Australia's Open Government Forum

Professor Kate Auty has chaired and been a member of a number of boards and advisory committees on sustainable best practice and collaborative research infrastructure. Her work in the environmental space has focused on the science-community-policy interface. She has held a number of appointments as a magistrate and commissioner, is deeply committed to cross-cultural reconciliation and recognition, and has been a non-Indigenous contributor to the development of Indigenous sentencing courts across Australia.

Kate is committed to working locally on global concerns and she is a member of a number of community action groups in the federal seat of Indi where she lives.

Professor Anne Twomey is a Professor Emerita at the University of Sydney and a part-time consultant at Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers. She was for many years a Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney Law School, and prior to that worked for the High Court of Australia, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Research Service, the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee and the Cabinet Office of New South Wales.

Anooshe has 18 years of experience in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and 10 years of experience in the national security non-official engagements.

She was the Founder of The Raqib Taskforce, focused on engaging Australian youth to develop counter narratives and debunk online hate speech by building community resilience and promoting social cohesion as a frontline measure in Countering Violent Extremism (CVE).

In the national security engagements, she has been focused on CVE and building social cohesion within the Australian multicultural society. Over the past 10 years Anooshe has demonstrated a high degree of motivation and intellectual curiosity by dedicating significant time and energy into public writing, public speaking, participation in community organisations and most recently her appointment as a civil society member of the Open Government Partnership by the Attorney General’s Department.

As an Australian Muslim of Pakistani origin, Anooshe has a distinct advantage of significant cultural and religious insights within the Muslim communities. She is familiar with the issues and challenges facing young and adult Muslims here and abroad. She provides religious and cultural insights from the grassroots level.

In the ICT roles she has used her market acumen and technical expertise to identify and position solutions for Defence and Federal government agencies delivering major programs. A strategic and outcomes focused professional skilled in management of government projects, Anooshe has delivered large complex ICT systems for Defence and Federal government agencies in her technology roles.

Anooshe is multilingual and is fluent in reading, writing, and communicating in English, Urdu, Punjabi and Hindko. She has verbal communication proficiency in Hindi and written communication proficiency in Arabic and Persian.

Anooshe was interviewed as part of OGP’s Faces of Open Government series. Read more about Anooshe.

Charles Sampford graduated from Melbourne University at the top of his class in politics, philosophy and law before combining those disciplines in his Oxford DPhil in 1985. He was invited to return to Melbourne University as a Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer before moving to the Philosophy Department in 1990 to establish the Centre for Philosophy and Public Issues where he was Acting Director then Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow. However, his earlier writings on reforming the law curriculum in response to the Pearce Report into Legal Education led to his invitation to come to Queensland as Foundation Dean and Professor of Law at Griffith University, starting in March 1991. The Griffith Curriculum, which combined theoretical, contextual and skills in mutually reinforcing ways, was hailed by Sir Ninian Stephen as a ‘revolution in legal education’ that was widely praised and much copied.

Professor Sampford led the 1998 bid for the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance (the only Australian centre in law or governance to receive centre funding from the Australian Research Council) and was its Foundation Director until 2004. From 2004-10, he was Convenor of the ARC funded Governance Research Network (the only ARC network in law or governance) and from 2004 he was Director of the Institute for Ethics, Governance and Law, established with the UN University. Foreign fellowships include Visiting Senior Research Fellow at St John's College Oxford (1997) and a Senior Fulbright Award to Harvard University (2000). He has written over 160 articles and chapters and has completed 32 books and edited collections.

In June 2008, his work on corruption and integrity systems was recognized by the ARC who invited the 20 researchers they thought had most clearly ‘made a difference’ to the Graeme Clarke Outcomes Forum held at Parliament House Canberra. Charles was one of only 4 researchers invited from the humanities and social sciences. He is currently a board member of the Accountability Round Table and Victorian Parliamentary Integrity Adviser. Internationally, he has worked on governance reform in a dozen countries.

Cindy He brings leadership and public engagement experience across a range of sectors, with a focus on issues relating to multicultural representation and the adoption of emerging technologies. She has held various positions in broadcast radio and print journalism, government relations and strategic advocacy, and has worked overseas in international trade and investment on behalf of the Australian Government.

Cindy is an admitted lawyer and is currently an Industry and Innovation Manager in ANZ’s Institutional Transaction Banking Division, leading digital transformation and innovation projects. She is also a member of Monash University’s Cybersecurity Industry Advisory Board and a member of the Regional Advisory Council for the Victorian Multicultural Commission.

Clancy Moore is the current CEO of Transparency International Australia, the world’s leading anti-corruption coalition. He brings almost 20 years of experience of advocacy and governance experience in the Solomon Islands, Myanmar, and Australia, including leadership roles with Oxfam and ActionAid.

Clancy previously led the Australian arm of global transparency NGO Publish What You Pay, calling for greater transparency in the mining, oil and gas sectors. He is also a civil society board member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative – the global standard of governance for the mining, oil and gas sector currently implemented in 56 countries. Clancy and his family live on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations.

Kyle Redman is the Director of Research and Design at the newDemocracy Foundation, a non-profit research foundation focused on best-practice deliberative engagement and innovations in democratic processes.

He has designed and operated several of newDemocracy's major citizens’ assembly projects, including for the ACT Government, Local Government Victoria, Western Sydney University, and the City of Sydney. He has also worked with international partners including the United Nations Democracy Fund and the Democracy R&D Network to design democratic innovations in Brazil, Malawi, North Macedonia, Spain and more. He is also an Executive Board Member of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy - Europe.

Kyle has co-authored the United Nations Democracy Fund handbook Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections (2018), and The A, B & C of Democracy (Carlow Books, 2021). He has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of New South Wales, receiving First Class Honours in Politics.

Dr Tania Penovic is an Associate Professor at Deakin Law School. She has served as deputy director for the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University is senior co-chair of the national Women and Girls’ Rights Subcommittee of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. Dr Penovic has extensive experience in working with government. She has trained Australian and international government officials in compliance with international standards and provided numerous submissions to parliamentary and law reform bodies in Australia and internationally. Her submissions and expert testimony have influenced legislative reforms, informed judicial decision-making and facilitated advances in the way legal problems are understood.

Tim Lo Surdo is the founder of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Future Generations, a new think-tank building the Asia-Pacific’s resilience to existential risks. Tim is also the founder of Democracy in Colour, Australia’s first racial and economic justice organisation led by people of colour. Before starting Democracy in Colour, he worked with low-paid workers to set up Hospo Voice, a new union in hospitality. Previously, Tim was the Head of Campaigns at Oaktree, a senior adviser to 2 Senators, the Campaigns Director at Jhatkaa, the National Communications Director at UN Youth Australia, and co-founded Open Sky. Tim has served as a Non-Executive Director on 17 boards and was appointed in 2020 as one of 17 UN Young Leaders for the Sustainable Development Goals.