The coronavirus pandemic has caused the world to enter its deepest recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Shocks of this magnitude throw history from its established course.
Presented by Professor Ross Garnaut, RESET is a plan for an Australia that has strengths beyond those with which we entered the current trials. He'll be seeking ways to restore prosperity, productivity and international cooperation, and make Australia a low-carbon superpower.
Ross is recording the webinars from Barcaldine, Qld. His Zoom background (and the image above) is the embalmed body of the Tree of Knowledge - a key figure in the birth of Australia's labour movement.
Find out more about the series here. You can find recordings of the talks below. A book based on the series will be published in the late 2020.
6. International Cooperation, Economics & Security
The pandemic has only sped up the breakdown in global cooperation. In his sixth and final lecture, Ross looks at the international context. What happens next between the US and China will play a big role in how Australia recovers from the pandemic. Meanwhile, the centre of the health and economic crisis has shifted to the developing world.
5. Building the Superpower of the Low Carbon World Economy
In the fifth part of his lecture series, Ross builds on the work of his 2019 book Superpower: Australia's Low -carbon Opportunity. The pandemic has caused a big drop in global greenhouse gas emissions, but that won't last without a big push on low-carbon energy. Now is an opportunity to reset the economy for the good of the planet.
4. Equity to Support Productivity-raising Reform
In his fourth lecture, Ross looks at tax and welfare reform to raise productivity. The big recommendation is a shifting company tax to a tax on economic rent - a concept Ross explains in full in the lecture.
3. Restoring Prosperity
In the third lecture, Ross looks at what Australia would need to do to restore prosperity and share it fairly. The main thing the government should do is spend: Ross suggests the budget deficit will need to blow out to at least $180 billion to restore full employment.
2. Dog Days
In his second lecture, Ross takes us back to before the pandemic. Even though things seemed better then, Australia's economy had been in the "Dog Days" for nearly a decade. When we rebuild the economy, we can do better than that.
1. The Great Crash
In the first talk, Ross looks at why Australia is particularly exposed to the economic impacts of the pandemic. He compares the Great Crash of 2020 with the Great Depression, and argues that Australia will have to work harder than other developed nations to recover. Watch the full talk below: