Speaker biographies
The conference included sessions from the following speakers:
Delivering equality? Women’s pay and employment conditions in the UK
Helen Wilkinson, writer, broadcaster and Director of Genderquake Limited and My Heroines
Helen is a UK-based ideas entrepreneur whose expertise involves understanding the implications of changing gender roles and generational shifts in values on today’s (and tomorrow’s) workforce. A well known international commentator, writer, broadcaster and independent thinker, Helen was a founding member of the prominent UK think tank Demos. She was selected by Fast Company magazine as someone to watch in their Millennium issue and chosen a year later by Personnel Today as someone whose ideas were helping to revolutionise the world of work. She continues to advocate, advise and communicate on diversity issues and the challenges of the genderquake and Generation X.
Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility: Aboriginal employment for business success
Carlo Svagelli, senior consultant, diversity council australia
Carlo Svagelli has considerable knowledge of and expertise in Aboriginal affairs policy development and understands the cultural, social and economic factors that affect Aboriginal communities. He is also deeply committed to the inclusion of Aboriginal people into the open economy at all levels and the implementation of workplace inclusion strategies to support these outcomes.
Panel Discussion: Rhetoric versus reality: Diversity and employment relations
Bob Whyburn, Principal, Maurice Blackburn Cashman
Bob Whyburn is a principal of national law firm Maurice Blackburn Cashman and head of its Industrial and Employment Law Division of the firm in Sydney.
Bob has spent more than 30 years acting for unions and union members across a wide spectrum of industries and in a variety of legal situations from Workers’ Compensation to Royal Commissions. He appeared for the CFMEU in two Royal Commissions into the Building Industry, appeared in the Agent Orange Royal Commission for the Vietnam Veterans Association and also in the Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Inquiry. Recently Bob appeared for the NSW Nurses’ Association and a number of its members in the Special Commission of Inquiry into the Campbelltown/Camden Hospital and before ICAC.
He is a co-author of a text book “Nursing and the Law” and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars. He worked closely with the NSW Working Women’s Centre for many years and in 2004 was nominated for a Civil Justice Award. He has also travelled throughout NSW speaking on employment issues at seminars organised through ATSI.
Scott Barklamb, ACCI
Scott Barklamb is Assistant Director – Workplace Relations for the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), representing Australian employers in relation to a wide range of national employment regulation and workplace relations policy matters. Primary areas of responsibility include: workplace reform, workplace relations policy and legislation, equal opportunity and discrimination, and international workplace relations matters. Mr Barklamb is also ACCI’s national advocate representing Australian employers in major industrial relations commission matters.
Mr Barklamb represents employers in a range of national and ministerial forums, including the National Workplace Relations Consultative Committee and the International Labour Affairs Committee.
Mr Barklamb was previously Assistant Director – Policy and Economic Analysis with the Western Australian Department of Productivity and Labour Relations. He has also previously worked in advising and representing employers with both ACCI and the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VECCI). Mr Barklamb has also worked with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on a range of international projects and in a wide range of international forums. Mr Barklamb has graduate qualifications in industrial relations, employment law and public policy making from the University of Melbourne.
Matthew Thistlethwaite, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Unions NSW
Matthew Thistlethwaite is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Unions NSW, and former Vice President of the Australian Workers Union. He is a solicitor and works with NSW unions advising them on employment, discrimination and EEO matters. He has experience representing workers in a range of industries including transport, power, manufacturing, health and horse racing. Matthew is a current director of State Transit, and member of the NSW Manufacturing Council.
Russell Lansbury, Professor and Associate Dean (Research), University of Sydney.
Russell Lansbury is Professor of Work and Organisational Studies and Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Economics and Business at the University of Sydney. He holds degrees in Psychology and Political Science from the University of Melbourne and a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 1999. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by Macquarie University in 2005.
He was a Senior Lecturer at Monash University before becoming an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Management at Macquarie University. He was the foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations Research and Training (an ARC Key Centre) at the University of Sydney.
He was awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship at Harvard University and the Sloan School of Management at MIT, has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the Swedish Centre for Worklife Research in Stockholm and was a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute for Labour Studies at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. He has also been a Shaw Foundation Professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has received fellowships from the French, German, Danish, Finnish and Swedish governments in recent decades.
Russell Lansbury is joint editor of the Journal of Industrial Relations and serves on the editorial boards of leading academic journals in North America, Europe and Asia. His major research contributions have been in the areas of international and comparative employment and industrial relations. His current research includes studies of the effects of management strategies of multinational enterprises on employment relations and labour practices.
He has served on numerous government, industry and professional bodies. He has been a consultant to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). He is the current President of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA) based at the ILO in Geneva.
Challenging discrimination against same sex couples at work
Graeme Innes AM, Human Rights Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Disability Discrimination
Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director Graeme Innes has been a Human Rights Practitioner for 25 years. Graeme has been active in the disability field for thirty years. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for four and a half years. He has been Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner since 1999 and has been a member of various tribunals including the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal and the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.
Breakout sessions: Choose from 1 of the following sessions facilitated by an experienced DCA consultant:
(1) Grey Matters: Engaging and retaining the mature age workforce
Presented by:
Graeme Russell, Associate Professor, Macquarie University
Associate Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University in Australia, Dr Russell is an internationally recognised speaker, researcher, writer and consultant on work and life strategies, well-being, equal employment opportunities, organisational change, diversity, workplace flexibility and fatherhood.
