The ASPI Council is the governing body of ASPI, which is a Commonwealth company. The council reports annually to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. As well as meeting legislative requirements, a governance framework guides the development of policies, plans and strategies that are approved by the council, covering areas such as risk, fraud and business continuity. A number of internal policies for staff are reviewed as required or scheduled.

The council comprises up to twelve directors with experience, expertise and excellence in a range of professions, including business, academia, government and the military. Provision is also made to have council members who are nominees of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, emphasising that ASPI is politically non-partisan.

COUNCIL MEETING ATTENDANCE

During 2019–20, the following directors completed their terms on the ASPI Council:

• the Hon David Johnston
• Professor Joan Beaumont
• Mr Jim McDowell

The following directors were appointed to the ASPI Council:

• Ms Gai Brodtmann
• Dr Brendan Nelson AO
• Dr Lavina Lee

Table 9 lists meeting attendance by ASPI Council members throughout the year.

Mr Peter Jennings is the only executive member of the council. All other council members are non-executive directors.

Table 9: Attendance at ASPI Council meetings, 2019–20

CURRENT COUNCIL MEMBERS

CHAIRMAN

Lt Gen (Ret’d) Kenneth J Gillespie AC DSC CSM

Grad Dip Strat Studies

Kenneth Gillespie is an experienced and highly decorated national leader. Formerly Chief of the Australian Army, he has had a diverse range of practical experience, including military high command, diplomacy and private and public sector leadership. He has an enviable and successful track record for strategic review, structural reform, team building and leadership in diverse and challenging work environments and workforces.

Lt Gen Gillespie currently sits on several boards, both public and not-for-profit, and provides consulting services to government

departments, corporations and small companies. He possesses a strong network of contacts in government, defence, security and commercial fields and has considerable experience communicating with and building consensus among diverse stakeholder groups.

Lt Gen Gillespie was appointed to the ASPI Council in January 2015 and was appointed as ASPI Council Chairman in December 2016.

MEMBERS

Mr Stephen Brady AO CVO

BA (Hons)

Stephen Brady completed his 36-year career with the Australian Government as Ambassador to France, coinciding with a series of terrorist attacks and the government’s decision to buy

12 French-designed submarines. He was also accredited to Morocco, Algeria and Monaco.

Before then, he was Official Secretary to two Governors-General of Australia. He has also served as Ambassador to the Netherlands

(2004–07) where he was responsible for handling Australia’s political cooperation with the Netherlands in Afghanistan. He was also Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Mr Brady has been Australia’s Ambassador to Sweden, where he was accredited to Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. On two occasions, he served as a Senior Adviser to Prime Minister John Howard.

In 2013, the Queen made him a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, and in 2015 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for ‘distinguished service to successive governments in the area of international affairs’. At the conclusion of his posting in Paris, the French Government awarded him a Commander of the Legion d’Honneur. He is currently the only Australian civilian to hold that honour.

Mr Brady now serves as Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Bond University and is a director on the boards of the European Australian Business Council, The Ethics Centre and Bangarra, and is

Chairman of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation and a member of the NGA Council.

Mr Brady was appointed to the ASPI Council in February 2019.

Ms Gai Brodtmann

BPR (RMIT), GradCertBus (Monash), BA (ANU)

In addition to being an ASPI Council member, Gai Brodtmann is a member of the boards of Old Parliament House and Endometriosis Australia and the Sapien Cyber advisory board.

She is also an occasional presenter and panellist at the National Security College and Australian Defence College and a contributor to The Strategist.

Ms Brodtmann served as the Member for Canberra from 2010 to 2019. She was shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence from 2016 to 2019 and shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence from 2013 to 2016.

She is a former member and deputy chair of the joint parliamentary committees on Public Accounts and Audit and the National

Capital and External Territories and a former member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the Defence subcommittee.

Before her political career, Ms Brodtmann ran her own small business for 10 years and was a federal public servant, primarily with Foreign Affairs and Trade and Attorney-General’s, for a decade.

From 2000 to 2009, she consulted in Defence in a broad range of areas, including capability acquisition and sustainment; financial and personnel management; youth development; science and technology; and cultural change and diversity policy.

During her time in Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms Brodtmann was posted to New Delhi and served on the Middle East desk, where she worked on the normalisation of the relationship with Iran and bilateral policy on Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Her national security policy interests include cybersecurity

(across a broad range of fields); the women, peace and security agenda; critical infrastructure; capability sustainment; sovereign capacity;

and community education.

