Sustaining Prosperity

Where are the new reform opportunities to ensure economic expansion? How should we face the challenges of an ageing population? How will we spread prosperity to the areas of entrenched disadvantage? These questions were the focus of the Sustaining Prosperity conference, hosted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research and The Australian in March-April 2005 at the University of Melbourne. A unique gathering of government ministers, opposition spokespeople, academic experts and business, social welfare and trade union figures debated a new national reform agenda to sustain prosperity. Participants included Federal Treasurer Peter Costello, federal Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, federal Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, economist Ross Garnaut, ACTU secretary Greg Combet and Australian Council of Social Service president Andrew McCallum. In Sustaining Prosperity, Peter Dawkins and Michael Stutchbury bring together the contributions of these and other leading Australians to examine the development of policies that will ensure a prosperous future for Australia.