Flavio Menezes

Flavio Menezes is a Professor of Economics and Director of the Australian Institute for Business and Economics at the University of Queensland (UQ). He is also a part-time member of the Australian Competition Tribunal and a member of the Sydney Airport Demand Management Compliance Committee. His third and final term as Chair of the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) concluded in September 2025, following almost a decade as a member of the Authority.

Professor Menezes was engaged by the Australian Treasury to provide independent strategic advice to the Australian and New Zealand governments on reducing regulatory barriers to the net zero transition. His report, released in September 2025, informed a joint commitment by both governments to strengthen regulatory settings, facilitate trans-Tasman trade, and improve productivity and living standards.

He served on the NDIA's Pricing Arrangements Reference Group from 2023 to 2026 and was a member of the Expert Panel for the 2022–2023 National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) Specialist Disability Accommodation Price Review. He was President of the Economic Society of Australia (Queensland) from 2016 to 2018 and served on the advisory board of the Australian Government's Deregulation Taskforce between 2019 and 2020.

Professor Menezes was Head of UQ's School of Economics from 2009 to 2015. He chaired the Economics and Commerce Research Evaluation Committee for Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2018 and served as a member of the same committee for ERA 2015. He was also an elected member of UQ's Academic Board and its Standing Committee from 2018 to 2021.

Before joining UQ in 2006, Professor Menezes was Professor of Economics and Professor of Regulatory Economics at the Australian National University, where he was the foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Regulatory Economics. He also served as a part-time Vice President at Charles River Associates in Canberra from 2005 to 2006.

Professor Menezes is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow of the Economic Society of Australia. He has previously served as Associate Editor of the Journal of Public Economic Theory and Co-editor of the Economic Record. His research focuses on competition policy, regulation, market design, and the economics of the net zero transition, with applications spanning energy, digital platforms, infrastructure, and public policy. He is regularly sought by the media and policymakers for expert commentary on Australian economic policy, competition policy, and regulation.

His engagement with government and industry has been extensive. He has advised the Australian Government, the Australian Energy Market Commission, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales, the Queensland Competition Authority, and the ACT and Victorian governments on competition, regulation, and market design. He has also provided expert economic advice to public and private organisations across a wide range of sectors, including telecommunications, defence, fisheries, water, gambling, natural resources, electricity markets, dairy, banking, health, transport, aged care, the NDIS, and early childhood education and care.