Minister Natasha Fyles

Born and raised in Darwin, Natasha Fyles is the 12th Chief Minister for the Northern Territory and has served as the Member for Nightcliff since 2012.

As Chief Minister, Natasha’s portfolios include Defence and Major Projects. This reflects her belief that the Territory is finally achieving due recognition for its strategic importance in the Indo-Pacific, and as an investment destination.

The Territory goal is a $40 Billion economy by 2030. Major projects supporting this goal include Sun Cable, the world’s biggest renewable energy infrastructure project; the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct and a range of rare earths and critical minerals ventures.

She is a passionate advocate for Indigenous Territorians, and believes strongly in the power of Local Decision Making and local leadership.

Natasha and her partner have two young boys. The family enjoys spending time outdoors, including fishing and camping.

Hon Nicole Manison

Nicole is a born and bred Territorian, passionate about making a positive difference in her community.

Nicole has been the Member for Wanguri since 2013 and served as Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory since 2016. She currently holds the roles of Minister for Northern Australia and Trade, Minister for Mining and Industry, Minister for Tourism and Hospitality, Minister for Advanced Manufacturing and Minister for Parks and Rangers.

Nicole is a proud local and grew up in the Wanguri electorate, before attending Curtin University and studying Journalism and Public Relations.

A strong contributor to public and community life, she has worked in the NT public sector and in the WA private sector in communications and human resources. She has also worked as a media adviser and a senior government adviser.

Nicole lives in the Wanguri electorate with her husband Scott and their children Aiden, Grace and Chloe

Hon Madeleine King

The Hon. Madeleine King was sworn in as Minister for Resources and Minister for Northern Australia on 1 June 2022 following election of the Albanese Government.

She was first elected to Parliament in 2016, representing the seat of Brand on the outskirts of Perth, where she was born and grew up.

The seat includes some of Perth’s heavy industries, including the HMAS Stirling naval base on Garden Island and the Kwinana Industrial Area. Her father worked at the BP oil refinery in Kwinana and her mother and grandmother ran a drapery store in Rockingham.

She was promoted to the shadow ministry in 2018 and has served as Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Small Business, Shadow Minister for Trade and Shadow Minister for Resources.

Before entering parliament, Minister King worked as an adviser to former minister Gary Gray, who had responsibility for Northern Australia and Resources. She also held senior executive roles at The University of Western Australia and served as the inaugural Chief Operating Officer at the Perth USAsia Centre.

As a shadow minister, a former political adviser and through Parliamentary committee work, she was a regular visitor to Northern Australia and has been deeply engaged in issues surrounding development in the north.

Minister King has a strong interest in ensuring the benefits of economic development are shared fairly and create opportunities for all segments of Australian society.

Minister King has a law degree from the University of Western Australia in Perth.

She is also a keen hockey enthusiast, and was a member of the WA Women’s Masters Hockey Team from 2012 to 2015.

Hon Glenn Butcher

Glenn Butcher was elected the Member for Gladstone in 2015, after a long and successful career as a Fitter and Turner.

After finishing school, Glenn began an apprenticeship at the Gladstone Power Station. Once qualified, Glenn went to work at Queensland Alumina Limited, where he went on to spend more than two decades in various positions, from tradesman all the way to Maintenance Superintendent.

A family man and long-time Gladstone local, Glenn has deep roots in the region, especially in the Gladstone Rugby League community.

During his time as an MP, Glenn has been a member of the Infrastructure Planning and Natural Resources Committee, Chair of the Agriculture and Environment Committee, Assistant Minister for Treasury, Assistant Minister for Transport and Infrastructure and Assistant Minister for Local Government and Infrastructure.

Glenn currently holds the portfolios of Minister for Regional Development and Manufacturing and Minister for Water.

Hon Anthony Chisholm

Anthony grew up on the northside of Brisbane attending Wavell State High School.

Prior to being elected, Anthony has had an active role in Queensland politics serving as Queensland Labor State Secretary between 2008 and 2014, before taking on the role of Campaign Director for the 2015 Queensland State Election, which saw the Palaszczuk Government sweep to power.

Anthony attended Griffith University graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. Throughout his university years and in his working life, Anthony has maintained strong community involvement through his work with charities from his local community on the northside of Brisbane.

Anthony was elected to the Senate in 2016 and then re-elected in 2022.

Following the election of the Albanese Labor Government, he was appointed by the Prime Minister as the Assistant Minister for Education and the Assistant Minister for Regional Development.

