Ross Garnaut

Ross Garnaut is an economist whose career has been built around the analysis of and practice of policy connected to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia, Asia and the Pacific. He has held senior roles in universities, business, government and other Australian and international institutions. He is Professor Emeritus within the University of Melbourne in Business and Economics. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences and a Distinguished Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia. In addition, Ross is a Distinguished Life Member of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society and also an Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. In 2009 Ross was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, from the Australian National University and in 2013 he received a Doctor of Science in Economics, honoris causa, from the University of Sydney. Ross was Chairman of the Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Program Limited from 2002 to 2012 and its nominee Director to Ok Tedi Mining Limited 2002 to 2013 (Chairman 2011-2013). He was Chairman of Lihir Gold Limited from 1995 to 2010.  Ross was Head of the Economics Department and Division of the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University for over a decade from 1989. He played leading roles from the mid-seventies until 2009 in building the Australian National University’s capacity in research and graduate education on Southeast Asia, China (including as Chairman of the China Economy and Business Program from its foundation in 1989 to 2009), and South Asia. He is the author or editor (alone or jointly with others) of 48 books in addition to numerous influential articles in scholarly journals and books on international economics, public finance, and economic development. He has been Chairman of the Editorial Boards of the journals Asian-Pacific Economic Literature and Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies since 1989. Ross is a founding Director of both the Lowy Institute of International Policy and of Asialink. He has held a number of senior Government positions, including as head of the Financial and Economic Policy Division of the Papua New Guinea Department of Finance in the years straddling Independence in 1975; principal economic adviser to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke; Australian Ambassador to China (1985-88). He has led many high-level Government Reviews and Commissions, including the preparation of the Report to the Australian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister ‘Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendency’ (1989); the Review of the Wool Industry (1993); the Review of Commonwealth-State Funding (2002); and the Garnaut Climate Change Review (2008). Ross was appointed as an independent expert advisor to the Multi-Party Climate Change Committee in September 2010 and was commissioned in November 2010 by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency to update significant elements of his 2008 Climate Change Review. He has led Australian diplomatic missions interacting at Head of Government level to Asian countries on trade policy (1984), to Korea (1989) and the ANC in South Africa. Ross has been consulted on trade policy and relations with Asia and the Pacific from time to time by the Prime Minister and senior Ministers of successive Australian governments since the Fraser Government (1975-1983). He has held positions as Chairman of the boards of large Australian and international public companies continuously since 1988, including the Bank of Western Australia, the Primary Industry Bank of Australia and Aluminium Smelters of Victoria. He was Chairman of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research from 1994 to 2000 and also held the position of Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Food Policy Research Institute (Washington DC) from 2006 to June 2010. Ross became Chairman of SIMEC ZEN Energy Technologies Pty Ltd in 2015.

Ross has been a Director of ZEN Energy since 2015.

Curriculum Vitae:

Ross Garnaut Curriculum Vitae (Long version)

Ross Garnaut Curriculum Vitae (Summary)

Recent books, papers and presentations:

Ross Garnaut. RESET: Restoring Australia after the Pandemic Recession. Black Inc. 2021.

Replacing Corporate Income Tax with a Cash Flow Tax. Ross Garnaut, Craig Emerson, Reuben Finighan, Stephen Anthony. Australian Economic Review. Volume 53, no. 4. December 2020.

RESET: Lecture 6: Restoring International Cooperation. Faculty of Business and Economics. The University of Melbourne. 24 June 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Lecture 5: Building the Superpower of the Low Carbon World Economy. Faculty of Business and Economics. The University of Melbourne. 17th June 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Lecture 4: Equity to Support Productivity-Raising Reform. Faculty of Business and Economics. The University of Melbourne. 10th June 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Lecture 3: Restoring Prosperity. Faculty of Business and Economics. The University of Melbourne. 3rd June 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Lecture 2: Dog Days. Why going back to 2019 won’t work. Faculty of Business and Economics. The University of Melbourne. 27th May 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Lecture 1: The Great Crash. Faculty of Business & Economics. The University of Melbourne. 20th May 2020. Recording available here.

RESET: Restoring Australia after the Great Crash of 2020. Webinar Series.

Bouncing back from COVID: How renewables can make Australia a manufacturing Superpower. Diplomates Podcast. Monday 11th May 2020.

Powering Up: Opportunities for Australian Manufacturing in the Era of Renewables. Australia Institute. Friday 8th May 2020

The Stimulus Summit: A renewables-led Economic Recovery. Smart Energy Council. Wednesday 6th May 2020.

Our Green Super Future. The Deal Magazine, The Australian. Friday 20th March 2020.

Australia as a Sustainability Superpower. AEGN Virtual Conference. Wednesday 18th March 2020.

How on Earth: Christiana Figueres and Ross Garnaut on Climate Solutions Now conversation. The Wheeler Centre Events. Friday 13th March 2020.

Ross Garnaut, Superpower: Australia’s low carbon opportunity, Black Inc., 2019

2018  (with Max Corden) The Economic Consequences of Mr Trump, published in The Australian Economic Review, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 17 July 2018 2018  (with Ligang Song, Cai Fang (editors)), Forty Years of Economic Reform and development, 1978 – 2018, Australian National University E-Press, Canberra, co-published with the Social Sciences Academic Press (China). 2018    (with Ligang Song, Cai Fang and Lauren Johnston (editors)), China’s New Sources of Economic Growth: Reform, Resources and Climate Change Vol 1(Chinese Version), Social Sciences Academic Press, Beijing, co – published with Australian National University E-Press, Canberra  2018    40 years of Chinese economic reform and development and the challenge of 50, Chapter 2 in Forty Years of Economic Reform and Development, 1978 – 2018, Australian National University Press, Canberra 2017    (with L. Johnston, L and L.Song, L.), Where Is the Chinese Economy Going?: A Forum on Contemporary Policy and Performance. Australian Economic Review, Wiley, University of Melbourne. 2017    (with Ligang Song, Cai Fang and Lauren Johnston (editors)), China’s New Sources of Economic Growth: Human Capital, Innovation and Technological Change Vol. 2 , Australian National University E-Press, Canberra, co-published with the Social Sciences Academic Press (China). The Economics of the Future Energy System – Renewable Energy Summit,Parliament House, Adelaide, 6 October 2016 Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy: Old Visions, New Realities – Sydney Democracy Network, The University of Sydney, 7 September 2016

Batteries Included: Fixing the Gaps in Renewable Energy – The Australian Financial Review, 2 August 2016

The Time Bombs in the Australian Economy are Just Starting to Explode – The Australian Financial Review, 26 July 2016

China’s New Normal Inches On – East Asia Forum, 11 July 2016

Address at Sir Mekere Morauta’s 70th Birthday Celebration, Brisbane, 12 July 2016