Appendix A - Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce Members: Biographies
Mr Anthony S Blunn, AO (Taskforce Chair) has had a long and distinguished career with the public service including Secretary positions with the Departments of Territories and Local Government, Housing and Construction, and Social Security, and the Attorney General’s Department. Mr Blunn has also chaired a range of committees and inquiries in recent years.
Mr Brian Babington is Chief Executive Officer of Families Australia, Australia’s peak independent not-for-profit organisation representing the needs and interests of families. Brian is Deputy Chair of the Australian Council for Children and Parenting and President of ParentLine (ACT).
Mr Byron Davis is an Indigenous Australian. His great-grandfather is of Kalkadoon ancestry and his great-grandmother is of Wannyi ancestry from North-West Queensland. Byron is a teacher and has been a carer for most of his life.
Professor Stewart Einfeld is Professor of Mental Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Senior Scientist in the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney. Stewart’s research and clinical experience is in child and adolescent mental health, particularly developmental disorders such as autism and intellectual disability.
Ms Lois Gatley is a carer whose her professional background is nursing and social
work. Lois’s career has included successive appointments to the Social Security Appeals
Tribunal and she is currently the Chairperson of the Western Australian Government Carers
Advisory Council.
Mr Michael Gourlay has worked in the disability sector for many years and is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Association for Children with a Disability, which auspices the Australian Association for Families of Children with Disability.
Professor Frank Oberklaid is the Foundation Director of the Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal Children’s Hospital, Associate Director (Public Health) of the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, and a Professor in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Paediatrics.
Ms Elizabeth Robinson is a carer for her daughter; she is the President of Novita Children’s Services Incorporated and a member of the National Disability and Carer Ministerial Advisory Council, and was recently appointed a Deputy President of the Guardianship Board in South Australia.
Ms Linda Webb, OAM was previously a senior public servant in the ACT and Commonwealth governments. Her areas of expertise include governance and community services, reflected by her OAM (awarded in 2002) for services to the ACT through public administration and social policy.
Ms Cate McKenzie is the FaCSIA representative on the Taskforce. She is Group Manager, Housing and Disability Group, responsible for a range of policies and programs dealing with carers, housing, people with disabilities, and mental health.