Speakers - 2008 Communications Consumer Dialogue

	Keith Besgrove, First Assistant Secretary, Department of Communications, Information Technology, and the Arts Keith Besgrove provides advice to the Australian Government on strategic, legal and regulatory issues relating to communications and the information economy. His responsibilities include spectrum policy and planning, domain names, spam, consumer issues and broadband. He has been involved in various international groups including the OECD, APEC and ITU, and is the current chair of the OECD Working Party on Information Security and Privacy (WPISP). In recent years, he has also been responsible for research into the impact of ICT in improving productivity in Australia. Keith holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Sydney. He is also a graduate of the Wharton School’s Advanced Management program, and has completed an Australian Government Research Fellowship into innovation programs in Israel and Singapore.
	Dr Andrew Campbell, Lecturer, Psychology, The University of Sydney Dr Andrew Campbell is a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Sydney and has been researching the use of the Internet, mobile phones and computer games and their impact on human behaviour for more than 10 years. Having worked internationally with experts in the area of Cyberpsychology, Andrew has obtained experience in how the Internet affect's society at large as well as individual behaviour. Andrew is currently the Director of Prometheus a research group located in the Faculty of Health Sciences at The University of Sydney. Prometheus is dedicated to the research and application of technology towards the advancement of mental health treatments in such disorders as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Depression, Anxiety, Stress, Self-Esteem and Education. He is also a Registered Psychologist in New South Wales and runs a clinic at the Brain and Mind Research Institute in Sydney that is dedicated to the treatment of child and adolescent psychological disorders.
	Teresa Corbin, Chief Executive Officer, Consumers' Telecommunications Network Teresa Corbin has worked for Consumers' Telecommunications Network (CTN) in several positions since 1995 and was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer in 2003. Teresa has worked in the community sector in both policy and management positions for 19 years and has built up strong links with consumer groups on a regional national and international level. Over the years Teresa has represented CTN on many different bodies. She has been involved in the self-regulation processes of the telecommunications industry since the Australian Communications Industry Forum (ACIF) was established now the Communications Alliance. Teresa was a member of the ACIF Board from 2004-2006. She has also held the position of Chairperson of the Communications Alliance (CA) Consumer Council (the CC) since 2004 and is currently the Deputy Chair of the CA Consumer Issues Reference Panel. In 2006, Teresa was a member of the ACIF delegation to the 11th Global Standards Collaboration (GSC) meeting in Chicago, USA. In 2005 she attended the 10th GSC in France and also performed the role of Chair for the User [consumer] Working Group.
	Jack Heath, Founder, Inspire Foundation In 1992, Jack Heath's cousin committed suicide on the family farm in northeastern Victoria. Three years later, after working as a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister Keating, Jack decided to do something about Australia's then escalating rates of youth suicide using the Internet. This led to the establishment of the Inspire Foundation in 1996 and the launch of the Reach Out program www.reachout.com.au in 1998. Reach Out! attracts around 250,000 unique visits a month and has contributed to the 56% reduction in youth suicide rates since 1997. Inspire runs two other programs: www.actnow.com.au, which makes it easier for young people to take action on issues they care about, and Beanbag Net Centres, which partners with youth centres in disadvantaged communities. Jack was a Torchbearer for the Sydney Olympics and a national organiser for the Dalai Lama's 2002 Australian Tour. He was awarded a Centenary Medal for "service to the community" and received the 2004 Equity Trustees Non-Profit CEO Award for Innovation. In 2005 he was a NSW Finalist in the Australian of the Year Awards. He was the Ernst & Young Australian Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007 when he also established the Inspire USA Foundation to extend Reach Out! to the young people of America.
	Graeme Innes AM Human Rights Commissioner, Commissioner Responsible for Disability Discrimination, Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director, Graeme Innes has been a Human Rights Practitioner in NSW, WA and nationally for 25 years. Graeme was a member of the Australian delegation to the United Nations developing a Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Graeme has been active in the disability field for thirty years. He was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia for four and a half years. He was the first blind President of Royal Blind Society of NSW, and the first Chair of Vision Australia, Australia's largest national blindness agency. Graeme has been one of Australia's delegates to the World Blind Union, and the President of that Union's Asia-Pacific region. Graeme has been a consultant to organisations such as Westpac, Qantas, and Sydney Water, on disability issues. In 1995 Graeme was admitted as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to the development of Commonwealth disability discrimination legislation. He was a finalist for Australian of the year in 2003.
