The term microeconomic reform (or often just economic reform) refers to policies directed to achieve improvements in economic efficiency, either by eliminating or reducing distortions in individual sectors of the economy or by reforming economy-wide policies such as tax policy and competition policy with an emphasis on economic efficiency, rather than other goals such as equity or employment growth.

"Economic reform" usually refers to deregulation, or at times to reduction in the size of government, to remove distortions caused by regulations or the presence of government, rather than new or increased regulations or government programs to reduce distortions caused by market failure. As such, these reform policies are in the tradition of laissez faire, emphasizing the distortions caused by government, rather than in ordoliberalism, which emphasizes the need for state regulation to maximize efficiency.

Microeconomic reform dominated Australian economic policy from the early 1980s until the end of the 20th century. The beginning of microeconomic reform is commonly dated to the floating of the Australian dollar in 1983. The last major policy initiatives associated with the microeconomic reform agenda was the package of tax reforms centred on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which came into force in July 2000, and the privatisation of Telstra which began in 1998 and was completed in 2006.

Professor Frederick George Hilmer AO (born 2 February 1945) is an Australian academic and business figure.

Professor Hilmer obtained from the University of Sydney the degree of Bachelor of Laws with Honours Class II in April 1966.

Professor Hilmer is presently the President and eighth Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, an appointment he began in June 2006. He has also served as a director and Deputy-Chairman of the Westfield Group since 1991.

Professor Hilmer was previously the Chief Executive Officer of John Fairfax Holdings Limited from 1998 - 2005. Before joining Fairfax he was Dean and Director of the Australian Graduate School of Management (AGSM) at the University of New South Wales from 1989 until 1998. He holds a degree in law from the University of Sydney, an LLM from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of Finance where he was appointed a Joseph Wharton Fellow.

He was a member of the Commonwealth Higher Education Council and Chairman of the Business Council of Australia's Employee Relations Study Group. In 1992 and 1993 he chaired the National Competition Policy Review Committee, which led to the introduction of National Competition Policy in 1995.

Kelvin John Thomson (born 1 May 1955) is an Australian politician. Since March 1996 Thomson has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the Division of Wills in Victoria.

Thomson was born in Coburg, Victoria. He has been active in improving the local environment of Pascoe Vale and north-western Melbourne from a young age. He received a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Melbourne and, finishing first in his class, he was awarded the Supreme Court Prize for Law.

He joined the Australian Labor Party in 1975 and was a public servant and electorate secretary to Senator Gareth Evans before entering local politics serving as a councillor in the Coburg City Council from 1981 to 1988. He was the deputy mayor from 1983 to 1984 and 1987 to 1988.

Kelvin Thomson was married to Victorian Labor MP Marsha Thomson until they separated in 2003. They have two children.

In October 1988, Thomson was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly as the member for the Electoral district of Pascoe Vale. He was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1992 to 1994, and in 1994 he served as the Manager of Opposition Business.

Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since 24 June 2010.

Gillard was born in Barry, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved to Melbourne. She graduated from the University of Melbourne with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees in 1986. In 1987, Gillard joined the law firm Slater & Gordon working in industrial law, before entering politics.

Gillard was elected at the 1998 federal election to the House of Representatives seat of Lalor, Victoria, for the Australian Labor Party. Following the 2001 federal election, Gillard was elected to the shadow cabinet with the portfolios of Population and Immigration. The Reconciliation and Indigenous Affairs and the Health portfolios were added in 2003. In December 2006, Kevin Rudd was elected Labor leader and Leader of the Opposition, with Gillard as deputy leader.

Stephen Michael Conroy (born 18 January 1963 in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England) is an Australian politician and the current Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy in the Gillard Ministry. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian Senate since May 1996, representing the state of Victoria.

Conroy's parents worked at an air-force base, where his mother Jean monitored radar and his father Bill was a sergeant. In December 1973 the Conroys moved to Canberra, where he attended Daramalan College. He obtained a Bachelor of Economics at the Australian National University in Canberra. His involvement in student politics was minimal, although he helped organise a rally against student fees.

After university, Conroy worked as an advisor to Ros Kelly and Barry Jones. He moved to Melbourne to pursue a political career where he met Robert Ray, and served for a time as Superannuation Officer with the Transport Workers Union and as a City of Footscray councillor.

He was appointed to the Senate in 1996 when Gareth Evans resigned to contest a seat in the Lower House. In October 1998, Conroy joined the Opposition Shadow Ministry and became Deputy Opposition Leader in the Senate. He was Shadow Minister for Trade, Corporate Governance and Financial Services from 2003 to 2004, and became Shadow Minister for Communications and Information Technology in October 2004.