Emeritus Professor Boyd Hunter
Affiliation: The Australian National University
Discipline: Economic history
Year elected: 2021
How would you describe your work at a dinner party?
I am passionate about exploring the role of Indigenous business in facilitating self-determination. While the legacy of colonisation persists in the economic outcomes of Indigenous communities, I work on policies that develop Indigenous communities and businesses, and which provide a practical way to focus on strength-based approaches to economic autonomy.
What are you most proud of?
That’s easy, the achievements of all the students I mentored. Especially my Indigenous students, like Professors Dennis Foley and Peter Raddoll, and Dr Craig Leon. Craig is working with another former student Dr Siddharth Shirodkar, to develop training modules on cultural competency for large organisations. Mentoring is never a one-way street, and I have become a better person by learning.
What question or issue, in your field, keeps you awake at night?
The way the current public discourse sometimes takes social and economic institutions for granted. The whole economic system relies on stability in the rule of law and trust to facilitate economic exchanges, and this needs to be maintained. Of course, some institutions are unresponsive to citizens and need reform, but I prefer to think about transforming institutions to make them better for all Australians rather than celebrating random economic ‘disruptions’.
What should your field of study be doing more of right now?
Economists have always been instrumental in providing quantitative evidence for First Nations communities. However, there is a historic opportunity to research and support the development of institutions that support Indigenous economic self-determination. For instance, Institutional Economics provides key insights for rapidly evolving First Nations institutions in Canada and we should explore what makes those institutions successful and work with local communities to evaluate whether they could be adapted here.
Where is your ‘happy’ place?
My happy place is singing with my local community choir, ‘Strange Weather Choir’. It is a lovely community of people who support each other with camaraderie and song. We do a ripping rendition of Midnight Oil’s ‘Beds are Burning’.