Women in Economics Network: Through the looking glass: the 2017 Commonwealth Budget through macro, intergenerational and gender lenses

The release date of the Commonwealth Budget is earmarked in every policy wonk’s diary because it provides a full summary of the government’s intended policies. Commentators have become reliably quick to dive deep into the implications of the suite of policies for each portfolio. However, cross-cutting discussions of how the proposed policies across all portfolios affect particular groups of people remain too rare.

This Commonwealth Budget, the Women in Economics Network invites you to join the Commonwealth Treasury and our panel of highly respected commentators in a far reaching discussion of how the suite of policies presented in the budget will affect people of different genders and generations.

We’ll be discussing who’s getting what, how we’ll be paying for it and what the market’s response is telling us about the expected long term implications of these decisions. Expert overviews of these perspectives will be followed by Q&A with our panellists, so please bring your hard hitting questions.

About the speakers

Professor Miranda Stewart is the Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the Australian National University. Miranda researches on tax law and policy, including taxation of business entities in the context of globalisation; not-for-profits; tax and development; budget laws and institutions; and legitimacy of tax reform processes and institutions nationally and internationally. She is the author or editor of many books on tax policy, including  Not for Profits Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014); Sham Transactions (Oxford University Press, 2013); Tax, Law and Development (Edward Elgar, 2013).

Before her appointment as Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Miranda was a Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne, after holding a position at New York University School of Law, Prior to that she worked in private legal practice and in the Australian Tax Office on business tax policy and legislation.

Miranda will be discussing the budget through the lens of gender.

Riki Polygenis, as NAB’s Head of Australian Economics, is responsible for formulating NAB’s Australian economic forecasts, and leads a team who specialise in analysis of the Australian economy and commodities. Riki’s team also puts together a range of surveys, including the well-respected NAB Business Surveys. Riki presents to a wide range of small business, corporate and institutional clients, providing guidance on the outlook and risks surrounding economic and financial market variables.

Riki joined NAB in mid-2015 after almost a decade at ANZ, most recently as Co-Head of Australian Economics. Riki started her career at the RBA, where she worked in various roles in the Economic Analysis Department. Riki holds a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours and a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance), both from Monash University. 

Riki will be discussing the budget from a macro perspective.

Meghan Quinn, as Deputy Secretary of the Structural Reform Group in Treasury, is responsible for providing advice to the Government on structural reform matters. The Group has responsibly for policy relating to competition, industry, infrastructure, regional development, energy, environment, communications, transport, workplace relations and regulatory reform.

Prior to her current role, Meghan was Division Head, Financial System Division in Treasury's Markets Group, Head of Secretariat for the Government's Australia in the Asian Century White Paper (based in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet), Division Head of the Macroeconomic Modelling Division and Principal Adviser for Forecasting, both based in Treasury. Meghan has extensive macroeconomic modelling and policy experience developed through her time in the Australian Treasury and the Bank of England (1996-2004). She has a Masters of Economics from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours from the University of Western Australia. She was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2009.

Meghan will be discussing the budget from a structural reform perspective.

Danielle Wood is the Australian Perspectives Fellow at the Grattan Institute. Her research and advocacy efforts focus on tax and budget policy, intergenerational inequality and competition policy.  Danielle has previously worked at the ACCC as the Principal Economist and Director of Merger Investigations, as a Senior Consultant at NERA Economic Consulting and as a Senior Research Economist at the Productivity Commission.

Danielle has a Masters of Commerce and a Masters in Competition Law from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Adelaide, all with First Class Honours. She is the National and Victorian Chair of the Women in Economics Network. She sits on the Victorian and Central Council for the Economic Society of Australia.

Danielle will be chairing the panel, and bringing an intergenerational perspective to the discussion.