CBA Forum 2024
CBA is a key policy tool and recent high-profile stories have highlighted its importance in supporting public accountability and as a strong evidence base for decisions.
The 2024 CBA Forum on Thursday 8 August 2024, is a unique opportunity to meet, re-engage with and learn from CBA colleagues, peers and industry experts across a wide range of disciplines and organisations. This year’s enlarged program includes sessions on: Health, Justice, Water, Transport, Environment, Energy, First Nations and Carbon values.
The programme will be of interest to:
- experienced practitioners;
- those new to developing CBAs; and
- people who rely on CBAs to support decisions.
ESA NSW is fortunate to again have the use of our venue partner Deloitte’s spectacular Quay-side facilities, for both the Forum and the post-event networking function. On-line attendance will be available for those unable to attend in-person or if in-person capacity is reached.
View the 2024 CBA Forum Program
View the 2024 Forum Recordings
Meet our Speakers, Panellists and Chairs
Robert Smith, Independent Economist
CBA Forum Chair
Robert Smith is an independent economist at East Economics and a long-term council member of the ESA NSW branch.
Coralie Williams, Infrastructure Australia
Infrastructure investment reform
Coralie Williams is a Director in the Project Advisory and Evaluation team at Infrastructure Australia, the Commonwealth Government's independent infrastructure advisor.
Angus Woods, NSW Treasury
Environment: Carbon Value for CBA
Angus is a senior economist in the Centre for Economic Evidence (CEE) at NSW Treasury where he has contributed to the development of several economic frameworks including Cost-Benefit Analysis and Business Case guidelines and a set of target consistent carbon values to be used in CBA for NSW.
Jennifer Jenkins, Infrastructure Australia
Environment: National emissions value
Jennifer Jenkins is Director of Project Advisory and Evaluation at Infrastructure Australia, the independent infrastructure advisor to the Australian Government. Jennifer leads the evaluation of nationally significant transport, water, energy, and communications infrastructure proposals seeking $250 million or more in Australian Government funding.
Don Weatherburn, UNSW
Justice: Savings with decriminalization of drug use in NSW
Dr Don Weatherburn is a Professor at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre and was formerly Executive Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
Sara Rahman, BOCSAR
Justice: Early Referral into Treatment (MERIT) CBA
Sara Rahman is a Research Manager at the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, leading a team in evaluation NSW Government criminal justice policies.
Jaithri Ananthapavan, Deakin University
Health: CBA for driving preventive health decision-making
Associate Professor Jaithri Ananthapavan leads the Economics of Obesity team within Deakin Health Economics (DHE) and the Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE) at Deakin University. She is an experienced health economist with over 15 years of experience in both health economics consulting and academia.
Brad Wong, Mettalytics
Health: CBA and health 'best buys' in international development
Brad Wong is the Founder and President of Mettalytics, a consultancy, and an affiliated researcher at the Centre for Ethics and Prioritisation in Health at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Alexandra Humphrey Cifuentes, Frontier Economics
Water: How to value water - from guidelines to $
Alexandra Humphrey Cifuentes is an economist in Frontier Economics’ urban economics and water practice, focusing on using economics to help address challenges and opportunities posed by urban growth and climate change across water, energy, liveability, biodiversity and other social infrastructure. This includes advice on the critical nexus between sustainable urban development, water security and water sensitive urban design.
Rhys Thomson, Rhelm
Water: Flood damage assessment tool
Rhys is a Director with Rhelm with over 20 years of experience in economics and engineering. Working across Australia and the wider Asia Pacific, his combined skillset gives him a unique insight into projects and bridge the gap between disciplines.
Jenny Hayward, CSIRO Energy
Energy: Developing 2023-24 GenCost
Dr Jenny Hayward is a principal research scientist in CSIRO Energy. She leads research projects on technology cost projections and the models she has developed are used to project the cost of energy technologies for the GenCost project for AEMO.
Eamon McGinn, Deloitte Access Economics
Energy: Consumer risk preferences in CBA: approach and application
Eamon McGinn is a partner at Deloitte Access Economics with a focus on applying quantitative microeconomic modelling to answer business and policy questions, particularly in the transport, energy and agriculture sectors.
Mark Harvey, Dept. of Infrastructure
Transport: Evolution of the ATAP CBA Guidelines
Dr Mark Harvey is a research economist at the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Research Economics and CBA workstream leader for the Australian Transport Assessment and Planning (ATAP) Guidelines.
Matthew Jones, Transport NSW
Transport: Developments in TfNSW CBA Guidance
Matthew is currently Director of Economics, Benefits and Evaluation in the investment and assurance team of finance in Transport for NSW. He is responsible for providing CBA guidance for major and minor projects across Transport as part of the Business Case process.
Shaun Cumming, NSW Treasury
Introducing the First Nations Investment Framework
Shaun Cumming is the Director of First Nations Economic Wellbeing in NSW Treasury’s Centre for Economic Evidence. Shaun is responsible for leading advice, guidance and capability uplift relating to the application of cost-benefit analysis and evaluation of First Nations initiatives.
Laura Faulkner, NSW Treasury
Introducing the First Nations Investment Framework
Laura Faulkner is a Senior Analyst in NSW Treasury’s First Nations Economic Wellbeing Branch. Laura provides advice on the application of cost-benefit analysis to initiatives that impact on First Nations people and communities.
Sarah Close, Deloitte
Panel: CBA and Sunlight (Chair)
Sarah is a Partner in Deloitte’s Infrastructure & Real Estate team and is an infrastructure economics specialist. She has spent 20 years specialising in the development of business cases, feasibility studies and economic analysis of major social and economic infrastructure across Australia.
