Sir Leslie Melville Lectures

Public lectures in honour of the late Sir Leslie Melville 

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The Sir Leslie Melville Lecture is an annual public lecture of The Australian National University. The Lecture was established in 2002 as part of the celebration of the 100th birthday of Sir Leslie Galfried Melville (1902-2002), and to mark more than half a century of Sir Leslie’s distinguished public service in the fields of monetary policy and higher education. The lecture seeks to reflect the economist and economics in public and official affairs; befitting Sir Leslie’s key role in pioneering central banking in Australia, a number of past lectures have addressed aspects of central banking.
 

Next Sir Leslie Melville lecture

The benefits of independent monetary policymaking in an uncertain world

Thursday, July 10 · 5:30 - 7:30pm AEDT

ANU Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS), Auditorium, Ground Floor

146 Ellery Crescent Acton, ACT 2601

Loretta J. Mester, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from June 2014 to June 2024, for the Sir Leslie Melville public lecture – The benefits of independent monetary policymarking in an uncertain world

About the Lecture

This lecture will focus on the benefits of setting monetary policy independent of short-run political consideration, looking closely at the Federal Reserve System. Loretta will provide some background on the structure of the Federal Reserve System, and the rationale for why it was designed this way. She will then discuss what is meant by independent monetary policy, and what the benefits are for businesses and households. Loretta will emphasise the importance of these points in light of the considerable uncertainty about the economic outlook.

About the presenter

Loretta was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland from June 2014 to June 2024. In this role, she participated in the formulation of U.S. monetary policy, and oversaw more than 1,000 employees based at the bank’s Cleveland office. She also oversaw the branch offices in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, which conduct economic research, supervise banking institutions, promote community development, and provide payment services to depository institutions and the U.S. Treasury. Loretta was the 11th President of the Cleveland Fed and represented the Fourth District on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Loretta is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Senior Fellow with the Wharton Initiative on Financial Policy and Regulation. She has also taught in the undergraduate finance and MBA programs at Wharton and in the PhD program in Finance at New York University.

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Most recent Sir Leslie Melville lecture

Financial Markets and Monetary Policy in Australia

Monday, November 18 · 5:30 - 7:30pm AEDT

Copland Lecture Theatre

25a Kingsley Street Acton, ACT 2601

Join Christopher Kent, Assistant Governor (Financial Markets) at the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), for the Sir Leslie Melville public lecture – Financial markets and monetary policy in Australia.

In this lecture, Christopher will review some key features of Australia’s financial system. He will then discuss some of the implications of these for:

• the transmission of monetary policy
• financial stability
• forward guidance.

About the presenter

Christopher Kent

Christopher has been in his current role since December 2016 and is responsible for the oversight of the RBA’s operations in the domestic and global financial markets, including the management of Australia’s foreign reserves. He briefs the RBA Board on developments in financial markets and participates as the Bank’s representative on the BIS Markets Committee and the BIS Committee on Global Financial Stability. Christopher also chairs the Australian Foreign Exchange Committee and is the Chair of Note Printing Australia.

Past lectures