2025 Laki Jayasuriya Oration
Migration and the National Interest: Economy, Society, Sovereignty

Emeritus Professor Laksiri (Laki) Jayasuriya (1931-2018) was an intellectual, policy and campaigning pioneer. As the first Asian professor at The University of Western Australia, he founded the UWA Department of Social Work and Social Policy, and made significant contributions to the development of social policy. Upon his appointment by the Whitlam Government to the Immigration Advisory Council in 1973, he was amongst the key architects of Australia’s Multicultural Policy. A staunch supporter of positive engagement with Asia and the Indian Ocean region, Laki challenged historic assumptions about the country’s European identity.

The Oration has been established as an annual UWA Public Policy Institute event to reflect and expand on the work of the late Professor Jayasuriya, and, in particular, to highlight contemporary issues of racism, migration, social and cultural diversity and political reform.

The UWA Public Policy Institute invites you to attend the 2025 Laki Jayasuriya Oration, to be delivered by Senator Varun Ghosh, Parliament of Australia: ‘Migration and the National Interest: Economy, Society, Sovereignty’.

The discussion and development of migration policy in Australia is complex, emotive, contested, and deeply political. As anti-immigration policies and rhetoric gain momentum around the world, it is far from certain that Australia’s migration program will retain community support. This oration will examine approaches to migration in Australia through the prism of national interest and consider questions related to our economy, society, and sovereignty. It will also consider aspects of the debate about migration in Australia and its implications for our multicultural society.

Keynote Speaker | Senator Varun Ghosh

Varun Ghosh is a Labor Senator for Western Australia, a contributing writer to the Australian Book Review and a cricket tragic.

Prior to entering politics, Senator Ghosh was a barrister at Francis Burt Chambers in Perth with a wide-ranging practice in commercial, financial and industrial disputes as well as equity, administrative law, and constitutional law.

Senator Ghosh also worked as a senior associate in litigation at King & Wood Mallesons in Perth; a legal consultant at the World Bank in Washington D.C. advising in relation to financial and insolvency policy; and an associate in the banking team at White & Case LLP in New York. He has also taught administrative and constitutional law at the University of Western Australia.

He has a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) and a Bachelor of Law (First Class Honours) from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Law degree from the University of Cambridge, where he studied on a Frank Downing Law Scholarship.

Contact the host of 2025 Laki Jayasuriya Oration with Senator Varun Ghosh