International Advisory Board

Hon. Ken Wyatt AM JP (Chair)

Hon Ken Wyatt AM JP

Former Australian Minister for Indigenous Australians 

Chair of the UWA Public Policy Institute International Advisory Board 

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The Honourable Ken Wyatt AM JP served as the Member for Hasluck in the Federal Parliament from 2010 to 2022. He was the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives and first Indigenous Australian appointed to the Executive Council. 

Ken also served as Australia’s first Minister for Indigenous Australians, Minister for Aged Care, Minister for Indigenous Health and Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians.

He has a demonstrated track record of achievement in management and leadership roles across the public, private and political sectors. His key areas of expertise include realising new business opportunities; effectively contributing to international, national policy, program design; strategic planning; measuring and reporting performance; and leading organisations through significant change.

Professor Andrew Page (ex officio)

Professor Andrew Page

Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research at The University of Western Australia

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 Andrew Page is Professor of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia. He has been Associate Dean of Research and Associate Dean Graduate Research Studies with the Faculty of Science. He is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Director of the Suicide Prevention and Resilience Research Centre (SPARRC). He worked as a clinical psychologist in the Clinical Unit for Anxiety and Depression (CRUfAD) and at UWA was co-director of the Robin Winkler Clinic where he was instrumental in developing the clinic’s individual and group treatment programs as a model of science-informed practice. For over 25 years he has been research consultant to the private psychiatric sector, including Perth Clinic’s Clinical Improvement Team and the Private Mental Health Alliance’s Quality Improvement Project. As part of Perth Clinic’s Clinical Improvement Team he has developed the first daily symptom monitoring system for inpatient psychiatric patients. He is a past National President of the Australian Association for Cognitive and Behaviour Therapy and the inaugural winner of the Tracy Goodall Early Career Award in recognition of innovation in research. Andrew is currently Associate Editor with Psychotherapy Research and has published over 160 research papers, books, and book chapters. His books include the co-authored the text "Clinical psychology for trainees: Foundations of a science-informed practice" and he has been awarded teaching fellowships for his work in the training of clinical psychologists and developing training opportunities in rural and remote settings.

Associate Professor Paul J. Maginn (ex officio)

Associate Professor Paul Maginn is the Interim Director of the UWA Public Policy Institute and is also Programme

Co-ordinator of the Masters of Public Policy (Admin/Governance stream) at UWA.

Paul is an urban planner/geographer and has been at UWA since February 2007. He previously held positions at the University of South Australia and Edith Cowan University, having migrated to Australia in 2003.

Paul’s research expertise/interests are in: (i) urban policy; (ii) housing; (iii) strategic spatial planning; (iv) planning reform; (v) Australian and global suburbanisms; (vi) multiculturalism and sectarianism; (vii) local government; (viii) geographies of sex(uality) and the sex industry; and, (ix)

He is co-editor/author of 9 books, including:

1. Phelps, N., Keil, R. and Maginn, P.J. (eds.) (forthcoming) Peripheral Centralities: The Lost and Past Urbanity of the Suburbs, London: Routledge.
2. Maginn, P. J. and Anacker, K. (Eds.) (2022) Suburbia in the 21st Century: From Dreamscape to Nightmare, London: Routledge.
3. Gurran, N., Maginn, P.J., Burton, P., Legacy, C., Curtis, C., Kent, A. & Binder, G. (2020) Disruptive Urbanism: Implications of the ‘Sharing Economy’ for Cities, Regions, and Urban Policy, London: Routledge.
4. Maginn, P. J. and Steinmetz (2015) (eds.) (Sub)Urban Sexscapes: Geographies and Regulation of the Sex Industry, London: Routledge.

Paul is the current Editor-in-Chief of Urban Policy and Research, Australasia’s leading urban studies journal. He served as co-convenor of the Australasian Cities Research Network from 2017-2021 and was lead co-chair of the 2009 and 2019 State of Australasian Cities conference – Australasia’s pre-eminent urban studies conference.

