The Australian American Leadership Dialogue (AALD) has been held every year since 1993, alternating between Washington D.C. and Australian cities.

2018 marked the Centennial, “100 Years of Mateship” between our two nations. To commemorate this achievement, the 2018 Leadership Dialogue Forum was held in Washington DC and explored the ways in which Australia and the United States can preserve and strengthen the political and economic ties that bind them.

The COVID-19 pandemic and global economic crisis are bringing serious and lasting effects on our societies, economies, and our governing entities at local, state, tribal, and federal levels. As we face global challenges to democracy, the importance of the Leadership Dialogue in facilitating discussions surrounding the geopolitical, economic, and social challenges that underpin the framework of our civil society has never been more important.

Since 1992, leaders of multiple demographics have gathered at Leadership Dialogues in various cities across our two nations to shape the direction of the
bilateral relationship.

These programmes allow a rich and ongoing dialogue to develop across a wide range of themes, including: economics and trade, security and defence, foreign policy, domestic politics, innovation and technology, energy and climate, health, cyber security, new collar work and emerging social impact issues.

The bilateral and bipartisan nature of the Leadership Dialogue facilitates the pragmatic and free-flowing exchange of ideas that has become a hallmark of our events. The high calibre of discussion and debate leads to the formation of support for strategic policy in both countries.