2023 Tasmanian Economic Forum - Advancing prosperity and kicking goals?

Tasmanian Economic Forum 2023 Program

Thursday 2 November 2023, Sovereign Room, Hobart Function and Conference Centre

8.45 - 9.20

Registration, welcome tea and coffee

9.20 - 9.30

Welcome

9.30 - 10.30

Advancing Tasmania’s Prosperity: some insights from the 5-year Productivity Inquiry

Dr Catherine de Fontenay

Productivity Commissioner, National President, Economic Society of Australia

10.30 - 11.00

Morning tea

11.00 - 11.45

Tasmania’s demographic context in advancing productivity and prosperity through education and work

Dr Lisa Denny

Workforce Demographer, Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Social Change, University of Tasmania

11.45 - 12.30

Kicking goals?

Professor Tim Harcourt

Institute for Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology Sydney

12.30 - 1.30

Lunch

1.30 - 2.30

The Tasmanian Economy

Saul Eslake

Independent Economist, Corinna Economic Advisory, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, University of Tasmania

2.30 - 3.15

How Marinus Link will grow Tasmania

Caroline Wykamp

Chief Executive Officer, Marinus Link

3.15 - 3.30

Wrap up and close

Dr Catherine de Fontenay is a full time Commissioner with the Productivity Commission and the National President of the Economic Society of Australia.

Completing her PhD in 1998 at Stanford University, Catherine has held teaching roles at the University of New South Wales and the University of Melbourne. She has held visiting positions at Stanford University's Institute for Economic Policy Research, and the Stern School of Business, New York University. Most recently she was an Associate Professor of Economics at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne.

Her areas of research include topics in competition economics, organisational economics and development economics.

Dr Lisa Denny is a Workforce Demographer who provides research and strategic policy advice consulting services relating to education, skills, work and population change. 

Lisa is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Institute for Social Change, University of Tasmania. She is a founding member of the Tasmanian 100% Literacy Alliance and a member of the Expert Panel for the Centre of Population, Australian Treasury. She has a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), a Graduate Diploma of Education and a PhD in which she investigated Skill Utilisation in Australia. She is also a qualified secondary teacher of economics and business studies.

Professor Tim Harcourt is Industry Professor and Chief Economist at the Institute for Public Policy and Governance at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Tim’s main professional interests are International Trade, labour Markets, Climate Innovation and the Economics of Sports. Tim is also The Airport Economist – host of the program, the podcast and author of the books.

Before joining UTS, Tim was Professor of Practice in Economics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney and Chief Economist at Austrade. He has also worked for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and as an economic advisor to 3 Federal Labor Cabinet Ministers and 2 State Labor Premiers.

Saul Eslake is an independent economist, speaker, company director
and Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania. He has a First Class Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Tasmania. After graduating he worked for the Federal Treasury in Canberra, and subsequently in the Australian financial markets, including as Chief Economist at ANZ Bank (1995-2009) and Bank of America Merrill Lynch Australia (2011-2015). Since June 2015 he has been running his own economics consultancy business, Corinna Economic Advisory, from Hobart.

Caroline Wykamp is the Chief Executive Officer of Marinus Link. She is an experienced executive and authority in energy markets with over 25 years in the industry. Her expertise covers leadership, wholesale markets, financial risk, start-up, financing, product development and leading teams.

Caroline’s experience in large energy companies spans the delivery chain, from generation to retail. Her executive roles include Chief Commercial Officer at Hydro Tasmania, the largest renewable generator in Australia with the most complex energy asset portfolio.