Government appointments

The Turnbull Government has today announced appointments to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal, the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB), the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the Productivity Commission and the Payments System Board.

The Superannuation Complaints Tribunal welcomes 13 new part-time appointments and the reappointment of two part-time members.  After today’s appointments the Tribunal comprises of 60 per cent female membership. These appointments continue the high level of skills and experience available to the Tribunal, ensuring that the Tribunal has appropriately qualified members to deal with the range of issues it handles.

Dr Roger Simnett will today be appointed as the Chair of the Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AUASB) and as a part-time member of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) both for a five-year period commencing on 1 April 2017. To facilitate Dr Simnett commencing from 1 April 2017, I am also pleased to announce that Ms Merran Kelsall has agreed to extend her term as the Chair of the AUASB. Ms Kelsall has been the Chair of the AUASB since 2004. The extended term will take effect from 1 January 2017 to 31 March 2017.

The Government also announces today the appointments of Professor Jane Doolan as part-time Commissioner (Environment) and Mr John Madden as full-time Associate Commissioner (Water) to the Productivity Commission. Professor Doolan has extensive senior leadership experience working in sustainable water resource and environmental management, providing policy advice to both state and Commonwealth governments, on issues such as water allocation, river health and catchment management, urban and rural water supply and security, national water reform and water sector governance. Mr Madden has extensive experience in legislative, regulatory and administrative arrangements for water planning and management, and community consultation and engagement.

Finally, the Government today announces the appointment of Professor Deborah Ralston as a part-time member of the Payments System Board (PSB) for a term of five years. Professor Ralston is currently a Professor of Finance at Monash University and Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Digital Finance Advisory Committee.  She has held various leadership positions in Australian universities, and has extensive experience as a non-executive director. She is a researcher in the financial services sector who has been widely published in the areas of financial regulation, superannuation, innovation and commercialisation.

Since 1998, the Payments System Board has had responsibility for the payments system policy of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). The other members of the PSB are: Dr Philip Lowe (Chair), Ms Michele Bullock (Deputy Chair), Mr Wayne Byres, Ms Gina Cass-Gottlieb, Mr Paul Costello, Mrs Catherine Walter AM and Mr Brian Wilson. Women will for the first time comprise 50 per cent of the total PSB membership. The Government also thanks the outgoing member, Mr Robert McLean AM, for his decade of valued service on the PSB.

Today’s appointments are a positive representation of gender diversity on boards. It is encouraging to see the progression of these boards to have equal representation based on merit.

The Government congratulates all of these high calibre Australians on their appointments and looks forward to each of them making a significant contribution.

Appointments/Reappointments