Commission Members

Professor Mary O'Kane is the Chair of the Independent Planning Commission, a company director, and executive chair of O'Kane Associates, a Sydney-based consulting practice specialising in government reviews, and research and innovation matters.

She is also chair of the boards of the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, the Space Environment Management Cooperative Research Centre, and the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania. In addition, she is a director of the Capital Markets Cooperative Research Centre and the Innovative Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre.

Professor O'Kane was NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer from 2008-2018. She was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Adelaide from 1996-2001. She is a former chair of the board of the Australian Centre for Renewable Energy, a former member of the Commonwealth's Review of the National Innovation System, the Australian Research Council and the Cooperative Research Centres Committee, the board of FH Faulding & Co Ltd, and the board of CSIRO.

She is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and an honorary fellow of Engineers Australia.

Professor O'Kane has been Chair of the Independent Planning Commission since February 2018.

Terry Bailey has 30 years’ experience working in the environment and heritage fields. Terry has gained a thorough understanding of planning legislation and policies through executive leadership roles in the NSW and Commonwealth governments – his most recent public sector appointment being Chief Executive of the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.

Terry is currently Interim Executive Dean of the College of Sciences and Engineering at the University of Tasmania and Executive Director of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, the internationally recognised centre of excellence at the University. Additionally, and with the agreement of the University, Terry is an expert advisor in world heritage to the Western Australian Government and to the Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation and is a reporter under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act 1984 to the Federal Minister for the Environment.

Terry has worked extensively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. His interest and passion, including in joint management of protected areas, was developed in Kakadu where he worked in various roles, including as Park Manager.

Between 2004 and 2010, Terry prepared world heritage nominations for the Australian Government, including the Ningaloo Coast, the Australian Convict Sites, and the Sydney Opera House.
Terry has extensive protected area policy development and management experience having worked as a field officer/ranger with Parks Victoria and as the head of the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Terry Bailey was appointed to the Independent Planning Commission on a three-year term in May 2021.

Professor Snow Barlow is an agricultural scientist with a Masters of Rural Science from the University of New England and a PhD in soil-plant-water relations from Oregon State University. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Melbourne.

Snow has had a significant involvement with the natural resources issues of Australian agriculture and chairs the Victorian Endowment for Science, Knowledge and Innovation. He is a member of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Board and the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Farm Institute.

He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, and the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology. He has also served on the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.

Snow has been a member of the Independent Planning Commission since August 2018 and is chair of the Mining and Petroleum Gateway Panel, which is a subcommittee of the Commission.

Professor Alice Clark holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in economic geology. She is the deputy director - strategic planning at the Sustainable Minerals Institute within the University of Queensland, and proprietor of Cdek Geological and Mining Services, and is a registered primary producer in NSW.

Alice is also a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and a fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). She held the role of president of the AusIMM in 2011 and 2012.

Alice has been a member of the Independent Planning Commission since July 2018 and also sits on the Mining and Petroleum Gateway Panel, which is a subcommittee of the Commission.

Dr Sheridan Coakes is a social scientist with a PhD in psychology from Curtin University, Perth and has over 25 years’ research and applied experience in the areas of social impact assessment (SIA), stakeholder engagement, and community involvement.

As a leader in her field, Sheridan has developed and refined a comprehensive approach to SIA practice that has been applied in numerous large-scale public and private sector development projects across Australia, in diverse sectors such as mining (open cut and underground), quarrying, oil and gas, and linear infrastructure development.

In the mid-1990s, Sheridan held a key role with the Australian Government in the application of SIA in resource policy development. In 1997, she established Coakes Consulting, a specialist consultancy developed to address social and community issues within a resource management context.  She currently holds the position of national social practice lead with Umwelt Australia and is also a convenor of the SIA Community of Practice for the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

Sheridan has a deep knowledge of planning legislation and policies and has worked in a range of planning contexts. She has a strong understanding of public interest considerations and frameworks for integrating social evidence and issues into decision making.

Dr Coakes was appointed to the Independent Planning Commission on a three-year term in April 2021.

Peter Cochrane was director of National Parks and head of Parks Australia from 1999 to 2013. From 1994 to 1999, Peter was deputy executive director of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association.

Peter is currently a director of Ecotourism Australia, Tangaroa Blue Foundation, and Earthwatch Australia Institute.

