[1] Gruen worked as adviser to Senator and Federal Industry Minister John Button from the early 1980s and was regarded as the architect of the Button car plan, which freed up automotive trade, eliminated quotas, reduced tariffs and assisted exports during the transition.
In this period he has advised Federal and State Governments both as a consultant and when appointed as member or chair of various official committees.
He also chaired the Open Knowledge Foundation (Australia) Gruen has become prominent in public economic discussion.
He built the Herald/Age Lateral Economics (HALE) Index of Wellbeing, which augments official national income measures to take account of the implications of changes in inequality, human capital, natural capital, and major health issues such as life expectancy, mental illness and obesity.
[10] These observations apply in areas like 'resilience', 'social inclusion' and 'wellbeing' each being a deus ex machina, or fad diet taken up by government hoping it will save it from itself.
Gruen was also the first investor in Kaggle (a Melbourne-based data analytics company founded in 2010) serving as its first chairman.