Home Grown Energy

Madeleine Morris is a Melbourne-based reporter for ABC television’s 7.30. She was formerly a presenter for the BBC in London and reported from dozens of countries before returning to her native Australia. She is the author of Guilt-Free Bottle-Feeding: Why Your Formula-Fed Baby Can Grow Up To Be Happy, Healthy and Smart, published by Finch. 

Miriam Lyons is a Renewable Energy Campaigner with GetUp! She is also an Australian policy analyst, writer and commentator, and the co-author, with Ian McAuley, of Governomics, published by Melbourne University Press in May 2015.

Miriam is a member of the Centre for Australian Progress board, and a Fellow and former CEO of the Centre for Policy Development, which she co-founded with John Menadue AO and others in 2007. She is a frequent guest on various TV and radio programs, including the ABC shows Q&A and The Drum, has contributed to several publications and co-edited the CPD books Pushing Our Luck and More Than Luck. Earlier roles include policy editing for New Matilda, researching freedom of speech in East Timor, and organising ideas festivals. 

Professor Garnaut is a Professor of Economics at The University of Melbourne. He was previously distinguished Professor of Economics at the Australian National University, the Director of the ANU Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management and was the longstanding Head of the Department of Economics. He is the author of numerous publications in scholarly journals on international economics, public finance and economic development, particularly in relation to East Asia and the Southwest Pacific. Recent books include The Great Crash of 2008 (with David Llewellyn-Smith, 2009); Dog Days: Australia After the Boom (2013); Forty Years of Reform and Development in China (2018), Superpower: Australia’s low carbon opportunity (2019) and Reset: Restoring Australia after the Pandemic Recession (2021). He is Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Economic Society, Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resources Economic Society, Fellow of the Australia Academy of Social Sciences and Honorary Professor of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

 Professor Garnaut has had longstanding senior roles as policy advisor, diplomat and businessman. He was the senior economic policy official in Papua New Guinea’s Department of Finance in the years straddling Independence in 1975, principal economic adviser to Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke 1983-1985, and Australian Ambassador to China 1985-1988.

He is the author of a number of influential reports to the Australian Government, including Australia and the Northeast Asian Ascendancy, 1989, The Review of Federal State Financial Relations (with Vince Fitzgerald) 2002, The Garnaut Climate Change Review 2008, and The Garnaut Review 2011: Australia and the Global Response to Climate Change.

Professor Garnaut has chaired the boards of major Australian and International companies since 1988, including Lihir Gold Ltd (1995 – 2010); Bank of Western Australia Ltd (1988 – 1995); Primary Industry Bank of Australia Ltd (1989 – 1994); Papua New Guinea Sustainable Development Limited Pty Ltd (2002 – 2012) and its subsidiary OK Tedi Mining Ltd; Lonely Planet Pty Ltd; Aluminium Smelters of Victoria Ltd; ZEN Energy Technologies Pty Ltd. He is currently the Director of ZEN Energy and Chairman of Sunshot Energy.

Professor Garnaut was made Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1991 for service to education and international relations and a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2017 for service on climate change and energy.

Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla, ‘Eco Alchemist’, is one of the world's leading innovators in the field of sustainable materials use and an international award-winning scientist and engineer.

Sahajwalla is founding director of the Sustainable Materials Research & Technology (SMaRT) Centre at the University of New South Wales. Her research has resulted in a world-first, environmentally friendly process for recycling end-of-life plastics/rubber in electric arc furnace steelmaking, resulting in the production of ‘Green Steel’. This work is making a contribution towards creating innovative, green manufacturing, science and technology for the building and construction industries as well as  consumer products.

Sahajwalla is passionate about mining the mountains of rubbish and waste materials produced by modern society and re-using them in industrial processes or to create new goods.

Sahajwalla is also an Australian Research Council Georgina Sweet Laureate Fellow. This fellowship allows Sahajwalla to both undertake a dedicated research program that transforms toxic electronic waste (e-waste) into value added metal and alloys. As well as implement ‘Science 50:50’, a program designed to inspire and encourage women to pursue careers in science and technology. 

Sahajwalla’s research has been recognised with national and international awards. In 2015 Sahajwalla was the Innovation Winner of the Australian Financial Review­–Wespac 100 Women of Influence awards, and was listed as one of Australia’s Top 100 Most Influential Engineers by Engineers Australia. In 2012 she was named Overall Winner of the Australian Innovation Challenge, and was presented with a Banksia Award and the GE Eco Innovation Award for Individual Excellence. While already well-known and highly respected within her own sphere, Sahajwalla became one of Australia’s best-known scientists and inventors through her regular appearances as a judge on the long-running ABC TV series The New Inventors. 

Sahajwalla has delivered keynote and invited speeches at some of the most prestigious research gatherings and conferences across the world and has lectured in Argentina, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, UK and USA. She has also published more than 250 refereed papers in leading journals and conference proceedings in her field.

Sahajwalla completed her Master’s degree at the University of British Columbia and her PhD at The University of Michigan. She was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) in 2007 and a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, in 2005. In 2015 she was selected as an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Engineers, Australia.