Contributors
Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell AO FTSE FAHA is a renowned anthropologist, technologist, and futurist. Genevieve is currently the Director of the School of Cybernetics and the 3A Institute (3Ai) at the Australian National University and also remains a Vice President and Senior Fellow at Intel Corporation. She is also a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
View ArticlesLaureate Professor Peter Doherty AC shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1996 with Rolf Zinkernagel for their discovery of how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells. He was Australian of the Year in 1997. Professor Doherty is now patron of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University of Melbourne and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and the Michael F Tamer Chair of Biomedical Research at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.
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Jenny Gordon
Dr Jenny Gordon is an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Social Research and Methods, at the Australian National University and a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute. Jenny was the Chief Economist at DFAT from 2019 to 2021, establishing the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) to bring together trade and investment economics with development economics. Jenny joined DFAT from Nous Group where she helped build their economic analysis service offer. Prior to this she spent 10 years at the Productivity Commission as the Principal Advisor Research. Jenny has a PhD in Economics from Harvard University and started her professional career at the Reserve Bank of Australia.
View ArticlesProfessor Ian Hickie AM is a Professor of Psychiatry and the Co-Director of Health and Policy at the University of Sydney’s, Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney. He has led major public health and health services developments in Australia, particularly focusing on early intervention for young people with depression, suicidal thoughts and behaviours and complex mood disorders. He is active in the development through codesign, implementation and continuous evaluation of new health information and personal monitoring technologies to drive highly-personaliszed and measurement-based care.
View ArticlesDr Kar Mei Tang is Chief Circular Economist with NSW Circular. Her work focuses on how environmental and economic policy can intersect to bring about better local and global outcomes. Her experience spans many years of senior executive and governance roles in these fields in the public and private sectors, in Australia and internationally.
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Pat Turner
Ms Pat Turner AM is an Aboriginal woman from Central Australia, the daughter of an Arrernte man and a Gurdanji woman. She is the lead convener of the Coalition of Peaks and the chief executive officer of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation.
View ArticlesProfessor Veena Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is the Director of the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre, and the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as Green SteelTM, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres and other wastes in steel production. In 2018, Veena launched the world's first of her MICROfactories® and she is the Director of the ARC Microrecycling Research Hub, as well as Leader of the new national Sustainable Communities and Waste Hub. Veena was also named the 2022 NSW Australian of the Year.
View ArticlesSteven Hamilton is Assistant Professor of Economics at George Washington University and Visiting Fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at the ANU. He worked on the Garnaut Climate Change Review update in 2010 to 2011 and recently developed climate policy proposals as Chief Economist at Blueprint Institute.
View ArticlesDr Alicia Mollaun is the Senior Manager for Economic Policy at Equity Economics and Development Partners, a firm committed developing solutions to complex challenges domestically and internationally through more inclusive growth. Alicia has previously worked at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Julia Gillard, MP. Alicia has a PhD in Public Policy from the Crawford School at the Australian National University.
View ArticlesAnna Boucher is Associate Professor in Public Policy and Comparative Politics at the University of Sydney and a Research Stream Lead at the James Martin Institute for Public Policy. Her book Patterns of Exploitation: Understanding Migrant Worker Rights in Advanced Democracies will be published by Oxford University Press. She has advised the Australian and UK governments, as well as international agencies, on the workplace rights of migrant workers, skilled immigration policy and immigration statistics.
View ArticlesDr Zac Gross is a lecturer in economics at Monash University and a former economist at the Reserve Bank of Australia.
View ArticlesDr Vafa Ghazavi is the Executive Director for Research and Policy at the James Martin Institute for Public Policy. He is a public policy strategist and political philosopher. Vafa previously worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra, and taught political theory at the University of Oxford. In addition to his role at JMI, Vafa is currently a Carr Center Fellow at Harvard University, where his research focuses on issues at the intersection of finance and ethics.
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Christopher Day
Christopher Day is a PhD student in economic and industrial strategy at the University of Sydney. Prior to this, Christopher worked in both public and private sector roles in London and Washington D.C where his work encompassed the fields of spatial economics, innovation policy and insurance. Christopher holds a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge and graduated with First Class Honours and the University Medal from the University of Technology Sydney.
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Hugh Piper
Roy Green is Emeritus Professor and Special Innovation Advisor at the University of Technology Sydney, where he was Dean of the UTS Business School. Currently, he is Chair of the Port of Newcastle and the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Hub, and a member of the NSW Modern Manufacturing Taskforce, Australian Design Council and the Research Advisory Committee of the Centre for Policy Development. This article is based on an InnovationAus presentation in Canberra.