Coming from a big, decentralised State like Queensland, Anthony is passionate about ensuring that affordable healthcare, a quality education and access to services and infrastructure is available to all people no matter where they live.

These are issues that he as the Assistant Minister committed to delivering on as part of an Albanese Labor Government.

As a Senator for Queensland Anthony is committed to providing a strong Labor voice for working people throughout the State.

Liz Ritchie

As the CEO of the Regional Australia Institute (RAI), Liz’s primary goal is to make a difference through providing vision and leadership for a better future – a future that recognises regional Australia in a new light.

Whilst understanding the issues and opportunities impacting regional Australia, she is dedicated to reform through the recently released Regionalisation Ambition 2032 which she is spearheading to build a new national movement to #rebalancethenation.

For over 20 years, Liz has worked across the corporate, government and the not for profit sector, and she specialises in leading organisational transformation to build a sustainable future. Liz is a change agent, a marketer, a researcher and an extremely passionate advocate for regional Australia, heralding from Deniliquin, in NSW.

As a founding Director of the Australian Gender Equality Council (AGEC), Liz is a strong advocate for gender equality, and ensuring rural and regional women can have equal access and opportunity.

Gill Savage

Gill is a Senior Fellow with the Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute where she undertakes research and analysis related to modern nation building, resilience and security. Since 2020 she has authored numerous articles and Special Reports for ASPI including 'Breaking down the barriers to Industry 4.0 in the north' and co-authored 'Northern sovereign maritime sustainment'.

She has extensive senior executive experience in government policy, programs and transformation and has worked across a broad range of public policy areas including national security, regional development and environment. She led the Australian Government’s biometrics for border control program which included design and implementation of SmartGate in Australia and New Zealand, and redesign of air passenger analysis. Through her company LeadAbility Group, Gill focuses on strategy, governance and risk. Gill is Vice President - Global with the Australian Risk Policy Institute, an ARPI Board member and a member of the UTS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Industry Advisory Board.

Gill is an Executive Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and holds an MBA in International Business.

Joel Riddle

Joel Riddle joined Tamboran Resources as Chief Executive Officer in 2013. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and was previously with Cobalt International Energy, where he worked closely with executive management in the initial evaluation and implementation of the exploration growth strategy in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, playing an instrumental role in Cobalt’s $1 billion initial public offering in 2009 and subsequent capital raising efforts in 2010 and 2011. Mr Riddle also served various technical and leadership roles at ExxonMobil, Unocal and Murphy Oil.

John Rolfe

Professor John Rolfe is a resource economist in the School of Business and Law at CQUniversity at Rockhampton. He has a number of research interests, but specialises in non-market valuation, regional development, and environmental, resource and agricultural economic issues. John has over 150 refereed journal articles, and a H-Index of 46 in Google Scholar. He has co-edited two important reference books on the topics of non-market valuation and benefit transfer in 2006 and 2015. He is the Independent Chair of the Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership Independent Science Panel, a member of the Great Barrier Reef Independent Science Panel, and on the Editorial Board for the Great Barrier Reef Science Consensus Statement.

Senator Susan McDonald

Susan grew up on her family’s cattle property, 70km south of Cloncurry. She worked in different businesses as an Accountant in Brisbane before going in as Chief of Staff for then Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Andrew Cripps.

Susan then ran the family’s butcher shops before being elected to the Australian Senate for Queensland.

She was elected to the Senate in May, 2019, and in June 2022, was named Shadow Minister for Resources and Shadow Minister for Northern Australia.

Gill Yearsley

Currently the Chief Executive Officer for the Northern Territory Primary Health Network and having previously worked in Northern Queensland, Gill is aware of many of the challenges facing the primary health system in Northern Australia.

Initially from a mental health background she has worked across multiple settings including tertiary clinical services and community based primary health programs, focussing now upon regional commissioning of primary care in the NT.

Gill has a strong record of productive engagement with a wide range of collaborators, including state and federal governments, service providers, consumers of services and carer groups. Her strengths in engagement and relationship development, system reform and innovation are highly regarded.

Gavin Lockyer

Gavin joined Arafura in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary, following several senior finance and treasury positions in global mining companies including Newcrest and Newmont, and a successful international investment banking career. Gavin’s diverse global experience includes management and leadership roles in a range of disciplines including accounting, financial and investment banking, major resource development and operations, and global bank treasuries. Over the past 20 years his career has exposed him to business practices in North America, Europe, and throughout the Australasian region. Gavin is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand and the Finance & Treasury Association of Australia.

