Balmoral Lectures

Dr Ross Gittins AM has been Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald since 1978. He is also an economic columnist for The Age, Melbourne. His journalistic experience includes editorial writing and stints in the parliamentary press galleries in Sydney and Canberra. Before joining the Herald he worked as an auditor with the national chartered accounting firm Touche Ross & Co. He is a winner of the Citibank Pan Asia award for excellence in finance journalism.

In 2008 he was made a member of the Order of Australia for service to journalism as a commentator on economics.

He is a bachelor of commerce from the University of Newcastle and a fellow of Chartered Accountants ANZ, a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a fellow of the Royal Society of NSW. He has been a Nuffield press fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge, and a journalist-in-residence at the department of economics of the University of Melbourne. He has been awarded honorary doctorates by Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University.

He is author of ‘Gittins’ Guide to Economics’, ‘Gittinomics’, ‘The Happy Economist’, ‘Gittins’ Gospel’ and now ‘Gittins: A Life Among Budgets, Bulldust and Bastardry’ (all Allen & Unwin) and co-author with Professor Rodney Tiffen of ‘How Australia Compares’ (Cambridge University Press).

The Hon Justice Margaret Beazley AO attended the Sydney Law School graduating with Honours in Law in 1974 and was admitted to the New South Wales Bar on 14 March 1975. She was appointed Queens Counsel in 1989. In 1993, she was appointed as a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, the first woman to sit exclusively in that Court. In 1996 her Honour was the first woman appointed to the New South Wales Court of Appeal and in March 2013 was appointed President of the Court of Appeal. She is Chairperson of the NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law, Patron of the Toongabbie Legal Centre, President of the Arts Law Centre of Australia and a member of the Expert Reference Group for the Australian Human Rights Commission’s project on human rights and technology.

Her Honour was made an Officer in the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List on 12 June 2006 for service to the judiciary and the law, particularly through contributions to professional and ethical standards and to the advancement of women in the legal profession and the community. In May 2008 her Honour was awarded Doctor of Laws honoris causa (Hon LLD) by the University of Sydney. In 2012, she was named as one of the inaugural Australian Financial Review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence.

On 13 January 2019, Premier Berejiklian announced the appointment of her Honour as the 39th Governor of New South Wales, to take effect from May 2019.

The Hon. Margaret Stone AO FAAL was appointed as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security in 2015. She was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia from 2000 to 2012. Prior to that she was a partner in the commercial law firm, Freehill Hollingdale & Page (now Herbert Smith Freehills) from 1993 to 2000. Her career also included 15 years in the Law Faculty of the University of New South Wales where she is now an adjunct professor. She is a foundation fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and holds degrees from Yale University, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. Between December 2012 and August 2015 she was Australia’s first Independent Reviewer of ASIO’s Adverse Security Assessments.

Challenging the STEM Orthodoxy

The Hon Rob Stokes MP, Minister for Education

Finding the Language of Cultural Change

Lieutenant General David Morrison AO, Chief Of Army (retired)

Growing Up During Holocaust Years

Ana Deleon, Holocaust Survivor

An Unexpected Public Life

Wendy McCarthy AO, Author, campaigner, entrepreneur    

Foreign Policy & National Security

David Irvine AO, Director-General of ASIO 2009-2014

Australia’s Response to Refugees

Graham Thom, National Refugee Coordinator, Amnesty International Australia