View ArticlesAmira Skeggs is a researcher at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre and the founder of Kindred, a not-for-profit social enterprise creating digital mental health resources for young people. She has worked across several mental health organisations and currently sits on the Raise Foundation’s Youth Advisory Council, where her work is focused on elevating young people’s voices to create more inclusive mental health initiatives. Amira graduated with first class honours and the university medal in Psychology from the University of Sydney.
View ArticlesLibby Hackett is the inaugural CEO of the James Martin Institute for Public Policy. Libby is an award-winning public policy expert and brings over 20 years’ experience working at the highest level of government and universities. She has held senior advisory and leadership roles in government, parliament, peak bodies, think tanks and private sector consultancy in Australia and the UK. Libby was selected to participate in the Prime Minister’s leadership training programme for outstanding public servants in 2010. She was named one of the UK’s "Education Reformers of the Year" by the Education Foundation for work promoting social mobility and access to higher education. She served as a Director on the UK Higher Education Commission and as an Advisor to the Browne Review of Higher Education Fees and Funding. Libby holds a Bachelor of Arts in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and a Master of Arts from the University of Oxford and is a visiting fellow in global higher education policy at Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU).
View ArticlesTravers McLeod is the Executive Director of the Brotherhood of St. Laurence, a social justice organisation working to prevent and alleviate poverty across Australia.
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David Brown
David Brown is Professor of Management Accounting at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). His expertise is in the design and use of management and accounting systems to address behavioural, decision making and coordination problems in organisations. He is best known for his work on management control system packages (multi-system design). David has a detailed understanding of key issues within the aged care sector, particularly as these relate to the management practices of service provider organisations.
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Jehonathan Ben
Jehonathan Ben is a Postdoctoral Associate Research Fellow at Deakin University. His research focuses on racism and anti-racism, intercultural relations, migration and mobilities.
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Amanda Tattersall
Amanda Tattersall is an Associate Professor with the Sydney Policy Lab and the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney. She co-founded GetUp.org.au, founded the Sydney Alliance, and hosts the ChangeMakers Podcast, that tells stories about people trying to make the world a better place. She is the instigator and academic lead of the Real Deal project.
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Rachael Lewis
Dr Rachael Lewis is a Lecturer at the UNSW Business School and founding member of the UTS Ageing Research Collaborative (UARC). She conducts research into the role of management accounting in shaping managerial cognition and the development of expertise. Her PhD research examined the use of performance measurement and other management systems in an aged care setting.
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Peter Shergold
Professor Peter Shergold AC, the Chancellor of Western Sydney University, is Chair of the James Martin Institute for Public Policy. He headed the panel which undertook the independent review of Australia's response to global pandemic.
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Duncan Ivison
Duncan Ivison is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Sydney. He was Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) from 2015-2022 and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 2010-15.
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Pauline McGuirk
Pauline McGuirk is Director of the Australian Centre for Culture, Environment, Society and Space, University of Wollongong. Her work revolves, broadly, around critical studies of urban governance, its changing geographies, material practices and politics, and the differential implications for urban places, communities, subjectivities and power.
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Jennifer Burn
Professor Jennifer Burn is a lawyer and director of Anti-Slavery Australia at UTS, the nation’s only specialist legal practice, research and policy centre committed to the abolition of slavery in this country.
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Måns Carlsson
Måns Carlsson OAM has been Head of ESG at Ausbil since 2015. In 2022, Måns was recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the sustainable investment sector, including special mention of his work on modern slavery.
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Matt Tyler
Matt Tyler is the Executive Director of The Men’s Project at Jesuit Social Services working with a team committed to providing leadership on the reduction of violence and other harmful behaviours prevalent among men and boys. Prior to joining Jesuit Social Services, he worked as a Fellow for Harvard’s Government Performance Lab focused on child protection and he has also previously worked on reforms to family violence services and child protection in Australia. He is trained as an economist with a particular focus on statistics, holding a Master of Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School and Honours in Economics from Monash University.
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Rys Farthing

James Cockayne

Rachel Visontay
Rachel Visontay is an NHMRC-funded PhD candidate at the Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use at the University of Sydney. Her research explores relationships between alcohol and long-term health outcomes, with a focus on identifying causal effects.
View ArticlesExplore recent articles
12 January 2023
The harms and costs of alcohol to Australia are clear. Government needs to mandate effective messaging around alcohol consumption.
Rachel Visontay, Louise Mewton and Maree Teesson
22 December 2022
It’s been a big first year for The Policymaker—here are our top five most-read articles for 2022.
Hugh Piper
19 December 2022
The NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner explains why it’s in everyone’s interests to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking as a system-level challenge.
James Cockayne