Speaker Profiles

The Hon John Brumby is a Panel Member of the Federal Government's Review into GST Distribution. He was the former Premier of Victoria (2007 – 2010) and has immense experience in public life serving for more than 10 years as Treasurer and then Premier of Victoria, 6 years as Leader of the Victorian Opposition and 7 years as Federal MHR for Bendigo during the period of the Hawke Government. Since retiring from politics, Mr Brumby has accepted a number of Board positions as well as a joint appointment to both Melbourne and Monash Universities as a Vice-Chancellor's Professorial Fellow.

Senator Nick Sherry is currently Minister for Small Business, Minister Assisting on Deregulation and Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism. He was sworn into the positions on 14 September 2010. He held the position of Assistant Treasurer from 9 June 2009 and was Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law from 3 December 2007. As Assistant Treasurer he assisted the Treasurer in the development, implementation and administration of policies in the Treasury portfolio. These include Commonwealth-State reforms to boost participation and productivity.

Nick had over 8 years experience as the Shadow Minister responsible for superannuation before becoming the Minister. He has also been Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Industry, Energy and Resources during the Keating Government.

Nick has held important party roles including Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and been a member of Labor's tactics, strategy, economic and policy committees.

Dr Allan Hawke's career in public administration at senior levels includes past appointments as Secretary of the Departments of Veterans' Affairs, Transport and Regional Services, and Defence. He completed his public service to Australia as High Commissioner to New Zealand in 2006.

Dr Hawke was appointed a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Public Administration in 1998 and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management in 1999 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to public service.

In 2001, he became a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. The Australian Financial Review's "Boss" Magazine, named him as one of Australia's top 30 true leaders in its inaugural list in 2001.

He was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the 2010 Queen's Birthday list for eminent service to public administration.

Dr Hawke undertook a three year term as Chancellor of the ANU from 4 February 2006 and now serves on a range of public and private sector boards, has conducted a series of Government enquiries and is actively involved ina range of community and sporting organisations.

Mr Roger Wilkins AO is Secretary of the Australian Attorney-General's Department, a position he has held since September 2008.

Prior to his appointment, he was Citi's Head of Government and Public Sector Group Australia and New Zealand from 2006 to 2008.

Mr Wilkins was the Director-General of the New South Wales Cabinet Office from 1992 to 2006, and Director-General of the Ministry of Arts from 2001 to 2006. He has chaired a number of national taskforces and committees and was responsible for the introduction of an emissions trading scheme in New South Wales and design of a national emissions trading scheme for Australia. In 2008 he led the strategic review of climate change programs for the Commonwealth Government.

Mr Wilkins is a member of the Board of the Forum of Federations and advises international federal systems, particularly on fiscal issues. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2007 for service to public administration in New South Wales.

Paul Elton was appointed to the position of Deputy Head of Secretariat of the COAG Reform Council in February 2009. Previously, Paul worked in various NSW Government agencies for over 15 years. His most recent role was as a policy director in the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet, with responsibility for policy areas such as the environment, water, energy, planning, transport and economic development.

Alan Henderson PSM AM is part-time Chairman Commonwealth Grants Commission since July 2010 and is an Adjunct Professor with the Centre for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University, Qld. Alan joined the APS as an economist in 1967 and from 1973 to 2002 worked in Prime Minister and Cabinet and Treasury. From 1988 to 2007 he was a Deputy Secretary in Prime Minister and Cabinet and Defence. He was head of the Commonwealth-State Financial Relations Branch in Treasury 1986-90, and head of the Commonwealth- State Relations Secretariat in Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1994-96.

Peter van Onselen is Contributing Editor at The Australian newspaper and a Winthrop Professor at The University of Western Australia. He hosts Australian Agenda and The Contrarians on Sky News and co-authored the best seller: John Winston Howard: The Biography (Melbourne University Press).

Ty Emerson is Branch Manager, Social Security Policy Branch in the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). He leads a branch responsible for building and maintaining strategic relationships between FaHCSIA and other government agencies – in particular Centrelink and the Department of Human Services (DHS).