Joanna Howe

Dr Joanna Howe is a Professor in Law at the University of Adelaide. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Law from the University of Oxford where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Joanna, a leading expert in the regulation of labour migration is the author and co-editor of 3 books, over 50 journal articles and is a chief-investigator on an ARC Linkage project investigating the employment of undocumented migrants on farms. In 2021 Joanna was appointed by the Minister for Immigration to the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration and in 2022 by the Minister for Home Affairs as part of an expert panel to review the Australian migration program. In 2019 Joanna was appointed as the Australian representative to an expert ILO working group on temporary labour migration.

Alice Cairns

Alice Cairns is a senior research fellow with James Cook University, Centre for Rural and Remote Health and on the leadership team for the Northern Australian Research Network. In her current role, Alice's rural research interests have focussed on developing place-based models for allied health service delivery in very remote communities. She is an occupational therapist who received her PhD focusing on youth mental health from the Queensland University of Technology in 2017. Prior to commencing her PhD, Alice specialised in mental health rehabilitation in clinical and management roles.

Ronni Wilcock

Dr. Ronni Wilcock has extensive international environmental experience managing multifaceted projects involving diverse stakeholders from large corporations and governments to small indigenous communities. She has developed methods to predict and reduce the impacts of a changing climate on infrastructure and the environmental processes that affect subsistence lifestyles and indigenous cultures. She is leading an effort to use slow onset and extreme potential climates, combined with Traditional Ecological Knowledge, to predict increased vulnerabilities to climate change. This integrated analysis is used to develop science-based fit-for-purpose services that incorporate both ecological and socio-economic challenges and adaptation strategies for improving Indigenous community resilience.

HE Dr Siswo Pramono

Dr. Siswo Pramono, LL.M. is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to Australia and the Republic of Vanuatu. Prior to this position, he was Director General/Head of The Foreign Policy Strategy Agency, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. He attained Ph.D degree from the Australian National University, and LL.M degree from Monash University, Australia. Dr. Pramono completed his professional diplomatic training in the diplomatic schools of Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Jakarta, and the Clingendael Institute of International Relations, The Netherlands. As a career diplomat, he served in various Indonesian diplomatic missions abroad, including The Indonesian Embassies in The Netherlands and Germany. As a scholar, Dr. Pramono is a non-tenured Professor in various universities, namely Airlangga University, Cendrawasih University, as well as a fellow at the The Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) and Charles Darwin University, Australia.

Julie Ann Lamboure

Julie-Ann Lambourne is a Torres Strait Islander woman with connections to Mabuiag Is and Erub Is.

Julie-Ann is a Senior Consultant with Tagai Management Consultants a 100% Indigenous owned and operated business specialising in procurement and supply chain, business advisory, community development and innovative futures.

Prior to joining TMC, Julie-Ann co-founded Indigenous Organisation, enVizion Group Inc which launched the world first virtual reality experience bus.

Julie-ann is a co-founder of the Queensland Indigenous Business Network (QIBN) with Leann Wilson, Regional Economic Solutions, Shane Kennelly, Kennelly Constructions and Colin Saltmere, Myuma Group.

Julie-ann has a wealth of experience across sectors including business, education, workforce development, social services, community development, innovation and advanced technology.

Jonathan Pavetto

Jonathan Pavetto is a leader in the drive to develop Northern Australia and agriculture and is a senior economist and team leader for AEC. Jonathan brings his practical and policy experience in the agriculture sector and industry development to identity and de-risk transformational economic development initiatives, particularly in Northern Australia. In addition to his professional work, Jonathan serves in the Queensland Rural Fire Service, Australian Army Reserves (rank: Major) and has served as President of the Hinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

Michelle Deshong

Michelle Deshong draws on strong connections to Kuku Yalanji and lives in Townsville, North Queensland. Michelle has an extensive career in Government, NGO, and community sectors. She holds several governance positions including a Council Member for AIATSIS, Reef Restoration Adaptation and Supply Nation. Michelle has also proved to be a successful businesswoman managing her consultancy business for the past 18 years.

Michelle is recognised globally for her advocacy for Indigenous people’s right to self-determination through self-governance and economic development. She was the CEO of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute (AIGI) for 5 years implementing innovative approaches to cultural governance and best practice across the Country and building international collaborations. She is currently the Interim CEO of Supply Nation.

