Can your outfit be “axed” if you simply get another boss?
Kiersten Fishburn, the acting secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment will be busier than she might have expected as she takes charge of 350 more people who are now moving from the axed or “rolled” (take your pick on terminology) Greater Cities Commission and the Western Parklands City Authority to her patch.
GSC commissioners are part of the package but not so GSC chief commissioner Geoff Roberts, whose term expired recently – but not before calling for a halt to urban sprawl.
“We need to stop greenfields development,” he said, while making exceptions to the new metro line between St Marys and Western Sydney Airport.
The Responsible Investment Association Australasia is on the hunt for a new chief executive officer after Simon O’Connor announced on Thursday he would step down later this year, after 10 years in the job.
He currently leads a team of about 20 people and represents more than 500 investment organisations across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Part of the work that O’Connor has overseen includes development of the RI Academy, which was sold and transitioned to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) in 2014, the Responsible Investment Certification Program with more than 330 investment products managing over $128 billion funds under management, the establishment of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative, with more than 90 finance organisations to develop the Sustainable Finance Roadmap, and a key role in the Aotearoa New Zealand Sustainable Finance Roadmap that has accelerated the sustainable finance agenda in New Zealand.
Oliver Yates, the man who kicked off the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and later tried to unseat Josh Frydenberg in the federal seat of Kooyong has been named as chairman of the board of Australian renewable energy developer, GMR Energy, which is developing “one of the largest independent portfolios of energy storage assets in Australia consisting”.
First up will be rollout of a $3 billion, 2GW portfolio of battery energy storage system and an energy hub.
Mr Yates had previously spent 15 years at Macquarie Bank in the renewable energy and low emissions field. Fellow board members include representatives of Gaw Capital Partners, Humbert Pang and Herbin Koh, as well as chief executive and co-founder of the company, Morris Zhou.
Another senior board appointment is of Richard Bolt as new chair of Hydro Tasmania.
Mr Bolt has led major innovation and reform across several industries, including energy, resources, agriculture, education, economic development, and transport. He was a leading architect of the national energy market’s governance systems, CEO Ian Brooksbank said.