Professor David Gilchrist (ex officio)

Professor David Gilchrist

Research Director UWA Public Policy Institute 

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Professor David Gilchrist is Foundation Director of the Centre for Public Value at The University of Western Australia's Business School and is a professor of accounting at that institution. He has received funding from governments, peak bodies and individual organisations for various research projects predominantly related to the Not-for-profit human services sector, Not-for-profit accounting and financial reporting, and policy and practice related to these areas. He has been a director of a number of human services organisations over past years and is currently a director of a policy-focused charity in the education area. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda Savage

Linda Savage 

Lawyer and former Member of the Western Australian Legislative Council

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Linda Savage has a BA (Hons) in Politics (UWA) and a law degree from Cambridge. Throughout her working life she has focused on law reform and the rights of women and children.   

She is a former Director of the Social Security Appeals Tribunal, Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, Member of Parliament, and was the Inaugural Convener of the Valuing Children Initiative. She has co-authored two books, written numerous opinion pieces and academic articles and served on a wide range of advisory committees and boards. 

She is currently on the Boards of the National Drug Research Institute, the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board, the Australian Council on Children & the Media and Upswell Publishing.

In October 2018 she was appointed as an Ambassador for Children and Young People. In 1997 she was awarded the Law Society of Western Australia’s annual award for Outstanding Service to the Community. In 2010 she was named Woman Lawyer of the Year.

 

Mr Ross B. Taylor AM

Mr Ross B. Taylor AM

Former WA Government Commissioner to Indonesia 

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Ross Taylor is a former WA Government Commissioner to Indonesia and has held numerous senior industry positions, including National Vice-President & WA State Chair of the Australia-Indonesia Business Council, with Wesfarmers Ltd and Phosphate Resources Limited. He also operated his own business in Medan, Sumatra for three years.

Ross is involved in philanthropy and cancer-charity work throughout the region and is one of Australia’s leading commentators on Indonesia-Australia relations writing ‘Opinion’ articles for The Australian, The West Australian and The Jakarta Post newspapers & The Diplomat based in Washington DC, and also for the Lowy Institute on a regular basis. & commentates on SkyNews, and ABC Radio programs.

Ross is also the author of three published books. In 2013 Ross was appointed by the Governor-General of Australia as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant services to Australia-Indonesia relations and to the (philanthropic) community. Ross was also selected, in July 2013, by the Indonesian Government as Australia’s “Presidential Friend of Indonesia – 2013.”

Mr Tim Hammond SCS

Mr Tim Hammond SCS

Former Member of Parliament

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Tim has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia and a Bachelor of Laws from Murdoch University. Tim specialises in representing victims of asbestos disease and survivors of institutional child sexual abuse.

Tim also has expertise acting for Plaintiffs and Defendants in medical negligence claims, as well as workplace, motor vehicle and catastrophic injury cases. He also advises and appears regularly in employment & industrial relations matters.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Tim worked at Slater & Gordon Lawyers from 2000 until 2010. During that time, he was the Managing Partner / State Practice Leader for the Queensland operations of the firm from 2006 to 2009. From 2002 to 2006, Tim was a Partner at Slater & Gordon in Perth, specialising in asbestos litigation.

From 2010 to 2016 Tim practiced as a Barrister at Francis Burt Chambers.

In 2011 Tim was awarded the West Australian Bar Association’s Chief Justice’s prize for the most outstanding bar reader and the best performing reader at the Australian Bar Association essential trial advocacy course.

From 2016 to 2018 Tim was the Federal Member for Perth, as well as the Shadow Minister for Consumer Affairs and Shadow Minister Assisting in Resources.

In addition to his practice as a barrister, Tim volunteers as a board member on a number of boards, including the Western Australian Bar Association and The Fathering Project. He is also a member of the Murdoch University Strategic Advisory Board.

Mr Tim Lo Surdo

Mr Tim Lo Surdo

Founder of Democracy in Colour

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Tim is the Founder of Democracy in Colour, Australia's first racial and economic justice organisation led by people of colour. Before starting Democracy in Colour, he worked with low-paid workers to set up Hospo Voice, a new union in hospitality. Previously, Tim was the Head of Campaigns at Oaktree, a senior adviser to two Senators, the Campaigns Director at Jhatkaa, the National Communications Director at UN Youth Australia, and co-founded Open Sky.

