Media Releases
12th July 2010
Embargoed until 12:01 am Thursday 15th July
Committees for Ballarat and Melbourne issued a joint call today for dedicated
business workspaces with WiFi facilities on all commuter trains between Melbourne,
Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong.
Committee for Melbourne CEO Andrew MacLeod made the announcement during a
presentation to Committee for Ballarat Executive members and guests at the Chair’s
luncheon today.
“Leaders in business practice across the globe now have productive, efficient and
flexible work facilities on public transport.”
Governments and service providers who want to attract the world’s best practitioners are realising this is a great way to make sure these people live and work in our midst.
It’s a critical part of attracting leading businesses” Mr MacLeod said.
In supporting the statement, the Chair of Committee for Ballarat Mr Tony Chew said
the move to have better communication facilities for reliable access to the web on all
trains travelling between regional centres and Melbourne has already been sought.
It is a service that would have wide appeal and many commuters are surprised it is
not already available.
“If we could dedicate facilities for workspaces as well as reliable communications on
all train and bus services, then commuters would gain higher productivity on these
journeys, and service providers would have a very marketable facility” Mr Chew said.
The Committee for Melbourne and Committee for Ballarat call jointly on the State
Government and service providers to implement a series of dedicated trials on each
of regional Victorian commuter lines.
The facilities would include specialist fit-out in commuter services equivalent to what
now exist in equivalent best-practice international locations Mr MacLeod said.
Ends
Contact: Doug Lloyd, 5332 1240
Andrew MacLeod, 0407 932 580
The Committee for Melbourne has announced today, the appointment of Mr Gordon Noble as its Deputy Chief Executive Officer, commencing 15 July 2010.
Chief Executive Officer Mr Andrew MacLeod has described the creation of the role of Deputy CEO as an important step in the progression of the Committee for Melbourne’s development.
Mr MacLeod said, “the Committee for Melbourne will strongly benefit from the expertise and experience of Mr Noble.”
Mr Noble has had a diverse career including roles with the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment, running his own consulting business specialising in advising business around sustainability issues as well as working with business in roles with the National Australia Bank and industry superannuation fund Cbus.
Mr Noble said, “Melbourne is known internationally as a liveable city. We have many strengths, our unique culture and great pool of skilled workers being amongst our key assets. But perhaps one of our greatest strengths is our ability to collaborate to address future challenges.
“The Committee for Melbourne plays a critical role in bringing the business community together to seek to develop ideas and actions that will ensure the future success of our city. I am very proud to have been appointed as the Committee for Melbourne’s first Deputy Chief Executive Officer and look forward to working with the Executive and Board to help drive forward the future changes that will make Melbourne a truly great, international city.”
The Chairman of the Committee for Melbourne, Mr. George Pappas, said Mr Noble was selected after a rigorous selection process that involved members of the Committee for Melbourne board.
Gordon Noble was born in Melbourne in July 1968. He attended Glen Waverley High School before completing a Bachelor of Economics at the Australian National University in Canberra. He also holds qualifications in employee relations from Monash University and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from the Securities Institute (now Finsia).
Gordon’s career has included roles in business lending with National Australia Bank and employer development with industry super fund Cbus. As founder of Responsible Investment Consulting, Gordon has provided research and advice for clients including the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, Responsible Investment Association Australasia as well as Australian and international investment managers.
Gordon is married with two children. He is a Carlton supporter and an avid reader.
MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
1 June 2010
Melbourne can get better as it gets bigger, but it needs an agreed long term vision and strategy to preserve its essential characteristics and liveability according to the Committee for Melbourne.
The Committee’s CEO Andrew MacLeod said that current pessimism around growth is misplaced and dangerous.
“Melbourne has already doubled its population from 2 million to 4 million between 1960 and 2010. Most people agree that Melbourne in 2010 is a much better place than 1960. So our parents have already proved that you can improve the city and allow it to grow. We are at least as smart as our parents.”
