Andrew Wu
LVMH Group Greater China President
A leading authority on Chinese consumer trends and influential professional for luxury brands and retail development in the region, Andrew Wu was born and raised in Shanghai. After living in Canada 1980~1993, he returned as head of Dior cosmetics in China under LVMH to pioneer local luxury marketing and retail distribution between 1993~2000. During 2000~2005, he joined Sony Music Entertainment as its Vice President for Asia to develop the Chinese entertainment. He re-joined LVMH as Group head of Greater China, since then overseeing rapid business evolution of a 70+ brand portfolio in the Chinese marketplace and personally witnessing the extraordinary Chinese consumer transformation.
Hon Julie Bishop MP
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Julie Bishop is the Minister for Foreign Affairs in Australia's Federal Coalition Government. She is also the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and has served as the Member for Curtin in the House of Representatives since 1998. Minister Bishop was sworn in as Australia's first female Foreign Minister on 18 September 2013 following four years in the role of Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade. As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Bishop has overseen the single largest expansion of Australia's overseas diplomatic presence in 40 years, introduced the New Colombo Plan to support Australian undergraduate students to study and undertake internships in the Indo-Pacific region, and established the innovationXchange within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to develop bold and creative solutions to long standing development challenges..... To view full bio click here
Hon Darren Chester MP
Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
Darren Chester was elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Gippsland on June 26, 2008, following the retirement of the Hon Peter McGauran. He was re-elected in 2010, and again in 2013, when he was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence in the Abbott-Truss Government. He continued in that role under the Turnbull Government, until his appointment to Cabinet in February 2016 as the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. He also currently serves as Deputy Leader of the House. He continues in these roles in the 46th Parliament. Darren was born and educated in Sale and now lives in Lakes Entrance with his family. Prior to entering Federal Parliament, he worked as a newspaper and television journalist throughout Gippsland and then became Chief of Staff to the Leader of The Nationals in Victoria, Peter Ryan. Darren is a former Chief Executive Officer of regional lobby group Champions of the Bush and served two terms as President of the Lakes Entrance Business Tourism Association (LEBTA), where he was heavily involved in tourism marketing and organising major events. He has led various community campaigns and has been actively involved in projects to improve the environment of the world-renowned Gippsland Lakes.
Hon Steven Ciobo MP
Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment
Steven Ciobo was sworn in as the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment on 19 July 2016. This is Mr Ciobo’s third front bench role in the foreign affairs and trade portfolio. He has previously served as the Minister for International Development and the Pacific, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade and Investment. In these roles Mr Ciobo championed economic integration in the Pacific through private sector-led growth; promoted the benefits of Australia’s Free Trade Agreements; led delegations of industry leaders to our key trading partners; and supported the Minister for Foreign Affairs in advancing Australia’s diplomatic interests overseas. Mr Ciobo was first elected as the Member for Moncrieff in the Australian Parliament in 2001. Before entering Parliament, Mr Ciobo built a professional career as an executive in the economic reform unit at international firms Coopers & Lybrand and, later, PricewaterhouseCoopers. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws from Bond University, as well as a Master of Laws from the Queensland University of Technology. Mr Ciobo is married with two children.
Hon Peter Dutton MP
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection
In November 2001 at the age of 30, Minister Dutton was elected as the Federal Member for Dickson in Queensland. In 2004, Minister Dutton became one of the youngest Ministers since Federation with his appointment as Minister for Workforce Participation, with responsibility for the Job Network, Disability Employment Services, Work for the Dole and transition to work opportunities for all unemployed Australians. In January 2006, Minister Dutton was promoted to Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer. He worked closely with the then Treasurer, Peter Costello, in areas including Budget preparation, taxation, superannuation, prudential regulation, and competition and consumer policy. Following the change of Government in November 2007, Minister Dutton was promoted to Shadow Cabinet as Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation. In September 2008, he was promoted to Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing. Following the 2013 Federal Election, Minister Dutton was appointed Minister for Health and Minister for Sport and on 23 December 2014 he was appointed Minister for Immigration and Border Protection. Prior to entering Parliament, Minister Dutton employed 40 staff in his small business following a successful career as a Queensland police officer, including in the Drug Squad, Sex Offenders Squad and the National Crime Authority. Minister Dutton is married to Kirilly and is the very proud father of Rebecca, Harry and Tom.
