SPEAKERS

Concurrent Speakers

PIA are pleased to announce the following Concurrent Speakers:

Day One - Wednesday 12 March 

Julian Skipworth, Cumulus Engineering, Director 

Presenting on Integrating Flood Modelling into Planning: Building Resilient Communities in a Changing Climate

Julian Skipworth is the Co-founder and Director of Cumulus Engineering, a leading water consultancy focused on flood risk management, stormwater solutions, and community resilience. With over a decade of experience in hydrology, floodplain management, and water engineering, 

Julian specialises in delivering innovative, practical solutions for climate adaptation, particularly in rural and regional areas. Passionate about combining cutting-edge technology with sustainable practices, he is committed to protecting communities and supporting the transition to cleaner energy. Julian’s work emphasises transparency, collaboration, and high-quality outcomes, ensuring long-term resilience for clients and the environment.

Dr Jane Homewood MPIA, Housing Australia

Presenting on Housing Australia: overview of programs and opportunities for local government

Jane has extensive experience working for local, state and the commonwealth governments in planning, housing and urban renewal and has worked internationally on city making and urban renewal projects.

Tarnya Fitzgibbon RPIA, Banana Shire Council

Presenting on Blowin' in the wind or hung out to dry?: The impact of wind farms on rural and regional communities

Tarnya is the Manager Development and Regulatory Services at Banana Shire Council in Central Queensland. She has over 20 years' experience in the industry. Before becoming a practicing planner, Tarnya was a Planning and Environment Lawyer, having been a Partner at Cooper Grace Ward Lawyers. 

She has qualifications in law, environmental science, town planning and an MBA. Tarnya has worked both as a consultant and as the Development Assessment Manager at a large regional council. Tarnya was the runner up in the Queensland Outstanding Woman in Planning Awards in 2023. 

Kylie Legge MPIA, Place Score & Parkes Shire Council

Presenting on Data-Driven Insights: Enhancing Liveability in Regional Councils through Evidence-Based Studies

Kylie Legge is the CEO and founder of Place Score, Australia’s only dedicated place measurement company. Kylie has been a place maker for 20 years, working on strategic and tactical projects across Australia, in Asia and the Middle East. Kylie Legge is a leading voice in the evolving profession of placemaking.


She is also the Founding Director of Place Partners, a multidisciplinary and award-winning placemaking consultancy based in Sydney Australia, and place measurement company Place Score, a place experience, diagnostic, engagement, benchmarking, and tracking platform.   

Teresa Cooper, Place Score & Parkes Shire Council

Presenting on Data-Driven Insights: Enhancing Liveability in Regional Councils through Evidence-Based Studies

Teresa is a passionate Integrated Planning and Reporting practitioner invested in community engagement and the understanding of what neighborhoods look and feel like. Teresa holds both project management and marketing degrees, with experience in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Teresa lives in Central West NSW, in the Parkes Shire, having relocated from the Sydney coastlines to the country. Her proudest moments have been to deliver quality community reports embracing the rural location and sharing the successes of the Shire. Teresa's passion supports her strong drive for evidence and strength-based approach to understand the communities. 

Christopher Marinopoulous MPIA, Value Advisory Partners

Presenting on Regional Planning through a multi-hazard and resilient lens: delivering the Regional Adaptive Pathways Planning Project for an innovative process to future-proof Australia’s regions

Christopher has over 8 years of experience in both urban planning and architectural roles, with completed Masters qualifications in Design and Planning. His involvement in precinct scale projects, urban renewal projects and economic assessments shows a wealth of knowledge to many areas of the built environment. He provides strengths in analytic approaches to built form, policy analysis, mapping including GIS and planning knowledge. 

Christopher’s expertise is the ability to integrate multiple analyses to provide clarity in insight for urban development, land use change, liveability benefits, tourism impacts, employment analysis and value realisation. 



Peter Heinmiller, Value Advisory Partners

Presenting on Regional Planning through a multi-hazard and resilient lens: delivering the Regional Adaptive Pathways Planning Project for an innovative process to future-proof Australia’s regions

Peter combines his academic background in organizational psychology with his professional experience in complex data and analytics to unlock insights for clients in the areas of infrastructure planning and funding, precinct planning, renewal and strategy, transport options analysis, development scenario assessments, and economic strategy and frameworks. He has a strong understanding of the city shaping role of infrastructure and how its planning, investment, delivery, and maintenance can drive social, economic, and environmental outcomes to improve the lives of the people who live, work and play in these places. 

His recent experience in disaster risk and resilience builds upon his prior infrastructure planning and investment knowledge to drive better, longer-term outcomes for communities in the face of a changing climate.

Kate Rogers, Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works

Presenting on Understanding housing need in regional Queensland

Kate Rogers is a Director in the Regional and Spatial Planning Division of the Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works. Her work focuses on assisting businesses as well as local and state government with statutory and strategic planning projects and processes, development facilitation, governance reviews, community consultation and urban renewal projects. She brings experience from previous roles at the City of Gold Coast, Sustainable Schools Network and RPS.

