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Dr Ken Henry

Secretary to the Treasury

The following biographical notes are from the Treasury website.

Dr Henry was born in Taree NSW. He completed a first class honours degree in economics at the University of NSW in 1979. From February 1980 to September 1984 he was a lecturer in the economics department of the University of Canterbury (Christchurch, New Zealand). He completed his PhD in 1982. In September 1984 he returned to Australia, accepting a position in Treasury's Taxation Policy Division. He was a member of the Treasury team that put together the Government's Draft White Paper on Tax Reform (published in June 1985) and contributed to the development of the Government's tax reform package (Reform of the Australian Taxation System, September 1985).

From September 1986 to June 1991, Dr Henry worked as a senior adviser to the Treasurer. He advised the Treasurer on taxation policy and administration, retirement incomes policy, industry policy and microeconomic reform (including telecommunications reform). At the end of June 1991 he returned to the Treasury as head of the Microeconomic Modelling Unit. In July 1992 he took up the position of Minister (Economic and Financial Affairs) in the Australian Delegation to the OECD in Paris.

Dr Henry returned to the Treasury in January 1994 as head of the Taxation Policy Division. In August 1997 he was appointed Chairman of the Government's Taxation Task Force, responsible for providing advice to the Government on tax reform options. In October 1998 he was promoted to the position of Executive Director (Deputy Secretary) of Treasury's Economic Group, and a member of the Treasury Executive Board. In that role he had executive responsibility for domestic macroeconomic policy advice, domestic economic forecasting, and advice on international economic issues (including Australia's relationship with the multilateral international financial institutions).

On 27 April 2001, Dr Henry commenced his appointment as Secretary to the Treasury.

Contact

Phone (02) 6263 3738

Fax (02) 6263 3360