SPEAKERS

The Government of Victoria

John Thwaites

Ex Deputy-Premier

John Thwaites is a Professorial Fellow, Monash University, and Chair of ClimateWorks Australia and the Monash Sustainability Institute. He is a consultant at Maddocks Solicitors providing advice to the firm and its clients on climate change, water, sustainability and corporate social responsibility. He also chairs the Climate Group Ltd in Australia, the Peter Cullen Water and Environment Trust, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Australia’s only cultural centre dedicated to film, TV, games and the moving image. He is also a director of the Australian Green Building Council.

John is currently working with the Brotherhood of St Laurence to develop policies to assist low-income Australians cope with the impact of climate change and is chairing a joint Brotherhood of St Laurence/KPMG Report on a national energy efficiency program for low income households. John is a special adviser to the Timor-Leste Minister for Infrastructure and is working on an AusAid program to develop an Infrastructure plan for Timor-Leste.   He was an invited participant at the Australia2020 Summit and the Victorian Climate Change Summit. He has advised state and local governments on climate change and energy policy.

John Thwaites was Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1999 until his retirement in 2007. During this period he was Minister for Health, Minister for Planning, Minister for Environment, Minister for Water, Minister for Victorian Communities and Victoria’s first Minister for Climate Change. In these portfolios he was responsible for major reforms in social policy, health, environment and water.
 

Dr Roger Bektash

Director of Scientific Affairs Asia Pacific

A global company with family values, Mars products are available worldwide. Guided by our Five Principles: Quality, Efficiency, Responsibility, Mutuality and Freedom, Mars strives to satisfy consumers with great products that are convenient, affordable and produced with the highest standards.

Mars’ commitment to creating a healthier and more sustainable environment includes responsible marketing practices and full nutritional labelling, together with better informed decision making regarding carbon and water use footprints of our products and processes.

Dr Roger Bektash is Director, Scientific Affairs for the corporation's operations in Australia and Asia and as such, is responsible for regulatory and scientific affairs and policy development in the Asia Pacific region, focusing on health and nutrition, food labelling, and safety and sustainability. Dr Bektash recently co-led the partnership with CSIRO/FSA which has developed new approaches to carbon and water foot-printing for the Australian food industry.
 

Dr. Brad Ridoutt

Principal Research Scientist

Dr Brad Ridoutt is a Principal Research Scientist with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, where he leads a stream of research in the Sustainable Agriculture National Research Flagship applying carbon and water footprinting and other forms of lifecycle-based sustainability assessment to the agriculture and food sectors. His particular interest is in using these tools to address strategic questions relating to climate change, global water scarcity and food security.

Dr Ridoutt is an expert in water footprinting and has been at the forefront in applying the water footprint concept at the product level for business risk assessment and environmentally responsible value chain management. He is also engaged with a variety of national and international initiatives including: the Australian Life Cycle Initiative Sector Working Group on Agriculture, PIMC IDC National Value Chain Group, UNEP/SETAC life cycle initiative project, Water Footprint Network and the Scientific Committee for the 7th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector (Italy, 2010). He is currently acting in a research advisory capacity for water footprint projects at DEFRA (UK) and the UNEP/ UN Global Compact CEO Water Mandate. Brad was an invited speaker at the 2008 Corporate Water Footprint Summit in London and the Water Footprint Network Partner Forum during the 2009 Stockholm World Water Week.
 

Terry A'Hearn

Acting Chief Executive Officer

EPA Victoria is a statutory authority, established in 1970, to protect, care for and improve the Victorian environment. It enforces regulatory standards and also works with organisations to help deliver a sustainable future.

With dramatic change occurring across the world, new ways of thinking are needed to manage the challenges and opportunities that are presented by climate change and the overuse of resources. EPA Victoria continues to transform itself so that it is able to protect, care for and improve the environment today and into the future.

Terry is trained in economics and, early in his career, used his professional qualifications for traditional economics roles in the Tax Office and the Victorian Treasury Department.  In 1993, he joined EPA to head up its new Economics Unit.  Since then, Terry has moved into management roles and for the last five years he has been a member of EPA's executive team.  Terry has led the development of reinvention of EPA’s regulatory model and partnerships with businesses.
 

Bluescope Steel

Oscar Gregory

General Manager – Iron and Slab

Oscar Gregory, General Manager of Bluescope Steel’s iron and slab operations will present an excellent case study on the importance on companies making a long term plan for water management improvements.

BlueScope Steel is the leading steel company in Australia and New Zealand, supplying a large percentage of all flat steel products sold in these markets. BlueScope Steel specialises in the production of flat steel products, including slab, hot rolled coil, cold rolled coil, plate and value-added metallic coated and painted steel solutions.

