Australia’s World Position and Economic Outlook

Conflict in Europe, regional geopolitical & trade complexities and both federal and NSW state elections in the next 12 months are clouding the outlook for Australia’s economic recovery. The challenges of COVID recovery, coupled with the need to meet major shifts in climate change settings, employment levels and a fluctuating Australian dollar, mean the ability for business to plan ahead is more complex than ever.

Our guest speakers included:

Peter Jennings PSM, Executive Director, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Ric Deverell, Chief Economist and Head of Net Zero, Macquarie Group participated in a Chatham House Rule boardroom discussion hosted by Darren Steinberg, CEO, Dexus to unpack the global economic and geopolitical landscape facing Australia in 2022.

Host: Darren Steinberg, Chief Executive Officer, Dexus

Darren Steinberg is the CEO of Dexus and an Executive Director of Dexus Funds Management Limited.

Darren has over thirty years’ experience in the property and funds management industry with an extensive background in office, industrial and retail property investment and development. He has a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Western Australia.

Darren is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Australian Property Institute. He is a former National President of the Property Council of Australia and a founding member of Property Champions of Change Coalition. He is also a Director of VGI Partners Limited and Sydney Swans Limited.

Ric Deverell, Chief Economist and Head of Net Zero, Macquarie Group

Ric was appointed Chief Economist and Head of Macro Strategy for Macquarie Group Limited in August 2017. With over 25 years of experience analysing the global economy and financial markets, Ric joined Macquarie from Credit Suisse in New York, where he was Managing Director and Global Head of Fixed income and Economic Research.

During the 2000s, Ric worked at the Reserve Bank of Australia, where he held several senior positions including Deputy Head of the Economic Analysis department and Chief Manager International Markets and Relations. He ran the Reserve Bank of Australia’s business liaison program during the Great Recession and was Governor Stevens’ G-20 Sherpa during Australia’s host year in 2006. Ric spent the 1990s working in Government, first with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and then with the Australian Treasury. He headed the Treasury’s Asia section during the Asian Financial Crisis. With a broad range of expertise and relationships across global economics, commodities, fixed income, foreign exchange, emerging markets, equity and credit markets, Ric provides an important perspective to analysing the challenges global economies currently face.

Peter Jennings, Executive Director, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Peter Jennings is the executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a position he has held since May 2012. ASPI is Australia’s leading think-tank on national security.

He has worked in senior roles in the Australian Public Service on defence and national security. He was Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Defence Department (2009-12); Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence (1996-98) and Senior Adviser for Strategic Policy to the Prime Minister (2002-03).

Peter led the ‘External Expert Panel’ appointed in 2014 to advise on the Defence White Paper, released in February 2016. Peter was a member of the Australia-Germany Advisory Group, appointed by the Prime Minister and German Chancellor in 2015 to develop closer bilateral relations. He has been a member of the Advisory Group on Australia-Africa Relations advising the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Peter has previously held several Senior Executive Service positions in Defence including First Assistant Secretary International Policy and First Assistant Secretary Coordination and Public Affairs, Deputy Director of the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation and head of the Strategic Policy Branch. In 1999 Peter ran Defence’s East Timor Policy Unit, developing policy for the stabilization operation in East Timor.