Speakers

Edward Glaeser (keynote speaker)

Edward Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. He is Director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and Director of the Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston. He regularly teaches microeconomic theory, and occasionally urban and public economics. He has published dozens of papers on cities, economic growth, and law and economics. In particular, his work has focused on the determinants of city growth and the role of cities as centers of idea transmission. He received his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1992.

The Hon. Anthony Albanese MP

Anthony Albanese is the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and the Leader of the House of Representatives. Minister Albanese was first elected to Federal Parliament in 1996 as the Member for Grayndler. He served as a member of the Shadow Ministry from 1998 to 2007. Minister Albanese has an Economics Degree from Sydney University. His seat of Grayndler is located in Sydney’s inner west, where he has lived all his life.

The Hon. Greg Hunt MP

Greg Hunt has represented the Federal Electorate of Flinders since 2001. In December 2007 he was appointed Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Urban Water, a role which was expanded to include all water responsibilities in September 2008. His role expanded further in December 2009 when he became the Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage. A Fulbright Scholar, Greg has an LLB with First Class Honours from the University of Melbourne and a Master of International Relations from Yale University. His Honours thesis was about using market forces to reduce pollution. Greg was Senior Adviser to former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and has also worked at the United Nations Centre for Human Rights and as Associate to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court. He was Australia's Chief Electoral Observer in Cambodia in 1998.

Lucy Turnbull

Lucy has had a long standing interest in the role cities play, and in architecture and design.  In 1999 she published a book Sydney – Biography of a City (Random House).  She is Deputy Chair of the Committee for Sydney, and in 2006 and 2008 was the Commissioner of the Australian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale.  Lucy is a board member of the Redfern Waterloo Authority and the Australian Technology Park.  In June 2010 she was appointed to the Cities Expert Panel which reports to the COAG Reform Council on metropolitan strategic planning issues. She is an independent member of the Sydney Metropolitan Development Authority.

Roger Wilkins AO

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.

Graeme Newton

Graeme was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority in January 2011 and brings to the role more than ten years’ experience as Senior Executive in the semi-Government and Government sectors - most recently as the State’s Coordinator-General and Director General of the Department of Infrastructure and Planning. With tertiary qualifications as a Surveyor and Masters level qualifications in business and project management, Graeme has an in depth understanding of urban and regional planning, commercial business drivers and major project delivery. He has led the approval and delivery processes for several major Queensland projects across the infrastructure areas of water, energy and transport and has delivered pipelines, telecommunications and transmission line projects.

Graeme has held the position of Chief Executive Officer of Queensland Water Infrastructure and held senior roles with Stanwell Corporation and Burnett Water. He has served as the Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of Queensland and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Lord Mayor Rob Valentine          

Lord Mayor, Alderman Rob Valentine was elected to the Hobart City Council in 1992 and has held the position of Lord Mayor since March 1999 and is currently serving his fifth term. As Lord Mayor he holds a number of positions including Chairman of the Southern Tasmanian Councils Authority, Member and current Chair of the Council of Capital City Lord Mayors, Patron or Vice Patron of some 15 organisations - many of them involved in the Arts. He is President of the Hobart Benevolent Society, and Vice President of the Royal Humane Society of Australasia (Tas) as well as being involved as a member of the Corporate Fundraising Committee, raising funds for the Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games athletes. As a Patron of the Arts, he has been a Director of several arts organisations over the years.  He is the past President of the Australian Computer Society (Tas) and has an IT career spanning some 30 years, holding a number of management positions in the Transport, Community Services and Heath IT sectors during this time.

Steven Cork          

Steven Cork is an ecologist and futurist.  As an ecologist he spent 25 years in CSIRO researching the interactions between natural ecological systems and human wellbeing around the world.  As a futurist he played a leading role in developing scenarios for the World’s social-ecological futures for the United Nations’ Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and has run similar projects with government and non-government groups around Australia. He has worked extensively as an advisor on to governments on policy issues and as a government employee developing and implementing environmental policy.  He now works privately as a futurist, strategist and ecological advisor as the Principal Consultant of EcoInsights and leads a major project on the resilience of Australia in the private sustainability R&D organisation Australia21.

Sue Holliday    

Sue Holliday was appointed the Chair of the Built Environment Industry Innovation Council on 2 September 2008. She specialises in urban planning and development. In 2007, she established her own consulting company called Strategies for Change.
She has twenty five years of planning experience working in the public sector at both state and local government levels. She was Director General of Planning in NSW from 1997 to 2003. She also has previous experience in the private sector working for a strategic business consultancy firm, DEGW, from 2003 to 2006.

Lois Boswell   

Lois Boswell is Executive Director of Strategic Policy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.  She is currently leading the update of South Australia’s Strategic Plan and is responsible for the policy development and strategic initiatives functions of Cabinet Office. Lois’s background is diverse and includes working as a Commonwealth Government Social Impact Assessor for the Regional Forest Agreements, managing labour market programs and Community Legal Centre casework, and being Chief of Staff to three SA Government Ministers.  Lois has also been a Tribunal Member of the NSW Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. She holds a Bachelor of Laws and is the recipient of a Butterworth’s Legal Research Prize; as well as a Master of Applied Science in Social Ecology in which she received the Prize for Outstanding Research. 

Caroline Pidcock

Caroline Pidcock is the passionate force who started PIDCOCK - Architecture + Sustainability, and has genuine interest and experience in sustainable built environments. This has been developed and enhanced through her involvement in a wide range of professional, academic and other commitments. Caroline has recently completed Byera Hadley Travelling Scholarship report, that investigated "The Architecture of Zero Emissions Housing", and is in the process of writing a book on the history of eco housing in Australia. Together with Bluescope, PIDCOCK developed the winning design for the Insurance Council of Australia’s resilient house competition, with their House of Parts submission coming third