Ms Brodtmann is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

Ms Brodtmann was appointed to the ASPI Council in June 2020.

The Hon Stephen Conroy

BEc (ANU)

Stephen Conroy served as a Senator for Victoria in the Australian Parliament for more than 20 years, including as the Leader of the Government in the Senate and as Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

During his time in parliament, Mr Conroy worked in multiple portfolio areas, most notably as the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, when he was responsible for the design and implementation of the National Broadband Network between 2007 and 2013.

Before entering parliament, he worked at the Transport Workers Union. In 1993, he was elected to Footscray City Council.

In November 2016, Mr Conroy was appointed as the Executive Director of Responsible Wagering Australia.

Mr Conroy was appointed to the ASPI Council in March 2017.

BEng (Hons), MSFS, PhD

Denis is a former humanitarian aid worker with experience in war zones around the world, a scholar of religion and society, public commentator and currently sits on Australia’s Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

A graduate from the University of Adelaide with a degree in civil engineering Denis relocated to Singapore to work on major construction projects before moving to Washington D.C. to complete the Master of Science in Foreign Service degree at Georgetown University.

Following the 1999 civil war in East Timor, Denis was hired as a shelter engineer for the International Rescue Committee, a leading US humanitarian organisation. Over the subsequent twelve years Denis worked in war zones and disaster-stricken areas in South East Asia, the Middle East and Africa running humanitarian and development programs including in Iraq where he led one of the world’s largest community development programs. During this period, he led the

successful efforts to release the first aid worker kidnapped by militants in Iraq, provided consulting services to various United Nations agencies and helped establish an Iraqi NGO.

Drawing on his experiences working in conflict and post-conflict environments Denis completed a PhD from the University of St Andrews’ School of Divinity which led to the book Religion and Post-Conflict Statebuilding: Roman Catholic and Sunni Islamic Perspectives. His second book, No Dancing, No Dancing: Inside the Global Humanitarian Crisis, is a narrative non-fiction based on his return journey to Iraq, South Sudan and East Timor to see what happened to the people and aid projects.

He is currently a senior member on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal hearing asylum claims, a regular commentator in the media on the intersection of religion and society as well as an honorary senior fellow at the University of Melbourne.

Dr Dragovic was appointed to the ASPI Council in February 2019.

Jane Halton AO PSM

BA (Hons) Psychology, FAIM, FIPAA, Hon FAHMS, Hon FACHSE, Hon Dr Letters (UNSW), GAICD

Jane Halton has had a 33-year public sector career, having served as Secretary of the Department of Finance (2014–2016), Secretary of the Department of Health (and Ageing) (2002–2014) and Executive Co-ordinator (Deputy Secretary) of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

In her most recent role as Secretary of the Department of Finance, she was responsible for a range of significant services delivered by the department, including the delivery of the Australian Government

Budget; oversight of the financial framework of Australian Government agencies; shareholder aspects of government business enterprises;

the ongoing management of the Australian Government’s non-defence domestic property portfolio and key asset sales; and key projects, including the Air Warfare Destroyer Project.

Ms Halton is currently the Chair of Board Vault Systems, the Coalition for Epidemic Innovations and COTA Australia.

She is a board member of ANZ Bank; Crown Resorts; Clayton Utz and Ngamuru Advisory; the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington; the Australian Genomics Advisory Board; and the Corporate Council of the European Australian Business Council. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney and the University of Canberra.

She has had significant experience in global health governance, playing key roles in global health security, and has held leadership roles with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organization.

Ms Halton has been awarded the Public Service Medal (2002), the Centenary Medal (2003) and the Order of Australia (2015).

Ms Halton was appointed to the ASPI Council in December 2016.

Mr Peter Jennings PSM

BA (Hons), MA, MSc

Peter Jennings is the executive director of ASPI—a position he has held since May 2012.

Mr Jennings has worked at senior levels in the Australian Public Service on defence and national security. Career highlights include being Deputy Secretary for Strategy in the Defence Department (2009–12), Chief of Staff to the Minister for Defence (1996–98) and Senior Adviser for Strategic Policy to the Prime Minister (2002–03).

