The Forum Day (3. October 2008)
The 2008 Australian Conference of Economists introduces a new forum day to bring together economists from government, the private sector and academia. This forum is being run in conjunction with the Australian Transport Research Forum and will focus on finding solutions to major problems of the day.
The day will feature a wide range of speakers.
The key speakers are:
Ian Macfarlane
Ian Macfarlane AC was the sixth Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, immediately preceding the current Governor. He is a Keynote speaker at ACE2008 courtesy of Goldman Sachs JBWere.
Ian was educated at Monash University and tutored in economics there before joining the RBA in 1970. From 1971-72 he worked at the Institute of Economics and Statistics at Oxford University. Following this, he then moved to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris, where he served until 1978, before returning to the RBA. He became head of the bank's Research Department in 1988, Assistant Governor (Economic) in 1990, Deputy Governor in 1992 and Governor in 1996 for 10 years until 2006.
The former Governor is no stranger to open discussions on difficult economic topics. He is currently a director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy and will speak on the difficulties of managing an economy in the modern era.
Warren Hogan
Warren Hogan is no stranger to a financial crisis. He recently retired as a director of Westpac Banking Corporation having survived the troubles of the early 1990’s. Edna Carew’s tell all book “Westpac: The Bank that Broke the Bank” paint Warren as one of the few to maintain steady judgement during those difficult days. He was also a director of AMP.
He has previously studied the collapse of Barings Bank and published a definitive paper in 1996.
He joined the School of Finance and Economics at UTS in 1998 as an Adjunct Professor. For the previous 30 years Warren had been a Professor of Economics at the University of Sydney.
Peter Doherty
Peter Doherty is an Australian Veterinary Surgeon and researcher in the field of medicine. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1996, and was named Australian of the Year in 1997.
Peter's research focuses on the immune system, and his Nobel work described how the body's immune cells protect against viruses. He and Rolf M. Zinkernagel, the co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, discovered how T cells recognize their target antigens in combination with major proteins.
He is passionate about the need for future research and can shed light on what sits behind a quality research process, and obtaining funding for it.
Michael Roth
Michael Roth’s career has focussed on transport policy. Initially he worked in the Queensland rail industry on projects to improve passenger and freight train services and financial returns. He then moved to Queensland Transport to become more involved with the powerful fiscal and policy levers available to governments as they construct, regulate and operate the transport system. Michael developed policies to address urban congestion and climate change, including contributions to COAG Reviews and establishing joint federal, state and local government-funded initiatives.
As Executive Manager Public Policy for the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland (RACQ), Michael has contributed to the development of the national On the Road to Greener Motoring climate change policy adopted by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) and its member clubs. He is currently leading research into biofuels, energy security, fuel pricing, fuel tax reform and infrastructure funding.