lives, is it any wonder that their interests remain narrow? What a dreary vision of the future. Young people deserve more: more opportunity and more respect. Set the bar high, and they will rise to it. Yes, these issues are unfamiliar and complex. They are also important, interesting and relevant to their future lives. Why wouldn’t they be interested?
So I hope that you will register yourselves and your daughters for the lecture on Monday night here. (And that you will consider donating the normal $10 cost of a ticket for each person to Professor Duncan’s nominated charity; a pandemic is the perfect time to be thinking of the needs of vulnerable young people.) Perhaps you can have a family chat over the weekend about events post-9/11, including WMD and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. To me it seems so recent, but none of our girls were even born at the time of 9/11(!) so some background from you will help them understand both this lecture and current events in that part of the world.
Ultimately, we fail our children if they move into adult life without an expansive perspective on the world. They need to understand the opportunities, the pitfalls and the responsibilities of adult life –as individuals, as members of the Australian community and as global citizens. By exposing our girls to challenging ideas, immersing them in nuanced discussion and connecting them with inspiring people, we equip them to do just that.
Ms Elizabeth Stone
Principal