Tim has served on 19 community and government Boards. He is currently the Chairperson of No to Violence and the Jane Goodall Institute Australia and a Non-Executive Director of Plan International Australia, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Environment Victoria, the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Inner Melbourne Community Legal, the Cultural Facilities Corporation, the Consumer Policy Research Centre, the Funders Initiative for Civil Society, and the Victorian Government's Sustainability Fund. He is also a member of the Multicultural Queensland Advisory Council and Australia's Open Government Forum.

For his work, Tim was named an Asia-Pacific Obama Leader, the 2021 Victorian Young Achiever of the Year, a Commonwealth Young Person of the Year finalist, one of the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians, and one of 17 UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals.

Robin McClellan

Ms Robin McClellan 

Senior Advisor and Non Executive Director

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Robin McClellan brings decades of experience in diplomacy, corporate relations, and leadership development to the Advisory Board. She has worked in public and corporate policy roles in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, and Singapore, as well as the United States and Australia, and has also held leadership positions in the academic and not for profit sectors. Her primary areas of influence have been in investment and trade policy, financial counter-terrorism efforts, and extractive industry regulatory policy.

Robin has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Latin American Studies from the University of Kansas, a Master of Arts in Economic History from the University of Exeter, UK, and an MBA from Duke University. She has served on corporate boards in the resources sector in Indonesia and Australia, and holds a number of not-for-profit advisory board roles. She speaks Indonesian, French, Spanish, and German, and has studied Noongar.

Dr David (Russ) Russell-Weisz PSM

Dr David (Russ) Russell-Weisz PSM

Former Director General of Western Australia's Department of Health

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Dr David (Russ) Russell-Weisz PSM is the former Director General of Western Australia’s Department of Health, a position he has held from 2015 to 2024.

Dr Russell-Weisz graduated as a doctor in Scotland but has spent the best part of his professional life in Western Australia.

After moving to Australia in 1993, he joined the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Broken Hill, and then moved to Western Australia, where, as a procedural General Practitioner and then Director of Medical Services, he served communities in regional and remote parts of Western Australia. The work gave him a special appreciation of the challenges faced by those delivering services in rural/remote parts of Western Australia and the unique responsibilities of our State’s health system in achieving equitable health outcomes.

Later, as Chief Executive of the North Metropolitan Health Service, he led the $1billion dollar redevelopment of the QEII Medical Centre while also overseeing the operations of three tertiary and three outer-metropolitan hospitals. Dr Russell-Weisz also led the commissioning of the State’s flagship $2 billion Fiona Stanley Hospital, which opened its doors to its first patients in late 2014.

As Director General, Dr Russell-Weisz steered the public health system through a period of significant reform, which included the commissioning and opening of the Perth Children’s Hospital. Along with the WA Health Executive team, Dr Russell-Weisz was responsible for delivering on the State Government’s Sustainable Health Review, which provides an ambitious blueprint for the delivery of high quality, safe and sustainable health care services for Western Australians over the next 10 years.

Along with the Chief Health Officer, Dr Russell-Weisz has led & guided the WA health system’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring continuous quality of care for patients and the progression of key health infrastructure strategic projects.

Emily Roper

Emily Roper

PUBLIC SECTOR LEADER

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Emily Roper PSM is an accomplished public sector leader having served over 25 years in both State and Federal Government. She has led significant policy reforms across various portfolios including family and domestic violence, environmental protection and approvals, Indigenous affairs, privacy and data sharing and early childhood education.

Emily was the first female Director-General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC) in Western Australia, and as Deputy Director General and then Director General of DPC, was instrumental in shaping Western Australia’s whole-of-government policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023 she was awarded the Public Service Medal for her outstanding leadership over this period.

Emily is a member of the University of Western Australia Business School Advisory Board and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has previously served as a member of the Infrastructure Western Australia Board (2021-2025).