
Dennis Trewin
Statistician
He was the head of the Australian Bureau of Statistics between 2000 and 2007, and held other senior appointments in Australia such as Electoral Commissioner and an Adjunct Professor at Swinburne University. Dennis is also a member of the Committee charged with responsibility for producing an independent report on the State of the Environment.
Speeches:
Dennis Trewin
Measuring Community Strength
Social capital revolves around networks, and a lot of the work we are doing is in trying to describe those networks. And in this framework we are trying to measure both the positive and the negative effects of social capital. It's not hard to think of networks that haven't necessarily been good for society. The Mafia is one that often comes to mind; it's a very powerful network, but doesn't always deliver positive things.