Director's Profile

Director
Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research

Tel. +61 3 8344 2156
Fax. +61 3 8344 2111
Email. [email protected]

After a distinguished career in the Australian Public Service, Professor Stephen Sedgwick was appointed Director of the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research in 2007.

Steve’s public service career spanned over 30 years and included periods in the economic and social policy advising areas of the Treasury, Prime Minister’s Department and the Commonwealth Department of Finance. He served as Secretary to the Department of Finance from 1992 to 1997 and then as Secretary to the Department of Employment, Education Training and Youth Affairs and subsequently the Department of Education Training and Youth Affairs (and, briefly, Education Science and Training) until early 2002. He was the Senior Economic Adviser to the Prime Minister, Mr Hawke, for three years from late 1985. In these various positions he contributed to policy development across a wide range of economic and social issues during periods of significant debate and reform.

In the 5 years most immediately prior to joining the Institute Steve was a Director of the Asian Development Bank in Manila, in which capacity he represented a number of member governments, including Australia, on the Board of that multilateral development institution. He served as the Dean of that Board for over two years. In these roles he sought to contribute to better development outcomes through policy dialogue and institutional reform.

Steve has a strong interest in the promotion of evidence-based good public policy across a broad spectrum of policy areas, including macroeconomic policy, micro-economic reform, health, education, Commonwealth-State relations, public sector governance and labour markets.