Scholars' Library: The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC on 'A Bigger Picture'
Description
For our July event, in conversation with Daniel D'Hotman (Australia-at-Large & Brasenose, 2019), the Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia (New South Wales & Brasenose 1978) will discuss his lively political memoir A Bigger Picture.
The Honourable Malcolm Turnbull AC, 29th Prime Minister of Australia (New South Wales & Brasenose 1978), Australia’s 29th Prime Minister (2015-2018) had international careers in law, business and the media before entering politics at the age of 50.
As Prime Minister, he reformed Australia’s personal income tax, education and childcare systems, oversaw the legalisation of same sex marriage and announced the construction of Snowy Hydro 2.0 the biggest pumped hydro scheme in the southern hemisphere. Mr Turnbull embarked on the largest peacetime investment in Australian defence capabilities and set out Australia’s first national cybersecurity strategy.
Globally, Mr Turnbull played a leading role in reviving the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP-11 or CPTPP) after the United States withdrew. He also struck deals with US Presidents Obama and Trump to accept refugees who tried to arrive in Australia illegally by boat.
As a young lawyer, Mr Turnbull successfully defended former MI5 agent Peter Wright against the British Government in the 1986 “Spycatcher” trial before entering business where he ran his own investment banking firm for a decade before joining Goldman Sachs as a partner in 1997. Both before and after his political career, Mr Turnbull has been a successful venture capitalist. He co founded OzEmail Limited, the first Australian tech company to be listed on the NASDAQ.
Since leaving politics, Mr Turnbull has resumed his business career. He is a senior adviser to KKR and an investor in, and adviser to, many Australian technology businesses. He is President of the International Hydropower Association and Chairman of the Green Hydrogen Organisation. Mr Turnbull speaks and writes on a range of issues including cyber security, geopolitics and renewable energy.
Daniel D'Hotman (Australia-at-Large & Brasenose, 2019) is an Australian medical doctor, ethicist and current Scholar in Residence. Born in South Africa, he grew up in Far North Queensland, which cultivated a lifelong passion for rugby league and the rainforest.
Daniel's expertise lies at the intersection of AI ethics, technology governance, healthcare, and biodiversity. After researching AI's role in mental health diagnosis and treatment at Prime Minister & Cabinet, Daniel pivoted his MBA plans to pursue a DPhil in AI Ethics. His early research on Meta's use of AI to monitor mental illness among minors was published in British Medical Journal Informatics and BMJ Leader—two years before ChatGPT.
At the onset of COVID-19, Daniel returned to Australia to launch the Blueprint Institute, an upstart centre-right think tank. As Director of Research and Operations, he gleaned insights into policy incentives and challenges faced by moderates navigating a crowded media landscape. The Institute championed a centrist liberal conservatism akin to that of Malcolm Turnbull, New Zealand's John Key and the UK's David Cameron—market-oriented, sensibly green, and tolerant.
Before returning to Oxford, Daniel served a diverse array of public and private sector clients at McKinsey & Company, where he lead analysis of frontier technologies for a billion-dollar pharmaceutical deal, modelled profitability scenarios for a joint venture in digital aged care, and drove portfolio emissions reduction at a global investment bank in South East Asia.
Daniel is an advocate for entrepreneurship, innovation and environmental conservation; he is Co-Founder and Chair of a biodiversity non-profit that is using data and novel land management techniques to regenerate over 350-acres of land in the Daintree Rainforest.