Hon Richard Marles MP

Richard Marles is currently the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, Minister for Defence and the Federal Member for Corio.

Richard’s previous appointments include Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for National Reconstruction, Employment, Skills and Small Business, Shadow Minister for Science, Shadow Minister for Defence, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Minister of Trade, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry, and Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Affairs.

HE Ambassador Kazuhiro Suzuki

Ambassador SUZUKI Kazuhiro was appointed as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Australia in March 2023. Preceding this assignment, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Republic of Turkey from October 2020 to April 2023.
 
He began his career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1986. During his time in the Foreign Ministry, he has held a variety of positions, including Principal Deputy Director in charge of the Korean Peninsula, and Senior Coordinator in the Foreign Policy Bureau. One of his overseas postings was as a Political Counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in the People’s Republic of China from 2004 to 2007. From August 2007 to October 2013, he served as Director for Japan-U.S. Security Affairs, Director for Embassy and Consulate Management, and Director of Aid Policy and Management for the International Cooperation Bureau. He served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ethiopia and Permanent Representative of Japan to the African Union from December 2013 until September 2016, simultaneously acting as the Co-Chairman of the African Union Partners Group in the diplomatic corps of Addis Ababa.
 
From September 2016 to January 2018, he served as Minister for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. From January 2018 to July 2020, he was Assistant Minister/Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
 
He holds a Bachelor of International Relations from the University of Tokyo, a Master in Political Science from Stanford University and Master of International Affairs from Columbia University.

The Hon. Madeleine King MP

Madeleine King was first elected to Federal Parliament in 2016 as the Member for Brand in Western Australia, and has been re-elected in 2019, 2022 and 2025. She serves as the Minister for Resources and the Minister for Northern Australia. Madeleine previously held the positions of Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs, Shadow Minister Assisting for Small Business, Shadow Minister Assisting for Resources, Shadow Minister for Trade, and Shadow Minister for Resources.  

Prior to entering Parliament, Madeleine worked as a solicitor in private practice before moving into the higher education sector as a lawyer and then as Chief of Staff at The University of Western Australia. Madeleine was the founding executive and Chief Operating Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre between 2012 and 2016, where she helped to bring a unique Western Australian perspective to international discussion on Australia’s role in the emerging Indo-Pacific region.  

Madeleine has strong personal links with her seat of Brand, which includes the major centres of Rockingham and Kwinana, having grown up in the area and attended local public schools.  

Read the Hon. Madeleine King MP’s full speech here.

Tetsu Murayama

Tetsu Murayama is Managing Director, Country Chair Australia after taking up the position in April 2023. Tetsu joined INPEX in 2005 and moved to Australia in June 2019 to take the role of Vice President Corporate before being promoted to Senior Vice President Corporate in September 2020.

Prior to his role in Australia, Tetsu was General Manager Corporate Strategy and Planning at INPEX headquarters in Tokyo.

From 2008 to 2013, Tetsu was the Business Development Manager who delivered several upstream project transactions including the Ichthys LNG Project strategic divestment. He was seconded to Exxon Neftegas Limited, the Operator of the Sakhalin-1 Project, from 2001 to 2007 and based in
Houston, Texas.

Tetsu graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, with a Bachelor of Economics in 1991. In 1997, he received a Master of Science (Management) from the Arthur D. Little School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts, currently known as Hult International Business School.

Tetsu is a member of the Japanese Association of Western Australia.

Professor Gordon Flake

Professor Gordon Flake is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia and one of the world’s leading authorities on strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. With more than 35 years of experience spanning the US foreign policy community and Australia’s Indian Ocean region, he is widely recognised for his expertise on the Korean Peninsula, US politics and foreign policy, and the evolving strategic relationships that are shaping the Indo-Pacific.

Since establishing the Perth USAsia Centre in 2014, Professor Flake has played a pivotal role in strengthening ties between Australia, the United States and the broader Indo-Pacific, leading the growth of major international conferences and establishing high-level diplomatic and policy dialogues on issues of shared strategic importance. A prolific author and sought-after media commentator, his analysis has appeared in leading international publications including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, as well as across Australia’s media landscape.

