NSW Election 2019: Big ideas for the next government - Sydney - Grattan Institute

NSW Election 2019: Big ideas for the next government - Sydney

In this Forward Thinking event, Grattan Institute’s budget, energy, and transport and cities experts considered the issues in their policy area and nominate the choices that would really make a difference to NSW’s future. The…

08.02.2019

NSW voters goes to the polls next month, with the state budget under pressure as property prices fall, the state government in dispute with the Commonwealth over energy and climate-change policy, and parts of Sydney feeling the squeeze as the population booms. The opinion polls suggest it’s a tight race, but what are the big policy questions people should consider before they vote. And what should be the key priorities of the next government, whoever wins?

In this Forward Thinking event, Grattan Institute’s budget, energy, and transport and cities experts considered the issues in their policy area and nominate the choices that would really make a difference to NSW’s future. The discussion drew on Grattan’s State Orange Book, which identifies policy priorities for state and territory governments across the nation.

Speakers

Danielle Wood is a Program Director at the Grattan Institute. Her research and advocacy efforts focus on tax and budget policy, intergenerational inequality and institutional reform. Danielle previously worked as a Principal Economist at the ACCC, a Senior Consultant at NERA Economic Consulting and as a Senior Research Economist at the Productivity Commission. She is the National Chair of the Women in Economics Network and she sits on the Central Council of the Economics Society of Australia.

Tony Wood has been Energy Program Director at Grattan since 2011 after 14 years working at Origin Energy in senior executive roles. From 2009 to 2014 he was also Program Director of Clean Energy Projects at the Clinton Foundation, advising governments in the Asia-Pacific region on effective deployment of large-scale, low-emission energy technologies. In 2008, he was seconded to provide an industry perspective to the first Garnaut climate change review.

Marion Terrill is a leading policy analyst with experience that ranges from authoring parts of the 2010 Henry Tax Review to leading the design and development of the MyGov account. She has provided expert analysis and advice on labour market policy for the Commonwealth Government, the Business Council of Australia and at the Australian National University. She joined the Grattan Institute in April 2015 to establish the Transport Program, and has published on investment in transport infrastructure, cost overruns, value capture, congestion and discount rates

Moderator

Paul Austin, Editor at Grattan, worked for many years as a journalist and editor at Fairfax and News Corporation. He reported from the Canberra and Spring Street press galleries, and was at various times Deputy Editor and Opinion Editor of both The Age and The Australian newspapers. He won a Quill Award for best deadline reporting and was highly commended in the Walkley Awards for best feature writing and the Quill Awards for best columnist. More recently he has been an independent media and communications consultant, specialising in speech writing, editing and strategic and political advice.