New lecture series addresses Australia’s economic recovery from COVID-19

Empty Melbourne street — The six-week series will address the challenges and opportunities Australia faces as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Image: Benice Melis/Unsplash

The University of Melbourne is launching a new online lecture series this week called Reset: Restoring Australia after the Great Crash of 2020, featuring renowned economist Professor Ross Garnaut.

The six-week series will address the challenges and opportunities Australia faces as it emerges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It will take place each Wednesday at 5pm (AEST) starting 20 May and is open to the public.

The series will cover topics including the onset and global impact of the pandemic, the effects of COVID-19 on democratic capitalism and the challenge of restoring high levels of employment and incomes in an economy which has experienced a collapse of productivity. It will also look at how embracing the opportunities of the low carbon world economy can accelerate Australia’s recovery.

Professor Garnaut said: “The coronavirus pandemic has caused the world to enter its deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Despite good management of the spread of the virus domestically, Australia is affected more than other developed countries, because of the structure of its economy and its location in a region of vulnerable developing countries.

“Shocks of this magnitude throw history from its established course. As we struggle to overcome the coronavirus challenge, we can plan for an Australia that has strengths beyond those with which we entered the current trials.”

Professor Garnaut is a Professorial Research Fellow in Economics at the University’s Faculty of Business and Economics. He is the author or editor of 48 books, including Superpower: Australia's Low-Carbon Opportunity, in addition to numerous articles in scholarly journals and books on international economics, public finance, and economic development.

Throughout his career Professor Garnaut has held a number of influential political and economic positions including senior economic adviser to Prime Minister Bob Hawke (1983–85), Australia's ambassador to China (1985–88), and Chairman of the Primary Industry Bank of Australia (1989–94).

Find more information about the lecture series.