Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of New South Wales are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw.

The first event of 2024 was the 1319th Ordinary General Meeting held at the State Library of NSW on Wednesday, 7 February.  Following the OGM, a substantial audience of more than 70 people enjoyed an outstanding presentation and a lively discussion on “Productivity: what is it, and why it matters” by Emeritus Professor Roy Green AM FRSN, Special Innovation Advisor and former Dean of the Business School at UTS. 

Professor Green’s talk discussed the causes of why productivity growth has slowed across most developed economies, and more so in Australia than anywhere else. In the decade to 2020, average annual productivity growth was the lowest in 60 years at 1.1 percent, with Australia slipping down the OECD rankings. — and, last year, productivity actually went backward.  His talk addressed the causes of this malaise, identifying the policy errors over the years in Australia, and discussed what might be done to address these issues, drawing from the experience of exemplar nations. A recording of this presentation is now available on the society’s YouTube channel.