The Australian Naval Institute Annual Dinner was held at Hotel Realm in Canberra on 10 May. The event was again proudly sponsored by Lockheed Martin Australia. Nearly 200 people attended the event drawn from the diplomatic corps, Defence, industry and academia. The ANI was honoured to have among the audience three RAN veterans from the world War II Pacific campaign.
During the evening the 2018 McNeil Prize was awarded by Vice Admiral Tim Barrett to Mr Andrew Whittaker, Director Naval Shipbuilding at Raytheon Australia for his outstanding contribution to capabilities of the Royal Australian Navy. The highlight of the evening was the 2018 Vernon Parker Oration. The former US Ambassador to Australia, Amb. John Berry (Rtd) gave an impassioned address which was entitled Strengthening Democracies in the 21st Century and Australia’s Leadership Opportunity.
A transcript of Amb. John Berry’s oration is available here.
