Economist Saul Eslake will address the Tasmanian Pharmacy Conference, being held on 20 and 21 February in Hobart, on the subject of The economy in a post COVID-19 world.
Mr Eslake authored the recent 2020 Tasmania Report in which he noted: “COVID-19 is far from being the most serious pandemic to have afflicted humanity ... However, people’s fear of catching the virus, and the actions which governments implemented in order to contain and prevent its spread, have between them prompted the most severe economic downturn, in almost every country in the world, since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”
To date, while Australia has in large part escaped much of the ravages of the virus seen elsewhere around the world, the economic and social costs continue to mount and affect our way of life.
Once the vaccine has been rolled out and life post COVID-19 starts to take shape, there will be many other health, economic and social challenges to face as a result of the pandemic.
Mr Eslake’s session at the Tasmanian Pharmacy Conference looks at the Australian and Tasmanian economies in a post COVID-19 world.
The focus has been on building a bridge to the other side of the pandemic - but what should we be aiming to build on ‘the other side”’? Who will be the winners and losers? What will the role of governments, Federal and State, be in this ‘new normal’? Will they have sufficient resources to meet the expectations that people are likely to have in health care, and in other areas? Are there opportunities for ‘the regions’ including Tasmania, to capitalise on the emerging new ways of working?
Mr Eslake worked as an economist in the Australian financial markets for more than 25 years, including as Chief Economist at McIntosh Securities (a stockbroking firm) in the late 1980s, Chief Economist (International) at National Mutual Funds Management in the early 1990s, as Chief Economist at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) from 1995 to 2009, and as Chief Economist (Australia & New Zealand) for Bank of America Merrill Lynch from 2011 until June 2015.
He has now established his own economics consultancy business, based in Tasmania, and has a part-time appointment as a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Tasmania. He is a member of the (Federal) Parliamentary Budget Office’s Advisory Panel, and of the Australian Taxation Office’s ‘Tax Gap’ project Expert Advisory Panel.
Registration and further detail of the Tasmanian Pharmacy Conference can be accessed here.
