Congress Speakers

Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie
Nationals Shadow minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development

Senator the Hon Bridget McKenzie is a member of the National Party and has been a Senator for Victoria since 2011. She has held ministerial office in the Turnbull and Morrison governments, also serving as the party’s Senate leader since 2019. McKenzie grew up in Benalla, Victoria, and worked as a schoolteacher and university lecturer before entering politics.
She was elected to the Senate at the 2010 federal election and served as a whip from 2011 to 2013. She has served variously as Minister for Rural Health (2017–2018), Sport (2017–2018), Regional Communications (2017–2018), Regional Services, Local Government and Decentralisation (2018–2019), and Agriculture (2019–2020).

The Hon Kristy McBain MP
Minister for Local Government

Kristy McBain proudly grew up on the NSW Far South Coast, and she is the first woman to represent Eden-Monaro.

Since being elected in 2020, Kristy has built a formidable reputation as a plain spoken, hard-working local member who advocates with all levels of Government and all sides of politics to get results for her constituents.

A former Mayor of the Bega Shire Council, Kristy advocated day and night for people through the darkest days of the Black Summer Bushfires in 2019-20.

Kristy studied law at the University of Canberra and as the first person in her family to go to university, she is passionate that all kids get the chance to go to university or TAFE and have the opportunity to build their careers and lives in the regions as she has done.

Sara Hales
Director, Hales North

Sara helps airports and government across Australia and the Pacific to create sustainable and resilient aviation connectivity and infrastructure through strategy development and operationalisation support. Following a career in airport management, Sara has been working in advisory for over 5 years. She is a Non Executive Director on the Board of Aviation Australia and Chairs the Smart City Taskforce on Smart Transport Hubs. Sara has a passion for the role of aviation connectivity in building community social and economic wellbeing, and a deep interest in helping regional airports through the energy transition.

Al Reid
Chief Operating Officer, Microfleet

Al’s passion for cycling and a desire to reduce transport emissions and congestion led him to LEVs. Al spent five years developing a universal dock-lock-and-charge system for electric bikes. Al draws on his networks and experience to advise other LEV companies in bike sharing, last mile logistics and private fleets.

Andrew Higgins
Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO

Andrew is a Senior Principal Research Scientist at the CSIRO Environment, specializing in agricultural transport optimization.With over 20 years at CSIRO, he’s developed tools to improve logistics across Australian supply chains. His TraNSIT model has informed major infrastructure projects, including the northern Australia Beef Roads Programme and Inland Rail. Andrew holds a PhD in rail frieght optimization.

Ben Haddock
Future Mobility Lead, Arup

A Chartered Transport Planning Professional based in Western Australia, Ben has over 20 years’ experience of managing and delivering transport projects across the world.He leads multi-discipline teams collaborating with authorities, partners, planners, investors, and other technical specialists to capture scheme benefits and deliver on desired outcomes.
A recognised industry leader in future mobility, energy, and decarbonisation, Ben has extensive knowledge of assessment in urban and rural settings and the analysis of future demands on systems and networks, working through strategy, business cases, management and mitigation to secure approvals and unlock the benefits of a cleaner future.

Adam Wilmot
Technical Director, Roads GHD

With more than 30 years in the Transport industry, Adam has extensive experience in planning, designing, and delivering major road and rail infrastructure projects, contributing his broad expertise to projects across Australia. Adam is particularly passionate about road safety and road trauma reduction.

To this end he leads GHD’s Road Safety professional cohort to process, analyse and interpret relevant data, with the aim of influencing decision-makers, planners and designers across industry. Most recently this work has culminated in the release of GHD’s landmark global research-based ‘Road Safety insights for future generations’ report.

Kenn Beer
Principal Engineer, Safe System Solutions

Kenn Beer is a Registered Professional Engineer, accredited Senior Road Safety Auditor, transport planner, trainer and assessor. He has over 20 years’ experience in road safety engineering, planning, policy and strategy development and was appointed to the highly regarded Austroads Road Design Guidance Expert Panel in 2024. Kenn is one of Australia’s most active Safe System practitioners and trainers, and is a sought-after speaker across the globe – recently giving the keynote address at the 130th Good Roads Conference in Ontario, Canada, and at the TRB International Conference on Roadside Safety in Orlando, Florida. He also hosted the Australasian College of Road Safety’s Road Safety Conversations podcast series. Passionate about making roads safe for everyone, Kenn’s contribution was recognised with a Prince Michael International Road Safety Award in 2017.

Stephen Hodge
Director - National Advocacy, We Ride Australia

Stephen brings decades of experience and expertise as both a past elite road cycling competitor and, since 2008, as a high-level advocate for active transport. Following a Bachelor of Science degree (ANU) in 1982, Stephen competed internationally in cycling for 13 years. Since establishing a corporate consulting business in 1998, he has worked across health, transport, environment and sport sectors and since 2008 as Director - National Advocacy for We Ride Australia. In the corridors Australia’s Parliament, Stephen is the only professional focused purely on advocating for cycling. In this role Stephen advocates for federal investment in cycling and works in strategic alliances across political, health prevention, environment and built environment, and transport sectors. This experience and major reports such as the Australian Cycling and e-Scooter Economy Report has earned WeRide a unique role as the independent voice for cycling nationally.

