In 2018, the Australian economy was in its 27th year of continuous economic growth. Unemployment was at 5.4 percent. The global economic outlook looked bullish. Yet real wages remained flat. How then to lift productivity and incomes across Australia?
Elected to the House of Reps in 2004, Chris Bowen has been a familiar face in politics for some time. He has served as Treasurer and Immigration Minister in the Rudd and Gillard Governments and as acting Federal Labor leader in the aftermath of the 2013 federal election. He is the author of Money Men: Australia’s Twelve Most Notable Treasurers (MUP).