Ross Gittins

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Ross Gittins
Born (1948-02-13) 13 February 1948 (age 75)
Newcastle, New South Wales
NationalityAustralian
Academic career
Alma mater University of Newcastle, Australia
AwardsMember of the Order of Australia (AM)

Ross Gittins AM FASSA FRSN (born 1948 in Newcastle, Australia) is an Australian political and economic journalist and author, known for "his ability to make dry, hard-to-understand economics and economic policy relevant". [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Ross Roderick Gittins was born 13 February 1948 in Newcastle, New South Wales where his family were living at New Lambton. His parents, Salvation Army officers [2] moved to Sydney and Ross started schooling at Fort Street High School. The family then moved to Bathurst before moving back to New Lambton. Ross completed his secondary schooling at Newcastle Boys High School (1962 –64). [3]

Ross then matriculated to the University of Newcastle where he studied in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce being graduated in 1970 as a Bachelor of Commerce. [4] He had studied part-time for 2 years whilst working with a Newcastle chartered accountant before gaining a Commonwealth Scholarship which enabled him to finish his studies on a full-time basis. [3]

Upon completion of his degree, he moved to Sydney, where he worked for a large firm of chartered accountants. [3]

Finance journalist

Gittins regularly writes for former Fairfax publications The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and (previously) The Canberra Times, commentating on underlying economic issues and political economic policies. In 1993 he won the Citibank Pan Asia award for excellence in finance journalism. [5]

In 2003 Gittins wrote that former Prime Minister "Honest John Howard" had been "a tricky chap" on immigration, by appearing "tough" on illegal immigration to win support from the working class, while simultaneously winning support from employers with high legal immigration. [6]

He celebrated his 30th year as the Herald's economics editor in 2008, having assumed the position during the Fraser government in 1978. [7]

Ross Gittins lectures to year 11 and 12 high school students around Australia, in order to share his knowledge and understanding of the Australian economy.[ citation needed ]

Gittins published the first edition of the Gittins' Guide to Economics for secondary students in 1988. [8]

On 7 February 2024, Nine Entertainment, the current publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age since 2018, published an opinion piece by Gittins in both papers celebrating 50 years since he began at the paper in 1974. [9]

Awards and recognition

Gittins was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to economic journalism in Australia [10] and made a Member of the Order of Australia on 26 January 2008 for service to journalism as a commentator on economic theory, policy and behavioural economics, and to the accountancy profession. [11]

In 2011, Gittins was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters from Macquarie University [1] and in 2012 an honorary Doctor of Science in Economics from the University of Sydney[ citation needed ].

Gittins is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand. [5] In 2015 he was appointed an eminent fellow in the practice of economics at the Research School of Economics, Australian National University. In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, being promulgated by His Excellency, the then Governor of New South Wales, General, the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC(Rtd) in the NSW Government Gazette February 2018 [12] ; and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. [13] In December 2018 the Australian National University awarded Gittins a Doctor of Letters honoris causa for his "exceptional contribution to journalism and economics in Australia". [14]

Bibliography

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References

  1. 1 2 Phillips, Nicky (29 September 2011). "Honour for Ross Gittins". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
  2. ↑ Gittins, Ross. "Ross Gittins: A sally on the inside". The Sydney Morning Herald . Fairfax. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 Ross Gittins (8 August 2009). Give My Regrets to Waratah High (PDF) (Speech). Newcastle Boys' High School Old Boys' Association annual dinner. Newcastle City Hall. Retrieved 7 February 2024. The first high school I went to was Fort Street Boys', then my parents – who were Salvation Army officers – were moved to Bathurst for a year before being moved back to the suburb in which I'd been born, New Lambton. That means I was at Boys' High only for my last three years of high school, 1962, 63 and 64 – which was the second last year of the five-year leaving certificate before the introduction of the six-year HSC. The fact that two years after I left school no one left school in NSW proved particularly fortunate for me because, by then I'd finished my second part-time year of a commerce degree at Newcastle Uni. I wanted to switch to full-time, so I applied for a Commonwealth scholarship and, despite a checkered academic record, I got one – purely because they were going begging that year. ... A local chartered accountant, Ray Patrick, came to the school saying he needed to employ a junior audit clerk. Mr Kerr recommended me, I took the job with alacrity and worked for Ray Patrick for two years before going to uni full-time and then moving to Sydney to work for one of the big chartered accounting firms.
  4. ↑ "Conferring of Degrees – 1970". The Gazette. Vol. 4, no. 1. Newcastle, New South Wales: The University of Newcastle, Australia. May 1970. p. 3.
  5. 1 2 "Cornerstones". A conference for public education. Public Education Alliance. Archived from the original on 21 August 2006. Retrieved 7 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ Gittins, Ross (20 August 2003). "Honest John's migrant twostep". The Age. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  7. ↑ Gittins, Ross (4 June 2008). "You've come a long way, baby". businessday.com.au. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Gittins, Ross (1988), Gittins' guide to economics, VCTA Publishing, ISBN   0868593001
  9. ↑ Gittins, Ross (7 February 2024). "Fifty years ago, I found my dream job – and I'm not done yet". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  10. ↑ Australian Government. "Australian Honours database. GITTINS, Ross Roderick. Centenary Medal". It's an honour. For service to economic journalism in Australia.
  11. ↑ Australian Government. "Australian Honours database. GITTINS, Ross Roderick. Member of the Order of Australia". It's an honour. For service to journalism as a commentator on economic theory, policy and behavioural economics, and to the accountancy profession.
  12. ↑ "Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales 529 NSW Government Gazette No 13 of 6 February 2018 Number 13, Tuesday, 6 February 2018" (PDF). 6 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  13. ↑ "Mr Ross Gittins AM, FASSA, FRSN". Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  14. ↑ "Honorary degree: Mr Ross Gittins AM". ANU. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
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