MURDOCH University has appointed Kerry Sanderson to head up a research initiative aimed at delivering a white paper on Western Australia’s future ties with Asia.
Ms Sanderson will co-chair a high-powered Murdoch Commission, which includes former Australian diplomat John McCarthy and Atlas Iron executive chairman David Flanagan, along with South Korean academic and policy adviser Chung Min Lee.
The commission is the first attempt by Murdoch to follow a similar strategy employed by Warwick University in England. Murdoch vice-chancellor Richard Higgott was recruited from Warwick two years ago.
Professor Higgott said the aim of the first Murdoch Commission was to produce evidence-based analysis of the prospects of WA in the Asian region to assist policymakers.
All of Perth’s four public universities have connections through Asia due to the high number of foreign students that attend their schools. There are also several more specialist initiatives at these tertiary institutions to improve the linkage with this market.
The University of WA has achieved significant publicity for its ‘In The Zone’ conference, having held two events that attracted business and political leaders from throughout the region.
Curtin University has its Australia-Asia-Pacific Institute, which is focused on the study of humanities and the social sciences in the region.
Formerly the boss of Fremantle Ports, Ms Sanderson has become an academic and nonexecutive director since returning from a stint as WA’s agent-general in London.
She said this was her first involvement in an enterprise like the commission, having been attracted to the idea as soon as Professor Higgott explained it to her.
Ms Sanderson was recently appointed an adjunct professor of Curtin Business School and sits on the boards of Atlas, Downer EDI, Gold Corporation, St John of God Health Care, Paraplegic Benefits Fund, Senses Foundation, and the state’s Emergency Management Committee.
“WA is brilliantly positioned,” Ms Sanderson said, speaking both of the state’s geographic location and its already formidable export links with the region.
Such connections were even more powerful given this has been dubbed the ‘Asian century’.
“But not everybody understands Asia, which is not just one but many different countries.”
She said the commission hoped to spend about a year putting together a white paper looking at the opportunities for WA over the next quarter century, as well as outlining where this state could help Asia.
Apart from those named above, the commission has recruited academics and policy experts from Indonesia, Singapore, China, India, Japan, and Australian universities to assist with the oversight of the planned report.
“I think having people from such diverse perspectives around the table we can hammer the issues out,” Ms Sanderson said.
Overall the commission has been charged with four main themes to consider and make recommendations: economic prospects; diplomacy and entrepreneurship; expertise and innovation; and security and sustainability.
Among the specific issues Ms Sanderson thought the commission’s report would look into were productivity, education, agricultural resource security and sustainability.
“We want to come up with recommendations like the Warwick papers, which had recommendations that were implemented,” she said.
“There was some disappointment with the federal government’s white paper because there were not specific recommendations.”
