Executive

President: The Honourable Gough Whitlam AC QC

Australia's best-known Fabian, Gough was Prime Minister of Australia 1972-75 and Leader of the Opposition 1967-72 and 1975-77.

Gough has been a frequent speaker at Australian Fabian Society events, and his publications for the society include:

• Labor and the Constitution
• Beyond Vietnam: Australia's Regional Responsibility
• Whitlam on Urban Growth
• Labor in Power (with Bruce Grant)
• Reshaping Australian Industry: Tariffs and Socialists (with Ken Gott and Ralph Willis).

Chairman: Race Matthews

Race Mathews is currently the National Chairman of the Australian Fabian Society, and has recently completed his third term as National Secretary, having held the position for a total of 21 years from 1960-67, 1980-88 and 1998-05. He is an adjunct professor in the faculty of business and law at Deakin University and a former federal MP,  state MP and minister, municipal councillor and chief of staff to Gough Whitlam as Leader of the Opposition.

He has written widely on history, political science and public policy.

His publications for the society include:

• Meeting the Crisis: Federal Aid for Education
• Labor's Socialist Objective (with Gareth Evans and Peter Wilenski)
• Building the Society of Equals: Worker Co-operatives and the ALP
• David Bennett: A Memoir
• Employee Ownership: Mondragon's Lessons for Australia, Health Wars
• Turning the Tide: Towards a Mutualist Philosophy and Politics for Labor and the Left.

He is also the author of:

• Australia's First Fabians: Middle-Class Radicals, Labor Activists and the Early Labour Movement (1993, Cambridge University Press)
• Jobs of Our Own: Building a Stakeholder Society (1999, Pluto Press, Sydney, and Comerford & Miller, London).

Deputy Chair: Barbara Norman

Barbara Norman is the Program Director, Environment and Planning, School of Social Sciences, RMIT University.

Barbara is also the Deputy Chair of the ACT Planning and Land Council and a member of the Central Coastal Board in Victoria. Her research and teaching interests are in triple bottom line, strategic planning, coastal planning and management and urban governance.

Barbara was previously Director of Metropolitan Planning and Land Supply in the ACT and head of ACT Housing (public housing agency). She is the past National President of the Planning Institute of Australia and a Life Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Institute of Management.

Barbara has worked at a senior level in the Victorian, NSW and ACT public sector and run her own consultancy. Her interests span environment, housing and planning, particularly the linkages between these. She has a strong interest in national policy in these areas and their relevance at the local level.

Barbara was made a Fellow of the Planning Institute of Australia 2004 and was the recipient of a Centenary Medal during 2003 for her contribution to the community through urban and regional planning.

Secretary: Evan Thornley

Evan Thornley is active in business, education, the community sector and public policy. He is currently:

• National Secretary of the Australian Fabian Society and a leader of its Research Committee.
• Proprietor, with partner Tracey Ellery , of Pluto Press Australia – Australia’s premier social issues book publisher whose recent titles included Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class” and Scott Pape’s “The Barefoot Investor”.
• A member of the Council of The University of Melbourne and its Finance Committee;
• A member of the Board of Directors of The Brotherhood of St Laurence;
• A Board member of the ALP’s Chifley Research Centre;

Evan and Tracey co-founded internet search company LookSmart in October, 1995. LookSmart is headquartered in San Francisco and has about 150 employees. It went public on the NASDAQ in August 1999 and was listed on the ASX in February 2000.

Evan served as CEO of Looksmart from 1995 to October 2002 when Tracey, Evan and their family returned to Australia . He served as Chair of the Board from inception until retiring in July, 2004 and did not seek re-election to its board in 2005.

Prior to LookSmart, Evan was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, the global consulting firm, in their New York , Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne offices. He has degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne , where is also served as president of the SRC and as a founding officer of the National Union of Students.

Assistant Secretary: Helen Tierney

Helen Tierney has become active in the Fabian Society over recent years.
She has extensive experience in public policy development and implementation, both in the Victorian Public Service and in private consulting in Australia and Malaysia.