Hayley Richards

Hayley leads the Ernst and Young practice in the Northern Territory. Her fields are Infrastructure Advisory, Economics and Policy, Strategy and Investment Planning. Hayley has a wealth of experience in investment and major project development having worked with proponents in Oil and Gas, Resources, Renewables, Digital and Agribusiness. Prior to joining EY, Hayley had an extensive career in the Northern Territory Government including leading Economic and Environment policy in the Department of the Chief Minister and Cabinet, an advisor to the Treasurer and most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Investment Territory.

Tennant Reed

Tennant Reed is Director - Climate Change and Energy at the Australian Industry Group. Since 2008 he has been deeply involved in Australian climate and energy issues: advising Ai Group’s Leaders’ Group on Energy and Climate Policy; coordinating joint research and advocacy with wider energy stakeholders; facilitating the Australian Climate Roundtable; developing reports on energy prices, carbon border adjustments and business energy use; and closely observing international climate negotiations. In 2021 he was appointed to the Independent Expert Panel recommending 2035 emissions targets for the State of Victoria. Tennant also co-hosts the Let Me Sum Up podcast and lives in Melbourne.

Naomi Antess

Bio coming soon.

David Connolly

David Connolly is an experienced Agri-professional with a demonstrated history of achievements in the rural industry that began with a 20-year career as a livestock agent/auctioneer. David has strong skills in rural operations with an Associate Diploma in Stock and Meat Inspection and a Graduate Diploma in Agribusiness from Queensland University. He is a former Chief Operating Officer of Australian Agricultural Company and Director of Livestock Investment for UK Agri Investor, Insight Global Farmland Fund. David is now based at Tipperary Station as the Group General Manager for the Tipperary Group and the current President of the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association as well as a director of the National Farmers Federation.

Wayde Chiesa

Wayde Chiesa, CEO of Regional Development Australia Townsville and North West Queensland, is a born and bred North Queenslander with over 25 years of experience in business and finance roles. Wayde also has 15 years of experience in the media industry working in sports broadcasting with Southern Cross Austereo. He is passionate about ensuring regional Queensland takes full advantage of the opportunities that lay ahead.

Wayde leads his team in fostering new and existing relationships across all levels of government, business, and industry to strengthen regional communities. The Townsville and North West Queensland RDA area spans 15 Local Government Areas, from Palm Island in the east to Mount Isa in the west, including up to the Gulf of Carpentaria and Boulia.

Dr Helen Murphy

Dr Helen Murphy is an ecologist and Principal Research Scientist based at CSIRO in Townsville. She leads research focused on understanding the scale and magnitude of individual and cumulative threats to Australian biodiversity and the effectiveness of management interventions. Helen was author of the Biodiversity chapter for both the 2016 and 2021 Australian State of Environment Report. She is currently working with Industry and Government to design methods and strategies to halt and reverse biodiversity loss in line with national and International societal goals to achieve Nature Positive outcomes.

Bernice Glenn Kissinger

Bernice Glenn Kissinger’s primary mission is to expand US-Japan tech collaboration, strategy and manage teaming for rapid solutions to the field. Her expertise is to coordinate acquisition policy and research and engineering priorities to support US and Japanese companies in innovation, policy leadership and ground-breaking research.

Founded Inovi Group to develop suites of technologies and analyses, immersive technology showcases and demos, to custom breakthrough experiences addressing innovation, leadership, strategy, transformation, transition and alignment. Past clients and projects include dual-use technology commercialization, alternative energy projects, and electric vehicle solutions for smart cities.

Previously responsible for Pacific International Center for High Tech Research Strategic Plan for DoD programs, dual-use defense-civilian applications of technology for Hawaii companies, training for dual-use firms at Oahu Technology Commercialization Center and other technology and regional initiatives.

For NSTXL in San Francisco, served as Senior VP, Strategic Partnerships from 2017-2020. Developed strategic partnerships with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Academia, and Innovators in Change Management to rapidly field solutions for the U.S. military and other national security stakeholders. Helped build a new innovation acceleration model to rapidly prospect, vet and fund state-of-art technologies in alignment with warfighter needs.

Ms. Bernice was Vice Chairman for High Technology Innovation Corporation in Honolulu and also served as Director for Northeast Asia Forum which developed and implemented training programs for government agencies in the Northeast Asia. Designated as International Research Manager for the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Government Administration & Home Affairs Executive Director of Oahu Economic Development Board 1995-2002.

