Helen Hughes

Helen Hughes AO (born October 1, 1928) is Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.

Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia Hughes migrated with her parents to Melbourne in 1939. She completed a BA (Hons) from the University of Melbourne in 1949 and an MA (Hons) in 1951. Her dissertation on the history of the Australian steel industry was later published as her first book, and she completed her PhD at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1954.

In 1985 Hughes presented the ABC's 'Boyer Lectures' on 'Australia in a Developing World'. She was Professor of Economics and Director of the National Centre for Development Studies at ANU from 1983 to 1993, and a member of the Fitzgerald Committee on Immigration: A Commitment to Australia. She also worked at the World Bank from 1968 to 1983 and was a member of the United Nations Committee for Development Planning from 1987 to 1993 [http://www.cis.org.au/CISinfo/research.html] .

Hughes current research focus is on the development problems facing the Pacific Island nations and remote Indigenous Australian communities in Australia.

Her most recent book, "Lands of Shame", is about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 'Homelands' and reviews demographic trends, law and order, land rights, joblessness and welfare, education, health, housing and governance, and assesses Commonwealth, State and Territory policies. It is published by and available from the Centre for Independent Studies. [ [https://www.sslcis.org/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=101&zenid=ef1a5eb9ee432dd1700c5ae51cc591a0 Lands of Shame [SP09 - $38.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce ] ]

In 1985 Hughes was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for "service to international relations, particularly in the field of economics".}In 1980, Helen Hughes appeared as a World Bank Economist on a panel moderated by Robert McKenzie featuring Donald Rumsfeld, Jagdish Bhagwati, and Richard Deason (an IBEW union leader) as part of the Milton Friedman's PBS documentary "Free To Choose" [ [http://www.freetochoose.net/1980_vol2_transcript.html Free To Choose - Media ] ] .

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