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BIOGRAPHY OF SPEAKERS
Gun-Britt Mårtensson - The Scandinavian model for affordable housing through co-operative ownership and management of member assets is explored by international keynote speaker, Gun-Britt Mårtensson, board member International Cooperative Alliance and Cecodhas, the European organisation for housing, former mayor and chair and president of HSB Riksförbund, Sweden’s largest organisation for co-op housing. MORE
The Hon. Linda Burney MP
High profile indigenous leader and former Director General of the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Linda Burney was appointed the Minister for Fair Trading in 2007, with responsibility for co-operatives and associations in Australia's largest state, NSW. Her ministerial portfolios include the areas of Youth and Volunteering. Linda Burney became the first Aboriginal person elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003, and only the fourth Aboriginal woman elected anywhere in Australia.
She is a member of the Wiradjuri nation and has been a member of the National Council for Reconciliation and the Board of SBS Television and Radio.
…"I have been fortunate to be involved in many co-operatives and associations throughout my life and I have seen first hand the way that they bring people together for a common cause, providing real benefits for their members and the larger community. With approximately 700 co-ops and 39,000 incorporated associations currently operating across NSW, their social and economic significance is considerable. I'm very pleased that as the new Minister for Fair Trading, I now oversee the legislation governing these organisations. I look forward to working with the sector into the future."
Read the Linda Burney interview with CCC eNews June 2007
Jenny Onyx (PhD) is Professor of Community Management in the School of Management at University Technology Sydney (UTS), and Co-Director of Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre. She is particularly concerned with issues of social capital, and civil society and has published widely in these fields, with over 100 refereed publications. Her work on measuring social capital in particular has achieved international attention, and impacted on policy development at state and commonwealth government levels.
Dimitrios Thanos was elected Mayor of Marrickville on 25 September 2007. Dimitrios has lived in Dulwich Hill since childhood where both his parents had established businesses in the early 1970s. After working as a dentist in rural NSW, Dimitrios returned to Sydney in 1997 and started his own dental practice in Dulwich Hill where he has worked and lived ever since. In 1998 Dimitrios was elected president of the Dulwich Hill Chamber of Commerce and was instrumental in setting up the Dulwich Hill Mainstreet program in 1999. Dimitrios' involvement in local government is a result of his belief that everyone should have a fair go at being involved in the decisions that govern us, especially at the local government level, and it is important that people have representation outside the traditional political organisations, thus he is elected as an Independent.
Dr Jo Barraket is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, University of Melbourne. Her research includes the co-operative movement and emerging forms of community enterprise, community development, and the relationship between government and the third sector in public policy development. An active member of the co-operative movement since 1991, Jo completed her PhD on the social and political orientation of grassroots consumer co-operatives in 1999. Her recent work includes policy research and evaluation of forms of community enterprise in Victoria. She is undertaking independent research – in partnership with the Victorian Local Governance Association - on the community wellbeing impacts of community enterprise, and the role of local government in facilitating community enterprise development.
Gary Moore is Director of Community Services at Marrickville Council, in Sydney’s the inner west. He has 30 years experience in policy and program development and delivery of services across the public and not for profit sectors in NSW. Gary has been a key participant in the introduction of public housing access for single people in NSW; the establishment of community enterprise and job creation programs; the introduction of social impact assessment and community funding schemes in the liquor and gaming industries; and negotiation of the Working Together for NSW Agreement between the NSW Government and the State's non government human services sector. Gary was Director of the Council of Social Service of NSW (NCOSS), the State's peak non government human services body (1995 to 2006). He is a Board member of Charities Aid Foundation Australia, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, the Network of Community Activities, the Benevolent Society and Volunteering NSW.
