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The distinguished economist and academic Sir Douglas Berry Copland held the inaugural CEDA meeting in the boardroom of the Victorian Employers’ Federation in Melbourne on October 21. Sir Douglas established CEDA after recognising the need for an independent body focused on Australia’s longer-term economic development and international engagement.

CEDA’s research program took its first major step with a £75,000 grant from the Ford Foundation for research on South East Asian trade and development. The project produced 29 research publications on South-East Asian economies, just as Australia began waking up to the importance of engaging with Asia.  

Every Prime Minister since the Hon. Bill McMahon has addressed CEDA, including Gough Whitlam, Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke (pictured), Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison. In 1970, the then Minister for External Affairs, the Hon. William (Billy) McMahon, addressed a CEDA forum on development assistance to South-East Asia.

Sir Roy Jenkins, the former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the inaugural Sir Douglas Copland Lecture to honour Sir Douglas’ contribution to Australian public life. The series brought the views and perspectives of world leaders to Australian audiences. As a result, the roll call of Copland Lecturers is a distinguished line of international figures – including Nobel Laureates, business leaders and politicians. 

As part of a major publication series on the role of the private sector, CEDA published the first major text on corporate social responsibility, The Social Responsibility of Corporations. Written by PJ Dunstan, it was the first major text on one of the biggest issues of today. 

CEDA hosted its first State of the Nation conference in Canberra, bringing together the best public policy minds from politics, business, academia and community organisations. This important conference has continued to run annually ever since 1979, promoting open discussions on the key issues facing Australia's economic and social development.

CEDA’s Economic and Political Overview (EPO) was established to help members navigate the Australian economy and politics for the year ahead. The annual publication and series of briefings still run today, bringing together political, economic and business leaders to set the agenda and share business intelligence.  

CEDA published the landmark report Aboriginals and the Mining Industry on the impact of mining on Aboriginal communities. Written by Professor John Niuewenhuysen and Dennis Turner, the publication was influential in arguing for increased government expenditure to overcome problems in remote Aboriginal communities. 

CEDA’s highly influential research report on the economic impact of immigration was issued, as part of a four-year project overseen by Dr Neville Norman and Katherine Meikle. The Federal Government implemented numerous recommendations from the report, including the creation of a Bureau of Immigration Research and the implementation of a points system for skilled migration. 

In an important CEDA report, John Niland and Dennis Turner argued for substantial liberalisation, a course of action which was subsequently pursued by the Labor government and reinforced by the Liberal coalition in government. It was one of the significant influences that came together to shift industrial focus to enterprise-level relationships, and the related work practices and productivity agenda. 

Professor Ian Marsh’s 1995 report, The Development and Impact of Australia’s Think Tanks, offered a significant critique of the proliferation and roles of think tanks in Australia. This work was preceded by additional papers published by CEDA as far back as 1980, examining the value of think tanks to the country. 

CEDA’s pivotal report, Growth 52: Water and the Australian Economy, called for a new approach to water management in Australia to ensure the future sustainability of this scarce resource. Following the report, CEDA, UniWater (Melbourne and Monash Universities) and Harvard University formed the Australian Water Project in 2010 to study water shortages and policy solutions for Australia. 

The Hon. Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, the then Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, launched CEDA’s Women in Leadership series and marked the beginning of more than 100 events that continue to run. Other speakers included the Hon. Julie Bishop, Senator the Hon. Penny Wong, Professor Gillian Triggs, and Lieutenant General David Morrison AO. 

CEDA released the pivotal Connecting people with progress: securing future economic development report, which was aimed at recalibrating the economic development priorities for the Australian community. The report detailed CEDA's policy stack for the first time, leading the organisation to advance reforms on technology and data; workplace, workforce and collaboration; population; critical services; and institutions.