Oscar has over 36 years of experience in the steel industry and has worked in several Steelworks both in Australia and overseas. His current responsibilities include the manufacture of Coke, Iron & Steel at Port Kembla Steelworks.  Oscar is responsible for the manufacture and purchase of all utilities supporting steel production in the Illawarra, and the handling/recycling of all by products from the steel production processes.

Peter Gee is currently the  Performance Improvement Manager with the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) and manages numerous projects across the urban water industry.  These initiatives include managing various international process improvement and benchmarking studies, national performance reports and developing and facilitating industry workshops .  Prior to Peter’s role with WSAA, he  worked  in management consulting with various industries including oil and gas, technology, defence, manufacturing and infrastructure. Peter has  a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Economics.
 

Dr. Paul Bannister

Managing Director

Paul is managing director of Exergy Australia Pty Ltd, one of Australia’s leading energy management consultancies.

Paul has very extensive knowledge of building performance and operational issues from both a theoretical and a practical perspective, driven by hands-on experience on hundreds of sites and extensive understanding and use of building simulation tools.  

In addition to working on existing sites, Paul has been involved in the assessment and review of many new building projects, ranging from simple single step reviews to being very extensively involved in design from concept through to post-commissioning tuning.
 
Paul has also been involved in a number of significant policy and program developments, of which the most well known is the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme (now NABERS Energy), of which he is the primary technical author.  

Paul is recognized internationally in the field of energy efficiency and has presented at numerous commercial building efficiency conferences in Europe, the US and Asia.  Paul has over 80 publications in journals and conferences on a wide range of energy related topics.

Phil Wilkinson is the Business Development Manager with AIRAH - the Australian Institute of Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating. AIRAH has been instrumental in undertaking numerous cooling tower efficiency audits in Australia and Phil will be using the presentation to outline their findings and tools that can assist businesses in improving their cooling tower efficiency.

Phil’s role includes planning and directing all professional development and technical activities of the organisation.  He is also sits on the steering committee for the Melbourne Forum.

As the leading specialist membership association for air conditioning, refrigeration, heating and ventilation professionals, AIRAH represents over 10,000 professionals across Australia. In operation for over 89 years, AIRAH’s longevity stems from its strong links with like-minded organisations around the world and the successful delivery of key member benefits including representation, dissemination of technical information, networking, member recognition and education and training.
 

Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production

Dr. Michele Rosano

Director

Dr. Michele Rosano has recently been undertaking interesting work on water sharing and technology in Kwinana WA, which she will be presenting on the second day of the conference.

Michele Rosano is Director of the Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production and has a doctorate in Resource Economics. She leads a multi-disciplinary team of engineers and industrial ecologists who work together with government and industry to provide cleaner production and ecological efficiency research leading to sustainable industrial development.

The Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production has been established with support from Curtin University to promote the uptake of cleaner production and waste minimisation activities in Western Australia.

The Centre is internationally recognised for the regional synergies project that it runs in Kwinana Western Australia. The CECP has successfully developed other regional synergies programs in Australia (Gladstone QLD) and in South Africa (Rustenburg) and is also known for its life cycle assessment research.
 

Stuart Eagleton

Development Manager

Stuart Eagleton, Sustainability and Infrastructure Manager for Lend Lease Development will be presenting details on the fantastic Victoria Harbour Project case study including Australia’s first 6-star rated building.

Sustainability has been an integral part of the Lend Lease culture for more than 50 years. A socially and environmentally responsible approach to business underpins Lend Lease’s operating principles—a lasting legacy of Lend Lease’s founder.

The Victoria Harbour Project site is 30 Hectares of brownfield development land being redeveloped in partnership with VicUrban over the period of 2001 – 2021.  The 20 year development agreement is intended to deliver approximately 2,000 dwellings, 22,000 sqm retail, 350,000 sqm commercial office space and a variety of community facilities.  

Stuart has worked with Lend Lease for over 20 years in a variety of senior management roles. He has led a variety of large multi disciplined project and business teams and brings a practical approach to introducing new and innovative solutions.
 

Toyota Motor Corporation Australia

Jon Ward

Manager Environmental Policy Corporate Affairs, Strategy & Environment

Toyota  is Australia's largest car company with significant manufacturing facilities in Altona, Victoria,  producing Camry and Aurion vehicles for the local and export markets.  In December 2009, Toyota will also commence the production of the first locally produced hybrid vehicle, the Hybrid Camry.  Water plays a critical role in the production process .  By applying Toyota Way principles across the entire business, Toyota has reduced water consumption by 49 % from 1999 levels in production to 3.56 KL / vehicle and also by 49% from 2005/06 across all other sites.  Future projects identify another 42 ML in water savings. This progress has been made through targetted reduction and recycling schemes as well as staff behaviour change.  The presentation will discuss how these improvements were planned and carried out.