Adam Farrar is Executive Director of the NSW Federation of Housing Associations, the peak industry body for housing associations in NSW and one of the leading providers of social housing training in Australia. Adam has worked in social policy across the non-government sector for many years. Before joining the Federation, he was Executive Director of the National Community Housing Forum, Policy Manager of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Future of Work program, Head of the ACOSS Urban & Regional Development Unit and Deputy Director of the NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS). Adam is currently Principal Housing Policy Adviser for ACOSS. He is the independent Chair of the NSW Supported Accommodation Advisory Council. Adam has held directorships in many community sector organisations, including ACOSS, NSW Shelter, Australian Housing & Urban Research Institute, Australasian Housing Institute, and Community Housing Federation of Australia.
Karine Shellshear is the Executive Director of the Association to Resource Co-operative Housing (ARCH). ARCH is the peak body for housing co-operatives in NSW. It acts as a developmental catalyst, provides training and education programs and advocates for the co-op sector in policy development. ARCH looks at new and innovative models of co-operative housing.
Prior to taking up her position at ARCH in 1989, Karine worked in research, policy and community development positions in State and Local Government. Karine has been an advocate of Community Housing since 1981, and has participated as a director on numerous community housing boards and advisory committees, including the Community Housing Federation of Australia (CHFA), Shelter NSW Executive and Board and is currently on the Community Housing Ltd Board Vic. Karine has been involved in the development of the Affordable Housing Pilot in Willoughby and has been a team member in State /Community projects, including the Performance Based Registration System, (attaining the NSW Bronze Premier’s Award) and on the advisory committee for the Regulatory Code.
Julian Disney is Professor and Director of the Social Justice Project at the University of NSW. He is the independent Chair of the National Affordable Housing Summit which is a coalition of national housing and community organisations including the Housing Industry Association, ACTU, ACOSS, National Shelter and the Community Housing Federation of Australia. He also chaired the NSW Ministerial Task Force on Affordable Housing. Prof Disney is National Chair of Anti-Poverty Week and Director of the Community tax Project. He has been Coordinator of the NSW Welfare Rights Centre as well as the President of the NSW and Australian Councils of Social Service and of the International Council on Social Welfare which represents major welfare organisations from 80 countries. He has also been a Law Reform Commissioner and Director of ANU’s Centre for International and Public Law.
Dr Loiuse Crabtree is an urban geographer specialising in sustainability and housing affordability. Her research focuses on the social, ecological and economic sustainability of community-driven housing developments in urban Australia, on the uptake of housing innovation in practice and policy and on the interfaces between sustainability, property rights and democracy. She is Research Program Coordinator for the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney, responsible for developing research opportunities, activities and partnerships of relevance to the Centre and to the greater metropolitan area.
Paul Barber was elected Lord Mayor of Parramatta City Council, Australia’s sixth largest CBD, in September 2007. A councillor since 2001, he was Deputy to popular former Lord Mayor, David Borger. Paul is a long standing member of the Council's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee. Since 2002, he has served on the Upper Parramatta River Catchment Trust and Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, actively lobbying both State and Federal governments for a better deal for local government. Paul contributed to developing Parramatta’s award-winning Arts and Cultural Framework and remains committed to delivering further landmarks in this ambitious 10 year arts plan to build a creative city. As Lord Mayor, his other priorities this year are to introduce a free CBD shuttle bus; to reduce energy consumption, and the impact on climate change by Council and city industries and businesses.
Professor Andrew Jakubowicz is co-ordinating director of the Centre for Cosmopolitan Civil Societies at the University of Technology Sydney, and Secretary of the national NGO Institute for Cultural Diversity. He was lecturer in sociology at UNSW, then worked in the UK on community issues in the multiracial city of Bradford. From 1979 he established and directed the Centre for Multicultural Studies at the University of Wollongong. From 1987 he has been based at the University of Technology Sydney, appointed professor of sociology in 1990. In 2006/7 he convened a UTS public seminar series on the future of Sydney. His latest work looks at the political economy of Sydney under globalisation.
