Membership
Mr John Crosby (Chairman)
Mr Tim Reid (Deputy Chair)
Mr Matthew Bickford-Smith
Mr Bill Bray
Mr John Cahill (ex-officio member)
Dr Joanne Daly
Mr Rob Delane
Mr Stephen Hunter (ex-officio member)
Mr Stephen Morris
Dr Roly Nieper
Mr Stuart Richey
Mr Paul Hickey
Ms Catherine Cooper
Dr Conall O'Connell (ex-officio member)
Mr John Crosby (Chairman)
John is currently Managing Director of Reclaim Industries as well as owning and managing an import export business and the family farming interests. He has recently been chairman of the Wheat Industry Expert Group, The SA Beef Industry Development Board and President of the Agribusiness Association of Australia. This follows a period at Elders as a director and general manager. Earlier involvement includes Senior Vice President National Farmers Federation and various other farming industry positions.
Mr Tim Reid AM (Deputy Chair)
Tim Reid is a fifth generation Tasmanian based fruit grower and exporter with extensive experience in international quarantine market access negotiation for horticultural products. As a former Director of the Australian Horticultural Corporation and fruit industry representative, Tim has participated in successful joint government and industry trade discussions in several countries. In addition to his position as Managing Director of his family company, Tim is the current President of Fruit Growers Tasmania, an Executive Member of Cherry Growers of Australia.
Mr Matthew Bickford-Smith
Mr Bickford-Smith was the Chief Executive officer and Managing Director of the Ridley Group. Prior to this he oversaw the Man Group’s interests in the Australian refined sugar industry, managing the Group’s sugar business risk within the Asian region and working in soft commodities, particularly in proprietary trading, structural financing and marketing.
Mr Bill Bray
A beef and lamb producer from Victoria, Mr Bray was appointed President of the Cattle Council of Australia in 2004. He is a member of SafeMeat and the Red Meat Advisory Committee and is the Deputy Chairman of the Victorian Meat regulatory state authority (PrimeSafe) and a board member of the Gippsland Coastal Board. He is also a board member of the National Farmers’ Federation and past President of the VFF Livestock Group.
Mr John Cahill
John Cahill commenced with the Australian Public Service in 1972 and has worked in a range of Departments and Agencies and most of the major areas of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and its predecessors for more than 20 years.
During the last 11 years, John worked with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, most recently as Executive Manager, Quarantine. In this role he was responsible for the overall leadership and management of Australia’s national quarantine border operations involving services delivered by some 2000 staff located throughout Australia and a budget of approximately $200 million.
John commenced as Chief Executive of Biosecurity Australia on 1 December 2004.
Dr Joanne Daly
Dr Joanne Daly joined CSIRO Entomology in 1983 as a project scientist in the area of evolution of insecticide resistance in the cotton bollworm. During 2001 to 2003, Dr Daly was on secondment to the Australian Government as Head of the National Research Priorities Taskforce to lead the Group responsible for supporting the government to set national research priorities. Dr Daly was appointed Chief of CSIRO Entomology in February 2003.
Mr Rob Delane
Rob Delane is an Executive Director with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture. He holds a BSc (Agriculture) and MSc (Agriculture) and has 26 years experience in research, industry development, biosecurity, sustainability and policy management. He is a Director of Plant Health Australia Limited. As Chief Agriculture Protection Officer in Western Australia, he has statutory responsibility with respect to invasive animal and plant pests. He is a Commissioner of the State's Agricultural Produce Commission. He has extensive experience in biosecurity policy and management of biosecurity programs for animal and plant industries and natural resource protection.
Mr Stephen Hunter
Stephen has been Executive Director of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, since April 2007.
Previously Stephen was the Executive Director of the Bureau of Rural Sciences and before then a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). Prior to joining FaCSIA in mid-2003, Stephen spent five years as a Deputy Secretary with the Department of the Environment and Heritage with responsibility for natural resource management and conservation.
Before then he was Director of the Bureau of Transport and Communications Economics and First Assistant Secretary with responsibility for Regional Development in the Department of Transport and Regional Development.
Mr Stephen Morris
Mr Morris is the Executive Director of the Customs Brokers and Forwarders Council of Australia Inc and a member of the Customs National Consultative Committee and the AQIS Industry Cargo Consultative Committee.
Dr Roly Nieper
Dr Raoul (Roly) Nieper has over thirty years experience providing professional services to the rural industries of Queensland and Australia in both the private and public sectors, and is currently self employed as a consultant and mediator to primary industries and rural communities. He has a detailed knowledge of the primary industries of Australia, their production systems, processing and marketing chains, export markets and associated trade barriers, with a good understanding of the issues facing these industries with the globalisation of markets and increasing community concerns for food safety. Dr Nieper is chairman of Animal Health Australia and chairman of Livecorp Australia
Mr Stuart Richey AM
Stuart Richey has been actively involved in the fishing industry for more than thirty years and has considerable experience in many southern Australian fisheries. He was Deputy Chairman of the Australian Fisheries Management Authority from its inception in 1992 until 2001 and has been involved in a number of international negotiations and forums relating to sustainable fisheries management.
As well as being Managing Director of Richey Fishing and Richey Services and involved in several other fishing enterprises, Stuart is the Deputy Chairman of the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, Chairman of the Northern Prawn Management Advisory Committee and a board member of Marine and Safety Tasmania. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds Skipper Class 1 (fishing) and Master Class 4 (trading) qualifications.
Mr Paul Hickey
Mr Hickey has over 35 years experience in Australian Government public administration and 20 years in the Senior Executive Service. He is the former Executive Director of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Centrelink and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Employment, Education and Training.
Ms Catherine Cooper
Catherine has a strong executive management background (with companies such as Elders LTD, Futuris Corporation, and Fosters Brewing Group) and has expertise in the specialist areas including IT, telecommunications, corporate services and contracts, banking and audit functions and all aspects of corporate governance. Catherine has enjoyed great recognition as an industry leader and to this end she was a finalist in both the 1997 and 1998 Telstra Business Womens Awards.
Dr Conall O'Connell
Dr Conall O’Connell is the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry since 7 May 2007. Prior to his appointment, Conall was Deputy Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Water Resources (DEWR). His responsibilities in that Department included overseeing policies and programmes relating to natural resource management, biodiversity conservation, the marine environment and protected areas. From 1991 until he joined DEWR in 1997, he held various positions in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet where he handled Australian Federal-State relations, primary industries and environment policy. He has a PhD and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons 1) from the Queen’s University of Belfast.