Plenary Sessions
Keynote Speakers
David Bartlett, Conference MC - The Next Big Thing
David Bartlett is 8 years into his third career. Prior to entering Parliament, David had an extensive career in the information technology and telecommunications sector including roles as Chief Information Officer and industry development specialist.
Following this, David was the 43rd Premier of the Australian State of Tasmania from 2008 until 2011. During his parliamentary career, he also held the positions of Minister for Innovation, Science & Technology and Minister for Education & Skills. His time as Premier was characterised by bold reforms designed to lift Tasmania's educational outcomes and capitalise on Tasmania's natural advantages in water, food, high-speed telecommunications and renewable energy.
For his work in promoting innovation and broadband infrastructure David was named by The Australian as one of Australia's Top 50 most influential people in technology.
As Premier, he switched on the first non-Telstra-owned optic fibre backbone in Tasmania, developed the first broad-scale FTTP brown-fields roll out and championed his home state as the first National Broadband Network location.
David is now the Chairman and co-founder of a number of high-growth Australian and New Zealand-based technology companies. He is a Director of PlaceSpeak international, a company delivering the world’s first geo-social online consultation platform for Government and industry. More recently he has been the President and Chairman of a professional basketball club and led the bid for Tasmania to re-enter the National Basketball League. He is the Chairman of a national charity, the Brave Foundation, that seeks to connect expecting and parent teenagers back into the world of education and work.
Leigh Matthews AM - How to build and maintain elite teams
He stepped into the coaching ranks at the famous Collingwood F.C. in 1986 and in 1990 took the club to its first premiership since 1958.
The Brisbane Lions were on the bottom and in disarray when they appointed Matthews as their coach in 1999 and he took the Lions to three flags in succession (2001, 2002, 2003), and to runners-up in 2004, a feat that has them ranked as the finest team of the modern era.
Since retiring from coaching he has become a respected commentator on television, radio and writes for the AFL website. He was recently upgraded to Legend status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Lehmo - Experiencing Utopia
He is best known for his 8 years as co-host of The Project, 13 years as co-host of the AFL comedy panel show Before The Game – both on Network 10 and his brilliant performance as Jim on the award winning ABC series Utopia. His TV credits also include have You Been Paying Attention?, The Front Bar, Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, Hughesy We Have A Problem and many many more.
Lehmo has also been a fixture on Australian radio including lengthy stints on Triple M, Gold 104.3 (where he took the breakfast show to number 1) and he is currently co-host of the SAFM breakfast show in Adelaide.
Lehmo is also known as “The Combat Comic” having completed seven ‘tours of duty’ performing comedy for our troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, naval ships around the world and East Timor.
From army bases in the Middle East to comedy stages through the UK, USA, Asia and Australia Lehmo has done it all, including holding the Guinness World record for most jokes told in an hour.
Lehmo is professional, funny, entertaining and engaging. That's Lehmo.
Plenary Speakers
Joe Bannan, Brisbane City Council
With 25 years’ experience in Queensland local government engineering roles, including 11 years with Brisbane City Council (Council) as the Manager of Asset Management, Joe has focused his career around public infrastructure - particularly roads, drainage and stormwater, Buildings, Parks and Property and more recently smarter assets solutions such as Smart Poles and Smart Lighting and smarter ways to collect information about our assets.
Joe is a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ), a Fellow of the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia and a Chartered Professional Engineer and Executive Engineer with Engineers Australia. Currently and always focusing on systems, processes, asset recognition and people improvements in an organisation where asset management practice is established and highly regarded.
Through his role as one of Council’s Senior Engineers, Joe has played a key leadership role for championing the development of Council’s Engineers and engineering staff to build capability and capacity, mentoring and promoting opportunities for RPEQ and creating opportunities for continued professional development (CPD)
Joe was active in the recovery of Brisbane's damaged infrastructure following the January 2011 flood. Like many others this has been paramount to the flood recovery efforts following on from the February flood event in 2022, with Joe leading the works associated with infrastructure recovery and betterment across Brisbane.
He has a Masters of Engineering Science from University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Engineering from Queensland University of Technology.
Stephen Hammer, Brisbane City Council - Brisbane Metro - Delivering a new era of connected travel
Neil Scales, Department of Transport and Main Roads - Creating a Transport Legacy
Prior to joining TransLink, Neil was one of the United Kingdom’s (UK) most senior public transport executives. He was Chief Executive and Director-General of Merseytravel, the transport authority for Merseyside in the north of England.
In this role, he was responsible for some 200 million passenger journeys every year by train,bus and ferries and the two Mersey Tunnels. He is credited for reversing the fortunes of Mersey travel, which is now recognised as one of the best transport authorities in the UK.
Neil has served as a Trustee of Museums and Galleries of Merseyside, a member of theBritish Transport Police Authority and an Integrated Transport Commissioner.
Neil has held executive roles with transport and engineering companies and has consultancy experience with several organisations, including the World Bank and the European Commission.
Jimmy Scott, Queensland Reconstruction Authority - State Recovery and Resilience following the recent Southern Queensland and other recent flooding events in Queensland and associated funding programs
In September 2022, Mr Jimmy Scott was appointed as the Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority.
As Acting CEO, Jimmy is responsible for leading strategic direction of QRA as Queensland’s permanent lead disaster recovery and resilience agency. This includes responsibility for the efficient and effective coordination of natural disaster reconstruction efforts across Queensland, and administration of funding under the Disaster Relief Funding Arrangements (DRFA) and State Disaster Relief Arrangements.
Jimmy also has responsibility as the State Recovery Policy and Planning Coordinator to lead recovery planning, policy and recovery capability development to ensure better preparedness of government agencies and the community for recovery operations.
Joining QRA in May 2012, Jimmy has held a number of executive roles including General Manager, Operations, and General Manager, Resilience and Recovery. Jimmy coordinated recovery and resilience building efforts following a number of significant disaster events, including the 2019 North and Far North Queensland Monsoon Trough; the 2019 Queensland Bushfires; and the 2022 Southern Queensland flooding events.
As General Manager, Resilience and Recovery, Jimmy coordinated the implementation of the Queensland Strategy for Disaster Resilience, putting Queensland at the leading edge of recovery and resilience policy nationally and internationally in support of our communities.
He has led teams working across all levels of government and state agencies to coordinate a collaborative approach to policy, information management, project delivery and stakeholder engagement.
Prior to working at QRA, Jimmy worked in roles across the Queensland and Northern Territory governments.
Jimmy is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the University of Queensland.
Ross Ullman, Sunshine Coast Regional Council
Ross is a dynamic, achievement oriented and inclusive leader with strong public sector experience. Throughout his career he has successfully led transformational change projects and demonstrated commercial acumen and excellent stakeholder management skills.
He is proactive and passionate about collaborative engagement with stakeholders (including community, industry, and government leaders) and implementing best practice frameworks for the areas and activities for which he is responsible.