Bill Randolph joined the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales in 2004 as Professor and Director of the City Futures Research Centre. He is also Deputy Director of the UNSW/UWS AHURI Research Centre. For the previous six years he was Director of the Urban Frontiers Program at the University of Western Sydney. At UNSW he leads a research team specializing in housing policy, urban development and metropolitan planning policy issues.
Bill has 30 years experience as a researcher on housing and urban policy issues in the academic, government, non-government and private sectors. He spent eight years as Head of Research at the National Housing Federation in London, the national peak body for non-profit affordable housing landlords, where he led the development of national research into affordable housing provision. He spent a period of sabbatical leave at the Australian National University researching housing affordability and community housing in Australia. Bill has also worked as a research fellow at the Open University and the UK Department of the Environment.
Col James, Architect and planner, directs the Fell Housing Research Centre at Sydney University, concentrating on those most in need of secure housing in NSW including homelessness in urban areas and co-ops in country and suburban areas. Since 1970, his enduring client, the Aboriginal Housing Company at Redfern has been waiting for approval for 62 homes for Aboriginal families on The Block.
Caroline Butler-Bowdon is Head Curator of Museum of Sydney. She has curated and written on many aspects of Australian history. Her recent publications include: co-author of Homes in the Sky: apartment living in Australia (MUP, 2007); Sydney Then & Now (Thunder Bay Press, California, 2005); contributing author, Bridging Sydney (HHT and Thames and Hudson, 2006) and co-editor, Talking about Sydney: Population, community and culture in contemporary Sydney (UNSW Press and HHT, 2006). She has curated and co-curated numerous exhibitions at MOS including Art Deco, Federation Sydney: 1880-1910; and Leunig Animated. Her most recent exhibition is Homes in the Sky: Apartment living in Sydney for Museum of Sydney.
Stacey Miers has over 30 years experience in public participation, social impact assessment, land use planning and the development of affordable housing supply systems. She has been involved in the development of affordable housing and Debt Equity models at a local government level. Her research work includes; “Willoughby City Council’s Housing Needs Policy - Balancing Housing Need” (2005, Miers), “Social Impact Assessment in Local Government–Handbook for Councillors, Town Planners and Social Planners” (1995 Cox & Miers) and “An Historical Overview of Public Participation in New South Wales Local Government” (1991 Miers). Stacey grew up in a family of eight children, in a boarding house in Newtown. This social setting created a fascination for her about the way in which people engage with each other in attempting to achieve better social outcomes.
Professor Peter Phibbs joined the Urban and Regional Planning program at the University of Sydney after graduating with a PhD in regional economics from the University of NSW. During twenty years at the University of Sydney, Peter has developed a research interest in social and affordable housing. He helped develop a short course on affordable housing that has been offered across the country. Peter participated in the recently completed AHURI National Research Venture on Affordable Housing for Lower Income Australians (http://www.ahuri.edu.au/nrv/nrv3/). He joined the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney at the end of 2006 where he is the academic co-ordinator of the post graduate Urban Management Program.
Joseph Connellan, a Director of Human Services consulting firm MC Two Pty Ltd (www.mctwo.com.au ), has 20 years experience in developing and delivering services in housing and services to people with a disability in both non-government and government settings. His first job in the community sector was as the Executive Officer of the finance arm of the Victorian CERC co-operative housing program.
Mark Snell is chairman of Equilibrium Community Ecology Inc, a community-based non-profit group working to establish a co-operatively owned eco-village on the NSW Central Coast. He was lead author for this group of a paper "Affordable Housing through Co-operative Ownership" – written as a submission for Gosford's affordable housing strategy. He has also written reports for the Karalta Rd Park Home Owners Association at Erina on planning for a residents’ co-operative. Mark lived for five years at the Moora Moora Co-operative Community Ltd in Healesville Victoria, a community settlement co-operative that remains successful after more than 30 years. Mark is honorary editor of the Peninsula News, Woy Woy and president of the Central Coast branch of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
Steve Bevington established Community Housing in 1994. Steve has over 25 years experience in housing and is well recognised as one of Australia’s foremost experts on social housing issues. Steve is a board member of the Community Housing Federation of Australia. The federation represents community housing providers in Australia. Community Housing Limited is an innovative and best practice affordable housing organisation which assists access to, develops and manages sustainable housing for people in need, in Australia and also East Timor.
