Caralee McLiesh is an Australian economist and senior public servant who is currently serving as the auditor-general for the Commonwealth of Australia. She was previously Chief Executive and Secretary to the

New Zealand Treasury The New Zealand Treasury () is the central public service department of New Zealand charged with advising the New Zealand Government, Government on economic policy, assisting with improving the performance of Economy of New Zealand, New Zealand' ...

from 2019 to 2024.

Early life and education

McLiesh holds a

Bachelor of Economics A Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon)Bureau of Labor StatisticsHow to Become an Economist/ref> is an academic degree, awarded to students who have completed specialised undergraduate studies in economics. Variants include the "Bachelor of Econo ...

with First Class Honours from the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Finance from the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

. Her thesis investigated the development of a comprehensive theory of takeover activity. She has published several reports and books through the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

press and research papers in economic journals. She is a fellow of Certified Practising Accountants (FCPA).

Early career

McLiesh was an Associate and Senior Associate at the

Boston Consulting Group Boston Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) is an American global management consulting firm founded in 1963 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the "Big Three (management consultancies), Big Three" (or MBB, the world's three large ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and worked for the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical Regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia (reg ...

and

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

as a Development Delegate. Between 2000-2007, McLiesh worked in a number of roles for the

in Washington D.C. including Programme Manager and Senior Economist. McLiesh spent 10 years at the

New South Wales Treasury The Treasury of New South Wales, branded NSW Treasury, a department of the New South Wales Government, is responsible for state financial management policy and reporting, and providing advice to the government on economic conditions and issues ...

. In this time, she held four different roles: Deputy Secretary, Fiscal and Economic; Deputy Secretary, Agency Budget and Policy; Deputy Secretary Human and Social Services, and; Executive Director, Human and Social Services. Notably her role in the NSW government saw her leading the development of State Budgets covering AUS$80 billion operating expenditure and AUS$350 billion in assets. In 2017 Caralee was awarded a Public Service Medal for outstanding public service to social impact investment policy and reform in New South Wales. From 2018 to 2019, she was Managing Director at Technical and Further Education, New South Wales. The Managing Director role oversaw a budget of A$1.8 billion and workforce of 17,000 people.

New Zealand Treasury

Regarding McLiesh's appointment as Chief Executive and Secretary to the

in September 2019, economist Eric Crampton praised her academic experience in advancing

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

's social impact agenda. She was the first woman to hold the position. Her period of employment included the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and the 2023 transition between Labour and National-led governments. During her keynote speech at the joint

Reserve Bank of New Zealand The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) () is the central bank of New Zealand. It was established in 1934 and is currently constituted under the ''Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021''. The current acting governor of the Reserve Bank, Christian ...

–Treasury macroeconomic workshop in 2021 McLiesh emphasised that New Zealand's economy was just one of three economies that had maintained a positive GDP during the COVID-19 period. Treasury's management of COVID-19 saw directed and targeted response measures that supported short-term and long-term fiscal policies that minimised disruption and dislocation of the business and workforce relationship. Carrying out exit interviews at the end of her term, McLiesh commented in favour of New Zealand adopting a

capital gains tax A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property. In South Africa, capital g ...

and a more efficient superannuation scheme. In July 2024 McLiesh announced she would not seek a second term as Treasury secretary and that she would return to Canberra. On 1 August 2024 McLiesh's appointment as Auditor-General for Australia was made public. She was succeeded at the Treasury by

Iain Rennie Iain Robert Rennie (born 1964) is a New Zealand economist and senior public servant. He was State Services Commissioner from 2008 to 2016 and has been Secretary to the Treasury since November 2024. Early life and education Rennie has a Bachel ...

Auditor-General

The office of

Auditor-General An auditor general, also known in some countries as a comptroller general or comptroller and auditor general, is a senior civil servant charged with improving government accountability by auditing and reporting on the government's operations. Fre ...

is a ten-year statutory appointment made by the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

on the advice of the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. McLeish was announced in the role on 1 August 2024 and commenced the position on 4 November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLiesh, Caralee Australian economists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Australian National University alumni University of Melbourne alumni Australian women economists 21st-century Australian women public servants 21st-century Australian public servants Australian expatriates in New Zealand