State Budget Briefing 2024

Chris leads the Department in its role of providing economic, financial and resource management policy advice to the Government. Chris commenced as DTF Secretary in December 2023.

Chris joined DTF as Deputy Secretary of the Economic Division in January 2021. Chris was responsible for the provision of high-level economic and policy advice to Government on productivity, taxation and regulation, along with social, environmental and economic development issues.

Before this, Chris was the CEO of Invest Victoria, and led both the Victorian Government’s approach to investment attraction and the Economic Recovery Mission in response to coronavirus (COVID-19).

Chris’ career includes over two decades in public service in Melbourne, Canberra and internationally, including as Deputy Secretary, Policy and Cabinet in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet.

In 2011, Chris was appointed Australian Ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where he led Australia’s engagement with the OECD and contributed to global best-practice public policy. Following on from his role with the OECD, Chris spent four years with the European Climate Foundation in Berlin, where, as Executive Director, Finance and Economics, he led an international philanthropic strategy on the economic and financial implications and opportunities of the low-carbon transition.

Dr Aruna Sathanapally joined Grattan Institute as CEO in February 2024. She heads a team of leading policy thinkers, researching and advocating policy to improve the lives of Australians. A former NSW barrister and senior public servant, Aruna has worked on the design of public institutions, economic policy, and evidence-based public policy and regulation for close to twenty years.

Before joining Grattan, Aruna worked for the NSW Treasury for over five years, where she headed up analysis and advice across the macroeconomy division, state-owned corporations, state and commonwealth revenue, and health and justice reform. She led the 2021 NSW Intergenerational Report and led the economic analysis for the 2022 Women’s Economic Opportunities Review.

Aruna previously practised as a senior lawyer in the Civil Regulation group at the Australian Government Solicitor and then as a barrister at 12 Wentworth Selborne Chambers, specialising in cases involving complex economic evidence. Prior to returning to Australia 11 years ago, Aruna worked at McKinsey & Company’s London office with a range of private and public sector clients.

She holds arts (economics and politics) and law degrees from UNSW, where she graduated with the University Medal in Law, and two masters degrees in law and a doctorate from the University of Oxford, where she studied as a Menzies Scholar and John Monash Scholar. She has published internationally in the field of constitutional design and human rights and was appointed in 2015 as external legal adviser to the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Human Rights.

Dean helps Governments and public-sector clients achieve policy outcomes in a financially responsible way. He is an Assurance Partner in the Financial Accounting and Advisory Services team in the Melbourne Office. He also leads EY’s Victorian Government Account.

Dean brought 30 years of Public Sector experience to EY. He specialises in Public Sector financial management, budget development and implementation, resource allocations, business cases and organisational reviews.

He is Finance Director for the Board of the Victorian branch of the Institute of Public Administration Australia, the industry group for public servants in Victoria. He holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from the Melbourne Business School, a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honors from the University of Tasmania and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.