Guest Speakers and Special Seminars

The GST distribution: are WA's complaints justified?

Robert Schwarz and Jonathan Pincus will outline how over $50b of GST monies are distributed among the states and territories. They will discuss recent developments in Commonweath Grants Commission assessments, criticisms of the GST distribution - especially those of WA - and related matters, including the proposed earmarking of GST funds for hospitals.

Robert Schwarz

Robert Schwarz is Assistant Under Treasurer (Revenue and Economics) SA Department of Treasury and Finance. He is responsible for advice on state taxation estimates and policy, Commonwealth-State financial relations in respect of general purpose funding (including submissions to the Commonwealth Grants Commission), monitoring of economic conditions, urban water charging regulation, ad hoc microeconomic matters and gambling policy. He has worked in SA Department of Treasury and Finance in his current and other roles for many years. He is a member of the GST Administration Sub Committee, and the inter-jurisdictional Housing Supply and Affordability Reform Working group.

Jonathan Pincus

Jonathan Pincus is Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Adelaide, and an independent economic researcher and consultant. He is a member of the Policy and Research Council of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia. With Professor Graeme Hugo, in 2011 he will be co-editing a book for CEDA on population policy. Previously, he was Principal Adviser Research at the Productivity Commission; Professor of Economics at Adelaide University; Professor of Economic History at Flinders University; and a researcher at the Centre for the Study of Public Choice (Virginia, USA). He is president of the SA Branch of the Economic Society of Australia, and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia.

View the seminar flyer

Isn't It Obvious? Seminar Series

Lateral thinking >> Innovative Policies >> Desired Outcomes

Isn't it obvious? Well no actually, not everyone thinks it is.

A series of 5 winter seminars covering, food, infrastructure productivity, fire and regional development.

Exploratory discussions with a range of innovative thinkers who could seriously change your approach to policy making. Our aim is to enable you to find inventive solutions to old problems by offering you new development tools.

The University of Adelaide, School of Economics in conjunction with the South Australian Centre for Economic Studies and PIRSA, Corporate Strategy and Policy, have invited some distinguished, lateral thinking economists from Australia and abroad to lead the series.

This event has concluded. View the seminar series poster | Review the Seminar Series speakers and topics