MacLeod says that arguing for ‘no growth’ is the one way to guarantee our children have a more polluted and congested city in the future.
“The ‘no growth’ argument is dangerous to our children. If we pretend growth will not happen then we don’t make the long range infrastructure spends that will keep our city great.”
“ It is better to plan for growth, and slow that plan down if growth slows, than to put your head in the sand and somehow pretend you can cap the growth of a city”, he said.
“The better question is not to ask how to stop growth, rather the question is how do we, as a community, continue to grow while preserving and improving upon what makes Melbourne a great place to live? The question is how to plan for that growth” Mr MacLeod said.
The Committee for Melbourne created a Shaping Melbourne Taskforce to look at these issues, and volume One of the report calls for a unified planning and implementation mechanism.
The Committee brought together over 160 of Melbourne’s leaders from business, government, universities and not-for-profit sectors to discuss the impact of population growth on our city and plan a way forward.
The Taskforce, led by Pru Sanderson (CEO VicUrban), Tom Fricke (Executive Manager GHD) and Roger Poole (Chairman, Bates Smart) found that population growth is generally a positive thing, both culturally and economically, and the overall consensus is that Melbourne has improved as it has grown.
However the Taskforce found that an agreed and long term (50 year) sustainable vision for Melbourne must address:
- our land size and physical shape for our city;
- population densities of our central city and suburban and residential areas;
- coordinated physical and community infrastructure development;
- the location and character of central activities districts beyond the CBD; and
- Melbourne’s role compared with neighbouring and regional cities.
Developed over the last 12 months, the findings of the Shaping Melbourne Taskforce will be produced as a series of three publications. The first volume in the series released today looks at the governance of Melbourne and proposes a vision for the future.
“Governance is treated first, as effective decision making will define the way we grow. If we get the governance right, it makes it easier for all other things to follow”, said Andrew Macleod.
In coming months, two further volumes will be released on density, infrastructure and community, connectivity and economy.
For more information and a full copy of the report released 1 June: www.melbourne.org.au
A new initiative to enhance the experiences of international students in Melbourne, the Culture Card, was jointly launched today (Sunday May 23) by the Minister for Skills and Workforce Participation, Bronwyn Pike and the Committee for Melbourne’s CEO, Andrew MacLeod.
The Culture Card, an initiative of the Committee for Melbourne, will welcome students into Melbourne’s many great attractions, building their understanding of our Victorian culture, sports and way of life.
Speaking at the National Sports Museum at the MCG, Ms Pike said we need to make sure the 165,000 international students living in Victoria get the most out of their study experience.
But where did this idea come from?
The Committee for Melbourne recognized a number of years ago that International education is the most valuable industry export for Victoria and established a Higher Education Task Force.
CfM Higher Education Taskforce looked at a number of important issues impacting our education sector and business community, and the economic contribution of education to our state. The task force created the VC/CEO forum, and the Airport Welcome Desk now run by OKC with Government support.
The CfM Higher Education Taskforce also conceived the idea of Culture Card Victoria to be developed in partnership with Government, cultural and education partners.
“ A positive cultural experience by international students is vital for Australia and Melbourne’s long term interests” Andrew MacLeod, CEO of the Committee for Melbourne said today.
“Culture Card is about giving that positive experience.”
This is not the only work Committee for Melbourne is doing in this ‘cultural space’.
“Having worked in many foreign cultures I know of the problems and opportunities of working in foreign lands” MacLeod said.
“We now have began with VECCI a program with employers aimed at ensuring safe access to and from part time places of employment.”
Now through the Culture Card, their key to Victoria, students can also discover and enjoy more of our many great attractions and events.
Organisations providing special offers through the Culture Card include the MCG and the National Sports Museum, the Melbourne Aquarium, the Arts Centre, the Shrine of Remembrance, Museums Victoria and Zoos Victoria, and the National Gallery of Victoria.