Since 2012, Mr Jennings has expanded ASPI’s role from its original high-quality research on defence to include research on cybersecurity; policing and international law enforcement; border security; national resilience; and counterterrorism studies. Now with around 60 staff and close working relations with government, parliament, industry and international partners, ASPI is Australia’s leading think tank on national security.

Mr Jennings’s research interests include Australian and regional defence policies, military operations, crisis management, government decision-making and future defence capabilities.

He led the External Expert Panel appointed by government in early 2014 to advise ministers and the Defence Department on the Defence White Paper released in February 2016. He was a member of the Australia–Germany Advisory Group appointed by the Prime Minister and German Chancellor in 2015 to develop closer bilateral relations. He has also been a member of the Advisory Group on Australia–Africa Relations, advising DFAT.

Mr Jennings has previously held a number Senior Executive Service positions in Defence, including as First Assistant Secretary International Policy Division and First Assistant Secretary Coordination and Public Affairs.

He was Director of Programs at ASPI between late 2003 and January 2006 and has taught postgraduate studies on terrorism at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).

In the Defence Department, Mr Jennings has been the Deputy Director of the then titled Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation (2002) and head of the Strategic Policy Branch (1998–1999). In late 1999, he was co-director of the East Timor Policy Unit, responsible for developing Australia’s policy approaches to the international peacekeeping operation in East Timor.

Mr Jennings studied at the London Business School in 2000 and 2001 as a Sloan Fellow and was awarded a Masters of Science (Management) with Distinction. He has a Master of Arts degree in International Relations from the Australian National University (1987) and a BA (Honours) in History from the University of Tasmania (1980–1984).

He has been a Fulbright Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1985). He taught politics and international relations at the University of New South Wales / ADFA (1987–1990).

He was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Australia Day 2013 Honours list for outstanding public service through the development of Australia’s strategic and defence policy, particularly in the areas of ADF operations in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. In February 2016, he was awarded the French decoration of Knight in the National Order of Legion d’Honneur.

Dr Lavina Lee

BComm/LLB, MA, PhD

Lavina Lee is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University, Sydney. She has commerce and law degrees from the University of NSW, an MA in International Peace and Security from King’s College, University of London, and a PhD in International Relations from Sydney University. Prior to joining Macquarie University, she was a political risk consultant with Control Risks Group.

Dr Lee has been an academic at Macquarie University since 2007, teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students in the field of international relations. At Macquarie, she has served as the Convenor of the Master of International Relations program, and is currently Director of Higher Degree Research for the department as well as an appointed member of the University Academic Standards and Quality Committee.

Dr Lee is the author of the book US hegemony and international legitimacy: norms, power and followership in the wars on Iraq (Routledge, 2010), and has published numerous articles, book chapters, research reports and commentary on Indian foreign and security policy, nuclear proliferation, US foreign policy and security relations in the Indo-Pacific. She also periodically publishes opinion pieces in The Australian, the Australian Financial Review, the Hindustan Times and the New Straits Times, as well as with specialist policy outlets such as the Lowy Institute’s The Interpreter and ASPI’s The Strategist.

She has led projects for the Australian Government and think tanks on opportunities and weaknesses of the ‘Quad’, Chinese influence in Southeast Asia, the role of democracy promotion in the free and open Indo-Pacific strategy and the role of India in the Indo-Pacific. Her work integrates academic and policy approaches, and she speaks widely to expert and lay audiences on international and security issues.

Before joining the ASPI Council, Dr Lee was a Director of the Institute for Regional Security.

Dr Lee was appointed to the ASPI Council in June 2020.

The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson AO

MBBS, FAMA, FRACP (Hons), MRACGP

Brendan Nelson is president of Boeing Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific. He is the senior company leader in the Oceania region and is the chairman of the board for Boeing Australia Holdings. In that role, he coordinates all Boeing activities, leads government relations and directs the implementation of Boeing’s strategy to expand its local presence and grow the business. Appointed in February 2020, he is based in Sydney.

Dr Nelson is also Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham), a board director of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and a member of the Space Industry Leaders Forum and the Business Council of Australia.

Before joining Boeing, he served as director of the Australian War Memorial for seven years. Prior to that, he was the Australian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO (2010–12). Apart from overseeing a major transformation in Australia’s relationships with the European Union and NATO, Dr Nelson forged deep links with the communities of Flanders, where almost 14,000 Australians lost their lives during World War I.