Professor Flake also serves in several prominent strategic leadership roles, including as a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia and a board member of the United States Studies Centre and the Australia Korea Foundation. Prior to joining the Centre, he held senior positions with the Mansfield Foundation, the Atlantic Council of the United States and the Korea Economic Institute of America. Fluent in both Korean and Laotian, Professor Flake brings a truly international perspective to some of the most important geopolitical and economic conversations shaping our region today.

Clare Pope

Clare Pope specialises in energy and resources M&A and project development, including renewable energy and energy transition.

Clare has 20 years’ experience advising clients on a range of energy and resources transactions, as well as major project development. Clare advises clients on sale and purchase agreements, farm-ins, joint ventures, Production Sharing Agreements, State Agreements, oil and gas and LNG supply agreements, royalty agreements, project development, power purchase agreements, commercial contracting, infrastructure access and sharing agreements and other resources and infrastructure related documentation.

Clare has particular expertise in relation to energy transition and has advised on the development of a number of renewable energy projects, carbon capture and storage projects, hydrogen projects including green and low carbon projects and ammonia projects, as well as projects that generate carbon credits such as ACCU and PURO credits. Clare also advised on the world’s first carbon neutral condensate cargo from Western Australia’s Pluto Project.

Clare has advised clients in relation to their activities globally, including in Australia, Africa, South East Asia, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Europe and former CIS states. Clare has worked in Perth, London, Tokyo, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.

Daein Cha

Daein Cha brings over 25 years of international experience across the energy and resources sectors. He has held senior roles in LNG business development, upstream project management, and commodity sales and trading at Tokyo Gas and Chevron, where he led multi-billion-dollar project development, investment management, and commercial negotiations across the Asia-Pacific region.

Daein is the Founder and Managing Director of deepC Store (dCS), an Australian-based developer of commercial-scale offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. He also serves as Senior Projects Manager at the Future Energy Exports Cooperative Research Centre (FEnEx CRC), contributing to R&D activities support the decarbonisation of LNG exports and the scaling of clean hydrogen production for Australia. In addition, he is a Director of Transborders Energy, a mid-scale gas resource commercialisation company, and Deputy Chair of Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage Network Australia (CCUSNA), a national member-based organisation advancing Australian CCUS industry development.

Daein holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management from the International Christian University in Tokyo and an MBA from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He is a Certified Cost Professional (CCP) through AACE International and a member of the Association of International Energy Negotiators (AIEN) and the Society of Decision Professionals.

Michaela Browning

Michaela has served as CEO and Partner for Asia Pacific at Brunswick Group since April 2024, driving strategy for the firm in-region while overseeing client engagement and advisory.

Michaela was previously Vice President and the Regional Head of Government and Public Policy for Asia Pacific at Google, across all its business groups, managing the company’s interactions with governments, institutional and corporate policy partners and civil society stakeholders in the region. She also sat on the Asia Pacific Operations, Global Affairs and Risk leadership committees.

Michaela held a range of senior positions in the Australian government prior to this, including as a senior diplomat of more than 27 years with a focus on Asia, trade and security. This included roles as Consul General for Hong Kong and Macau (2017-2020), inaugural CEO of the National Foundation of Australia China relations (2020), leading global investment promotion and trade deal teams across established markets at the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (2015-2017), a trade negotiator at the WTO and on the Australia USA and Australia Singapore Free Trade Agreements, and as Senior International Adviser to ministers for Defence and Foreign Affairs.

Michaela is a Prime Minister-appointed Australian representative to the APEC Business Advisory Council where she chairs the Finance and Economics Working Group, and a Non-Executive Director of the board of Singtel Optus. She also sits on the board of BlueForgeAlliance Australia, the Australia Japan Business Co-Operation Committee, and Asia Society Australia.

She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) and Masters in Foreign Affairs and Trade from Monash University.