Shane Freeman, Group General Manager of People Capital and Breakout, ANZ
Shane Freeman joined ANZ on 20 August 2001 as the Group General Manager People Capital & Breakout, which is ANZ’s strategic human resources function concerned with overseeing its people agenda and building its intellectual capital. This includes the major practice areas of leadership, talent and training, performance and rewards, employee relations and internal communications.
Prior to joining ANZ, Shane worked at Mobil Oil in both Australia and the United States in a variety of roles, including Manager of Labour Relations, Manager of Organisational Development for the Marketing and Refining Group, Manager, Human Resources for Mobil Chemical Company and Director, Corporate Services. He then worked at National Australia Bank as General Manager, Global HR Shared Services. Most recently Shane worked at BHP as Global Practice Leader, Organisational Effectiveness. Shane holds a Bachelor of Behavioural Science majoring in Psychology from La Trobe University and holds the position of Deputy Chairman of the Australian Safety Compensation Council (ASCC)
Rohan Squirchuk, Managing Director, Diversity Council Australia
Rohan Squirchuk is Managing Director of Diversity Council Australia Ltd (DCA). DCA is a leading diversity specialist employer association. Its primary focus is to promote productive and equitable employment practices by working with employers to build workplaces where differences are respected and valued.
Rohan’s experience and employment have covered a broad range of responsibilities with considerable work in the fields of diversity, equal opportunity and affirmative action in federal, state and local government organisations and in the tertiary and private sectors. Providing expert assistance with the rapid resolution of workplace harassment and bullying complaints – with a focus on getting employees back to work with the least disruption – has been a feature of her work for many years. She has considerable experience in investigation of complex complaints and the provision of practical advice for their resolution. She also has a part-time statutory appointment as a legal member of the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal; a quasi-judicial body.
Rohan has a Master of Arts (First Class Honours) from the University of Otago and a Bachelor of Law from the University of NSW and a Diploma in Teaching.
(2) Combating the skills shortage: Employing people with disability
Presented by:
Samantha French, Senior Education Officer, People with Disability Australia
Samantha French is a person with disability (vision impairment) and has a Degree in Social Work and a Masters Degree in Industrial Relations. She is currently employed as the Senior Education Officer of People with Disability Australia (PWD), a national disability rights and advocacy organisation. Prior to this role Samantha worked in the Australian Government managing employment incentive programs for people with a disability (namely the NSW Supported Wage System and National Workplace Modifications Scheme). She has worked in the disability field for approximately 15 years and has an extensive background in disability policy across a broad range of areas, with particular interest in human rights and industrial relations/employment issues for people with disability.
Mark Bagshaw, Director Accessibility for IBM Australia & New Zealand
Mark has been working for IBM Australia for over 25 years in a variety of technical, marketing, sales and management positions. He is currently establishing it IBM Australia/New Zealand Accessibility Centre that develops and implement accessible technologies and solutions for IBM’s customers. Mark also undertakes a variety of community roles, currently sitting on many community boards as chairman. Mark’s primary focus is to demonstrate to the world business community that addressing the issues faced by people who are economically disadvantaged in the world makes good business and economic sense as well as being right for our society. He is passionate about social reform and particularly about the crucial role that education performs in developing a just, healthy society.
(3) Faith in the workplace
Abd Malak AM, Executive Director of Workforce and Organisational Development for Sydney West Area Health Service
Associate Prof Abd Malak AM, has worked in the field of health and social welfare for the past 30 years, has included service provision, policy, planning and management. He has written and published various papers on cross-cultural issues. A/Prof Malak is also Honorary President of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA) and the Convenor of the newly established Australian Partnership of Ethnic and Religious Organisations (APERO).In 2002 Associate Prof Malak was included in the Australian Honours List as a Member in the Order Of Australia for his service to migrant communities. A/Prof Malak was appointed as an Associate Professor of University of Western Sydney, School of Medicine.
Depression and work – Increasing Awareness, Focusing on Solutions
Professor Gordon Parker, Executive Director of the Black Dog Institute
Professor Parker’s principal areas of expertise include depression and personality disorders. He also serves on advisory boards for 12 scientific journals and several pharmaceutical advisory boards. The Black Dog Institute is an educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility offering specialist expertise in mood disorders - a range of disorders that include depression and Bipolar Disorder.
Matthew Johnstone, the Black Dog Institute
Matthew Johnstone combined his skills from years in the advertising industry with his own life experience of depression to write the book ‘I had a Black Dog’. Described as his own ‘coming out’ Matthew believes there is something incredibly liberating about facing who we genuinely are. He hopes that being authentic will encourage others to do so and hopefully give them the strength to face their own Black Dog and bring it into line.
Striking the balance: Women, men, work and family
Pru Goward, federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination
Pru Goward became federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner in July 2001. In 2004 she was also appointed Commissioner Responsible for Age Discrimination. She is an economist by training and a broadcaster by practice, having worked with ABC TV and Radio as a current affairs journalist and later as a political reporter and commentator. She is best known for her efforts to promote a national scheme of paid maternity leave and a better balance of work and family.