MelbourneOctober 2026
You are invited to a lot of things. This one is worth five minutes.
To you, and to whoever you pass this on to,
You probably have this letter because someone thought of you. Perhaps we invited you. Perhaps a colleague forwarded it with a short note: worth a look? Either way, you may be the person who decides if your organisation is in the room on 20 April 2027. So we will be direct, and we will be brief.
If your work touches both Australia and Africa, you already know the problem. The relationships are real, but they are scattered. A trade delegation one month. A university agreement the next. A diaspora network that understands more than most briefing papers, but is rarely asked. Good people, doing good work, who almost never sit at the same table. So each time, someone starts again from the beginning.
We think that is a waste of what both continents could build together. The Australia Africa Forum is our answer: one day, once a year, where government, industry, education and community leaders sit at the same tables. It is not a conference you watch. It is a room you work in.
Why the first one matters most.
The people who show up first shape an institution. There are 300 places at the inaugural Forum. The people in them will set its agenda, sign its Charter and be recorded as its Founding Delegates, numbered in the order they register.
In ten years, someone will ask who was in the room at the start. We would like the answer to include you, or someone you chose to send.
What you take back to your desk.
- In government or a high commission
- The businesses, universities and communities that carry the relationship day to day, in one room, in one day.
- At a university
- Partners for research, students and placements, met in person instead of by email.
- In business or investment
- Three introductions our team chooses for you, with the table already booked.
- In the diaspora
- A seat where decisions about both of your homes are discussed, and where your knowledge is asked for.
- Early in your career
- A room that usually takes twenty years to get into, and a Founding number that shows you were there.
If this is not your call to make.
That is fine. We wrote this letter so it could be forwarded. If you pass it on, add one line about why it matters to your team. Your line will do more than anything we could write.
We hope to see you in the room.
P.S. Founding numbers go in order, and early bird places close on 31 December 2026. If you already know you will come, registering this week costs less and gives you a lower number.