On 3 December 2009, the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, the Hon Jenny Macklin MP, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children’s Services, the Hon Bill Shorten MP, announced that Mr John Walsh will serve as Associate Commissioner to the Productivity Commission in its feasibility study into long-term care and support for people with disability in Australia.
The members of the Independent Panel were also announced.
About John Walsh
Mr John Walsh is a Partner in the Advisory Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he has worked for nearly 18 years. He is also part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers National Health practice, with consulting responsibilities in the industries of health, disability and accident compensation - particularly lifetime care and support.
In the early 1980s, Mr Walsh was motivated by his own disability (quadriplegia) and profession (actuary) to gain a keener understanding of the planning processes and materials behind Australia's health and welfare systems.
He initiated a data collection system which led to the Australian Registry of Spinal Cord Injury, an experience which began a long term fascination with the links between policy, planning, funding and service delivery in welfare systems. In particular, Mr Walsh has sought to achieve a recognition that a continuum of outcomes need to be monitored and measured in welfare systems, from financial right through to health outcomes and satisfaction of both consumers and workforce.
Mr Walsh has been a Board member of the New South Wales Motor Accident Authority and the New South Wales HomeCare Service, and statutory actuary to workers compensation authorities of both New South Wales and South Australia. He is Chair of the Independent Panel overseeing Caring Together: The Health Action Plan for NSW. In 2001 he was named Actuary of the Year by the Institute of Actuaries of Australia.
Mr Walsh was also a member of the Disability Investment Group, which recommended a national lifetime care and support scheme based on an insurance model.
The Independent Panel
The Government has appointed seven (7) people with relevant expertise and experience of disability to its Independent Panel which will advise the Government and the Productivity Commission during the Productivity Commission feasibility study into long-term care and support for Australians with disability.
Mr Bruce Bonyhady
Mr Bruce Bonyhady is President of Philanthropy Australia. Other community positions held by Bruce are: Chairman of Yooralla and Chairman of the Advisory Panel to Solve! at the Royal Children's Hospital.
Mr Bonyhady is also Chairman of Acadian Asset Management Australia Limited, a Director of Dexus Wholesale Property Limited and a Member of the UniSuper Investment Committee. He was a Member of the Disability Investment Group and the Reference Group for the Pension Review.
Prior to becoming a full-time Non Executive Director, he held a number of senior positions in the funds management industry, including Managing Director of ANZ Investments and Executive Vice President at BT Funds Management. His earlier career was as an economist and econometrician in the private sector and the Commonwealth Treasury.
Mr David Bowen
Mr David Bowen is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Lifetime Care and Support Authority in New South Wales. Mr Bowen was previously the General Manager of the New South Wales Motor Accidents Authority (MAA).
Mr Bowen has also held positions within the New South Wales Attorney-General’s Department as Assistant Director of Policy and Legislation and Director of Community Relations.
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Dr Rhonda Galbally AO
Dr Rhonda Galbally AO is currently the Chair of the National People with Disabilities and Carer Council. Dr Galbally has made unique contributions to Australian and international social development by establishing new organisations and programs for Australia and the world from concept to operational success. These include www.ourcommunity.com.au the hub of resources and support for Australia’s 700,000 community organisations. She founded as inaugural managing director the Australian International Health Institute - now the Nossal Institute (Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne). In this role Dr Galbally initiated the Sir Gustav Nossal Fellowship for Leadership in Health Reform and the Australian hub for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Child Vaccination Program. As foundation CEO Dr Galbally established and sustained the world's first organisation to use the dedicated tobacco tax for health promotion, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth). She was founding CEO of the Australian Commission for the Future, which among other areas such as biotechnology, information technology, the future of work and education, began the movement to establish Greenhouse emissions as a vital issue for Australia.
Other positions held by Dr Galbally include the Executive Director of the Myer Foundation and Sidney Myer Foundation, Chair of Philanthropy Australia (then the Australian Association of Philanthropy), the Chair of the Royal Women's Hospital, the Independent Chair of the competition policy review of medicines, poisons and chemicals. In all of her positions - executive and non-executive, on boards and reviews, she has successfully ridden the boundary between the commercial and non-profit worlds, forging productive and practical linkages for the better development of both sectors with beneficial outcomes for the wider community. She was awarded an Order of Australia in 1990, the Award of the Degree Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from La Trobe University in 1998, the Award of the Degree Doctor of Social Science (honoris causa) from RMIT University in 2006, and the Centenary Medal in 2003, in recognition of her service to the community.