Upcoming Culture Card events will include foodie tours of Queen Victoria Market and guided tours of the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Melbourne Golden Mile.
And many more venues and attractions will continue to be made available through the Culture Card Victoria Program.
Mr MacLeod, said the Culture Cards would be distributed through universities and other education providers at orientation weeks or from student services. More than 45,000 cards have already been ordered.
“International students can also register directly for the Card and keep up to date with special offers at www.culturecardvictoria.com.au”, he said.
“The Culture Card is an example of how the Victorian Community can work together to ensure a high quality experience for international students in Victoria. We thank the Brumby Government for their support in funding this initiative,” Mr MacLeod said.
Melbourne’s business and education community will form a working party to develop standards and an employer pledge to assist employers to provide cultural and safety information to shift workers new to Melbourne.
“There is growing concern among the community about violence against international students. Together the Committee for Melbourne and VECCI believe that employers of students may assist in provision of cultural norms, advice and strategies on how to stay safe,” says Committee for Melbourne CEO, Mr Andrew MacLeod.
The voluntary program, to be developed by the Committee for Melbourne and VECCI, will be focused on employers of international students working to address safety issues in employees’ travel to and from work. The program aims to ensure that new arrivals minimise their inadvertent exposure to risk through lack of knowledge around safety and security norms in Australia.
“Employers want their employees to be safe and are looking for ways to implement cultural awareness training as part of their induction activities for employees who are not familiar with Melbourne,” says VECCI CEO, Mr Wayne Kayler-Thomson.
A workshop for key employers and education providers was held on 5 May 2010 to discuss the framework for the program, and identify ways for business to incorporate it into induction strategies at little or no cost.
Businesses and organisations that participated on the day include: 7-Eleven, 13 CABS, Hungry Jacks, Woolworths, University of Melbourne, Yarra Trams, Swinburne University and Holmes Colleges. The Victorian Taxi Directorate was also represented.
“The key to the success of this project is encouraging businesses to take up such a program in a voluntary capacity rather than hitting business with more regulation and red tape. In an era of persistent skills shortages and a strong desire for many businesses to be seen as an employer of choice, we believe that a voluntary program would be popular among business,” says Mr Kayler-Thomson.
The working party will convene in the coming weeks, and from there, seek to create practical measures to assist employers and education providers better inform international students of safety and cultural awareness issues.
The Royal Children’s Hospital won the Committee for Melbourne’s 2010 Melbourne Achiever Award on Thursday evening for the hospital’s outstanding contributions to the Melbourne community.
Announced at the Committee for Melbourne’s 25th anniversary dinner, Committee Chairman Mr George Pappas said The Royal Children’s hospital is recognised as the best in Victoria and has a long-standing history of significant contributions to health with Melbourne’s children.
“Not only is there a focus providing outstanding clinical care for patients, The Royal Children’s Hospital also advances research and education with its partners the Murdoch Childrens Institute and the University of Melbourne,” Mr Pappas said.
“The Royal Children’s Hospital has provide leadership in paediatrics in its 140 year history, not only in Victoria but across Australia and internationally.”
Past recipients of the Melbourne Achiever Award have included: former Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, Ms Christine Nixon; the award winning architect and urban designer, Professor Rob Adams AM; research biologist, Sir. Gustav Nossal; well-known philanthropist, Dame Elizabeth Murdoch AC; renowned Melbourne businessman, Mr. Ron Walker AC; and sporting greats, the Oarsome Foursome.
Mr Pappas said the Committee for Melbourne congratulated the Royal Children’s Hospital on being the sole recipient of the Committee for Melbourne 2010 Melbourne Achiever Award and wished the hospital well in future developments.
The Committee for Melbourne has partnered with the University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Business and Economics, to launch the first Melbourne Business Practicum today at 11am on Monday 15 February, 2010, at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The Committee for Melbourne has been instrumental in locating appropriate organisations requiring high-level research.