She has specialised in education and training project management, but also has extensive experience in both housing and youth policy development. She has also been a speechwriter for the Victorian Minister of Health, and Officer in the Australian High Commission in Malaysia. She was active in campus student politics and in the establishment of the National Union of Students. She joined the ALP whilst at University and is currrently a member of the Fitzroy branch executive.

Treasurer: Faith Fitzgerald

Faith is the General Manager, RMIT Training, the commercial arm of RMIT University. The company is made up of a number of businesses, including RMIT English Worldwide, a global English language business, and RMIT Publishing.

Prior to taking on this position Faith worked in the Information Technology industry in regional management and sales and marketing roles. She was a senior public servant in the Victorian Government during the 1980s and a local councilor and Mayor in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster Templestowe. Faith has broad political interests and continues to be closely involved with local community action programs in the city of Port Phillip, where she now lives. She is a current member of the Australian Labor Party.

Minutes Secretary: Jill Anwyl

Jill has been a member of the Fabian Society for over 30 years. Professionally she has had a long career in education as teacher, policy maker and writer. Until her recent retirement she worked for the Department of Education & Training in the Post Compulsory Pathways section.

Jill's work has had a focus on developing opportunities for at risk and alienated young people and also in building networks across education, employment and the community.

Members

Ben Barnett

He has been President of the Melbourne University ALP Club since 2001, and has been actively involved with the public education movement on campus. Ben also works in the office of Lindsay Tanner.

Ryk Bliszczyk

Ryk's interest in issues of social justice was borne of personal experiences growing up in 60s and 70s Australia, the son of World War 2 refugees. He joined the ALP at University and has become active in the Fabian Society over recent years.

He is currently a Partner at Deloitte consulting after managing his own consultancy, Gen Group, a firm he began in 1998, after 4 years as a strategist in New York with Andersen Consulting and 2 years with the Boston Consulting Group.

His expertise is in issues of corporate strategy and leadership of organisational change for major corporations. Leadership at all levels in society is his abiding interest and it is this perspective that led him to the AFS hoping to contribute to improving the nature and quality of leadership in the ALP and more broadly raise the quality of debate about political leadership and what it means for Australia.

Gary Jungwirth

Pamela McLure

Pamela is a communications and community relations consultant with extensive experience working in the community sector and for not-for-profit organisations.

Positions she has held include Public Affairs Officer for Victoria's Legal Ombudsman, Executive Officer for the Victorian Community Foundation, Australia's first community foundation, Community Relations Manager at Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital and Community Liaison Officer for The Age Information Centre.

Prior to joining The Age, Pamela was the Research Officer for Australian Frontier Inc., and independent research organisation concerned with the social development of the Australian community.

Her consultancy work for the VLGA (Victorian Local Governance Association) has involved the management and marketing of a wide range of professional development events for local government councillors and staff.

She was the author of The Age Kid's Book(1982). Her MA(Comms) thesis Self-employed Women and the New Information Technology: Liberation or Exploitation(1998) examined the changing nature of work and the impact this is having on women and their role in society.

Lucie O'Brien

Lucie is in her final year of law at the University of Melbourne, and has previously completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours. She is a member of the Australian Labor Party, and president of the Carlton Branch.

Since 2003 she has worked part time in the office of John Thwaites, Member for Albert Park. In 2006 she will begin an articled clerkship with Holding Redlich.

Brendan O'Dwyer

Brendan has extensive experience in marketing and the media. He has worked as Marketing Manager at Pluto Press for a number of years. He is a life-long labor supporter and has become active in the Australian Fabians over recent years.

Justin Randall

Justin is currently completing a Batchelor of Arts at Monash University.

He is a member of the Australia Labor Party and an Electorate Officer for Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Jenny Macklin.

Dr Sally Young

Sally is a Lecturer in the Media and Communications Program at The University of Melbourne. Her teaching and research are focued on media and politics including political communication. Sally's PhD was on political advertising in Australia. She has previously worked in various political and government offices, including on election campaigns and as a Media Adviser. In 2001, she founded the Political Advertising Archive (PAA). The PAA is the largest dedicated archive of Australian election material.