International Centre of Excellence in Asia-Pacific Studies

Ross Garnaut’s comments carry significant weight because of the central role he has played in Australia’s economic reform process over the last quarter of a century, and because of the broad range of his experience. Indeed, a quick glance at his career raises an inevitable question: “How does he fit it all in?” At various times he has been an academic, a bank chairman, a mining company chairman, a diplomat, a Prime Ministerial advisor, a sinologist, an economist, a bureaucrat in Papua New Guinea, and the chair of the company publishing Lonely Planet guide books. The answer, of course, is that he has filled, and continues to fill, many of these roles simultaneously. If this were a man who wore hats, he would need an extremely large hat stand!

Luigi Tomba is embarking on perhaps the greatest challenge of his academic career. He has accepted the position as editor of the prestigious bi-annual publication, ‘The China Journal’. Together with colleague, Dr Andrew Kipnis, Dr Tomba is taking on responsibility for overseeing the world’s top-rated academic authority on events unfolding within the world’s most populous country.