The Morrison Government has today appointed Ms Natalie Siegel-Brown (Social Policy), Ms Joanne Chong (Environment Specialist) and Mr Martin Stokie as full-time Commissioners of the Productivity Commission (the PC) and Professor Alex Robson as a full-time Deputy Chair and Commissioner of the PC, each for a five-year period.
The Productivity Commission is an independent authority established under the Productivity Commission Act 1998 and is the Australian Government’s principal advisory body on microeconomic policy and regulation. The Commission’s work covers all sectors of the economy.
Since September 2021, Professor Robson has been an Associate Partner with EY and immediately prior was Australian Ambassador to the OECD from 2019 to 2021. He has held a number of academic positions at ANU and Griffith University, and was previously a Director at Deloitte Access Economics as well as Chief Economist to the former Australian Prime Minister, the Hon Malcolm Turnbull.
Ms Siegel-Brown is the Managing Director of Child Wise – a leading global NGO that provides child safeguarding services and education in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and the US. Ms Siegel-Brown has previously served as the Public Guardian for Queensland, the government-appointed office responsible for the oversight of child protection, mental health and disability in Queensland.
Ms Chong leads a program of 85 interdisciplinary scientists and applied researchers at the CSIRO. During her career, Ms Chong has worked across a wide range of environmental and scientific disciplines including regional development, transport and supply chain logistics, climate change and disaster resilience.
Mr Stokie is the lead Partner and head of PwC's Economic and Policy team, with close to 20 years' experience advising State and Federal Government including on deregulation and infrastructure. This included advising me during the time I served as Parliamentary Secretary to then Prime Minister Tony Abbott, with responsibility for deregulation.
These appointments will continue to support the PC in providing advice on economic, social and environmental matters affecting the welfare of all Australians.