Bernard Salt is an author, demographer, and since 2002 a regular columnist with ''
The Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' newspaper. Between 2011 and 2019 he was an adjunct professor at
Curtin University
Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...
Business School, and holds a Master of Arts from
Monash University
Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...
.
A column in the ''
Weekend Australian
''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...
'' in 2016 earned him international reputation for supposedly blaming discretionary spending on brunch food as a factor behind declining home ownership among
millennial
Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...
s. The column created a furore on social media, and sparked further debate on intergenerational housing affordability in Australia. The phrase "smashed avo" has since become a recurring
meme
A meme ( ) is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural i ...
in Australia, and has been repeated overseas.
Bernard Salt was awarded the Member of the
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...
(AM) in the
2017 Australia Day Honours
The 2017 Australia Day Honours were announced on 26 January 2017 by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove. He was a partner of
KPMG
KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations.
Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
until his retirement in June 2017, and still acts as a special advisor to the firm.
Books
* ''The Big Shift'' (2001)
* ''The Big Picture'' (2006)
* ''Man Drought'' (2008)
* ''The Big Tilt'' (2011)
* ''Decent Obsessions'' (2013)