What Would Adam Smith Think of Modern Australia with Joseph Healy

As a part of the Melbourne Tartan Festival, join the Institute for its annual Scottish Enlightenment Lecture and hear from international banker and health entrepreneur Joseph Healy on ‘What Would Adam Smith Think of Modern Australia’.

The topic marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith’s era-defining book Wealth of Nations.

Healy is the author of the excellent book What Would Adam Smith Make of Modern Australia? How Lessons from the Past Provide Answers for a Better Future and is one of those rare public personalities whose intellectual output on economics is informed by hard practical business experience.

He was a co-founder and CEO of Judo Bank, a bank created to serve the needs of the SME economy, and is currently Executive Chairman of Malu Health Group, which specialises in mental health care. Joseph holds six master’s degrees in subjects covering financial economics, business studies, Chinese studies, and the psychology and neuroscience of mental health.

Need more convincing? Listen to his conversation on the same topic with Georgina Downer for our Afternoon Light podcast here.

Details of the event are:

Date: Tuesday 28 July 2026
Time: 5:30pm – 7pm (AEDT)
Venue: Library, First Floor, North Wing, Old Quad, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010.
Tickets: FREE for members / $30 for non-members. Book your ticket by clicking the Book Ticket button on this page.

Drinks and canapés included.

The Scottish Enlightenment Lecture as part of the Melbourne Tartan Festival has become a wonderful Institute tradition — an evening that celebrates the cultural inheritance, civic traditions and values that helped shape modern Australia, and which were so deeply appreciated by Robert Menzies himself.

If you wish to become a member of the Robert Menzies Institute and avail our free tickets to our events, visit here: Membership | Robert Menzies Institute