In addition to our staff, Macroeconomics has established an Advisory Board comprising of Senior and Research Fellows including respected academics and policy professionals from Australia and overseas. Our fellows are appointed on an honorary basis to advise on their specialist policy areas. They also work on particular projects performing a specialist advisory and review role. They are motivated by a common desire to advance a communities based policy agenda.
 

Matthew Ryan

BEc (Hons) (Sydney)
Senior Fellow - Tax Policy

Matthew Ryan is the Senior Fellow – Tax Policy for Macroeconomics and is based in Canberra. He has twenty five years of practical experience working on tax policy and quantitative issues for the Commonwealth Treasury and State Governments. Most recently he conducted a review of the South Australian Government’s industry policies and costed a major education initiative for the Australian Government.

Steve Blume

Member AICD, Member ACS
Senior Fellow - Regulation & Environment Policy

Steve Blume is a senior adviser to Macroeconomics on regulation and environmental policy and impact assessments. He is former senior staffer for Kim Beasley MP (Leader of the Federal Opposition) and Bob McMullan MP (Shadow Treasurer and Shadow Minister for Finance). He has a distinguished career in managing policy implementation and program design in both the public and private sector and in commercial IT. His research interests include climate change and management of organisational change. He provides guidance for Macroeconomics on regulatory issues and environmental policy and impact assessments.

Silvana Anthony

B Ec (Monash), BA Hons (Italian), Masters International Trade and Investment Law (Deakin), Grad Cert Public Administration (Uni Canberra)
Senior Fellow – Public Policy

Silvana Anthony is a senior advisor to Macroeconomics on public policy and administration and political affairs. Most recently she was a senior advisor to federal Labor Party both in government and in opposition in the areas of Finance and Health. Previously she was a federal Treasury policy analyst in the international and microeconomic reform areas and prior to that was an analyst in the Higher Education area in the then Department of Education, Employment Training and Youth Affairs. She advises Macroeconomics in a number of areas under the public policy banner including health, budget affairs, climate change and competition policy.

Nilss Olekalns

BEc Hons (Adelaide), M.Ec ANU, M.A. Western Ontario, PhD (La Trobe)
Senior Fellow - Macroeconomics and Public Economics

Nilss Olekalns is a senior adviser to Macroeconomics on macroeconomic theory and public choice economics. He is Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne. He has numerous published articles in leading journals on various topics including fiscal policy, unemployment, interest rates, inflation, commodity prices, and the consumption of addictive goods.

Lesley M. Russell

BSc (Hons) Tasmania, BA ANU, PhD in Biochemistry, John Curtin School of Medical Research, ANU
Senior Fellow - Health Policy

Dr Russell is a senior adviser to Macroeconomics on health economics and policy including program analysis. She is the inaugural Menzies Foundation Fellow at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy which is co-located at the University of Sydney and the Australian National University. She is also actively involved in health policy research, analysis and commentary across a wide range of issues and a number of collaborations. Most recently Dr Russell was Policy Advisor to the Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House, Julia Gillard MP and to the Leader of the Federal Opposition, the Hon Simon Crean, MP.

Des Nicholls

BSc(Hons) (UNE), MSc (ANU), PhD (ANU), AStat, AAPI, AM
Senior Fellow - Financial Modelling and Quantitative Methods

Des Nicholls is an advisor to Macroeconomics on issues relating to financial modelling, quantitative methods, survey methods and issues relating to the valuation of property. He is a Professor in the College of Business and Economics at the Australian National University, an Accredited statistician (by the Statistical Society of Australia), and an Associate of the Australian Property Institute. He has over 25 years experience consulting to public and private sector agencies, as well as acting as an expert witness on quantitative issues in a significant number of court cases.

Elizabeth Fells

BA (Hons) Western Australia, MPA ANU
Senior Fellow - Strategic Policy Advice & Advocacy

Elizabeth Fells is a senior adviser to Macroeconomics on policy strategy, program analysis and Commonwealth State issues. She was previously the Cabinet Secretary in Western Australia and adviser to the Treasurer of Western Australia, and has experience facilitating strategic whole-of-government decision making. Elizabeth has also worked at the Commonwealth Treasury and Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance.

Babette Francis

B.Sc. (Hons) (Microbiology & Chemistry)
Senior Fellow – Families and Communities

Babette Francis is a senior adviser to Macroeconomics on social policy. She is the mother of eight children (four girls and four boys), twenty grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Francis is the National & Overseas Co-ordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc., a Christian, pro-family, pro-life lobby, which is an NGO with Special Consultative Status with the Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. She has attended the annual UN Commission on the Status of Women meetings in New York, where she has organised NGO information workshops.

Steve Keen

BA (Sydney), LLB (Sydney), DipEd (Sydney Teachers' College), MComm Hons (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)
Research Fellow - Disequilibrium Modelling

Steve Keen is an adviser to Macroeconomics on continuous time disequilibrium modelling and its application to various policy issues. He is an experienced economic modeller and author of books critical of the current economic policy orthodoxy, including Debunking Economics. He is also Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Western Sydney. His research interests include models of financial instability.

Darren Henry

B Ec Hons (ANU) PhD (La Trobe)
Research Fellow - Financial Analysis and Management

Darren Henry is an adviser to Macroeconomics on aspects of financial analysis and modelling. He is a highly experienced financial modeller with a deep understanding of quantitative methods and modeling techniques. He is also Associate Professor in Finance at La Trobe University. Darren's major research interests are in applied finance, mergers and acquisitions; corporate governance; financial markets theory and performance of costings and using cost benefit analysis.

Kevin Donahue

BA (Hons) Boston College, MPP Georgetown
Research Fellow – International Development & Assistance

Kevin Donohue is an adviser to Macroeconomics on international development issues including best practice in the design of technical and financial assistance programs. Mr Donahue is an international development specialist with experience managing programs that provide technical and financial assistance to national and local governments for developing countries in our region. He has completed assignments for the United Nations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United States Agency for International Development. He currently resides in Manila, Philippines.

Shane Evans

B.Sc, B.Ec(Hons) (Adelaide), PhD Candidate (ANU)
Research Fellow - Microeconomic Policy

Shane Evans is a is an adviser to Macroeconomics on microeconomic policy issues. He is currently lecturing Microeconomic Theory and Policy at the University of Tasmania. More recently, Shane held the role of Associate Lecturer at the ANU, where he taught mainly microeconomic theory and quantitative techniques in economics. Shane’s research uses the tools of incentive theory to explore matters related to cost reimbursement rules in regulation and non-linear pricing in consumer markets. He is currently working on the effects of different ownership arrangements of intellectual property rights on the incentives for innovation and licensing agreements.