Victoria’s government chief information security officer has been seconded to the state’s Department of Justice and Community Safety after five years at the Department of Premier and Cabinet.
John O’Driscoll took up a 12-month role of Justice sector chief information security officer (CISO) this month, with David Cullen subsequently stepping into the vacant government-wide CISO role.
Mr Cullen has spent the past six months as acting government’s chief data officer. He has spent more than four-and-a-half years at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, with more than three years spent as the head of the state’s Cyber Incident Response Service.
Mr O’Driscoll joins as Justice as a CISO with more than 20 years experience. Before joining government in 2017, he spent more than six-and-a-half years at ANZ Bank as a senior manager for information and technology risk. Since 2018, he has also been a lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology.
The new deputy secretary for resources and enabling services at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources is Jane Urquhart. She has been acting in the role since June and was previously an acting deputy secretary at Industry between July 2021 and March 2022.
Ms Urquhart was also head of science and commercialisation policy at the department between December 2015 and November 2020. Other leadership roles during her 12 years at the department include the head of strategic policy and the joint lead of the COVID response taskforce.
Last week, Chief Executive Women president and serial company director Sam Mostyn was made chair of the federal government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce. She currently sits on the board of seven organisations, chairing five of them including the Climate Council.
Over her career, Ms Mostyn has held leadership roles at more than 30 companies and organisations. She also previously served as senior adviser for communications to Prime Minister Paul Keating.
Chief executive of the Asia Natural Gas and Energy Association is Paul Everingham, who leaves the chief executive and managing director role at the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia after four years.
Between January 2003 and December 2005, Mr Everingham was the executive director and chief executive of the Liberal Party of Western Australia. He also spent five years as a senior adviser to the Commonwealth Treasury between February 1998 and January 2003.
New circular economy not-for-profit Circular Australia has announced the nine members of its board including chair Terri Butler, the former Labor Shadow Environment and Water Minister who was not re-elected in May 2022. She spent just under eight and a half years as the federal member for Griffith.
Former deputy leader of the New South Wales Nationals and former NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Trade, Industry and Water Niall Blair is also on the board. Mr Blair was a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly from March 2011 until retiring from politics in October 2019. Circular Australia chief financial officer Lisa McLean will also sit on the board as managing director.
The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Membership will be chaired by Labor member of parliament Peter Khalil with Coalition member Andrew Wallace taking co-chair.
Committee members representing the Labor party are Senator Raff Ciccone, Julian Hill, Senator Marielle Smith, Senator Jess Walsh, and Josh Wilson. Coalition committee members are Karen Andrews, Senator Simon Birmingham, and Andrew Hastie.
On August 31, the Australian Museum announced the winners of its Eureka Prize. It honoured 15 individuals and teams for their efforts in science across the categories of Research & Innovation, Leadership, Science Engagement and School Science.
The ANTSO Eureka Prize for Innovative Use of Technology went to the team behind NanoMslide, a nanofabricated coating for microscope slides that can instantly detect diseases including breast cancer. It was developed by scientists at La Trobe University, the University of Melbourne, the Garvan Institute of Medical Researcj, and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Nine winners of the Western Australian Premier’s Science Awards were announced last week as well as the induction of John Curtin Distinguished Professor Igor Bray from Curtin University into the state’s science hall of fame. Australian Laureate Fellow and John Curtin Distinguished Professor Kliti Grice from Curtin University was the winner of Western Australian Scientist of the Year.
Professor Grice is a renowned organic geochemist whose research developed tools to investigate Earth’s record of environmental change, while Professor Bray is a leading researcher in atomic and molecular collision physics.
Engineering firm GHD has appointed its chief technology officer Paul Murphy to the chief information officer role. He replaces current CIO Elizabeth harper who is set to retire in October after 12 years in the role. No replacement chief technology officer been announced.
