2026 BDO Outlook in Melbourne

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BDO Outlook is our national flagship event series bringing together leaders from business, government, and industry to explore the key issues shaping Australia’s economic future.

This year’s theme was Future Fit. As Australia faces an increasingly complex and uncertain future, being future fit requires us to consider the capabilities, investments and policy settings needed to drive long-term economic prosperity. It challenges us to think beyond immediate priorities and ask a fundamental question: what does a future-fit state look like, and what actions must we take today to build it?

In Melbourne, we were delighted to explore the opportunities and reforms needed to strengthen Victoria’s competitiveness, including investment attraction, infrastructure, innovation, productivity and research commercialisation, and their role in supporting the state’s longevity.

Economic snapshot

Global economic growth is becoming harder to generate as governments balance prosperity with growing demands for security, resilience and social outcomes. In this environment, the businesses that succeed will be those that understand how global forces such as artificial intelligence, demographic change, geopolitical fragmentation and productivity challenges are creating new opportunities for growth.

The Victorian Economic Snapshot report explores these global and national trends before examining how they are playing out across Victoria. From major infrastructure and energy transition projects to migration patterns, workforce dynamics and emerging technology opportunities, the report provides business leaders with practical insights to help navigate change and identify opportunities in a more complex economic landscape.

Key themes and insights

Our discussions covered a broad range of topics, including:

  • Policy certainty will be critical to unlocking investment. Victoria continues to attract talent and capital, but businesses need confidence that regulatory and tax settings will remain stable to support innovation and long-term investment decisions.
  • Data centres present a major growth opportunity for Victoria. Realising this potential will depend on infrastructure capacity, energy availability and regulatory certainty keeping pace with demand.
  • Strategic defence and infrastructure investment can strengthen Victoria's economy. Investment in defence, advanced manufacturing and enabling infrastructure should prioritise projects that deliver long-term economic benefits, build local capability and strengthen supply chains.
  • Collaboration is key to delivering a future-focused Victoria. Strong public-private partnerships are needed to fund major projects, unlock investment and support long-term economic growth.
  • Workforce and productivity remain central to Victoria's competitiveness. As expectations evolve, Victoria needs to balance flexibility and productivity while maintaining an attractive environment for businesses to invest and grow.

Event highlights

Watch the highlights from our morning at The Glasshouse.

 

 

Our speakers

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Ticky Fullerton

Chief Executive Officer, Australian British Chamber of Commerce | Award-winning journalist and former business commentator

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Ticky Fullerton joined the Australian British Chamber of Commerce as Chief Executive in March 2023 to lead the team as they look forward to the huge opportunity for their partners: the Free Trade Agreement, developments with AUKUS on the defence and security front and the exciting business generation around energy transition.

Ticky is a highly skilled and motivated thought leader with board and governance experience, an extensive network across governments, the top floor of business and the media.

She has a long-standing reputation as a highly credible voice in business. She is a trusted advisor to government, working closely with both Australian and UK government networks.

Most recently, Ticky was Business Editor at Large at The Australian newspaper. She is an award-winning journalist and a household name in Australian business circles with over twenty years at News Corp and the ABC.

She was Business Editor of Sky News in Australia and presented Business Weekend, the channel’s flagship business program for the ABC and was an investigative journalist with Four Corners.

Prior to journalism, Ticky spent ten years with investment bank CS First Boston in Britain and Australia.

She is a past director of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce and of the CRC for Irrigation Futures.

Ticky has a law degree from Oxford where she was also Treasurer of the Oxford Union.

Anders is BDO’s Chief Economist, responsible for leading the firm’s macroeconomic analysis with a commitment to helping clients navigate the key transitions shaping Australia’s next decade. He is a purpose-driven economist who strives to help his clients achieve social benefit, leveraging the breadth and depth of expertise at BDO to deliver practical solutions.