Hon Chris Bowen MP
Shadow Treasurer
Chris Bowen entered Parliament in 2004 and has held a wide range of portfolios including serving as Treasurer, Minister for Human Services, Minister for Immigration, Minister for Financial Services, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Competition Policy, Minister for Small Business and Minister for Tertiary Education. Chris has been responsible for a range of significant policy reform programs in these portfolios. He served as Interim Leader of the Labor Party and Acting Leader of the Opposition following the 2013 Federal election and has been Shadow Treasurer since 2013. Chris is served on Fairfield Council for nine years is a former Mayor and President of the Western Sydney Councils (WSROC). He has a Bachelor of Economics degree, a Masters Degree in International Relations and is the final stages of completing a Diploma in Modern Languages (Bahasa Indonesia). He lives in Smithfield with his wife (Rebecca) , two children (Grace and Max) and Ollie the Labrador.
Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development and the Shadow Minister for Tourism
Anthony was re-elected the Member for Grayndler at the July 2016 election and is currently the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development and the Shadow Minister for Tourism. Anthony has been a Member of Parliament since 1996 and believes strongly in the need for Government to invest in local communities. Following the election of the Federal Labor Government in November 2007, Anthony became the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, and Leader of the House of Representatives. Anthony was named Infrastructure Minister of the Year for 2012 by London-based publication Infrastructure Investor and in 2010 was named Aviation Minister of the Year for producing Australia's first ever Aviation White Paper. In June 2013, he became Deputy Prime Minister, and also took on additional responsibility as Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy. Anthony is committed to growing our communities in regional and metropolitan areas and believes infrastructure and transport have a crucial role to play in achieving this.
Senator Pauline Hanson
Queensland Senator, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation
Pauline Hanson (nee Seccombe) was born in Brisbane in 1954. Pauline has 4 children and 2 grandchildren. In August 1995 she join the Liberal Party, was endorsed as their candidate for the Federal seat of Oxley in November. Pauline was a member of the federal parliament from 1996 till October 1998. In 1998, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation won 11 seats when it contested the Queensland state election. The major political parties saw her as a threat to their power and positions and a few months later changed the voting system to preferential voting just prior to the 1998 federal election, to stop One Nation winning seats. She was forced to resign from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in January 2002, because of internal party politics. In July 2006, The Bulletin named Pauline as one of the MOST INFLUENTIAL AUSTRALIANS. Today, the party she founded in 1997, is now called Pauline Hanson's One Nation. Recently Pauline re-joined the party as leader and National Chairman, and is the party's Queensland Senate candidate for the 2016 Federal Election.
Senator Jacqui Lambie
Senator for Tasmania, Lambie Network
Jacqui Lambie is a Senator for Tasmania and founder of the Jacqui Lambie Network. She was first elected in September 2013 and re-elected in July 2016. Prior to her career as a political representative for Tasmania, Jacqui served in the Australian Defence Force for more than a decade. Jacqui is a fierce advocate for veterans, pensioners, students and small businesses, both in her home state and around the country. Her family tree extends back to famous Tasmanian Aboriginal elder and warrior, Mannarlargenna. Jacqui is the mother of two sons and lives in Northern Tasmania.
Senator David Leyonhjelm
Senator for New South Wales, Leader of the Liberal Democrats
David Ean Leyonhjelm is an Australian politician who is a Senator for New South Wales, representing the Liberal Democratic Party. Having been elected at the 2013 federal election, he took office on 1 July 2014, and was re-elected in the 2016 full Senate election. Before being elected to parliament Leyonhjelm worked as a veterinarian and then as an agribusiness consultant. He also writes columns for several Australian publications, with a concentration on rural issues.
