Beyond Tweaks: Confronting the Economic Elephants in the Room. Keynote Speaker: Dr Katherine Trebeck

We're living with the consequences of an economic system designed to extract, exclude, and concentrate power. Inequality is growing, ecosystems are breaking down and yet we are told that incremental reform will be enough.

Join political economist and wellbeing economy advocate Dr Katherine Trebeck as she explains and explores the Wellbeing Economy movement - an agenda grounded in care, justice, and life.  

Dr Trebeck will share insights from Australia and around the world, spotlighting where real change is happening and what is needed to build an economy that truly serves people and the planet. 

Beyond tweaks: Just the truth and the courage to act on it.

What if we stopped tweaking and started transforming? What if we centred people and planet and demanded structural change that redistributes power and redefines what the economy is for?

The ideas are already out there. The alternatives are rooted in wellbeing, equity, and sustainability and they are gaining ground. So why aren’t they taking hold? Who’s standing in the way? And what will it really take to make the shift?

This event calls time on polite conversations and half-measures, it will confront the elephants in the room:

• Who benefits from the current system—and who pays the price?
• Why are bold economic ideas so often diluted or derailed?
• What kinds of political, economic, and cultural power shifts must we be willing to fight for?

Join us for a bold conversation about building an economy that places people and the planet at the forefront of economic decision making.

Join in the conversation 

Misha Ketchell, editor at The Conversation, will lead a thought-provoking Q&A session with Dr Trebeck to discuss new economic systems that places social and environmental outcomes before profit. 

Attendees can submit a question for the Q&A session when booking a ticket, or afterwards by emailing rsvp@lmcf.org.au

Speakers

Dr Katherine Trebeck

Katherine is a political economist, writer and advocate for economic system change. Her roles include writer-at-large at the University of Edinburgh, Economic Change Lead at The Next Economy, and Strategic Advisor to the Centre for Policy Development. She co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) and also WEAll Scotland, its Scottish hub. 

Katherine instigated the group of Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) – comprising Scotland, New Zealand, Finland, Wales, Iceland, and Canada. She is the 2024 thinker-in-residence at the Australian Health Promotion Association, a New Economics Senior Fellow at The Zoe Institute, and a Fellow of The Post Growth Institute. 

She is a member of the Club of Rome and sits on the boards of Hands Across Canberra, the Wellbeing Economy Lab Denmark, and the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity. 

She has over eight years’ experience in various roles with Oxfam GB, where she developed Oxfam’s Humankind Index and led Oxfam’s work on downscaling the ‘doughnut’ for various national contexts. 

Katherine has bachelor’s degrees in economics and politics from The University of Melbourne and holds a PhD in Political Science from the Australian National University. She worked for the University of Glasgow as a Research Fellow from 2005-2009 and was Honorary Professor at the University of the West of Scotland and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Strathclyde (based at the Fraser of Allander Institute).

Misha Ketchell

Misha is the Editor of The Conversation Australia and New Zealand. He has been an editor and journalist for more than 25 years. He was the founding editor of The Big Issue Australia and editor of Crikey, The Reader and The Melbourne Weekly. He was also a reporter and feature writer at The Age and also worked at the ABC where he was a TV producer on Media Watch and The 7:30 Report and an editor on The Drum.

About the Wheelton Family Lecture for Inspiring Social Change

The Wheelton Family Lecture for Inspiring Social Change provides a forum for igniting discussion, exchanging ideas, and inspiring action towards creating a more just and equitable community. 

This annual lecture acknowledges the remarkable generosity of Mr Paul Wheelton AM KSJ, Mrs Angela Wheelton OAM DSJ and the Wheelton family, and the significant and lasting social impact for the community of Greater Melbourne and beyond this enables. 

Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation is honoured to partner with the Wheelton family and host this annual event.