Helen O’Loughlin is the Director of the Centre for Affordable Housing, a Business Unit of Housing NSW. The Centre brokers partnerships with the government, not-for-profit and private sectors and provides advice and seed funding for innovative financing and delivery models to increase the supply of affordable housing in NSW. She has worked for 20 years in strategic planning and housing policy roles with extensive experience in developing affordable housing policy.
Emeritus Professor Webber retired from the National Trust Board in 2002 after 10 years of dedicated service. He chaired the Education, Properties and Architectural Advisory Committees and also represented the NSW National Trust on the Australian Council of National Trusts as Deputy Chair. As a former NSW Government Architect and NSW Planning Commissioner, Peter has had a long involvement with planning and conservation issues in the urban environment. At the University of Sydney one of his highest priorities was developing educational programs in urban design and conservation. Peter continues to be involved in the Trust committees and is currently Chair of the Properties Committee.
John Mant has been a lawyer and urban planner. He has held senior positions in State and Federal Governments and has acted as a consultant to governments at all tiers on a range of housing, urban planning and local government issues. John has championed Place Management in local government and ‘place focused’ planning. John is a long-standing patron of the Association to Resource Co-operative Housing (ARCH). As part of a young family in Canberra, he played an active role in the co-operative that built the Urambi Housing Coop scheme of 70 dwellings.
Greg Boyce With over 15 years experience in the accommodation industry, Greg’s firm is a low cost rental housing provider. With a focus on affordable rental accommodation Greg is setting the standard in brand new low cost rental accommodation in the inner west of Sydney. Since completing post graduate studies in 1999, Greg has undertaken extensive research into the viability of privately owned and operated rental accommodation. During the past 3 years his firm has conducted extensive research into various councils planning instruments governing the provision of low cost rental housing in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Genia McCaffery holds a Bachelor of Economics degree with Honours in government from the University of Sydney. Ms McCaffery began work as a researcher with the National Trust, and then moved to the Australian Department of Labour and Immigration. Subsequent work included co-ordinating the Liverpool Community Youth Support Scheme and establishing the Teamwork Cooperative in North Sydney, providing training for the long-term unemployed. In 1988, Ms McCaffery established her own business producing hand-printed clothing and helped to re-establish Friends of Luna Park as media spokesperson for the group. In 1992, she coordinated the media campaign for the Independents in local government elections in North Sydney and worked with Independent candidates Ted Mack and Robyn Read in the State by-election.
Ms McCaffery was elected full-time Mayor of North Sydney by popular vote in 1995 and re-elected in 1999 and 2004. As Mayor, she is committed to managing development within North Sydney, to responsible financial management of Council, to protecting the environment and to maintaining strong community involvement in local government.
In October 2004, Ms McCaffery was elected President of the NSW Local Government Association and re-elected unopposed for a second term in October 2006. She is married with two children, and lives in Waverton.
James Arvanitakis is the Chair of the Mercury Centre Cooperative and research associate with the Centre for Policy Development. He has worked extensively in the finance and co-operative sectors and held various positions within human rights based organisations including AID/WATCH and Oxfam Hong Kong. He founded The Commons Institute and Plus 20. James has worked as a human rights activist throughout the Pacific, Indonesia and Europe and is now an academic in humanities at the University of Western Sydney and a member of the University’s Centre for Cultural Research. Formerly a successful banker and economist, his research focus now includes economic and environmental justice. He is currently investigating different understandings of citizenship. A regular media commentator, his latest book, The Cultural Commons of Hope, is due to be launched in February 2008.