Mr Mike Mrdak AO
Secretary — Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development
Mike Mrdak is Secretary, Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, a position he has held since June 2009. Mike began his Australian Public Service career in 1988 as a Graduate with the then Department of Transport and Communications. Since then he has held a number of senior positions across the portfolio and with the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. His work with the infrastructure and regional development portfolio includes management of infrastructure investment; policy initiatives to increase productivity; security, safety and regulation in road, rail, aviation and maritime transport; regional development; local government; and services to Australia’s territories. Mike was appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday 2016 honours list for his distinguished service to public administration through executive roles in the infrastructure, transport and logistics sector, and through the development of policy reform initiatives.
Bob East
Chair | Tourism Australia
Bob East joined the Mantra Group in 2006 and has held the position of Chief Executive Officer since 2007. Bob has been responsible for the consolidation and strengthening of the Mantra Group brands and has developed the Group into one of the leading accommodation providers and marketers in Australasia. Bob’s enthusiastic leadership style and vision has seen Mantra Group grow from 41 properties in 2006 to more than 128 properties in 2017. He lead the company to a successful ASX listing in June 2014 which culminated in its inclusion into the ASX 200 list in 2015 – its first year as a public company. With over 20 years’ industry experience, Bob is well positioned to lead Mantra Group’s future growth prospects. Bob holds a Master of Business Administration, is Chairman of Tourism Australia and a Board member of the Gold Coast Suns Football Club (AFL).
Andrew Mulholland
Managing Director | Wendy Wu Tours
Andrew Mulholland is the Managing Director for Wendy Wu Tours Australia and New Zealand’s leading specialist in providing leisure travel packages to China and Asia. Andrew has held senior leadership roles within Australia and New Zealand, working for leading travel organisations such as Flight Centre, Contiki Holidays and NRMA. Andrews’s specialisation is in transforming traditional travel organisations to better compete within the online world.
Geoff Parmenter
Executive General Manager, Marketing & Corporate Affairs | The Star Entertainment Group
Geoff has more than 20 years executive and general management experience, also including commercial, sales, media, communications and operations - in Australia and internationally. From 2007-2011, this was as Chief Executive of Events NSW Pty Ltd, a state government-owned company, responsible for developing the first structured annual events calendar for Sydney and New South Wales, establishing new exclusive events such as the Vivid Sydney festival and Opera on Sydney Harbour. He also served as a director of Business Events Sydney during that time. For the 12 months prior to joining The Star Entertainment Group, Geoff ran his own successful consultancy business, working for clients including the Istanbul 2020 Olympic Bid Organisation, the New South Wales Government (on venues, events and commercial strategy projects, including negotiations for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015), and the Dubai Government (on events and destination management strategy). Geoff joined The Star Entertainment Group in March 2013. As Executive General Manager Group Marketing & Corporate Affairs, his current responsibilities include oversight of The Star Club loyalty program which generates 70% of the organisation’s domestic revenue.
Martin Winter
CEO | Gold Coast Tourism
For more than 45 years Martin has lead the Tourism industry in Europe, South America and Australia. Since 2008 he has been CEO of Australia’s largest private-sector tourism marketing company, Gold Coast Tourism Corporation, and prior to this was CEO of the Adelaide Convention & Tourism Authority for 8 years. Career highlights span the globe including VP Marketing with Le Cordon Bleu, the French hotel and gastronomy sector multinational and Professor at Brazil’s national university - Universidade de Brasilia. He has chaired the Regional Tourism Boards of both South Australia and Queensland, the AACB, Conventions Australia and ICCA Asia/Pacific. In 2014 Martin was one of three global leaders inducted in Frankfurt to the IMEX Academy.
Kathy Zhang
General Manager Oceania | China Eastern Airlines
Working in aviation industry for 26 years since graduation of university, growing with China Eastern Airlines for 26 years in international business, I have always been blessed as a very lucky person. Even staying thousands of miles away from my hometown Shanghai since 2010, I can still have the sweet greetings and strong supports from my colleagues of headquarter. During my first time working overseas in the past 6 years in Sydney, arm in arm with my small team of about 70 buddies in Oceania region, we have achieved the most rapid growth of our business in our history and the best performance flying between Australia and China. The year of 2016 was the 20th anniversary for China Eastern Airlines flying into Australia, and we were proud to be the first Chinese airline to be added into the procurement list of Australia Federal Government. The year of 2017 is the official year of tourism between Australia and China, and we are jointly working with our business partner Qantas and the others to create the biggest and most convenient flight network to promote more communications and opportunities for the people of the two countries.
