An Australian Story:
The Troubling Experience of Economic Reform

Professor Michael Pusey

THEATRE
Parliament House

Friday 20 June 2003
12.15pm–1.15pm

ECONOMIC REFORM was first sold to the Australian public as ‘structural adjustment’. It has turned out to be something closer to a top-down re-engineering of a whole nation. How has middle Australia received this ‘revolution from above’ and how should its impact be evaluated? This lecture will seek to explore these questions and will also ask: How does middle Australia experience the consequences of the ‘new deal’ on incomes, jobs, families, communities and on the political system? What assumptions does economic reform make about the relationship between economy and government? What are the consequences for practical moralities, for self-recognition, and for national solidarity and governance?

A copy of the Senate Lecture is available in PDF format for down loading by clicking here.