Professor Rod Sims AO
Chair of the Superpower Institute
Professor, Australian National University
Rod Sims AO is Chair of the Superpower Institute, a non-profit organisation dedicated to Australia moving quickly to, and benefitting from, the transition to net zero emissions. He is also a Professor, at Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University, Canberra; Chair of Opera Australia, Australia’s largest performing arts company; Chair of the Competition Research Policy Network at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, Paris; and Chair of Australia’s National Data Advisory Committee. He is also an Expert Adviser to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on digital platform issues. From 2011-March 2022 he was Chair of The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Prior to that he had a range of senior corporate positions, including on Boards based in Australia, the UK and Singapore, and advising many major Australian companies on corporate strategy issues. He has also worked in the Australian Public Service including as the Deputy Secretary in charge of all domestic policy in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, one of three positions working to the Head of that Department. From 1988-1990 he was the Principal Economic Adviser to Australia’s Prime Minister Bob Hawke.
Speaker agenda
Raising our sights for continuing prosperity
Western Australia is likely better placed than any other region on Earth to benefit from the transition to net zero emissions. It needs, however, to raise its sights to take advantage of the huge opportunities to contribute to lowering emissions globally through mining and mineral processing in particular. The key is for Australia and Western Australia to integrate climate policy into the wider economic narrative. Discussion of the economy must always give a central role to zero carbon issues, and discussion of climate issues must focus on the complete range of economic levers that need to be pulled and the benefits that will flow. Major policy reforms underway globally, such as the US Inflation Reduction Act and the European Green Deal, make this all the more important.