Lunchtime series: Provocations and Inspirations (October 2024)

“Inequality in Australia”

Dr Ken Henry AC
Chair, Nature Finance Council
Former Secretary to the Treasury
Former Chair, National Australia Bank

Date: Tuesday, 22 October 2024, 12.15 for 12.30 – 2.00 pm AEST
Venue: Union University and Schools Club, 25 Bent Street, Sydney (corner of Bent and Philip Streets)
Video presentation: YouTube video

Click here to register before
2.00 pm on Wednesday, 16 October

This is the first in a new, exciting series of lunchtime activities that, over a period of 12 to 18 months, will explore a highly complex topic of major importance to Australia today. The aim of the series is to explore the topic in-depth and, ultimately, to identify ways to influence the broader discourse. The series seeks to provoke and inspire action.

Aligned with this year’s Royal Society of NSW Forum topic Threats to democracy, the first topic the lunchtime series will consider is Inequality in Australia.

Inequality is one of the most contentious and complex issues that faces Australia today. It affects all of us in one way or another. It influences the political debate from many directions. It has many dimensions — income, wealth, ethnicity, religion, gender identity and where and when we were born to name but a few. Some in politics justify why some people receive more than others; others believe there should be a more equal distribution of society’s resources. In the short term, the discourse often focuses on income and wealth and, indirectly, the implications for education, healthcare, aged care, and disability. But the long-term issues are just as important and encompass intergenerational equity — what will be the consequences of climate change? Should the very rich continue to accumulate wealth at a much faster rate than the very poor?

Dr Ken Henry is ideally qualified to lead a wide-ranging discussion on this highly complex, contentious topic.

Dr Ken Henry AC is Chair of the Nature Finance Council, the Australian Climate and Biodiversity Foundation, and Wildlife Recovery Australia, and a non-executive director of Accounting for Nature Ltd and the Digital Finance CRC.

He served as the Secretary to the Treasury from 2001 to 2011. He chaired the Howard Government’s tax review taskforce in 1997-98, the Rudd Government’s tax review published in 2010, and the Gillard Government’s White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century (2011 and 2012). In 2022-23, he led the independent statutory review of the Biodiversity Conservation Act (NSW).

Dr Henry was the chair of the National Australia Bank from 2015 to 2019 (non-executive director from 2011 to 2019) and a non-executive director of the ASX and affiliated entities from 2012 to 2022. He is a Companion of the Order of Australia and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, the Australian Institute of International Affairs, and the Australia New Zealand School of Government. He has a PhD in economics from the University of Canterbury and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the University of NSW and the Australian National University.

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