Cheryl Durrant is currently an executive member of the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group and a member of the Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change. Cheryl served pre piously as the Director of Preparedness and Mobilisation, Australian Department of Defence. In this capacity Cheryl led the climate risk scenario development for the Australian Interdepartmental Secretaries’ Group on Climate Risk and she was also the Defence partner with the Australian National Resilience Taskforce’s Disaster Vulnerability Profiling Project. Cheryl previously led the Australian Department of Defence’s Global Change and Energy Sustainability Initiative and established the Office of the Defence Climate and Security Adviser. She was the lead author of the Defence Energy Integration Framework and for the Departments Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Implications of Climate Change for Australia’s National Security. She has been instrumental in raising climate security and energy sustainability awareness across Australian Government agencies. Prior to her civilian career, Cheryl served 15 years with the Australian Army, specialising in strategic intelligence, information operations and domestic security.

Luke Heilbuth advises boards and executives on strategy and resilience where geopolitics, energy, climate, AI and supply chains meet.

He is CEO of BWD Strategic, a certified B Corp that advises listed companies in Australia, Hong Kong and the US, including on climate disclosure under AASB S2.

He developed the Ironbark Method, which tests the external assumptions behind a strategy and sets the triggers for action.

Before BWD, Luke spent a decade in diplomacy and foreign policy, including four years at the Australian Embassy in Beirut during the Arab Spring. In the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, he led on the United States and the Middle East, coordinated the Prime Minister’s briefings for his dealings with President Obama, and wrote major foreign policy speeches for the Prime Minister. He writes for the Lowy Institute, Quarterly Essay and the AICD, and publishes The Murex Snail on Substack.

Parnell Palme McGuinness is an international award-winning campaign strategist, who heads up insights and strategy for policy change campaign agency Palme Public. She has worked on policy and communications for political parties in Germany and Australia and run campaigns on topics ranging from productivity reform through to veterans’ health.

She is also a senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies, leading the intergenerational program. After releasing an in-depth analysis of young Australians in the first half of the year, she is now undertaking research into New Australians for release in the second half of 2026.

She writes a weekly column for the Sun-Herald and the Sunday Age on politics, policy and culture.

Mike Rann is Chairman of the UK headquartered NGO, The Climate Group

Mike was Premier of South Australia for nearly ten years and was leader of the South Australian Labor Party for more than 17 years, a record.

As Premier Mike was one of the world’s first Ministers for Climate Change, and his government was the first in Australia to pass a solar feed-in law and set legislative targets for renewable energy. South Australia’s electricity grid will be 100% powered by wind and solar by the end of 2027.

Mike was National President of the Australian Labor Party during the Prime Ministership of Kevin Rudd.

Following his long career in politics Mike served as Australian High Commissioner to the UK and then as Australian Ambassador to Italy.

He was Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute of King’s College London for eight years.

Mike was born in London and raised in New Zealand. He moved to South Australia in 1977 and became Press Secretary and speechwriter for former Premier Don Dunstan. He is Chair of the South Australian Film Corporation and lives half the year in Adelaide and the other in Puglia, Italy.

Dr. Karl Mallon is a founder of The Climate Risk Group which includes companies XDI (Cross Dependency Initiative) and Climate Valuation. With a background in both Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Karl has worked in climate change mitigation, policy and technical analysis since 1991, and has specialised in climate adaptation since 2005. His team’s pioneering work in developing technology to quantify the cost of extreme weather to the built environment led to the development of the Climate Risk Engines in 2012, are one of the most flexible, powerful and trusted sources of physical climate risk data in the world, delivering analysis to governments, corporations and the finance sector globally.
XDI has twice been ranked as a world leader in physical risk analysis in 2025, and works with over 100 banks and asset managers around the world on risk quantification and adaptation.

Karl is editor and co-author of ‘Renewable Energy Policy and Politics: A Handbook for Decision Making’ published by Earthscan (London) and a contributing author for ‘Practical Adaptation Studies’, published by Wiley. Karl is also a founding board member of The Climate Bonds Initiative (London).

Nathan Robertson-Ball is a recognised sustainability and responsible business leader, who for 20 years attempted to make change with and within many of Australia’s largest organisations. In 2024 he had enough after realising that the objective reality of the science of climate change, data on a progressively degrading insurance market and the inadequacy of Australia’s housing stock wasn’t enough to alter the ‘data-driven’ executives within Australia’s largest bank. He founded Finding Nature, which has grown to be Australia’s largest sustainability podcast, has hosted over 60 live events and writes regularly on Substack. Finding Nature exists to support and enable people and organisations make change in contribution to a future that is safer, healthier and more just.

Melinda Dewsnap is the Chief Resilience Officer with Resilient Sydney. Resilient Sydney is a collaboration of the 33 Greater Sydney Councils aligned with the global Resilient Cities Network and is working with State and Federal government partners, business, academia and community to strengthen the resilience of our City.

Rory Linehan is the Director of Infrastructure Policy Advancement for Australia and New Zealand at Bentley Systems. With more than 15 years of experience spanning infrastructure, trade, investment, and climate policy, he works with governments, industry, and academia to advance digital infrastructure policy and accelerate the adoption of technologies that improve the delivery, resilience, and productivity of critical infrastructure.

Alison Page is a descendant of the Dharawal and Yuin people and is an award-winning creative with an extensive design career spanning interiors, public art, urban design and film. She is the founder of House of BLAK, the National Aboriginal Design Agency and Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance. In 2015 she was inducted into the Design Institute of Australia Hall of Fame and in 2022 was the Interior Design Excellence Awards Gold Medal winner. Alison was a panellist for eight years on the ABC television program The New Inventors, which showcased Australian innovation. In 2021 she co-authored Design, Building on Country with Paul Memmott, published by Thames and Hudson Australia as part of their First Knowledges Series.  She is currently Director of the Institute for Designing with Country at the University of Technology Sydney and a board member of the National Australia Day Council, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, and NINTI ONE Ltd.