	Karl S. Kruszelnicki Karl Kruszelnicki's media career began in 1981, when he started presenting 'Great Moments In Science ' on double-j to pay his way through medical school. Since then, his media career has exploded from radio to include TV, books, newspapers, magazines, scripting, professional speaking, and of course, the Net. His science homepage gets about 700,000 pages downloaded each week. Karl also talks science on ABC radio stations across Australia and, on the BBC, for several hours each week. Karl has written (so far) 26 books, beginning with 'Great Moments In Science' in 1984 and his latest book 'Please Explain' was released in November 2007. In August 2000 Karl was one of first eight Australian Apple Masters to be announced (there are fewer than 100 in the entire world). The Apple Masters Program celebrates the achievements of people who are changing the world through their passion and vision, while inspiring new approaches to creative thinking. In 2002, Dr Karl was honoured with the prestigious Ig Nobel prize awarded by Harvard University in the USA for his ground-breaking research into 'Belly Button Lint and why it is almost always blue'. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki received the Member of the Order of Australia Award in the 2006 Australia Day Honours list. In 2007 the Australia Skeptics Society awarded Dr Karl the Australia Skeptic Of The Year Prize. In 1995 he took up the position of the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at Sydney University, spreading the good word about science and its benefits.
	Kylie Little, Founder, Essential Baby With no knowledge of the internet or babies, Kylie Little started EssentialBaby.com.au in 1999. Over the past nine years the site has grown largely through word of mouth referral (with minimal marketing activity) to become the largest online parenting community in Australia. EssentialBaby.com.au ranks as one of the most successful parenting websites in the world. It has 300,000 unique visitors per month, 10 million page views and a membership of more than 100,000. At peak times an average of 1500 people are in Essential Baby forums, overseen by a team of 30 volunteer moderators. Fairfax Media bought the site in January, 2007. Kylie has remained with Fairfax Digital for the 18months since the acquisition to assist in integrating the business and will finish up with Essential Baby at the end of August.
	Jenni Mack, Chair, CHOICE Board Jenni Mack is the director of the Financial Industry Complaints Service, the Travel Compensation Fund and the Insurance Brokers Disputes scheme. A former journalist and political adviser, Jenni chairs the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) Consumer Advisory Panel and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority's Community Consultative Committee. She is a former member of the NSW Judicial Commission and sat on the Migration Agents Registration Authority's Conduct Panel for seven years. She has also been a Deputy Legal Services Commissioner in NSW and Executive Director of the Consumers' Federation of Australia.
	Tim Noonan, Company Director & Principal Consultant, Tim Noonan Consulting Tim Noonan has been consulting to industry, government, NGOs and educational institutions since 1995 when he established SoftSpeak Computer Services. Tim has worked for Vision Australia (formerly Royal Blind Society) for over a decade, focusing on making information and technology accessible to people with disabilities. Tim is a member of two Standards Australia committees and a director on the Board of 2RPH (Radio for the Print Handicapped) NSW, and was a past board member of St. Edmund's School for Blind Children Since 1993, Tim has been representing ATUG (Australian Telecommunication Users' Group) on the Standards Australia "Interactive Voice Response User Interface Requirements" Committee.
	Deirdre O'Donnell, Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Deirdre O'Donnell is the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman and was the Western Australian Ombudsman, a position with wide investigative powers, including those of a Royal Commission. The WA State Ombudsman's office also incorporated the functions of Energy Ombudsman. Before her role in Western Australia, Ms O'Donnell was the Deputy Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. She has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry, working in senior positions for service providers and the industry regulator.
	Professor Daniela Stehlik, Stronger Communities, Curtin University of Technology Daniela Stehlik was appointed as inaugural Professor in Stronger Communities at Curtin University of Technology and Director, Alcoa Research Centre for Stronger Communities in December 2003. Daniela is one of Australia's leading social scientists working at the intersections of resiliency, human service practice and social cohesion focusing on families and communities in regional/rural Australia. She is a member of the Rural Society editorial board, undertakes reviews for national journals and was The Australian Sociological Association's Jean Martin Award Convenor in both 2000 and 2002. She has been instrumental in drawing in research infrastructure grants to build capacity. Daniela is frequently asked to advise Federal and State government agencies, drawing on her considerable policy experience developed in the Federal Government, prior to joining the academic community in 1988. From 1999 - 2003 she was Central Queensland University's senior social scientist seconded to the CRC for Sustainable Sugar Production.