He chairs the steering committee of the National Environmental Science Program’s Marine Biodiversity Hub, and the boards of the Australian Tropical Herbarium, and the Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute. He is a member of the steering group of the Protected Area Learning and Research Collaboration, and the National Benefit Assessment Panel for the Marine National Facility. He was elected in 2016 as a member of the Council and Bureau of the International Union for Conservation of Nature based in Switzerland.   

Peter was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Peter Duncan has over 40 years’ experience in transport and infrastructure working at local, state, and national levels. He has held various senior public sector roles including in local government, the Department of Premier and Cabinet, Department of Primary Industries, and for the Olympic Coordination Authority.

Peter has worked as chief executive in areas such as roads, infrastructure, forestry, parks, maritime, and technology and services. He currently chairs the Australian Road Research Board and is an independent chair within the University of Sydney and NSW Corrective Services. He is also an advisor to the Victorian Government on infrastructure and delivery as a member of the Office of Projects Victoria board and was a member of the Commonwealth Transport and Infrastructure Council for five years.

Peter is a national fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia and a companion of the Institution of Engineers Australia. 

He was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Professor Chris Fell AO is a chemical engineer by training with degrees from the University of New South Wales and Cambridge University. He is a former dean of the engineering faculty and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales.

Chris' expertise lies in separation technology, water treatment, the environment, and the handling of chemicals. He was co-inventor of the technology that led to low pressure membrane microfiltration for the reclamation of water, now a major international enterprise.

He is a former member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council and current consultant to government on environmental matters.

Chris has been a member of the Independent Planning Commission since August 2018.

Juliet Grant is a recognised and respected leader in the planning and development industry in Sydney and is the current president of the NSW Division of the Planning Institute of Australia. 
Juliet has almost three decades’ experience working in senior roles across local and state government, including with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, and Transport for NSW, as well as in consultancy, most recently as executive director and general manager of City Plan Strategy and Development. 

Juliet has an intimate knowledge of planning legislation and policies, and strong decision-making and leadership skills as demonstrated by the wide range of strategic and statutory planning projects she has headed up in NSW.  

In her role as the current president of the NSW Division of the Planning Institute of Australia, Juliet draws on her thorough knowledge to drive policy reform across the NSW planning system.  

Juliet is presently an expert member on the Hunter and Central Coast Regional Planning Panel, an alternate state member for all Sydney and regional planning panels, and expert member on four local planning panels (Georges River, Burwood, Hornsby, and Hawkesbury local government areas). 

Juliet Grant was appointed to the Independent Planning Commission on a three-year term in May 2021.

Dianne Leeson is a former senior executive of the NSW Public Service and urban planner whose extensive experience includes providing high level and strategic advice on major infrastructure strategy and delivery, and urban renewal projects. 

Dianne is a qualified town planner with a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning (University of Sydney). She is currently a board member of Infrastructure Australia and of Health Infrastructure NSW, and member of audit and risk committees for Fire and Rescue NSW (chair), Infrastructure Australia, and Infrastructure NSW.  Dianne is also a member of the Communities Plus Advisory Panel (Land and Housing Corporation NSW) and Sydney University’s Building and Estates Committee.

Dianne was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Wendy Lewin is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and currently heads her own architecture studio. Since graduating in architecture from the University of Sydney, Wendy has held leading positions in private practice and is the recipient of state, national, and international awards for her built work and contribution to architecture, education, and the profession. 

Wendy's projects include residential, cultural, and educational facilities. She contributes to the public discourse on architecture through her varied advisory and curatorial roles - national symposiums, and national and international exhibitions. She was a creative director for the 2008 Australian exhibition at the Venice Architecture Biennale and curator of the current architecture exhibition for ‘Australia Now’ 2018, Tokyo for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Wendy is committed to design education and for over 30 years has taught at various universities including the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, and the University of Technology Sydney. She was a visiting professor at Hong Kong University, and has chaired and participated in numerous state, national, and international architectural design competition juries.

She has been a member of the Independent Planning Commission since August 2018.

Professor Helen Lochhead is dean of the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of New South Wales. An architect, landscape architect, and urban designer, she combines teaching, research, practice, and advisory roles.

