Millions of Baby Boomers lucked out with affordable homes, free uni, jobs for life and a franking credit-fed retirement. Millennials and Gen Z are faring less … well, fairly. They’re stuck on a hamster wheel of insecure work, saddled with student loans and crammed into share houses paying off Boomers’ mortgages. How did we get here and how do we fix it? Comedian and I, Millennial: One Snowflake’s Screed Against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else author Tom Ballard, and economist and Gen F’d?: How Young Australians Can Reclaim Their Uncertain Futures author Alison Pennington plot the path ahead with economist Richard Holden (From Free to Fair Markets: Liberalism after COVID-19) and host Jessica Irvine.
Tom Ballard (Australian)
Tom Ballard is the fearlessly funny voice of a generation. Tom is one of Australia's favourite comic talents and has performed and won acclaim as a stand-up all around the world. Tom hosts a political interview podcast called Like I'm a Six Year Old and he is also the co-creator and co-host of green politics podcast Serious Danger alongside Emerald Moon. In 2022 Tom released his first book I, Millennial a self-styled "screed against Boomers, Billionaires and Everything Else."
Alison Pennington (Australian)
Alison Pennington is an economist, writer and commentator. She recently published Gen F'd? How Young Australians can Reclaim their Uncertain Futures. Pennington investigates economic issues facing working people including the future of jobs, skills and the role of government. She is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Politics, Philosophy and Economics with La Trobe University, and was the former Senior Economist at the Australia Institute.
Richard Holden (Australian)
Richard Holden in professor of economics at UNSW and President of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. He was formerly on the faculty at MIT and the University of Chicago, and earned a PhD from Harvard University. He has published numerous paper in top economics journals and is a regular columnist at The Australian Financial Review.
Jessica Irvine (Australian)
Jessica Irvine is one of Australia's leading economics journalists. She is currently a senior writer at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers. She is the author of three books: Zombies, bananas and why there no economists in heaven: the economics of real life (2012), The Bottom Line Diet (2014) and Money with Jess: Your ultimate guide to household budgeting (2022). She has an honours degree in Economics (Social Sciences) and can be found regularly oversharing the intimate details of her financial life on Instagram @moneywithjess.