Based in Tokyo with Nippon Motorola from 1989-2004 where she was responsible for bridging strategic planning with human resources. Also represented the Commonwealth of Kentucky to support Toyota Motor Corporation from 1985-1989.

Ms. Bernice attended Princeton University 1979-1983, BA. magna cum laude, East Asia Studies, Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, and NCI National Charrette System Program in 2011.

Minister Stephen Dawson

Stephen was born in Dublin and migrated to Australia in 1989 with his family.

He has been a Chief of Staff to a number of Government Ministers in Western Australia and Victoria and worked with the Trade Union movement.

Prior to being elected to represent Western Australia’s Mining & Pastoral Region in 2013 he was the WA State Manager for Essential Media Communications.

In 2017, Stephen was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council - a role he continues to hold - and was appointed as the Minister for Environment and Disability Services.

Stephen has also served as the Minister for Electoral Affairs, Minister for Mental Health, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Volunteering before being appointed to his current roles as Minister for Emergency Services; Innovation and the Digital Economy; Science; Medical Research and Minister Assisting the Minister for State and Industry Development, Jobs and Trade.

Stephen is passionate about the enormous opportunities that Science, Medical Research and Innovation can offer to help improve the lives of Western Australians. Advances in medical research are stamping WA as an internationally recognised hub with the results and knowledge set to enhance the health and wellbeing of more Western Australians.

Guy Boekenstein

Guy Boekenstein is an experienced defence and national security professional with a deep knowledge of the Indo-Pacific region and extensive Asia networks who has worked in government and the business sector in senior advisory and executive roles. He was previously senior adviser to Australia’s Minister of Defence and the Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs. More recently, he was responsible for defence strategy and engagement in the Northern Territory government working closely with the Deputy CEO of the Chief Minister’s Department and the Defence and National Security Advocate. In each of these roles he was required to develop and lead high-level policy initiatives, industry cooperation projects, people-to-people linkages and capacity building projects.

Guy has focused on building practical relationships between Australia and a range of Indo-Pacific countries for government including Japan, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Timor-Leste and other Pacific Island nations. Guy has spent nearly two decades working in the region including on two diplomatic assignments to Japan and Indonesia with the Australian Department of Defence. He was the first Australian Defence civilian to graduate from the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies and he also served with the United Nations Command (Rear) in Japan.

Guy is passionate about increasing Asia literacy in Australia. His professional networks in the region traverse governments, industry and civil society. Leveraging these people-to-people linkages is central to government and commercial success. As an example, Guy designed and delivered a new platform in Indonesia for the Australian Department of Defence to engage with Indonesian counterparts. This was the only Defence-related initiatives referenced in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper and a decade on still underpins the relationship. This earned him a Secretary of Defence commendation – the first presented to a Defence civilian having served in Asia.

Guy has spent more than five years working with state and territory governments (NSW, NT) in the trade and investment sector. A large part of this work was helping Australian SMEs with market entry and information, professional network connections and facilitating foreign investment into Australia.

Guy prides himself on his ability to analyse complex issues and problem solve in cross-cultural environments. He is a frequent think tank contributor including to the Asia Society and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Having spent 15 years living in Asia and immersing himself in various cultures, Guy is well placed to advise both the public and private sector on engagement. He speaks Japanese and Bahasa Indonesian and has a Master of International Relations degree from Kagoshima University, Japan.

Dr Amanda Cahill

Dr Amanda Cahill is the CEO of The Next Economy, a non-profit organisation that supports regional communities across Australia to build more resilient, climate safe and socially just economies. Amanda works with all levels of government, industry, workers and community groups to understand and manage different aspects of the economic transition across Queensland, the Hunter Valley, Latrobe Valley and the Northern Territory. Amanda has a PhD in Human Geography from the ANU. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Melbourne Climate Futures at the University of Melbourne, an Adjunct Lecturer at The University of Queensland and a 2020 Churchill Fellow.

Prof Anthony Smith

Professor Anthony Smith is the Director of the Centre for Online Health (COH), and Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern Denmark's Centre of Innovative Medical Technology. Anthony has more than 22 years’ experience establishing, managing, and evaluating a broad range of telehealth programs. Anthony has led many significant projects involving the planning and development of telehealth services in tertiary and regional hospitals, general practice, residential aged care facilities, community-controlled Indigenous health services, and schools. Anthony is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare.