Bernard Salt is a Partner of KPMG Australia based in Melbourne. Bernard holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts degrees and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Bernard has established an enviable reputation as an advisor to leading property investors and developers on matters relating to market demand. Bernard's client list reads like a Who's Who of Australian business.

Bernard is however best known to Australian business for his commentary in the media on the business implications of demographic and social change. He is a columnist with The Australian and Wish magazine, and is the author of the popular best-selling book 'The Big Shift: Welcome to the Third Australian Culture'; his 2006 release 'The Big Picture' and newly released in 2008 'Man Drought and Other Social Issues of the New Century'. A look at the supply of single men and women in different parts of Australia. It also considers social change in the workplace as well as generational and consumer trends.

Bernard has appeared on television programs such as A Current Affair, Business Sunday, The Today Show, SBS Insight, Today Tonight and 60 Minutes

Dr Dianne Orr has been appointed as Acting Commissioner – Compliance, in the Australian Skills Quality Authority. Dianne led the project team based in Melbourne and Brisbane to design the regulatory systems for the national VET regulator.

Dianne was formerly the Executive Director of Training and International Quality in the Queensland Department of Education and Training. She has worked in TAFE administration, workforce capability development, VET policy development and regulation. She has been a member of the National Quality Council and has worked on a number of the Council’s national action groups, strengthening standards, and driving quality and national consistency.  

Senior Executive of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Julie has been with PM&C for many years in a variety of roles, responsible for such issues as Australia’s Guest of Government programme and Aboriginal reconciliation. 

She is currently Assistant Secretary of the COAG National Licensing Taskforce. In that role Julie has been working to the COAGs National Licensing Steering Committee leading the team developing the Intergovernmental Agreement on national licensing for specified occupations and working on implementation issues. The idea for national licensing for a range of occupations developed from a previous COAG decision to make mutual recognition full and effective for all vocationally-trained licenses.

A gifted comedian, writer, actor, broadcaster and presenter, Corinne Grant is one of the most sought-after talents in Australia.  Corinne got her TV kick-start as a regular Good News Week panelist back in 1999, and rapidly became one of the most familiar faces on Australian television.

Corinne's first full-time TV gig was as an original cast member of Rove's first show on Channel Nine, before moving to Network Ten with Rove Live in 2000. In 2001, she took on a second role as a founding member of ABC TV's The Glass House, continuing with the show until it wrapped in 2006.

Always bringing new innovative takes on comedy, Corinne gave away many of her earthly possessions in her 2007 show 'Have My Stuff' in Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. Throughout this tour, audience members decided what she kept and gave away, creating a unique, fun and involving experience for all. It was such as success, in fact, that 'Have My Stuff' will also be immortalised in a book to be published by Allen and Unwin.

Corinne's hilarious live shows never fail to have the audience rolling in the aisles.

With a passion for vocational education and training for young people, Andrew has actively explored innovative VET practice in TAFE, schools and community settings. A chef by trade, cookery teaching led Andrew into the VET world, where he moved into management roles. Prior to VU, Andrew was CEO and Principal of Australian Technical College – Sunshine. Andrew is the immediate Past President and founding member of VALA (Victorian Applied Learning Association) and previously on the Executive of VISTA, the peak professional association for managers and leaders in the Vocational Education and Training sector in Victoria. Andrew's current role is as an Associate Dean at Victoria University, where he continues to promote VET people and practice.

Mark Tonelli is an expert at improving individual and team performance. He is a journalist, television presenter, elite coach, salesman, motivator and author with the publication of his first book due this year . His many years in media broadcasting, real estate and communications, combined with his larrikin sense of humour, enable Mark to MC, present a powerful keynote address, an entertaining after-dinner speech, or a short talk guaranteed to be the highlight of your conference, dinner or evening.

His credentials are impeccable. He was Captain of the Australian Swim Team and is an Olympic, World and Commonwealth Champion with an Honours degree in Communications. As a commentator and competitor he has covered or raced in the last 8 Olympic Games plus reporting for Sky News at the Commonwealth Games and will be once again be on our television sets at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing.He knows how tenths of a second can change a lifetime and insists the difference between sport and business is attitude and he has plenty of it to share with his audiences.

Maree Wilson is a senior technical consultant with Esri Australia and is a volunteer with the ACT Mapping and Planning Support (MAPS) group. Maree is also the current chair of the Women in Spatial group within the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI).

The Future Workforce for Disaster Recovery

The volunteering model used for the Mapping and Planning Support group in the ACT is somewhat unique among emergency service volunteers.  Where other volunteer units call on people from all career backgrounds, MAPS volunteers are all spatial professionals, highly trained by way of their day jobs in the use of mapping software.

This volunteer workforce therefore requires less training, uses less resources and are available in substantial numbers. No emergency service agency, government or NGO can afford to employ enough GIS experts to sustain its mapping requirements through a major emergency. When an agency’s own mapping resources are exhausted MAPS provides a sustainable, expert workforce

Peter Baines is one of Australia's leadership experts having road tested leadership the hard way. Peter spent 22 years with the NSW Police leading teams in response to acts of terrorism and natural disasters on a scale not previously seen.

Peter was part of the leadership team that responded to Bali after the bombings in 2002 and was called upon in 2005 to lead national and international teams in response to the Boxing Day Tsunami. Peter headed up multiple rotations into Thailand leading international teams in the identification process of those who died. All the time his leadership theories were tested in this trying environment. Peter has recently been engaged to work in the Middle East, by the government of Saudi Arabia, to assist them in building their leadership and crisis management capacity.

Creating sustainable leadership became a passion of his after witnessing the devastating effects of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. He was deeply touched by the number of children left orphaned by the disaster and was inspired to set up an organisation that could make a significant difference in the lives of these children. In late 2005, Hands Across the Water was formed to raise funds for, and awareness of, the children of Thailand who were left orphaned. Today Hands is one of Australia's fastest growing boutique charities, having raised several million dollars without spending one cent of donors' money on administrative costs since its inception. With this they have built two orphanages, purchased a rubber plantation to ensure a sustainable and regular income and are currently constructing a medical and community centre in the KhaoLak region of Thailand. Hands also is in a joint venture with VictoriaUniversity which provides education to students and staff from the Tsunami affected area of KhaoLak.

Ruma is the Chief Executive of the Building and Construction ITO and current Deputy Chair of the New Zealand Industry Training Federation. Ruma originally trained as a specialist Art teacher in the early 1970s and has maintained an active involvement in education ever since although most of his working life has been in commercial management. He has also had a lifetime involvement with building trades so joining the ITO at the beginning of 2006 represented the convergence of three significant strands of his life.

The Future Workforce – A New Zealand perspective.

The Industry Training Sector has been experiencing significant change. Both the government and ITOs themselves have been focussed on performance, accountability and delivering value. Both the Industry Training Federation (ITF) and the Building & Construction ITO (BCITO) have embraced this challenge with the BCITO delivering on the goal it set itself in 2007 to “Be the highest performing ITO in New Zealand”.

As part of this work the ITF and construction based ITOs have partnered in bringing together the broad construction sector to develop a unified skills strategy for the first time. Similarly, they have jointly developed a programme to deliver more skilled people into the rebuilding of Christchurch.

Jeremy Baker is the Executive Director for the Industry Training Federation, the organisation representing all Industry Training Organisations in New Zealand. Jeremy has been involved in labour market and tertiary education issues since the early 1990s. He has worked in both the public and private sectors, including running his own educational and labour market policy research firm. He was Senior Adviser to the Tertiary Education Advisory Commission which led to the establishment of the current tertiary education system, worked for Business NZ as their Adviser Education and Training, and was Manager of Employment and Skills Policy for the Department of Labour. In this capacity Jeremy represented New Zealand in the review of the OECD Jobs Strategy, which focussed on addressing current and future skill and labour shortages.

Since joining the Industry Training Federation in 2006, Jeremy has focussed on working with government agencies and Ministers towards a regulatory and funding system that enables the best outcomes from Industry Training Organisations. In particular he has worked with ITOs to develop a clear vision of their role in responding to skill and labour shortages, literacy and numeracy issues in the workforce, the labour productivity challenge, and providing leadership on skills and labour market issues.

The Future Workforce – A New Zealand perspective.

Since Jeremy last spoke at CPSISC Conference the Industry Training Sector has been experiencing significant change. Both the government and ITO themselves have been focusing on performance accountability and delivering value. Both the Industry Training Federation (ITF) and the Building & Construction (BCITO) have embraced this challenge with the BCITO delivering on the goal is set itself in 2007 to “Be the highest performing ITO in New Zealand”.

As part of this work the ITF and the construction based ITOs have partnered in bringing together the broad construction sector to develop a unified skills strategy for the first time. Similarly, they have jointly developed a program to deliver more skilled people into the rebuilding of Christchurch.

Gerard Neesham who, through his coaching roles in the WAFL and AFL, has had a long and successful association with young Aboriginal footballers developed the concept for the Academy. Gerard was acutely aware of the cycle of disadvantage confronting Aboriginal people and the largely negative image of them held by many in the wider community.

Gerard's experience with Aboriginal Footballers and their families had been anything but negative. He recognized that the football environment was one in which Aboriginal people had traditionally excelled. This clearly had an impact upon the self-esteem and self-concept of the individual players, their families and the wider Aboriginal community. Gerard witnessed fine young Aboriginal Footballers grow into fine men in this environment where they had great success and which offered terrific support structures.

After consulting with the school administration it was agreed that Gerard would set up an Academy that was attached to the school. The agreement was that the Academy would operate in partnership with the College but would remain an independent body. This meant that the Academy would need to provide their own funding, management, staff and equipment. The Academy was given access to the footballers in and around the school timetable and the Academy commenced at the beginning of 2000.

Gerard recognised the need to provide the boys with high quality coaches and surround them with good role models and mentors. To this end he acquired the services of former Hawthorn premiership and fairest and best player, Ben Allan to assist with the coaching on a part-time basis. Simon Nimmo, a graduate in Human Movement and Exercise Science from the University of Western Australia and a current Claremont League Footballer agreed to come on board as a full-time Physical Conditioner and Program Coordinator. Percy Johnson, a former WAFL player and coach and media personality also joined the team.

Mr Philip Bullock (Chair Skills Australia) brings an impressive combination of high level leadership skills, a strong industry background and a commitment to education and training to the position of Chair of Skills Australia. Mr Bullock has more than 25 years experience working with IBM, culminating in his appointment as Vice President, Systems and Technology Group IBM Asia Pacific Region and including Chief Executive Officer of IBM Australia and New Zealand.

He was previously on the Board of the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA), The Business Council of Australia (BCA), where he also chaired their Skills and Innovation Taskforce, IBM Australia Limited, the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission and the Advisory Committee to the Australian Graduate School of Management. He was also very active in support of diversity in the workplace, being awarded the Leading CEO for the Advancement of Women, in 2004 by the Federal Government's EOWA. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Healthscope, a major provider of health services in Australia.

Neil Edwards was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO), TVET Australia in May 2010. Immediately prior this appointment, Neil was CEO, Chifley Business School, a position he held since July 2005. Neil has over 30 years experience in the private and public sectors, having held senior executive positions in both State and Federal government departments. Neil holds directorships on a number of key advisory boards. 

Born in London in 1948, Mr Wexham is an experienced executive and non-executive director with and extensive background in media and advertising, spanning over 30 years.

In 2006 Brian was appointed to the position of Chief Executive Officer of The Institute for Trade Skills Excellence where he set about to meet his core objectives which included the annual Trades and Skills Teacher of the Year Awards, the very successful Star Rating Scheme and the multi-media platform of SkillsOne Television and skillsone.com.au

National Skills Week is a new initiative, a collaborative approach dedicated to raising the status of practical and vocational learning. Importantly, the concept of National Skills Week will provide focus to Vocational Education & Training (VET), its achievements, the contribution, the career pathways, the opportunities and the success stories.