“An initiative of the Committee’s Higher Education Taskforce, the practicum projects allow both high-achieving local and international graduate students to work on real projects in conjunction with local businesses to develop their skills and knowledge base,” Higher Education Taskforce’s Co-Chair and Innovation Australia’s Chairman, Mr David Miles AM said.
Teams of post graduate students will undertake two-week projects designed by participating Melbourne-based organisations.
“A priority identified by the Committee’s Higher Education Taskforce is the need for greater integration between our university and business sectors,” Mr Miles said.
“The Melbourne Business Practicum allows universities and business to work together on meaningful projects thus better utilising our valuable resource of highly skilled postgraduate students in Victoria,” he said.
“The practicum also provides an opportunity for highly skilled international students to gain greater exposure to Australian business culture which is especially important if they are considering making Australia their permanent home,” Mr Miles said.
During the inaugural project this month, students of the Graduate School of Business and Economics will produce a cutting-edge and invaluable tool for all gardens across Australia and overseas to ascertain their carbon footprint.
The team of four international and local students working on the Royal Botanic Gardens project will ascertain the value of their carbon footprint by creating an Environmental Accounting model. This model will involve accounting and environmental practice and has the potential to assist gardens throughout the world.
The next practicum to commence in 2010 will be an examination of the regulation, taxation, cost frameworks and other incentives facing commercial and housing developers in Australia’s cities. This project is hosted by the Grattan Institute, a think tank focused on Australian domestic public policy.
The students’ findings will be used to make policy recommendations on how market design can encourage commercial and housing development that matches housing and employment needs.
Industry partners for other projects in 2010 include the eab group, a local IT company, and the Faculty of Business and Economics.
The Committee for Melbourne has announced today, the appointment of Mr Andrew MacLeod as its Chief Executive Officer, commencing January 2010.
In taking the role, Mr MacLeod said, “I am pleased to be joining the Committee for Melbourne. I am excited by the challenge of working with the Committee’s broad and influential membership to improve our business sector, and ensure the city’s global relevance and liveability. I look forward to using my experiences and knowledge gained in Australia and overseas. This is a wonderful opportunity to contribute back to the city which made me and to use my strengths to make a positive contribution to Melbourne.”
The Chairman of the Committee for Melbourne, Mr. George Pappas, said Mr MacLeod’s appointment is a real win for the Committee for Melbourne.
“The level of interest in the position of CEO for the Committee for Melbourne was unprecedented, with a very large number of well qualified applicants contacting us directly as well as nominations being put to us by various community leaders. Andrew was selected by a very thorough process, involving nearly all Board members, from a shortlist of highly competent candidates.” Mr Pappas said.
“We were greatly impressed by a number of Andrew’s attributes. Among them, is a demonstrated track record of being able to engage stakeholders to achieve difficult, complex and significant outcomes,” he said.
“With Andrew at the helm, the Committee has an opportunity to move up another step, just as Sally Capp helped us to do, because, like his predecessor when she took on the job, Andrew is a person who is on the rise,” he said.
Mr MacLeod has had a diverse and rewarding career, enjoying leadership roles within large and small business environments in the private and public sector. After holding positions with the Australian Army and Dunhill Madden Butler in Melbourne, he accepted a role in the International Committee at the Red Cross working in countries such as former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In 1999, Mr MacLeod moved back to Melbourne to focus on consulting and entering politics. Andrew accepted a role from Deputy Premier John Thwaites as Senior Political and Policy Adviser and remained there for a year until January 2003. At this point, he decided that he wanted to return to his international activities and successfully applied to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva. For eight months in 2003, he held a number of positions there until October 2005 when the UN sent him to Pakistan to co-ordinate the massive earthquake relief in Kashmir. Between October 2005 and May 2008, he was based in Pakistan and, from May last year to May this year, in The Philippines, dealing with typhoon relief and recovery.