Helen's career has focused on the inception, planning, design, and delivery of complex multidisciplinary projects ranging from city-wide improvements programs to major urban regeneration projects. 

Helen has held senior roles in the NSW government, including deputy government architect, executive director roles at Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority and Sydney Olympic Park Authority.

Notable appointments include the National Board of the Australian Institute of Architects, the Australian Institute of Architects Foundation, Central Sydney Planning Committee, the ACT Planning and Land Council, the NSW Heritage Council, and competition juries and design review panels across Australia. 

She was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Professor Richard Mackay AM has worked in cultural heritage management for more than 30 years. He was a founding partner of GML Heritage Pty Ltd, and is currently director of possibilities at Mackay Strategic Pty Ltd and an adjunct professor at Deakin University.

Richard is currently an International Council on Monuments and Sites  (ICOMOS) cultural advisor to the World Heritage Committee and past chair of the Australian World Heritage Advisory Committee and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Area Advisory Committee.  He was responsible for the ‘heritage’ theme of the 2016 and 2011 Commonwealth State of the Environment reports.

Richard is a member of the National Executive Committee of Australia ICOMOS, and former member of the Heritage Council of NSW. He received the Australian Heritage Council ‘Sharon Sullivan Award’ for his contribution to Australia’s national heritage and is a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for services to archaeology and cultural heritage.

He was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Tony McAvoy SC graduated in law from Queensland University of Technology and was admitted as a solicitor in 1988. He was called to the bar in NSW in 2000 and appointed as senior counsel in 2015.
Tony’s expertise is law and heritage. He has a thorough understanding of planning legislation and policies and has demonstrated strong decision-making skills as a senior counsel and, previously, in his former role as part-time acting commissioner on the NSW Land and Environment Court. 

As manager of the Heritage and Natural Resources Branch, NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Tony advised the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and NSW Government in relation to native title, planning and natural resources, and heritage management.  

Tony chairs professional committees in NSW and nationally, including with the Law Council of Australia and NSW Bar Association. He has represented many successful native title claimants and been an adviser and negotiator in relation to many Indigenous land use agreements.

He is a Wirdi man from central Queensland and a native title holder in his grandmother’s country around Thargomindah in south-west Queensland.

Tony McAvoy was appointed to the Independent Planning Commission on a three-year term in May 2021.

Adrian Pilton is an architect and landscape architect with over 45 years’ experience in private and public practice.  He holds Master’s degrees in architecture and landscape architecture and was a founding partner of the multi-disciplinary firm of Johnson Pilton Walker Pty Ltd.

Adrian has worked in Australia and Asia on a broad range of project types for both public and private clients, including major urban developments, highways, parks, and significant national buildings. He is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Architects and serves as a senior counsellor. He is also a fellow and former national president of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects and currently serves on the National Honours Committee and the Finance, Risk Management and Audit Committee.

Adrian has been the president of the NSW Association of Consulting Architects and chair of the NSW Building Design Professions Group.

He was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2018 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Annelise Tuor has university degrees in both architecture and planning and is a nationally accredited mediator. She was a commissioner of the Land and Environment Court of NSW for 14 years and has previously held senior positions at the Council of the City of Sydney, where she managed the assessment of major development proposals and the preparation of planning policies.

Annelise has also worked in various branches of the Department of Planning and began her career as an architect and planner in private enterprise.

Annelise’s experience in planning and environmental management is wide ranging, with particular expertise in statutory and strategic planning, urban design, heritage, planning law, management, decision making, and dispute resolution. 

She was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Dr Peter Williams holds degrees in geography, environmental planning, public policy, and law, and has a doctorate in environmental law.

After 14 years’ experience in planning policy and law in the private and public sectors, Peter joined the Faculty of the Built Environment at the University of New South Wales in 1993. There he taught a number of environmental and planning law subjects and was head of the Planning Program between 2009 and 2012. Peter joined the Sydney Law School at the University of Notre Dame Australia at the beginning of 2017.

For over 25 years he has contributed to research in the field and has served on several state and local government committees. Peter is a member of the Specialist Accreditation Planning and Environment Law Advisory Committee of the Law Society of NSW and a fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia.

He was appointed to the former Planning Assessment Commission in August 2017 and is a current member of the Independent Planning Commission.

