Economic Indicators – Implications for the 2021 Property and Finance Markets

Paul Bloxham is HSBC’s Chief Economist for Australia, New Zealand and Global Commodities and is a Managing Director. He is chief spokesperson for HSBC on forecasts and trends for the Australian and New Zealand economies and their interaction with global financial markets and international economies. Paul is also a key spokesperson on HSBC’s unique view on global commodity markets and works closely with HSBC’s global equities team. He is also a member of the Australian National University’s Shadow Reserve Bank Board and is an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University.

In 2017, Paul’s team won Focus Economics awards for best overall forecaster for each of Australia and New Zealand. Prior to joining HSBC in 2010, Paul Bloxham spent 12 years as an economist within the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Economic Analysis Department. Paul holds a Master’s degree in public financial policy from the London School of Economics.

In his role as Revolut Australia CEO, Matt is responsible for launching and expanding Revolut’s product offering in the Australian market. He oversees all aspects of operational and financial performance including licensing, regulation, product development and hiring.

Matt is a strategic and people-oriented leader with an entrepreneurial spirit and over 15 years of diverse experience across B2C businesses facing disruption or significant regulatory change. His experience in the financial services sector and consumer banking ranges from being part of a startup through to working within an established ASX listed company. Prior to his role at Revolut, Matt has held the positions of Head of Retail Banking and Group CFO at the Bank of Queensland, and Managing Director of Virgin Money Australia.

A senior executive role within a Bank steeped in rural Queensland history, based in Toowoomba. April is passionate about Agriculture and Regional Australia. Across her 20-year career she has gained diverse experience in Financial Services, Agriculture, and Manufacturing having worked in Brisbane, Sydney and London before returning to Regional Australia.

She is highly respected for her dynamic leadership style; track record of transforming businesses and ability to get the job done. Through her role at Suncorp and work in the community, she has built an excellent network of contacts throughout Regional Australia. Originally from Outback NSW, she is married to Luke and mother to three boys. Renowned as a passionate leader in the community, April values making a difference and giving back. She has taken an active role championing diversity within her team, the wider bank and her community as well as supporting several other community endeavours including the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation. April is also on the Board of Toowoomba Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) and Toowoomba Grammar School.

Leanne leads the state’s tourism marketing, experience development and major events agency to achieve its vision of ‘inspiring the world to experience the best address on earth’. Leanne’s broad industry experience includes senior executive roles with the Hyatt Hotel Group in both Canberra and Melbourne, before her return home to Queensland in 1996 to take up the role of Human Resources Manager at Tourism Queensland.

The role sparked a love affair with the Queensland tourism industry which has spanned Leanne’s career to the current day, holding roles as Executive Director Strategic Services, Executive Director Human Resources and most recently prior to being appointed CEO, overseeing TEQ’s partnerships with Queensland’s regional tourism organisations and industry as Group Executive Destinations. Leanne is an Adjunct Professor, UQ Business School, The University of Queensland; a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management; and a graduate with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Amelia Hodge is the CEO of the Australian Property Institute. She has a senior executive career spanning some 25 years, with her depth of experience driving successful outcomes across a range of sectors, projects and industries.

Her previous Chief Executive, senior executive and project roles have included Origin Energy, Powerlink Queensland, the Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, Qld Law Society and Coffey Commercial Advisory, following her legal career in the property sector.

Michael Sukkar was elected to the Federal Parliament representing the seat of Deakin at the 2013 federal election, and was re-elected at the 2016 and 2019 elections.

He has lived, worked and been a part of the Deakin electorate for his whole life. He is passionate about the local community, and understands the issues that concern residents.

Michael grew up in Ringwood and attended primary school at Sacred Heart in Croydon and then secondary school at Aquinas College in Ringwood. After secondary school, he went on to complete a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce at Deakin University in Burwood. He later furthered his studies by completing a Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne.

Prior to entering Parliament, Michael spent several years working as a lawyer with the firm Ashurst Australia (then known as Blake Dawson Waldron) where he was a Senior Associate, and worked as a Senior Consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he specialised in taxation.

Since entering Parliament, Michael has been a vocal advocate for his community, fighting to deliver better outcomes for the people of Deakin. In particular, Michael is dedicated to improved infrastructure, community safety, and supporting local community and sporting groups.

Michael is honoured to represent the constituents of Deakin in the Federal Parliament. He is currently the Minister for Housing and the Assistant Treasurer in the Morrison Government. He has previously served in the Ministry as Assistant Minister to the Treasurer and on a number of parliamentary committees, including as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence & Security.

Michael is married to Anna, and they have two sons, Leo and Nathan.

Leigh is a National Director of Research, based in Brisbane.  He leads JLL’s residential and alternative sectors research nationally, as well as overseeing Queensland research across all sectors. He also has responsibility for coordinating the firm’s macroeconomic research.

Leigh re-joined JLL in June 2017. He previously worked for JLL for 10 years between 2004 and 2014 and spent the past three years with LaSalle Investment Management. In his previous stint with JLL, he has held national roles leading both office market and retail market research and has provided strategic consulting services to a wide range of private and public sector clients. During his time as national head of Research and Strategy for LaSalle, Leigh was heavily involved the underwriting and investment committee process for numerous major transactions across all sectors, as well as contributing the development of local and regional investment and fund strategy.

Chris was appointed FINSIA CEO in September 2016. He has been associated with the Australasian financial services industry for nearly 30 years. Previously, he was CEO of CUA, Australia’s largest customer-owned financial institution, Regional Director, Bank of Scotland and CEO, BankWest Retail Bank.

He has extensive experience as a non-executive director including in the payments, wealth management and insurance sectors.

Commencing his career in IT, Chris maintains a keen interest in the ongoing impact of technology on financial services.