Dr Elliot Fishman
Director, Institute for Sensible Transport

Dr Fishman is a widely recognised authority on strategic transport innovation in Australia. He has advised the Prime Minister’s Office on sustainable mobility policy, the NYC Department of Transportation and Transport for London.He has a long standing connection with the Netherlands, and has previously worked at Utrecht University and maintains strong connections with leading Dutch transport practitioners. His research measuring the health and economic benefits of Dutch cycling has appeared on the front page Dutch newspapers and peer reviewed journals.In 2016 Dr Fishman completed two landmark reports for the City of Melbourne and City of Adelaide on disruptive transport technology and the implications for local government. Dr Fishman has written for The Age, the Herald Sun and other major daily newspapers on transport issues. His work has been among the most read and cited articles in peer reviewed transport journals.

Scott Greenow is the acting Executive Director Freight at Transport for NSW. Scott has over 28 years of experience in the public sector, with a specialisation in road freight operations. Scott has been instrumental in building strong partnerships with freight customers, and in enabling technology and innovation to improve heavy vehicle access in NSW.

Veronica Terry
Manager, Cradle Coast Authority

As Regional Development Manager at the Cradle Coast Authority (CCA) on Tasmania’s north west coast, Veronica brings expertise in finance and agriculture. She identifies and enhances economic strengths across the Cradle Coast region. This includes opportunities in renewable energy where there are a variety of projects in the pipeline totalling more than $10 billion. Veronica holds a Bachelor of Business, Graduate Diploma in Finance, serves on the Chamber of Commerce Executive of Business Northwest, and is a Board member of collective impact initiative, Burnie Works. Veronica and her husband, Rob, also enjoy farming vegetables and grains in Tasmania’s most productive agricultural region

David MacLennan
Chief Executive Officer, City of Vincent

David is an experienced CEO, public sector leader and former diplomat with a record of achievement at local, state, federal and international government levels.

He has been the CEO of the City of Vincent since 2018 and is also the Chair of the Australian Urban Design Research Centre at the University of Western Australia (UWA).

Prior to this, David was the Assistant Director General at the WA Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage.

David is fluent in Spanish and had overseas diplomati postings with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in the UK, Peru, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.

He is a graduate of UWA and has a Masters of Management from ANU.

His passions are family and fitness.

John Good
Managing Director, LSH Auto Australia

John Good’s career in the international automotive sector spans over 30 years, having been associated with the Mercedes-Benz brand throughout this time. He has held senior management positions with Mercedes-Benz and LSH in Australia, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, China, and the UK, before advancing to his current position as Managing Director of LSH Group Australia.

LSH Auto is the nation’s premier retailer of Mercedes-Benz vehicles and the sole retailer for the new, premium, Mercedes-Benz designed, all electric smart range of vehicles.

Paul Cutting

Assistant Secretary, Reporting and Program Management (RPM) Taskforce, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA)

Paul is the Assistant Secretary and Senior Responsible Officer for the Reporting and Program Management (RPM) Taskforce within the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts (DITRDCA). He is leading the development and transition to a new Information Technology system that will deliver streamlined capabilities to State and Territory Governments, Local Government Agencies and DITRDCA’s Infrastructure Investments Programs. Previously, Paul successfully managed the financial aspects of the Government’s land transport infrastructure pipeline. Throughout his career, Paul has consistently demonstrated a commitment to strategic oversight, stakeholder engagement, and achieving organisational objectives through effective governance and innovation.

Vickie Walker
Projects Officer, Regional Development Australia South West

Vickie Walker is a Project Officer with Regional Development Australia South West (RDASW), a federally funded organisation responsible for economic development in the South West region of WA. Vickie’s current focus is a project assisting local governments in transitioning to net zero, as well as managing RDASW’s events, communications and finance. In her spare time, she is a partner in a small viticultural business and runs her own small business consultancy. Vickie has a keen interest in sustainability, circular economy and renewable energy, and is passionate about change and opportunity in our regions.

Katie Biggs

Sustainability Officer, Shire of Augusta Margaret River

Katie is a Sustainability Planning Officer with the Shire of Augusta Margaret River. With a passion for combining grassroots sustainability with effective policy, Katie enjoys pushing boundaries on the journey to more resilient and regenerative communities. She has worked in a variety of roles from private consulting to not for profits and state and local government. Katie is currently focussing on corporate and community climate action and role of the planning system in creating thriving local economies, enhancing the natural environment and building connected, resilient and liveable communities. Katie has a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management with honours from the University of Western Australia.

Kelly Grigsby
Chief Executive Officer, Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV)

Kelly Grigsby is the CEO of the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), the peak body for local government in Victoria. The MAV supports councils in creating thriving, resilient communities. Kelly was previously the CEO of the City of Hobart, where she led the Future Hobart Plan, addressing growth across key precincts, and secured funding for the Greater Hobart Ferry Service. She also represented Tasmania on trade missions to South Korea and Japan, focusing on port development and expanding Antarctic operations. Before Hobart, Kelly served as CEO of Wyndham City Council, one of Australia’s fastest-growing cities. A certified planner, Kelly is known for her visionary leadership, strategic foresight, and commitment to economic growth, urban innovation, and public value. She is a respected thought leader with extensive experience in transforming councils and fostering collaboration across sectors.

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