Chris Wilson has over 29 years’ professional experience in both the private and public sectors and currently runs his own planning consultancy.

He is an experienced planner with a strong record for delivering strategic advice on major projects, environmental impact assessment, and land use planning matters to government, industry, and the wider community.

Chris has been a member of the Independent Planning Commission since August 2018.

Professor Neal Menzies is currently dean of Agriculture and leads the School of Agriculture and Food Science at the University of Queensland.

Neal has a passion for agriculture and the environment and has used his role as a teacher and research leader to bring others into this highly rewarding field. He believes that environmental scientists must go further than identifying where human activity is harming the environment and must also deliver workable solutions to problems.

While his research spans a range of agricultural and environmental chemistry issues, he considers himself primarily a soil scientist, and sees soil science as a central discipline in the solution of a broad range of problems.

Neal's main research interests are phyto-toxicity of metals, particularly aluminium, surface charge chemistry, and the management of nutrients in tropical farming systems.

Neal is a past president of the Australian Society of Soil Science and past vice-president of the International Union of Soil Science.

Dr Catherine Moore is a senior groundwater scientist and modeller with more than 28 years’ experience in local government, groundwater consultancies, and research organisations. Her work on theory and methodologies contributes to pragmatic tools for developing robust groundwater models, including quantification of model predictive uncertainty, and optimising cost-effective data acquisition and model design strategies.

Catherine was formerly a member of the Commonwealth’s Independent Expert Science Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development. She is currently the science leader in the groundwater modelling team at GNS Science in New Zealand.

Dr Clinton Foster PSM was chief scientist of Geoscience Australia (GA) from 2011 to June 2016, and chief of the Petroleum and Marine Division at GA in 2003-2011. He has been studying geology and fluid histories of onshore and offshore sedimentary basins for 40 years. 

A palynologist by training, Clinton specialised in the integration of palynology with organic geochemistry, particularly in hydrocarbon source rock studies, skills he developed within the Western Mining Corporation’s Exploration Division – Petroleum in 1982-1990. 

Clinton has had extensive science management and governance experience both at GA, and as a former director on the boards of several cooperative research centres, including CO2CRC Limited. 

Currently, Clinton is a principal consultant and an honorary professor at the Australian National University. He has been an adjunct professor at the University of Western Australia and at Deakin University and is a member of the geological societies of London and Australia.

Dr Glen Walker has more than 30 years’ hydrology, groundwater, and salinity research experience. Glen is the author of over 70 scientific papers in the international literature and was involved in preliminary coal seam gas studies for the Office of Water Science in the Commonwealth Department of the Environment in 2012.

He served on the Independent Expert Science Committee on Coal Seam Gas and Large Coal Mining Development from March 2016 to June 2018.

Having retired from the CSIRO, Glen currently operates his own consultancy and, over the past several years, has been involved in projects with a focus on surface water-groundwater interactions. These include international projects in India, Bangladesh, and Peru in addition to projects in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Hugh Middlemis is a groundwater modeller, hydrogeologist, engineer, and independent reviewer, with 40 years’ experience. Hugh has a degree in civil engineering and a masters in hydrology and hydrogeology, and specialises in groundwater flow and solute models, stream aquifer interactions, groundwater dependent ecosystems, and uncertainty analysis.

He was principal author of the 2001 best practice guidelines that formed the basis for the 2012 Australian Groundwater Modelling Guidelines and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2004 for modelling best practice.

Hugh established the HydroGeoLogic independent consultancy in 2013, working in natural resources, mining and energy, and the built environment sectors.

Professor Ian Anderson is a soil biologist whose research expertise centres on the intricate relationships between plants and fungi, including those that co-exist to help plants survive and thrive. Known as mycorrhizae, these unique fungal-plant relationships are essential to the ecology and health of forests, heaths, and managed ecosystems.

Ian has an accomplished record of achievement in research, education, and leadership as director of Western Sydney University’s first research institute, the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE). He also leads the National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre at Western Sydney University.

Ian leads the HIE’s research program which spans three themes: soil biology and genomics; ecosystem function and integration; and plants, animals and interactions. A significant portion of HIE’s research program has an over-arching focus on the rapidly emerging impacts from elevated carbon dioxide and climate change on the world’s forest and agricultural production systems.