AGEW 2024 Symposium

    

Meet the Panel

Melissa Donnelly, National Secretary
Melissa Donnelly is the Community and Public Sector Union's (CPSU) youngest ever National Secretary, as well as the third woman and the first working mother to hold the role.  Melissa was admitted to practice law in New South Wales in 2006, and has degrees in Social Science and Law from Macquarie University.  Soon after joining the CPSU, Melissa represented APS staff and argued for their right to participate in the Your Rights At Work campaign, which opposed the Howard Government’s WorkChoices industrial relations policy.  Melissa has led the CPSU’s national Political, Industrial, Research and Legal team, as well as its Justice, Revenue and Media team, and has represented staff in the Australian Taxation Office, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, courts and tribunals, Australia Post and Telstra.  More recently she was responsible for the union’s biggest stronghold in the Australian Public Service, the Department of Human Services. 
Professor Guyonne Kalb, University of Melbourne

Professor Guyonne Kalb is a Professorial Fellow, Senior Research Manager and co-Coordinator of the Labour Markets and Employment Program in the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne. She has a PhD in Econometrics from Monash University.  Before joining the Melbourne Institute in 2001, she worked at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, and at The Department of Econometrics at Monash University. She is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course. a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) an associate editor for Fiscal Studies and The Economic Record.  Her research interests are mainly in the field of applied micro-economics and include labour supply issues, in particular female labour supply; the interaction of labour supply, social security and taxation; labour supply and childcare; and the impact of childcare/parental activities on child development and health. Her work is well-cited and includes over 60 refereed publications in national and international journals, such as for example Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Health Economics, Health Economics, Economics of Education Review, Fiscal Studies and Economic Record. In addition, she has been involved in several research projects providing evidence for policy makers, including a number of evaluation studies, such as the evaluation of the Paid Parental Leave scheme. She is currently leading the evaluation of the Future Directions policy, a large social housing policy reform in New South Wales, for the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, and she is involved in the evaluation of the Try, Test and Learn Fund for the Department of Social Services. These projects have led/are leading to numerous (government) reports.

Danielle Wood, Grattan Institute
Danielle also leads Grattan’s Budgets and Government Program and has published extensively on economic reform priorities, budgets, tax reform, women’s workforce participation, generational inequality and reforming political institutions. She is a sought-after media commentator and speaker on policy issues.  Danielle was previously Principal Economist and Director of Merger investigations at the ACCC, a Senior Economist at NERA Economic Consulting and Senior Research Economist the Productivity Commission. She holds an Honours degree in Economics from the University of Adelaide and two Masters degrees, one in Economics and one in Competition Law, from the University of Melbourne.  Danielle is a member of the Australian Government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, the Parliamentary Budget Office Expert Advisory Committee and the Commonwealth Bank CEO Advisory Council.  Danielle is an Honorary Fellow and former President of the Economic Society of Australia and a Research Fellow of the Women’s Leadership Institute. She is also a passionate advocate for women in economics and was the co-founder and first Chair of the Women in Economics Network.
Hon Mary Wooldridge, Workplace Gender Equality Agency
As CEO of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), Mary Wooldridge leads the Agency in driving gender equality in workplaces ensuring that women and men are equally represented, valued and rewarded.  Mary brings to the role a wealth of experience from a distinguished career in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Mary served from 2006 to 2020 in the Victorian Parliament, including a term as Minister for Mental Health, Community Services and Women’s Affairs.  As Minister, Mary worked to implement the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 and was instrumental in establishing Our Watch, the national family violence prevention agency. Mary was the Minister responsible for signing Victoria up to the National Disability Insurance Scheme. She established the Victorian Commission for Children and Young People, including the nation’s first Aboriginal Commissioner, Parkville College – an award-winning Public School in Youth Justice Centres and Australia’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner and the Family Drug Treatment Court.  Prior to being elected to Parliament, Mary was the CEO of The Foundation for Young Australians and worked with McKinsey & Company and Consolidated Press Holdings.  Mary also serves as Chair of Global Citizen (Australia) and a Director of Carey Baptist Grammar School.

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