New legislation establishing the office of a new anti-slavery commissioner has passed parliament, creating a role for new commissioner who will be responsible for promoting business reporting under the Modern Slavery Act and supporting victim survivors of modern slavery.
While the new role was widely approved by civil society groups and unions, many criticised the role’s lack of enforcement and investigative power to ensure companies comply with the law. The office was also only given a budget of $8 million over four years, which activist groups say is insufficient.
No additional funding was allocated in the recent budget either. Groups such as the Human Rights Law Centre, Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Human Rights Institute are calling on the government to improve the country’s Modern Slavery Act 2018, which had “not yet caused meaningful change” towards the 30 recommendations that came out of an independent statutory review last year.
Property advisory firm Slattery has appointed David Martin as its new chief executive. Alongside Martin, current chief executive Sarah Slattery will step into her new role as the director of partnerships and innovation and remain on the Slattery board.
Slattery had taken over as the daughter of the company’s founder, Peter Slattery, who established the company in 1976, and Martin will serve as the first chief outside of the Slattery family. She will continue her endeavours as the current chair of the Green Building Council of Australia’s Responsible Products Advisory Group, the Green tar Advisory Committee, and the Australian Construction Industry Forum Forecasting Council member.
Martin has more than 25 years of experience in leadership and management roles across several industries. He had started as an engineer and was notably the CEO of the architectural practice Buchan Group for three years. More recently, Martin had been the chief of property valuation firm M3 Property. He had also served on Slattery’s board of directors for two years before his appointment.
Thinkstep ANZ has appointed Helen Lewis as its new principal sustainability specialist. Lewis has more than 20 years of experience in plastics recycling and the circular economy industry and generally works as an adjunct professor and researcher for the University of Technology Sydney’s Institute for Sustainable Futures, where she has worked for more than seven years.
Her most recent role prior to that was in 2016, where she was the chief executive of the Australian Battery Recycling Initiative for more than six years. She is also a founding member of Circular Plastics Illawarra, an action group dedicated to advocating for reducing, reusing and recycling New South Wales’ Illawarra region.
HVAC&R professional association AIRAH has recently completed its annual general meeting, and with it comes a number of new appointments, including the appointment of Mikaila Ganado as its new president.
Ganado holds 15 years of experience as an HVAC&R consultant and has worked to improve efficiency and achieve net zero retrofits on a number of projects in Sydney. She joined the board in 2020 and held a number of roles, including being associate director of the Women of AIRAH special technical group and a member of the AIRAH NSW division committee. She is currently a co-owner and partner at GWA Consultants Australia.