Professor Andrew Beer researches and teaches in the School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management at Flinders University, South Australia. He is an expert in regional and local economic development, regional policy and institutional regulation theory, urban geography and public policy, and Australian Housing. He is Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute’s Southern Research Centre, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland. He has edited the national journal Sustaining Regions, and his recent books with colleagues include Developing Australia’s Regions: Theory and Practice (University of NSW Press, 2003), and Developing Locally: Lessons in Economic Development from Four Nations (Policy Press, Bristol, 2003).
Cr Paul Bell AM is President of the Australian Local Government Association and of the Local Government Association of Queensland. He has been a councillor of Emerald Shire Council, Queensland, since 1985, where he was mayor from 1991-2000. He chairs Australian Local Government Training Limited, a national industry training advisory board, and is Deputy Chair of Queensland Rail and a Director of the Ergon Energy Corporation of Queensland. Cr Bell was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia in January 2005 for service to local government, regional development and tourism, vocational education and training, and the community. In February 2005 he was awarded an Honorary Bachelor of Business Administration degree by the University of Central Queensland.
Jennifer Bellamy is a Principal Research Fellow in the School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, University of Queensland, St. Lucia. Formerly a Principal Research Scientist (Resource Governance) CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, she has over 30 years experience in research on regional resource use management and planning, both in Australia and overseas. In particular, she has lead a number of major interdisciplinary research projects on the social and institutional aspects of regional natural resource management and planning including the evaluation of natural resource management governance within the framework of regional sustainable development.
Cr Mike Berwick has been Mayor of Douglas Shire Council, Far North Queensland since 1991, and is a current member of the National Sea Change Task Force. He has wide ranging experience in local and regional governance and is also currently chair of the Wet Tropics Regional Natural Resource Management Board and the Australian Tropical Forest Institute. He is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Committee for Vegetation Management (MACVM) as well as having served on many past boards and committees, and as a media advisor to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment, Graham Richardson.
Dr A. J. Brown is a Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow in the Socio-Legal Research Centre, Griffith University; and a Visiting Fellow with The Australian National University College of Law in Canberra. He has worked or consulted in public law, policy and accountability issues for all levels and branches of government, as well as in the non-government sector. He has worked as Senior Investigation Officer for the Commonwealth Ombudsman; Associate to Justice Tony Fitzgerald AC, President of the Queensland Court of Appeal; and as ministerial policy advisor to the Hon Rod Welford MLA, Queensland Minister for Environment Heritage and Natural Resources. His recent publications include Restructuring Australia: Regionalism, Republicanism and Reform of the Nation State (Federation Press, 2004). He currently leads several research projects on the future of federalism through the Griffith University Federalism Project.
Professor Brendan Gleeson is Professor of Urban Management and Policy, and Director of the Urban Research Program at Griffith University. Prior to joining Griffith University in 2003, he was Deputy Director of the Urban Frontiers Program, University of Western Sydney. He has researched, published and consulted widely on planning and urban governance, the political economy of planning, social policy and the city, and environmental policy and theory. His recent books include Australian Urban Planning: New Challenges, New Agendas (with Nicholas Low, Allen & Unwin, 2000) and the inaugural winner of the Iremonger Award for Writing on Public Issues, Australian Heartlands: Making space for hope in the suburbs (Allen & Unwin, 2006).
Associate Professor Ian Gray is Head of the School of Sociology at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Rural Social Research. He has many years experience in research related to rural sociology, rural resource management, sustainability, transport and regional development. His recent publications include A Future for Regional Australia: Escaping Global Misfortune (with Professor Geoff Lawrence, Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Professor Brian Head is Director of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Queensland. He was formerly Professor of Governance at Griffith University, and the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, based in Canberra. After working as a senior researcher in government and policy studies at several Australian universities, Professor Head spent 13 years in the Queensland public service where he held senior positions in a range of government agencies, including as Queensland Public Service Commissioner. His current research interest is in public sector governance issues including new network models for regional and environmental planning. Professor Head has extensive experience in leading interdisciplinary teams to address major policy issues, especially those involving cross-agency and intergovernmental considerations.
Mal Peters is the Immediate Past President of NSW Farmers’ Association, having completed four terms as President in July 2005. He currently Chairs the NSW Farmers’ Association Non Metropolitan State Taskforce and has been a driving force within the Association on Federalism and Regionalism in Australia. He was appointed as a member of Ministerial Agricultural Advisory Committee in 2005 and he is also a member of Native Vegetation Review Committee. He has served as Chairman of Farmsafe NSW, Primary Industry training Board. He has also served on the Wool, Economics, Rural Affairs, Insurance Review and Executive Committees of the Association. In partnership with his wife Anne, Mal runs 6,000 sheep and 200 head of cattle on 7,500 acres near Ashford in Northern NSW.
Andrew Podger AO is National President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia. He retired from the Australian Public Service after 37 years in 2005, and is now a consultant and also Adjunct Professor at The Australian National University. His most recent role in the Australian Public Service was to chair a task force for the Prime Minister on the delivery of health services in Australia. Prior to that, he was the Public Service Commissioner for three years following six years as Secretary to the Department of Health and Aged Care. He has also headed the Departments of Housing and Regional Development and Administrative Services. In 2004 he was made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
Professor Christine Smith is a Professor of Economics at Griffith University and a long term Council member of the Australian and New Zealand Regional Science Association. She has research interests in the areas of regional and urban economics with an emphasis on quantitative modelling. She has published extensively in these areas and is the editor of the Australasian Journal of Regional Studies, and on the Editorial Board of Papers in Regional Science. She has over 20 years experience in applied research and consulting work for various levels of government and with non-government organisations including Queensland Treasury, Brisbane City Council (Office of Economic Development), the Darwin Committee (a joint Federal /Northern Territory Government initiative), the Commission of Inquiry into the Future of the Conversation, Management and Use of Fraser Island and the Great Sandy Region, the United States National Academy of Science, trade unions and private companies.
Professor Kenneth Wiltshire AO is the J.D. Story Professor of Public Administration at the University of Queensland Business School. He served as a member of the Commonwealth Grants Commission 1995-2004, was a Founding member of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation, and a consultant to the Australian Advisory Council on Intergovernment Relations, the Economic Planning Advisory Council, and the NSW and Queensland Premier’s Departments. He is the author of many books on comparative federalism in Australia, North America and Europe. Professor Wiltshire served as Australia’s Representative on the Executive Board of UNESCO 1996-2005, and is a National Fellow of the Institution of Public Administration Australia, and an Honorary Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.