Anders is highly curious and has a passion for the natural world, focussing much of his career on the economic opportunities of Australia’s oceans, forests and regional landscapes. He is equally concerned with communities and followed his Bachelor of Economics with a Master of Health to better understand the social links between economic events and wellbeing.

He works with an ever-expanding range of sectors, specialising in fisheries and aquaculture, agriculture, forestry, infrastructure and healthcare assignments for both government and private clients.

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Steve Gledden

Managing Partner
Straight Bat Private Equity

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Steve is the Managing Partner of Straight Bat Private Equity, a Melbourne-based, income oriented fund investing in mature, profitable Australian businesses. He brings over 25 years' experience as a scale-up business owner, operator, executive, and private equity and venture capital investor across industrial services, life sciences, manufacturing, banking, resources, media, and technology.

Steve has advised and invested in private equity and venture capital deals across the UK, USA, Asia, and Australia, specialising in growth acceleration, M&A, strategic alignment, and operational execution. He has completed over 50 transactions and capital raisings totalling more than $10 billion, and previously worked at McKinsey & Company. He holds a BCom/BSc from Melbourne University and an MBA from Oxford.

Outside work, Steve enjoys fishing, sailing, golfing, skiing, and flying planes, living by the motto "we don't 'live to work', we 'work to live'."

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Cath Evans

Executive Director
Property Council of Australia

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Cath Evans is the Victorian Executive Director of the Property Council of Australia, the leading advocate for Australia’s property industry - the economy's largest sector and employer. Cath is the principal advocate and lobbyist for the organisation on all matters within the state of Victoria.

Cath is also a lawyer and a proven CEO and COO, having held executive roles for large multi-site, ASX listed organisations in Australia, NZ and the UK.

Cath has served as Director on several Boards and is currently a member of the Victorian Building Authority Special Advisory Panel, the Building Industry Consultative Council. She is the Chairperson of WAYSS, a Not for Profit, that delivers services to women and children experiencing family violence and homelessness for people in the Southeastern Suburbs.

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Professor Regina Crameri

Director
Centre for Advanced Defence Research and Enterprise - Operating in CBRN Environments (CADRE-OCE)

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Professor Regina Crameri is a senior executive, scientist and academic with 30 years’ experience across defence science and technology capability development, business development, strategic advisory, whole-of-government policy and research commercialisation.

She is Professor and Director of CADRE-OCE at the University of Melbourne, a multi-institutional centre developing R&D and capability for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) environments.

She spent 20 years as a Senior Scientist with the Australian Government, leading research on Special Forces health, performance and injury management, and futures technology assessment. Her leadership roles include Victorian Defence Industry Advocate; Executive Director of Health and Critical Technologies at Austrade; Associate Dean of Allied Health at RMIT University; and Associate Director of the Defence Science Institute.

A graduate of the AICD Company Directors Course, she has held non-executive director and committee roles with Water Polo Australia, Defence Council Victoria, PV RSL, Presentation College Windsor, AMDA Foundation Innovation Awards and PBG Foundation Ltd.

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David Whiteley

Global Head, External Relations
IFM Investors

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David Whiteley is the Global Head of External Relations for IFM Investors, responsible for managing IFM’s relationships with its shareholder pension funds, stakeholder, government and public relations strategies and policy and research. David was appointed President of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI) in April of 2026.

Prior to joining IFM Investors, David was the founding Chief Executive of Industry Super Australia (ISA) for twelve years, leading ISA’s advocacy efforts with the objective of improving Australia’s superannuation system so that it works in the best interests on members.

David has previously served as a director of industry super funds HESTA, STA, an Alternate Director of AustralianSuper and member of the Audit, Compliance and Risk Management committee at AustralianSuper. David worked with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) from 1999 to 2006.

David is an AmCham Governor in the state of Victoria and is a board member of the European Australian Business Council (EABC).

National series

This year our BDO Outlook event is being held in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. Keep an eye on this page to learn more about the insights from our other Outlook events.