His branch is also responsible policy relating to social security; Australian Government concession cards; certain allowances and supplements delivered by Centrelink; social security debt and compliance as well as policy development and improvement strategies relating to payment integrity and service delivery.

Ty has worked in public policy and administration for over 10 years and holds a Masters of Public Administration from the ANU. Prior to working in the public service, he managed a number of disability service organisations, and has worked as a counsellor and therapist in both private and public hospitals as well as aged care facilities.

Peter Adams is General Manager, Assessment at ACARA. Peter was Project Director for the introduction in 2008 of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). He then managed the 2009 NAPLAN and the NAPLAN equating study conducted in New Zealand and Australia. Peter was also responsible for project directing the scope and specification of the Schools Data and Reporting System – which became the My School website. Peter's previous roles included: General Manager positions at Curriculum Corporation and ACER; Director Assessment and Testing for Pearson plc; Manager VCE Examinations; and Faculty Manager at The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Victoria.

Janet has worked in the Australian public health sector for over 20 years in the areas of policy development, services planning and program implementation. She has held executive positions in the NSW Department of Health, the Northern Sydney Area Health Service and the Commonwealth Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Over the last nine years in the NSW Department of Health, Janet has been Director of the Primary Health and Community Partnerships Branch, then the Futures Planning Unit, and is now in charge of Inter-Government and Funding Strategies with a strong focus on the national health reform agenda. She holds an appointment as Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Health. In 2009 Janet was awarded the Public Service Medal in recognition of her work in the public health sector.

Philip O'Meara is the Director of the Federalism Branch in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Victoria. He has significant public sector experience, both in Victoria and the UK. Philip has been heavily involved in a range of intergovernmental issues, especially in relation to Indigenous disadvantage and disability. He also holds a PhD in modern Australian history (focusing on immigration and media behaviour) from Monash University.

Before becoming involved in local government, Genia worked with the National Trust, the then Department of Labour and Immigration and ran her own clothing design business. She was also involved in community groups including Friends of Luna Park and Edward Precinct. Genia was first elected as full-time Mayor in 1995 and is now in her fourth term. Genia was President of the NSW Local Government Association from 2004 to 2010. She is currently President of the Australian Local Government Association and is on the Board of the Environment Protection Authority (DECCW). She was named a Paul Harris Fellow by North Sydney Rotary.

A J Brown is John F Kearney Professor of Public Law, Griffith University, Queensland, and Director of the Griffith University Federalism Project. He has previously worked for or with all levels of government including with the Commonwealth Ombudsman in Canberra, and as a Ministerial Policy Advisor in the Queensland Government. He is a former Associate to the Hon G E 'Tony' Fitzgerald AC, President of the Queensland Court of Appeal. With Australian Research Council funding in 2008, he led Australia's first national Constitutional Values Survey. He lectures and researches across a wide spectrum of issues in public law, public accountability and public policy.

Andrew Lynch is the Director of the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law and an Associate Professor in the UNSW Faculty of Law. Andrew's research in recent years has concentrated on the topics of judicial dissent, terrorism law, and federal reform. On the latter he has published and made parliamentary submissions in the areas of the referral of State legislative power; intergovernmental institutions; and co-operative federalism and constitutional reform.

Paul Kildea is a Research Fellow at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW, where he directs the Centre's Projects on Federalism and Referendums and teaches Public Law. He is currently completing a PhD on citizen engagement in the process of constitutional reform in Australia. Paul has published in the areas of federalism, human rights and constitutional change, and has given evidence to a number of parliamentary inquiries on these issues. Prior to joining the Law Faculty, Paul worked at the federal Attorney-General's Department and taught Australian politics at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UNSW.

Ron joined the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) in August 1990 having previously worked in the Commonwealth Treasury and the then Department of Finance. Since August 1990 he has been involved in intergovernmental relations in one form or another for all but two years of his time in PM&C, initially principally on aspects of micro-economic reform and more recently as the Head of the COAG Unit.