Born in Coburg, Victoria, in 1958, Dr Nelson studied at Flinders University, South Australia, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery degree. He worked as a medical practitioner in Hobart from 1985 to 1995. In 1993, he was elected unopposed as National President of the Australian Medical Association (AMA), becoming the youngest person ever to hold that position. He had previously served as National Vice President and Tasmanian Branch President of the AMA. In 1995, he retired as president of the AMA following his preselection as the Liberal candidate for the Sydney seat of Bradfield.

Dr Nelson was elected to the federal parliament in March 1996. After the 2001 election, he was promoted from Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence to cabinet in the senior portfolio of Minister for Education, Science and Training. There, he drove major reforms to universities and a focus on school standards and reporting. In 2006, he was appointed Minister for Defence when troops were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor and Solomon Islands. In November 2007, Dr Nelson was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, serving as Leader of the Opposition until September 2008. The following year, he retired from federal politics before taking up his ambassadorial appointment. In 1995, Dr Nelson was awarded the AMA’s highest honour: the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Medicine and Humanity. In recognition of his commitment to public health, he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. He is the recipient of three honorary doctorates: from the Flinders University of South Australia in 2011, the Australian National University in 2017 and the University of South Australia in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of NSW (2017), a Rotary Paul Harris Fellow and a Sydney University John Lowenthal Medallist.

Dr Nelson was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in January 2016 for his services to the community, the parliament of Australia, diplomacy and cultural leadership.

In 2018, the Returned and Services League (RSL) conferred Honorary Life Membership upon Dr Nelson for his services to and support of veterans and ex-service organisations. He was also awarded honorary citizenship of the Belgian city of Ypres in recognition of his support for the city, its commemorations and Last Post Association.

Dr Nelson was appointed to the ASPI Council in June 2020.

Air Vice Marshal (Ret’d) Margaret Staib AM CSC GAICD

BBus, MBusLog, MA Strat Studies

Margaret Staib is a non-executive director of the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation and the Australian Royal Aeronautical Society, and a member of the Industry Advisory Board for the Centre for Supply Chain and Logistics at Deakin University. She was recently appointed as Chair of the Strategic Defence Advisory Board to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the Northern Territory Defence and National Security Advocate.

Ms Staib is a certified practising logistician, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a member of the RAAF Active Reserve.

She commenced her professional career as a military logistician with the RAAF after completing a business degree at the University of South Queensland. Her military service included an exchange with the US Air Force in the Pentagon and a period as Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy. In 2009, she was promoted to the rank of Air Vice Marshal and assumed the role of Commander Joint Logistics Australian Defence Force.

From the Air Force, Ms Staib continued her executive career as the CEO and Managing Director of Airservices Australia—the air navigation and air traffic management organisation for Australia. There, she led significant transformation in air safety, air navigation technology and cultural change. She has subsequently pursued a career as a non-executive director.

Her expertise is in defence; national security; transport, infrastructure and logistics; aviation and aerospace; cultural change; and organisational transformation.

In addition to her business degree, Ms Staib holds a Master of Business Studies (Logistics) and a Master of Arts (Strategic Studies). She was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross and is a member of the Order of Australia. She was also a finalist in the Telstra Business Women’s Awards (2012) and AFR 100 Women of Influence (2012), and a participant in the 2017–18 AICD Chairs Mentoring Program.

Ms Staib was appointed to the ASPI Council in January 2015.

COUNCIL COMMITTEES

Audit Committee

The functions of the ASPI Audit Committee include reviewing the appropriateness of ASPI’s financial reporting; performance reporting; the risk oversight and management system; and the internal control system.

The committee’s members in 2019–20 were:

• Kate Freebody, FreebodyCogent Pty Ltd, Chair
• Geoff Brown, Chief Audit Executive, Department of Defence
• Air Vice Marshall (Ret’d) Margaret Staib AM CSC, ASPI Council member

The Audit Committee invites the Executive Director and Director Corporate of ASPI and a representative from the Australian National Audit Office to its meetings.

During 2019–20, the committee met four times.

Research Committee

The ASPI Research Committee comprises senior ASPI staff, ASPI Council members and at least one senior representative from the Department of Defence. Under the current funding agreement, a portion of the funds received from the Department of Defence is directed to mutually agreed Defence-specific projects. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Research Committee did not meet during 2019–20. ASPI’s Executive Director met with the Secretary of the Department of Defence and agreed on seven research themes for the 2020–21 financial year.