Ms Robyn McKay
Ms Robyn McKay has recently retired from a Deputy Secretary role in the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, where she was responsible for strategic policy and research, budget policy, social security policy and governance, and community programs. Most recently she led the team undertaking the review of pensions and FaHCSIA's input to the review of Australia's Future Tax System.
Ms McKay has more than 30 years experience in social policy, spanning public finance and governance, Commonwealth-State relations, families and income support policy and programs, employment programs, industrial relations and wages policy, and higher education policy and program administration. Ms McKay has also served as Minister-Counsellor, Social Policy, at the Australian Delegation to the OECD in Paris and as Group Manager, Families and Children, in FaHCSIA.
Ms McKay had previously served in Senior Executive positions in the Department of Employment, Education and Training and the Department of Finance and Administration. Ms McKay has honours degrees in Arts and Economics from the Australian National University.
Dr Andrew Pesce
Dr Andrew Pesce was elected Federal President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) in May 2009. The AMA represents the interests of more than 27,000 medical practitioners from all specialties and locations across Australia.
Dr Pesce is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist who works both in private and public practice. He has been Clinical Director of Women’s Health for Sydney West Area Health Service since 2006.
Dr Pesce’s priorities as AMA President include engaging with government to influence national health policy debate for the benefit of patients, the medical profession and the broader community. He is also committed to increasing the AMA’s membership base.
In 2003, he was awarded the AMA President’s Award for his work representing the profession during the medical indemnity crisis. Dr Pesce was Chair of the AMA Medical Indemnity Taskforce from 2003 to 2007 and was appointed to the Federal Government’s Medical Indemnity Advisory Panel in 2003 and to the Medical Indemnity Review Panel in 2006.
Dr Pesce was the Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Craft Group representative on AMA Federal Council from 2001 to 2007 and an AMA Executive Councillor from 2005 to 2007. He was Chair of the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on Pregnancy Counselling from 2007-2009 and Chair of the National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from 2006 to July 2009.
Dr Pesce graduated from The University of New South Wales in 1983 and became a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1990. He was awarded the Chris Hudson Fellowship for 1991-92, which enabled him to train at Whips Cross and St Bartholomew Hospitals in London.
Dr Pesce is married with two teenage daughters.
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Ms Ann Sherry AO
Ms Ann Sherry AO has been the Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Australia since 2007. Prior to that she was the Chief Executive Officer, Westpac New Zealand and Group Executive, Westpac New Zealand and the Pacific.
Prior to Westpac, Ms Sherry was First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in Canberra. In this role she advised the Prime Minister on policies and programs to improve the status of women in Australia and was Australia’s representative to the United Nations forums on human rights and women's rights.
Ms Sherry is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking & Finance and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration. She is a Director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships, Wilson HTM Investment Group and Chair of the Queensland Public Service Commission. In 2003 she was awarded a Centenary Medal by the Australian Government for her work on providing banking services to disadvantaged communities.
In 2004 she was awarded an Order of Australia for her contribution to the Australian community through the promotion of corporate management policies and practices that embrace gender equity, social justice and work and family partnerships.
Mr Ian Silk
Mr Ian Silk is the Chief Executive of AustralianSuper – one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with over 1 million members, over 100,000 employers, and $30 billion in assets.
Ian is a Director of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) and is the Chair of ASFA’s Policy Committee; a Member of the Financial Services Advisory Council to the Treasurer; and a member of the Federal Government's Financial Literacy Advisory Board. Ian was the Chair of the Disability Investment Group, and is a Director of Yooralla.
Ian has worked in the finance industry for 14 years and prior to this he held a range of senior positions with the Victorian Government. He holds a Bachelor of Economics, a Postgraduate Diploma in Labor Relations Law, and a Diploma of Financial Services.
About the Independent Panel
When will the Productivity Commission Inquiry start?
The Productivity Commission will commence the Inquiry in the first half of 2010.
How can I be involved in the Inquiry?
The Productivity Commission will undertake the Inquiry and will take submissions and consult with stakeholders. As the Inquiry has not commenced please email your details to NDS Mailbox (NDSMailbox@fahcsia.gov.au). Your details will be forwarded to the Panel and the Productivity Commission when the Inquiry begins.