Brian Tyson
Managing Partner | Newgate Australia
Brian is the Managing Partner of Newgate Australia and co-founder of Newgate Research. In a consulting career spanning two decades, Brian has come to be regarded as one of Australia’s leading communications practitioners with expertise in strategic issues management, financial transactions, government relations, media management and community campaigning. He has led a number of high profile and complex public affairs campaigns and financial transactions in the infrastructure, transport, banking, energy, agriculture and media sporting/arts sectors. He is involved with many of the leading industry advocacy bodies in Australia including the IPA, TTF, PCA and the Sydney Business Chamber. Brian is a Director on the board of the Sydney Swans the Committee for Sydney, the Clontarf Foundation; supporting educational opportunities for young Indigenous Australians and Temple Executive Search. Prior to his career in consultancy Brian was a political adviser to the Greiner Government in New South Wales. He started his career as a journalist with The Land newspaper.
Barrie Cassidy
Host of The Insiders, ABC
Barrie is one of Australia's most experienced political journalists having worked as political correspondent for the ABC in Canberra, and as a foreign correspondent based in political capitals, Brussels and Washington DC. He has hosted the ABC's Sunday morning political discussion program, Insiders, for the past 16 years.
Malcolm Farr
National Political Editor, News.com.au
Malcolm Farr is national political editor at news.com.au, Australia's highest rating online news site. He has worked in Canberra for 25 years, previously for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. He also has worked on newspapers in Brisbane (The Australian, Brisbane Sun), Sydney (The Australian, Daily Mirror, Telegraph), Melbourne (The Australian) and Rome (editor: International Daily News and freelance). He regularly appears on panels in radio and TV political discussion programs, such as the ABC's senior Sunday morning show Insiders. He served as president of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery from 2001-2006. In this position he helped create the Gallery's Mid-Winter Ball which has raised more than $3 million for charities and has become a prime event in the political calendar. He was chairman of the Walkley Foundation board (custodian of the Walkley Awards for journalism) from 1999 to 2004, and was chief judge of the Walkley non-fiction book award 2005-2015.
Kieran Gilbert
Chief Political Reporter | Sky News
Kieran Gilbert is Chief Political Reporter for SKY NEWS and anchors AM Agenda on SKY NEWS Live. He joined the channel in 2002, becoming a member of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery a year later. Kieran is an integral part of the highly respected SKY NEWS Canberra bureau, which is a key source for breaking news out of the nation's capital. He has earned a reputation as a leading political reporter through his coverage of major news stories including; the 2010 cliffhanger election and subsequent minority Gillard Government, Kevin Rudd's 2007 victory and John Howard's fourth election win in 2004. In addition to federal politics, Kieran has reported on significant global news events including; the Boxing Day tsunami and Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th President of the United States. Prior to joining SKY NEWS, Kieran worked at Sydney radio station 2UE, first as a General Reporter in the newsroom and later becoming Breakfast News Editor. Kieran holds a Master of International Studies from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Communication from Charles Sturt University. In 2010 Kieran was awarded the Department of Foreign Affairs' Elizabeth O'Neill Award for journalism.
Mark Riley
Political Editor, Seven Network
Mark Riley is the Political Editor for the Seven Network. He started in journalism with the Newcastle Herald as a cadet in 1979 and moved to the Sydney Morning Herald in 1990, covering State and Federal politics. From 1998 to 2002, he was New York Correspondent for the SMH and Age, returning to become the SMH’s chief political correspondent in Canberra. He moved to television in March 2004. He has won a Walkey Award for international reporting and was the first television journalist to win the Press Gallery Journalist Of The Year Award. He reports nightly for the Seven Network’s national 6pm bulletin and appears regularly on the Sunrise and Weekend Sunrise programs as well as weekly appearances analysing politics on ABC Radio Sydney and regular appearances on ABC TV’s Insiders.
