CEDA, for its part, continues to present expert insights across a range of formats to assist our members and audiences to understand current economic and social conditions, and to outline the critical priorities for recovery. Last week’s livestream on economic recovery, for example, highlighted the importance of rebuilding macroeconomic stability as a critical foundation on which to progress broader structural reforms. Later this week CEDA’s Council on Economic Policy is meeting to discuss their perspectives on critical reform issues and we will look to share these with you in due course.

The mental health and community resilience of Australia is also going to play a vital role in what recovery looks like from an economic and broader perspective as the challenges of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis continue to impact businesses and families. That’s why this week, through our CEDA livestream, we will be exploring mental health with Beyond Blue Chair and former Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard AC.

Watch: Mental health in the time of COVID-19 is on tomorrow, Tuesday 12 May, and will explore the early mental health learnings for the community, employers and policymakers from the pandemic.

I would like to thank and acknowledge this week’s livestream major sponsor PwC and in particular PwC Health Partner, Damien Angus, who will be joining in this conversation. PwC join series sponsors BHP, The University of South Australia Business School, SA Power Networks and UniSuper. This support from members ensures that a large and diverse audience will be able to find out more about this important topic.

More than 1600 people have registered and you can register to join the livestream here.

Also on the livestream coming up we have:

Supply chains and global trade: where to now? on Thursday 28 May with Austrade Deputy CEO, Tim Beresford; NSW Ports CEO Marika Calfas; and CEDA Chief Economist, Jarrod Ball. You can book for that livestream here. This livestream coincides with the release of several short pieces CEDA is producing in May on this topic as part of our research work, the first of which can be accessed here.

State of the Nation, on 15 and 16 June. The Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison will headline with 12 speakers confirmed. Since my CEO update last week, the following additional speakers have been confirmed:

• Federal Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations, the Hon. Christian Porter
• RBC Capital Markets, Managing Director and Head of AU/NZ Economics and Fixed Income Strategy, Su-Lin Ong
• AGL Managing Director and CEO, Brett Redman
• Programmed Group, Group CEO, Glenn Thompson
• ACT Chief Minister, the Hon. Andrew Barr
• Victorian Treasurer, Tim Pallas

You can register for State of the Nation here. Tickets for these online events are free to CEDA members, and yes that includes State of the Nation, with low cost tickets available to non-members. You can also catch up with CEDA’s livestreams on demand on the video archive page of the website. 

Contribute: We held our first virtual Trustee boardroom briefing today, An update on the global economy and monetary policy. Today’s speaker was Reserve Bank of Australia, Deputy Governor, Dr Guy Debelle, and the event was hosted by KPMG, Partner and Chief Economist, Dr Brendan Rynne. The roundtable examined the current global economic outlook and asked what the future holds for monetary policy.

CEDA’s virtual roundtable program of events is currently ramping up. These events are by invitation only and numbers are limited to maximise participation in the discussion. The discussions are targeted to a range of groups, including state-based CEDA Trustees, national or industry sector, Trustee roundtables, and c-suite conversations.

Listen: to our latest podcast out today where I caught up with Copyright Agency Chair, Kim Williams AM, to discuss how COVID-19 has affected the arts sector. His insights highlight the value of the arts to Australia’s social and economic life and the ways we could be helping the sector through this challenging period. You can hear our conversation here. 

Read: The CEDA blog offers some interesting and topical insights. In Supporting rural mental health during and after COVID-19, Swinburne University Social Innovation Research Institute Foundation Director, Professor Jane Farmer; Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Director of Public Health, Fergus Gardiner; RFDS Research and Projects Director, Lara Bishop; and University of Western Australia Rural Clinical School Associate Professor, Mat Coleman, discuss the ways COVID-19 has heightened the mental health gap in rural and remote areas and look at how we can scale successful community-based interventions with the help of philanthropy and the community sector to make progress. You can find out more here.

Also last week, in Data innovation and public partnership to fight COVID-19, Smash Delta Managing Director, Ben Morley-John, highlighted the shortfalls of Australia's data strategy during the COVID-19 crisis and introduced a new way of collecting and using data that preserves the privacy of users, while maximising our ability to limit the spread of COVID-19. You can read more here.

Finally, I’d like to thank our new members:

• Moreton Bay Regional Council (NSW)
• The Big Issue (VIC)

Renewing members:

National

• Aurecon Group
• WSP

State

• City of Wanneroo (WA)
• Clean Energy Finance Corporation (QLD)
• Energy Queensland (QLD)
• GESB (WA)
• Newmont Australia (WA)
• Trade and Investment Queensland (QLD)
• Wilderness School (SA)

Thank you once again to all our members and the wider CEDA community for continuing to speak on our platforms, contribute to our blogs and podcasts and take part in our livestreams. Your participation is vital to the ongoing conversation as we continue to plot the route ahead. Like all of you, the team and I will be turning our minds to what the proposed easing of social and economic activity measures means for our business including across our various locations and I will say more about that in the weeks ahead. 

Until next week,

Melinda Cilento