Shann Lecture
On 3 September 2025 the Economic Society of Australia (WA) and UWA Economics Department co-hosted the 60th annual Shann Memorial Lecture. The Speaker was Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock, and her lecture was titled “Technology and the Future of Central Banking at the RBA”.
Ms Bullock focussed on ways the Bank is adopting new technologies and responding to the challenges they pose. The Bank’s approach rests on three “pillars”:
- Knowledge in the digital age – using data and other information intelligently to generate deeper insights and support better decisions.
- Resilient infrastructure – building secure, scalable platforms that enable efficient data management and strengthen the resilience of our operations.
- Technical capability – securing the coding, data science and engineering expertise to build, adapt and apply tools and solutions that support our mission and help deepen our understanding of complex economic dynamics.
While technology is important, Ms Bullock emphasised that by itself it does not necessarily deliver value. It needs to be integrated into systems, its risks need to be managed, and it must empower people to drive progress. A culture of innovation is essential to deliver the benefits technology offers.
A full transcript of the presentation is available here:
https://www.rba.gov.au/speeches/2025/sp-gov-2025-09-03.html
A video recording is available here:
https://x.com/RBAInfo/status/1963148755055632689/photo/1
The audience included Economic Society of Australia (WA) life member Margaret Nowak. Professor Nowak is a former president of the ESAWA and winner of the Austin Holmes Award. In her early career in the 1960s she was one of the first female economists employed by the Reserve Bank of Australia. She is pictured below (left) with Michele Bullock.
Ms Bullock is pictured below with outgoing Economic Society of Australia (WA) President John Roberts (right) and Peter Robertson, Professor of Economics and Dean of the UWA Business School (left).
