The 2025 Laurie Carmichael Lecture was delivered by former Senator the Hon. Doug Cameron on Wednesday 9 September 2025.

Speaking to a packed house Doug Cameron paid tribute to his friend, colleague, and mentor Laurie Carmichael

"working-class hero, public intellectual, unionist, peace activist, educator and great Australian.”

In the speech, entitled  Australian Sovereignty and the Path to Peace, Doug Cameron challenges Australia’s ongoing commitment to AUKUS and advocates that it is

“timely to critically analyse Australia’s political and industrial capitulation to militarism and warmongering – disguised as defending Australia”.

Doug Cameron reminds us that

“It will be working-class families and their communities who pay the price as mind-boggling amounts of public funds are expended on subsidising the US and UK military industrial complexes.”

The speech concludes with a wide ranging set of policy recommendations for the Albanese Government.

The text of Doug Cameron's speech is available here 

On Thursday September 05 2024, the Carmichael Centre hosted the third annual Laurie Carmichael Lecture in partnership with RMIT’s Business and Human Rights Centre. The lecture was delivered by Professor Emeritus Allan Fels AO, inaugural chairman of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), on the topic of ‘Power, Profits, and Price Gouging’. Professor Fels was introduced by Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU, and the event was chaired by Emeline Gaske, new National Secretary of the ASU.

Read Professor Allan Fels' speech here.

On Thursday September 05 2024, the Carmichael Centre hosted the third annual Laurie Carmichael Lecture in partnership with RMIT’s Business and Human Rights Centre. The lecture was delivered by Professor Emeritus Allan Fels AO, inaugural chairman of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), on the topic of ‘Power, Profits, and Price Gouging’. Professor Fels was introduced by Sally McManus, Secretary of the ACTU, and the event was chaired by Emeline Gaske, new National Secretary of the ASU.

The following article on the lecture was published on RMIT's website on September 06:

On Wednesday August 16, 2023, Sharan Burrow AC delivered the second annual Laurie Carmichael Lecture at RMIT University in Melbourne. Her lecture was titled "Global Workers Solidarity for a Peaceful, Sustainable World".

Ms Burrow spoke on the ongoing legacy of Laurie Carmichael's vision for Australian skills and industry policy, as well as his leadership in the trade union movement.

Drawing from this legacy, as well as her experience as a national and international union leader, Sharan Burrow proclaimed that once again the world is facing a "Laurie moment": where workers and trade unions can take a leading role in redesigning their industries and economies to respond to existential social, economic, and environmental challenges.

She concluded her speech by declaring: "Solidarity matters!"

Read Sharan Burrow's 2023 Laurie Carmichael Lecture HERE.

Nobel Laureate, former World Bank Chief Economist, and best-selling author Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz delivers the inaugural Laurie Carmichael Lecture on the topic "The Economic Benefits of Trade Unions".