Rachel Gallagher MPIA, Department of Housing, Local Government, Planning and Public Works

Presenting on Understanding housing need in regional Queensland

Rachel Gallagher is a researcher and public policy professional with interests in geography, housing and planning. She has qualifications in law, science and planning, and over a decade of experience in planning and housing policy in state government and the not-for-profit sector.

Day Two - Thursday 13 March

Linda Martin-Chew MPIA, The Rural Planner 

Presenting on Farm to Plate to Compost Bin to Farm: who is in charge of connecting urban food waste with agriculture?

Linda Martin-Chew (B.Sc., M.A., MPIA) has 16 years experience as a local government planner and is recognised as an advocate for planning reform to support sustainable, ethical agriculture. Prior to studying rural and regional planning, Linda spent 10 years as co-owner of a 24ha property in Central Victoria, breeding cattle and horses. 


Now Linda’s time is divided between her role as a strategic planner in local government and her consultancy, The Rural Planner, which supports peri-urban landholders in the planning approvals process. Linda is hopeful about the agricultural future of Victoria, despite the challenges of urban encroachment and climate change. 

Steve Dunn RPIA (Fellow), Regional Housing Victoria

Presenting on Helping Small Scale Investors Build Worker Housing

Director at Regional Housing Victoria - Steve has extensive planning experience in state and local government and expertise in housing, community engagement and structure planning

Roger Hastrich, Regional Housing Victoria

Presenting on Helping Small Scale Investors Build Worker Housing

Director at Regional Housing Victoria - Roger has an extensive and diverse consulting background across human services and expertise in housing, community engagement and community services. 

Katie Xiao, Tomkinson

Presenting on Helping Small Scale Investors Build Worker Housing and Seasonal Worker Accommodation

Business Development Executive at Tomkinson Consultants - Katie has over 20 years' experience in urban and regional planning in Victoria, NSW and the Pacific. Technical knowledge and multidisciplinary expertise allow Katie to collaborate and manage teams and take a balanced and open-minded approach to planning advice and strategies for clients and councils alike.

Dr Steven Liaros MPIA, Circular Economy Villages Co-operative 

Presenting on Networks of Smart Rural Villages: Reinventing Garden Cities for the 21st Century

Dr Steven Liaros is a polymath and futurist with expertise in civil engineering, town planning, environmental law and political economy. He is director of strategic town planning consultancy, PolisPlan. Steven is co-creating a new category of land development to enable a collaborative, affordable and sustainable mode of living in a connected network of Circular Economy Villages.

Dr Sarah Barns, Circular Economy Villages Co-operative 

Presenting on Networks of Smart Rural Villages: Reinventing Garden Cities for the 21st Century

Dr Sarah Barns is a passionate place-maker, media artist, civic technology strategist, researcher and storyteller working with diverse communities & place custodians to expand and deepen connections between people, place and habitat. 


Operating broadly to connect regenerative placemaking practices with digital innovation methods, Sarah's work is multi-disciplinary and highly responsive to our rapidly-changing world. 



Dr Elliot Fishman, Institute for Sensible Transport  

Presenting on Active transport strategies for regional communities

Dr Elliot Fishman has 18 years’ experience as a sustainable mobility specialist. He completed his PhD at the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety on the topic of shared micromobility. He is ranked by Stanford University in the top 2% of scientists globally for his contributions to transport. His work has been published in the top-ranking industry journals including the British Medical Journal and the Journal of Transport Geography. 

He has advised the Australian Prime Minister’s Office on sustainable mobility as well as the New York City Department of Transport and Transport for London regarding bike share. He recently completed a landmark report for Austroads on the effectiveness of interventions to increase active transport mode share. Since 2005 has been the Director at the Institute for Sensible Transport.

Sarah Morgan MPIA, GHD

Presenting on The power of Public Open Space planning in sustainable regional development – A Victorian Case Study

As a Landscape architect and Planning professional who grew up in regional South Africa, Sarah is deeply interested in the sustainable development of regional communities. Her work in Australia has taken her across urban and regional Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, where she has seen the value of public open space harnessed in varying capacities.


Her recent Masters research on the current position of Public Open Space planning in regional Victoria has highlighted the opportunities for the advocacy of robust public open space strategic planning in the context of regional development. 

Andrea Tomkinson, Tomkinson

Presenting on Seasonal Worker Accommodation

Andrea succeeded Paul Tomkinson as Executive Director of Tomkinson in 2014. She has more than 20 years of planning project management, and leadership experience. Along slide her co-director and a strong management team, Andrea is committed to regeneration and fostering growth for the company. 


In Addition to managing complex, multi-disciplinary projects, she is also proficient in the development and review of detailed statutory planning, design and construction documents; project specifications, cost estimates, and life cycle analyses; technical report writing, and public communications and presentations.  

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT

Please contact
nationalevents@planning.org.au

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Please contact Grace Mulraney
grace.mulraney@planning.org.au

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PIA acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to Elders past and present.