Ross Garnaut

Research fellow in economics at The University of Melbourne and president 0f Simec Zen Energy

The auThor of the Garnaut Climate Change Review has served as a principal economic advisor to prime minister Bob Hawke, as an ambassador to China, division head of finance in Papua New Guinea and the chair of Bankwest. As president of SIMEC Zen Energy, the professorial research fellow in economics at The University of Melbourne has partnered with billionaire steelmaker Sanjeev Gupta to set up an array of renewable energies to feed mills and supply other large energy users. As your career took you through Asia and the Pacific, did you observe practices that have influenced your leadership style? In Indonesia and some other Asian countries, one sees an awareness of the importance of explaining to people where you’re coming from and where you’re going and bringing a community along with you. That is seen more closely than in Western countries as an important dimension of leadership. What’s something you’ve learned about leadership that’s surprised you? It was from working closely with Bob Hawke and seeing how far you could go in getting people to accept change they found in advance to be difficult and unattractive. I was surprised at how far-reaching the reforms turned out to be; how much they were able to change what had been well established but counterproductive Australian paradigms. How did Bob Hawke do it? It began with a personality that tended to be appealing and persuasive but he put huge effort into understanding the different perspectives of people who were opposed to change, explaining to them the shared interest in change and then working with them to find a way forward that reconciled the most important objectives of the various parties with what needed to be done in the public interest. Which of your achievements do you consider most important? I’d say working with the first secretary for finance in Papua New Guinea to establish a sound foundation for stable macro-economic policy in the years straddling independence. The second would be my work on reform and internationalisation of the Australian economy under the Hawke government. The third would be the contribution I made to Australian understanding of the importance of developments in Asia, including China, over many decades. How do you decide where to give your time with so many issues pressing for attention? I must confess that I’m not as scientific as I might be about it. Over my life I’ve accumulated very broad interests and I’ve accumulated interests rather than dispose of them. What are your goals for the next year? I’d like Zen Energy to have made major progress in supplying low-cost sustainable energy to support the rehabilitation and then the expansion of Australian industry. And I’m hoping to put to bed a book that makes sense of the unusual global economic challenges we all face. What has been your biggest challenge? I suppose the long struggle to affect the Australian response to climate change, through which we could do our fair share in a global sense. We’re still in the early stages of energy transition and the transformation of the Australian economy that’s going to be necessary. Does dealing with issues that significant exact a personal toll? It’s certainly exhausting from time to time but I’ve been working on contentious public policy issues for a very long time so I know these things are hard. In my letter of transmission of my first report on climate change to the Australian premiers and the prime minister in 2008, I referenced the old bush saying, “an old dog for a hard road”. Are you attracted to contentious issues? Not for their own sake but sometimes one can’t avoid them if one is to deal honestly with the world as one sees it. There’s been a lot of discussion about leadership in 2018. Do you have any ideas on how to improve it? There’s a lot of wisdom in old knowledge on these things. Values of honesty, integrity and dealing with people fairly are tremendously important. Institutions and society as a whole don’t work unless one places proper emphasis on these age-old values.

“WE’RE STILL IN THE EARLY STAGES OF ENERGY TRANSITION AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY THAT’S GOING TO BE NECESSARY.” ROSS GARNAUT