Andrew MacLeod was born in November 1966 in Melbourne. He completed his first degree at the University of Tasmania, graduating in 1992 with a double degree in Arts/Law.
Mr MacLeod is a silver medallist in 200m Butterfly at the 2002 World Masters Games, a former state medallist in surf-lifesaving, and achieved fourth place in debating at the World Championships.
Background information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_MacLeod
The release today of acreage in the Gippsland Basin for the exploration of carbon storage sites is a key step towards the establishment of low emissions coal technology that would bring international investment and jobs to Victoria, and guarantee the State’s power supply, according to the Committee for Melbourne.
The Committee’s Policy Director Susan Vale said Victoria has an opportunity to be a world leader in the demonstration of CCS technology in the context of coal-fired power generation.
“A large scale CCS demonstration project in Victoria could become a model for applying CCS technology to power generation worldwide, and establish a leading global position for Victoria in this critical new industry,” she said.
The Latrobe Valley was an ideal site because there is a major cluster of emitters; there are abundant reserves of brown coal; there is proximity to storage onshore and off-shore, which keeps transport costs low; and the size of potential storage is huge, Ms Vale said.
CCS works by capturing greenhouse gases as they are produced, compressing the gas and then storing it underground, either on or offshore. If coupled with coal-fired generation it could create a low emission, reliable base-load electricity supply.
Benefits to Victoria would include:
• Lowering our greenhouse gas emissions;
• Developing CCS infrastructure that would guard the value and relevance of Victoria’s brown-coal resource;
• Create new industries and jobs for Victoria;
• Promote regional development in the Latrobe Valley; and
• Showcase Victoria’s innovation and R&D capabilities.
Ms Vale said the Federal Government had put up $2.4million to fund up to four CCS demonstration projects with announcements due in March 2010, and $100million annually to establish the Global Institute on CCS. The State Government had also put up $110million through the Energy Technology Innovation Strategy and had been an early mover in reducing red tape to enable a demonstration project to be established.
“The money is available for a large scale CCS project. Now it’s up to all Victorians to show their support for bringing this investment to our State,” Ms Vale said.
The Victorian Government should show leadership on climate change issues by introducing a Climate Change Bill as a matter of urgency, according to the Committee for Melbourne.
In a submission to the Government’s Green Paper on climate change, the Committee said a State Climate Change Act would offer legislative certainty to businesses and professions working on sustainability issues, and provide incentives for greater investment and research.
Committee CEO Ms Sally Capp said Victoria could use its status as the first Australian state to introduce a Climate Change Act as an investment attraction, considering that currently there is a range of footloose public and private “green” capital looking for a base.
“Providing legislative certainty could also allow Melbourne to continue to promote its credentials as a hub for sustainability research and development in Australia and the Asia Pacific, and indeed, the Southern Hemisphere,” she said.
The Government has said it will enact a Climate Change Bill around the same time as it releases the Climate Change White Paper, but the community needs to know more specifically when, what will be in it and how business and Victorians will be affected so that we can start planning for it with certainty,” Ms Capp said.
“Victoria is potentially the State with the greatest challenges posed by climate change – due to its heavy reliance on brown coal and the impact of drying climatic conditions on water supply – but the problem was also creating new opportunities by driving research and change on climate change issues.
“Melbourne’s booming population is also placing a heavy emphasis on finding sustainable solutions to accommodate strong growth,” she said.
The enactment of the Climate Change Bill was critical in establishing a comprehensive, whole-of-Government approach to dealing with Climate Change issues.
An expert panel should be formed to provide advice to the Minister for Climate Change on the development and implementation of climate change impacts assessments and have an ongoing advisory role in reviewing the effectiveness and implementation of the new arrangements on Government policy and legislation over an initial three to five year period, Ms Capp said.
To view the Committee for Melbourne’s submission, click here.
