Rod Eddington, 57
Chairman, Council of Business Advisers for the ALP, Melbourne
Mechanical engineer, University of Western Australia

Sir Rod Eddington is an experienced and accomplished business leader. Last February he was appointed to chair a council of business advisers that would counsel the ALP.
Leader of the ALP Kevin Rudd said the aim was to bring members of the Council of Business Advisers into the cabinet room, to provide “a sounding board to improve the quality of policy making”.
Eddington’s involvement in the business advisory council is one of several activities in his work life. He is also nonexecutive director of News Corporation, Rio Tinto, Allco Finance Group, CLP (China Light & Power) Holdings, John Swire & Sons, chairman of Victorian Major Events Company, and nonexecutive chairman (Australia and New Zealand) of JPMorgan.
Last year he completed the Eddington Transport Study for the British government. The study recommended a number of reforms to the planning, funding and delivery of transport, as well as recognising the need to improve the environmental performance of the sector.
Now living in Melbourne, Eddington is chairing a study on transport for the Victorian government on the east-west link. The study recently commenced and will report back early next year.
He grew up in rural WA and still has a beach house in Busselton, his favourite destination. He spends his weekends around Melbourne as a spectator of the sporting pursuits of his young son and daughter.

Campbell Newman, 43
Lord Mayor, Brisbane City Council
Civil engineer, University of NSW

Committed to getting Brisbane traffic out of gridlock, lord mayor Campbell Newman is currently focused on the ambitious TransApex project consisting of the North-South Bypass Tunnel, Airport Link Tunnel, Hale Street Bridge, Northern Link Tunnel and East West Link Tunnel.
The project aims to improve cross-city travel in Brisbane and will provide new river crossings and connect existing motorways and major arterial roads.
The multi-billion dollar TransApex is the biggest urban road project proposed in Australia.
A new policy of Newman’s is CitySmart, which aims to make Brisbane Australia’s most sustainable city through working with the community house by house, suburb by suburb.
With his wife Lisa and two daughters he likes to travel to Brisbane’s bays and relax.

David Hawker, 58
Speaker of the House of Representatives and Federal Member for Wannon, Federal Parliament, Canberra
Mechanical engineer, Melbourne University

David Hawker is presiding officer for the Australian Parliament which involves being the speaker of the House of Representatives, managing the operation of the House of Representatives and acting like an ambassador for Australia by hosting international visitors to the Parliament.
Over the past year he has secured a medical school for Deakin University in Warrnambool, record road funding throughout his electorate and the opening of the Australian Technical College at Wannon. He has also been actively involved in Australia’s biggest water infrastructure project – the $501 million Wimmera Mallee Pipeline which began construction in October 2006.

Frank Sartor, 56
Member for Rockdale, State government of New South Wales, Minister for Planning
Chemical engineer, University of Sydney

Frank Sartor has been the NSW minister for planning and Redfern Waterloo since 2005 and, following the 2007 NSW state election, was also given the arts portfolio.
A recent focus of the planning ministry has been to revitalise the city centre of Newcastle with a 25-year vision. Newcastle City Council and the Department of Planning, together as the City Centres Taskforce, are currently considering amendments to the draft 25-year plan in response to the submissions recently received.
Last month Sartor also revealed a detailed draft plan to develop 12,000 new homes in Sydney’s southwest – with construction to start next year.

Ken Michael, 69
Governor of Western Australia
Civil engineer, University of Western Australia

Dr Ken Michael AC is a distinguished engineer in his own right, but is better known for his contribution to many aspects of government, business and community activity within Western Australia spanning more than 40 years.
Early in 2006, Michael was sworn in as the 30th Governor of Western Australia.
In March this year, UWA presented him with an Honorary Doctor of Letters. In his address to the graduation ceremony he said what he had gained most from his initial engineering degree almost 50 years ago was learning the fundamentals of the learning process – being able to identify, articulate and analyse problems and issues and recognise that the solutions are only as good as the assumptions you make.
Michael has been married to Julie for more than 42 years and they have two children, three grandsons and a granddaughter. His interests include walking, reading and philately, and he has recently renewed his interest in golf and tennis.

Engineers Australia Magazine, Volume 79 No 6, June 2007.

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