Jon Ward is an environmental scientist with 30 years experience. He joined Toyota Australia as Manager of Environmental Policy in 2008 where his role covers corporate environmental affairs, including climate change strategy, sustainability reporting and company wide EMS.

Prior to joining Toyota, Jon  was General  Manager  of Business Programs at  Sustainability Victoria  and also  had decade long stints with both the  United Nations Environment  Program  and  EPA Victoria .  

Andrew Prest

Sustainability Manager

 Andrew will open the second day of the event with a discussion on the ‘true cost’ of water for business and the importance of including costs for energy and treatment in an holistic view.

CCA Beverages Australia continuously strives to reduce its direct water use and is committed to the sustainable use of water. Using a true cost accounting methodology for water use has been beneficial in improving water use efficiency ratios by enhancing the feasibility of  water saving capital projects and communicating a broader sustainability message within the manufacturing business.

Andrew has been  the region environment manager for the Coca-Cola South Pacific region for the past 2 years. Prior to this, Andrew was the Technical Operations manager for CCA New Zealand. Andrew has previously worked as an Industrial microbiologist (Danone, NZ), a Food Safety Manager for Sainsburys Supermarkets (London, UK) and Research Technologist for Bass Brewers, UK.

Since its inception over 130yrs ago as a small explosives company supplying explosives to the Victorian goldfirleds in Australia, Orica became an independant corporation in 1998 when ICI Plc divested its major shareholding.

Today Orica is an Australian-owned publicly listed company trading on the Australian Stock Exchange (ORI) with a market capitalisation of approximately AU$5.2B (as at Mar 09).

Orica is one of the leading publicly-owned companies in Australia with a proud tradition of leadership, innovation, quality and safety.

Water Conservation Group

Guenter
Hauber-Davidson

Managing Director

Guenter has over 20 years of experience in environmental consulting, having worked on a wide range of water, wastewater and waste projects from small to very large at all levels, from concept design to implementation, commissioning and operation.

Guenter is the Managing Director of Water Conservation Group, a company specially set up to do whatever it takes to help large water users save water. Guenter is one of Australia’s leading water conservation practitioners. He has been instrumental in developing leading edge water conservation design tools and models. He is at the forefront of designing and constructing large innovative rainwater harvesting solutions.

He has worked with Top ASX200 companies to identify their corporate water use, develop strategies how to reduce it and help them report on it. He has assisted in preparing business cases and obtaining funding for well over $3M worth of water conservation measures. Guenter holds an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering.
 

Ross Mail

Process Developer

In his presentation, Ross Mail, Process Engineer for Mars Food will discuss how the company is using trade waste water as a resource and also examine managing the human aspect of recycled water.

Ross Mail is a Process Development Engineer in the R&D department of Mars Food.  In his current capacity he is responsible for process design, innovation and resolution of issues involving a number of production areas and the Waste Water Treatment facility at their Berkeley Vale manufacturing facility.  Starting out as a Graduate Engineer with Mars Food, Ross was initially an Industrial Engineer developing & implementing plant optimisation strategies and embedding lean cultures throughout the factory.

Mars Food is a business segment of Mars Incorporated,  whose brands include MASTERFOODS, DOLMIO, KAN TONG, UNCLE BEN'S and PROMITE and offer over 500 products in categories as diverse as mustards, marinades, relishes, sauces, herbs and spices, pasta and stir fry sauces and Promite spread.
 

Australian Vinyls

Genevieve Petch

Process Engineer

Water plays an important part in the manufacture of PVC and Australian Vinyls is one of the top 20 industrial users of potable water in Melbourne. Over several years, the company has improved its water efficiency by more than 28 percent.

With its recent investment in a new effluent treatment plant, AV will save an estimated 320,000 kilolitres of fresh water per year based on current production levels, reducing potable water intake and effluent discharge.

A recent graduate from RMIT, Genevieve started her career at BASF Australia where she began developing a water recycling process for the Site. She then moved to Australian Vinyls in 2007 where she has been heavily involved in the design and operation of the Water Recycling pilot plant which was used as the basis for the design and construction of the full scale plant. She is currently commissioning the full scale plant which will be operational in late November 2009 and will halve the potable water use at Australian Vinyls.
 

John Newton

Group Manager Sustainability

John is speaking at this event for the second year running and will present new developments in the Amcor water management story. John has over 25 years experience in manging environmental and sustainablity issues as a regulator, consultant and now within an industry.

Formally a Director with the Australian Environment Business Network, John is currently the Group Manager, Sustainability & Environment for Amcor Australasia. Amcor Australasia is a packaging company employing over 5000 people across more than 60 sites in Australia and New Zealand.