Community Notices
A Big Dialogue: Can Australia Tax Its Way To Prosperity?

13 October 2026

Event at University of Canberra | 21 Oct 2026

The Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas, University of Canberra, in association with Australian Dialogues, presents a public dialogue event to bring together a panel of differing experts and a diverse general audience, as a demonstration of the kind of better public discussion needed to progress tax reform.

Everyone wants a fair and efficient system. To most if not all, fairness means a system that rewards effort while ensuring that contributions are also calibrated with the taxpayer's means. Putting that into practice, however, can lead to much contention. The best means of achieving efficiency, on the other hand, lends itself to a high level of expert agreement. Many say: "we know what to do, we just need the political will to do it".

Nonetheless, tax reform still seems to mean fundamentally different things to different people, who are often talking to like-minded people in separate echo chambers.

This event, like all Big Dialogues, seeks to showcase a genuinely viewpoint-diverse discussion, both to exchange different perspectives and prescriptions, increasing general understanding, and to explore common ground and approach compromise if not consensus on something fundamental to national prosperity and wellbeing.

The headline topic or provocation for discussion "Can Australia Tax Its Way To Prosperity?" lends itself to the binary divide between those who think we can and those who don't - but also to nuances and potential agreement on different aspects of what a tax system should look like. It also alludes to public expenditure, the inevitable other side of the taxation coin.

A Big Dialogue: Can Australia Tax Its Way To Prosperity?

5.30-8.45pm, Wed 21 Oct, 2026

Ann Harding Conference Centre, University of Canberra, Bruce ACT

Join curious fellow citizens for an enjoyable and enlightening evening - tickets from only $20, food and drinks included.

*** Online registration link below. ***

Speakers

The Honourable Bill Shorten, MC - Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Canberra, former Leader of the Opposition
Bob (Robert) Breunig, Moderator - Director, Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, ANU; leading Australian public policy economist and President of the Economic Society of Australia
Aruna Sathanapally, Panellist - CEO, Grattan Institute; former NSW Treasury executive director and barrister.
John Humphreys, Panellist - Chief Economist, Australian Taxpayers' Alliance, former university lecturer, former research fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies and Federal Treasury analyst
Kristen Sobeck, Panellist - Lecturer in Economics, University of Canberra; tax and labour economist, previously with Tax and Transfer Policy Institute and the International Labor Organisation

Dialogue Program

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm: Doors open

Meet, greet, eat and seat - canapés, drinks, informal discussion.
Separate drinks with speakers for premium ticket holders.

6:30 pm - 8:30 pm: Formal discussion

MC welcome, moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A. You'll have the chance to ask questions by texting to the number provided on the night or by speaking if the mic is passed to you during the Q&A.

8:30 pm - 9:00 pm: Event ends

Carry on the discussion after stage dialogue ends (and at home, work and with friends - and online with someone on Sway!)

The Big Dialogue format

This format has been developed over the last six years to demonstrate that difficult, complex issues can still be discussed frankly, fearlessly and civilly, in a non-partisan way, in public, by people of goodwill, in good faith, in pursuit of truth, progress - and better policy and practical outcomes.

They are long-form public discussions between a small panel of knowledgeable speakers with very different perspectives, expertly moderated, in a congenial, catered environment - exploring differences, seeking common ground and possible agreement on solutions. They have consistently shown that such discussions are not only possible but are actually enlightening, enjoyable and much more interesting than echo chambers!

Past subjects addressed include universal basic income, the China-Australia relationship and the defence of Taiwan, climate change, democratic reform, pandemic management, energy transition, cost of living, housing, tariffs and trade, and social media impacts/regulation. See calendar for upcoming dialogue events.

Big Dialogues are conducted under the Brisbane Rule, which all speakers and guests agree to by attending: All participants agree to listen carefully, speak civilly, and concentrate on the content of discussions, not on characters – before, during and after, online and offline.

Community Notices A Big Dialogue: Can Australia Tax Its Way To Prosperity?