Australian Economic Outlook Conference 2026

David is the Managing Director at BIS Oxford Economics and heads the office for Australia and New Zealand. In August 2013 he moved to Sydney to establish the firm and is continuing to grow the business in this region as well as leading key projects within Australia.

Before moving to Australia David worked as part of Oxford Economics’ business development team in London. Prior to joining Oxford Economics he worked for KPMG as a management consultant, specialising in financial risk management including stress testing and scenario analysis. During this time he was also seconded to the main Financial Services regulatory body, the Financial Services Authority (FSA). He completed his degree in Economics at Nottingham University and also studied the chartered institute for securities investment diploma.

Harry Murphy Cruise is the Head of Economic Research and Global Trade at Oxford Economics Australia. He leads the Australian Macroeconomic Service and global trade initiatives, including TradePrism. Harry frequently provides insights to major media outlets, including CNBC, BBC, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal. His research primarily focuses on global trade and investment flows, with particular interest in the challenges and opportunities of economic decoupling.

Harry holds a master’s degree in international and development economics from the Australian National University and a bachelor’s degree in arts and commerce from Monash University. He is a PhD candidate at ANU, exploring the role of China’s diverse households and firms in the country’s economic transition.

Prior to joining Oxford Economics, Harry was the Head of China and Australia Economics at Moody’s Analytics. He was previously responsible for Australian state and territory analysis at Deloitte Access Economics.

Alex is a macroeconomist with over a decade of experience, she currently leads Oxford Economics’ climate & energy economics practice.

Michael Brennan is a Director at Oxford Economics, based in Australia, specialising in applied microeconomics, including cost-benefit analysis, program evaluation, business cases and economic impact assessment. He has extensive experience advising government and corporate clients across transport, energy, technology, defence and infrastructure sectors.

Before joining Oxford Economics, Michael held leadership roles at Accenture Strategy, AlphaBeta and Deloitte Access Economics, where he led major projects on the energy transition, digital transformation, infrastructure investment and workforce planning. His work has influenced public policy, government investment decisions and regulation across some of Australia’s most critical industries.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Economics (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia.

Adrian has over 23 years of economic analysis and consulting experience with Oxford Economics Australia, focusing on the infrastructure, building, maintenance and mining industries. Adrian has undertaken a wide range of consultancy projects for the public and private sector based on his detailed understanding of construction, mining and maintenance markets, their drivers and outlooks, the range of organisations operating in this space and the issues they face.

This work includes deeper industry liaison, contractor and competitive analysis, pipeline analysis, demand and cost escalation forecasting, and industry capacity and capability projects for the public and private sector. He is the lead author of major reports but also undertakes briefings and workshops for senior management, board members and industry associations, leads in-depth stakeholder consultation, and facilitates and chairs roundtables between government and industry.