Join Joe Walker in conversation with Ken Henry—former Australian Treasury Secretary

Dr Ken Henry is an Australian economist who served as Secretary of the Australian Department of Treasury from 2001 to 2011. He was instrumental in helping Australia avoid recession during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis; Australia was the only major advanced economy to do so.

Topic: Australia's era of successful major economic reform ended around the year 2000. How do we reinvigorate productivity growth? What major economic reforms do we need today? And why does our political system seem incapable of delivering them?

Schedule

6:00pm: Doors open

6:30pm - 8:00pm: Podcast conversation, including audience Q&A

8:00pm - late: Meet-and-greet

Refreshments: Light food and non-alcoholic beverages will be provided.

Venue

Hibernian House.

342 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010.

Specific directions to the salon room will be provided by email after ticket purchase.

Disclaimer: Please note that audio and video of this event will be recorded for future publication on The Joe Walker Podcast.

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About Joe Walker's Australian Policy Salons

This event is part of Joe Walker’s Australian Policy Salons—live conversations in early 2025 with Australia’s leading thinkers on the country’s most pressing issues. You can view the recordings of previous events here.

What are "Policy Salons"?

These events aren’t public lectures.

Think of them as salons for the policy-minded—intimate, high-quality gatherings where big ideas meet thoughtful people.

With just 50–70 tickets per session, the focus is on depth, not scale—giving you the chance to ask questions, share ideas, and connect with a curious, engaged audience.

The goal is to create a space for meaningful conversations about Australia’s most urgent policy challenges—both on stage and off.

About The Joe Walker Podcast

Joe Walker hosts The Joe Walker Podcast on which he conducts deeply-researched interviews with founders, scientists and public intellectuals.

Joe's podcast has been the #1 ranked business show in the Australian Apple Podcast Charts, profiled by the Australian Financial Review, awarded two Emergent Ventures grants from Tyler Cowen, and described by Australia's Assistant Treasurer Dr Andrew Leigh MP as "the best Australian podcast".

Recent interviews/guests include:

An interview with Nassim Taleb — the transcript of which will be a chapter in the new edition of Taleb's book The Statistical Consequences of Fat Tails.
Katalin Karikó's first ever longform podcast interview — before she won the Nobel prize in 2023 (for inventing mRNA technology).
One of Daniel Kahneman's final interviews (in which he praised Joe's interviewing skills).
A 4.5-hour interview with former Australian Treasury Secretary Ken Henry.
David Deutsch and Steven Pinker's first ever public dialogue.
Former US Treasury Secretary (and current OpenAI board member) Larry Summers' first rigorous interview on the economic implications of AI.

You can subscribe on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.