opinionCourier Mail
Who are we? Moments that define Brisbane better than any slogan
A discussion of Brisbane's identity ahead of the Olympics — what defines a city beyond its slogans.
Manning
Clifford
I am a Master in Public Policy student at Harvard Kennedy School and editor-at-large of Inflection Points. At Harvard, I am focussing on opportunities to improve Australia's community housing sector.
Previously, I worked at BCG, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Victoria's Department of Premier & Cabinet. I completed an Honours year in Economics at the University of Melbourne in 2020. I'm interested in housing economics, financial markets and public finance.
In my spare time, I run, read and solve crosswords. I also occasionally write on Substack.
Currently
Harvard Kennedy School, MPP
Previously
BCG · RBA · DPC Victoria
Interests
Housing economics · Financial markets · Public finance
Public Sites
Writing
Jan 2026→
essayInflection Points
The Spirit of Progress
Co-authored with Jonathan O'Brien on Australian reform and the path forward.
analysisHKS Student Policy Review
Moving Towards Minority Government: A Global View of Australia's Upcoming Election
Co-authored with Alex Goth, analyzing global electoral trends and what they mean for Australia's next election.
opinionAustralian Financial Review
4 policy ideas to fix housing affordability
Fixing Australia's decade-long housing crisis won't happen overnight. Four policy ideas to make a real difference.
analysisFuture Forward Australia
Still more to be done: Longer term priorities for fixing Australia's housing crisis
Supply-focused housing reform recommendations for Future Forward Australia.
analysisBCG
Global Workers, Local Impact: The Power of Talent Funds
BCG Henderson Institute report on talent investment mechanisms for workforce development.
researcheBioMedicine (The Lancet)
Machine learning augmentation reduces prediction error in collective forecasting
Hybrid human-machine prediction systems outperform human-only forecasting. Co-authored with Alexander Gruen, Karl Mattingly, et al.
researchMelbourne Institute
Stamp duty and equity in Australia
Co-authored with Prof. John Freebairn. Analysis of how stamp duty functions as a regressive tax affecting housing markets.
analysisYoung Progressive Australians
Young Progressive Australians - Submission to the ALP Policy Forum
A joint submission proposing seven flagship policies across the ALP platform — easy to communicate, financially achievable and electorally palatable — to help Labor build a compelling reform agenda from opposition.
researchUniversity of Melbourne
Stamp duty's mobility effects: Evidence from Australian homeowners
Honours research essay. A 10% stamp duty increase correlates with a 2.3% reduction in housing mobility.
analysisPer Capita
Getting on Board: Community board members in Australia's largest companies
Per Capita report proposing corporate governance reform to increase community board representation.
researchVictorian Parliament
Beyond the Latrobe Valley: Improving government assistance for regions in transition
Parliamentary research report on improving economic transition support strategies for regional communities.
Projects
Sherrin Spreadsheets
AFL stats, analysis and visualisations
datasport
Sack the Jack
Cheekily reimagining an Australian identity
designidentity
Community Crosswords
Learned crossword creation and established the COVID-19 Crossword Crew to share community-created puzzles.
CommunityPuzzles
Push-up Tracker
Web app for tracking daily push-up progress as a new year's resolution with three peers. Vibecoded with Claude.
VercelClaudeWeb App
Australian Location Quotients
Calculated location quotients for Australian cities using ABS census data. Interactive Shiny dashboard.
RShinyEconomics
Strava Dashboard
Enhanced visualization and data access for running activities using Strava's API. Built with R and Shiny.
RShinyData Viz
Inflection Points
Building a home for long-form policy writing. Led development including author commissioning, pipeline building, and standards development.
PolicyWritingEditorial