Grattan Institute invites you to a discussion with two prominent thinkers in climate change policy and industry; Mr Blair Comley, Deputy Secretary, Commonwealth Department of Climate Change and Mr Alex Wyatt, CEO Climate Bridge, a leading organisation in the funding of greenhouse gas reduction projects in china. Please join us on Monday 30 November, to hear their views about what the likely outcomes of Copenhagen might mean for Australia.

Date
Monday 30 November 2009

Time
5.30pm arrival and registration
6.00pm – 7.00pm seminar

Venue
Treasury Theatre
Ground Level
1 Macarthur Street
Melbourne VIC 3002

Registration
Please register early
Registration closes on Friday 27 November 2009

About the Speakers
Blair Comley is a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Climate Change. Blair has executive oversight for the design and implementation of the emissions trading system and matters related to renewable energy, emissions inventory and projections. Previously Blair held a range of senior positions in the Treasury including as General Manager of the Business Tax Division, Indirect Tax Division, Macroeconomic Policy Division and the Debt Management Review Team. Blair also represented Australia for three years on economic matters at the OECD and was the Acting Chief Executive Officer the Australian Office of Financial Management with responsibility for managing the Australian Government’s debt and related derivative portfolio.

Alex Wyatt is the CEO of Climate Bridge. Climate Bridge is one of the largest firms in China involved in organising greenhouse gas emission reduction projects, financed with European-based carbon credits. Alex has an on-the-ground perspective of carbon emission reduction and sustainability in China, and is a regular speaker on the international environmental conference circuit. Prior to founding Climate Bridge, Alex worked in the Shanghai office of McKinsey and Company, where he worked with state-owned and multi-national companies in the Chinese transportation sector, undertaking a number of different projects to help optimise rail, sea and trucking networks throughout China. Alex has also worked for the Boston Consulting Group and Hearne Scientific Software, where he helped to start and manage a variety of new business ventures. In 2009, he was included in the Advance Asia 50, recognising him as one of the fifty most influential Australians living in Asia.

For further information please telephone 03 8344 3637 or visit our website www.grattaninstitute.edu.au or for registration

Full audio and powerpoint slides from this major conference held at Univ. of Oxford in Sept. 09 are available online here. Melbourne’s Prof. David Karoly was there, giving a paper on the Australian bushfires.

Potter Rural Community Research Network (RCRN) – 2010

RMIT University Hamilton is a dynamic centre of rural and regional learning
and is actively engaged with local stakeholders in building a platform for
community-driven, evidence-based research, with a focus on creating
positive rural futures.

Two Hamilton based PhD places, funded for three years, are available as
part of the RCRN project, to drive a leading edge, internationally linked
research agenda.

Potential areas of research include complex systems, food security, low
carbon regional futures, collaborative regional governance for natural
resource management and rural innovation networks.

Expressions of interest are welcomed from suitably qualified candidates, to
undertake PhDs in one or more of these research areas.

For more information contact Dr Paul Collits, or Dr Kaye Scholfield, on 03
5572 0500 or email  rmithamilton at rmit.edu.au
 www.rmit.edu.au/hamilton

Inaugural Professorial Lecture:

Death, Desire, Sin, Redemption: Climate Change and the Rationality of Environmental Law

Wed 04/11/2009
6:00 PM – 7:15 PM

Professor Lee Godden

Climate change suggests limits to civilisation and impending ‘Death’ of species and displacement of people. Western civilisations have sought to overcome limits through colonisation and industrialisation. Yet, such consumption and ‘Desire’ are integral to climate change. Divisions exist at International Law in efforts to curb ‘sinful’ consumption and mitigate global warming through targets, trading and offsets. Just how Law should respond to climate change in an era of corporatist states and reflexive law is examined. The lecture identifies the need to reshape the institutions of public law to facilitate an integrated governance framework for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

This Inaugural Professorial Lecture will draw on Professor Lee Godden’s wide range of interests and expertise. Professor Godden is Director of the Centre for Resources, Energy and Environmental Law at Melbourne Law School and has expertise in environmental law, natural resources management, water law, climate law, property law and indigenous peoples’ land rights.

Please register your attendance here

Venue Melbourne Law School
Address 185 Pelham Street Carlton
Contact Person Dianne Costello
Contact Details 8344 1153

Visit http://www.britishcouncil.org/au.htm for more details.

9am – 5pm, Wednesday 25th November 2009
Melbourne Business School, 200 Leicester Street, Carlton

Environmental issues, from climate change to water catchment management to the devastation wreaked by bushfires, tsunamis and hurricanes, are crucial issues for governments around the world. There is a growing need to find novel ways to deal more effectively with these issues using collaborative approaches. This symposium brings together local and international experts on this topic to describe contemporary research on collaborative approaches to natural resource management, and to discuss ways forward in meeting the governing challenges related to these issues.

This one day event will be of interest to anyone concerned with environmental issues, and specifically to those working in policy development and service delivery, and to public policy researchers.
Registration for this event is $150 (inc GST) which included morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea.

For more information, or to register, please direct your browser to:
 http://www.public-policy.unimelb.edu.au/…

Tuesday, 13 October 4.20pm
Room 920 of the Melbourne Law School building. (The Melbourne Law School building is at University Square, 185 Pelham Street, Carlton. Room 920 is on the ninth floor, turning left down the hall.)

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to  query-environment at unimelb.edu.au, as places are limited.

Senator Brown will say a few words introducing the book, and then Samuel Alexander will speak briefly about the book, followed by refreshments. Copies of the book will be available for $20.

Jeanette Longfield’s degree in International Relations and a Masters in Development Studies led to work as a Policy Analyst at the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, and campaigning at the Coronary Prevention Group. Four years on she became Co-ordinator of the National Food Alliance which merged with the Sustainable Agriculture Food and Environment (SAFE) Alliance to form SUSTAIN.
As SUSTAIN’s Co-ordinator, Jeanette contributes to a number of food policy committees, liaises with the Food Standards Agency, and appears regularly in the media representing a public interest view on food policy issues. She was awarded an MBE for services to food policy in 2007.

SUSTAIN (UK) – The alliance for better food and farming. SUSTAIN advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity. SUSTAIN represents around 100 national public interest organisations working at international, national, regional and local levels. http://www.sustainweb.org/

Sustain (UK) has inspired the development of a similar organisation in Canada - http://sustainontario.com/