Defence White Paper - Biographies
Deputy Secretary White Paper: Mr Michael Pezzullo
Ministerial Advisory Panel: Professor Ross Babbage | Major General Peter Abigail (Ret'd) | Dr
Mark Thomson
Community Consultation Progamme Panel: Stephen Loosley (Chair) | Arthur Sinodinos
(Deputy Chair) | Professor Tanya Monro | Rear Admiral Simon Harrington
AM RAN (Ret'd) | The Hon Peter Collins AM QC
 Low Res | High Res |
MR MICHAEL PEZZULLO
Deputy Secretary White Paper
Michael Pezzullo took up the position of Deputy Secretary Strategy, Coordination and Governance in the Department of Defence in January 2006. In this role, he is responsible for defence strategy and planning, the strategic policy aspects of Australian Defence Force operations and Defence's international security relationships, and delivering national security programmes in areas such as export controls, counter-proliferation and Defence cooperation with other countries.
Mr Pezzullo joined the Department of Defence as a graduate in 1987. He worked in Defence until 1992 in a variety of strategic policy and intelligence positions. He then transferred to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, where he worked in the International Division. In March 1993, he joined the staff of the Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Gareth Evans QC. He remained in Parliament House until December 2001, including serving 5 years as Deputy Chief of Staff to the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Kim Beazley MP.
In February 2002, he rejoined the Department of Defence as an Assistant Secretary in the Corporate Services and Infrastructure Group (now Defence Support Group). In March 2004, he was promoted to the position of Head Infrastructure. In July 2004, he was transferred into the newly formed role of Chief Of Staff Australian Defence Headquarters and Head of Coordination and Public Affairs Division.
Mr Pezzullo has a BA(Hons) in History from Sydney University. He enjoys being with his family, cricket and rugby league, and reading (anything
on military history, strategy, international relations, the world of espionage, political biography, philosophy, for starters).
Professor Ross Babbage is Chairman of the The Kokoda Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation committed to researching Australia’s most difficult future security challenges. Professor Babbage is also Managing Director of Strategy International (ACT) Pty Ltd, a defence consulting and education service delivery organisation.
Professor Babbage has wide-ranging expertise in international security affairs. He has held several senior positions in the Australian Public
Service, including Head of Strategic Analysis in the Office of National Assessments, and he led the branch in the Department of Defence responsible
for ANZUS policy. Professor Babbage was Assistant Secretary, Force Development in the late 1980s, carrying responsibility for the analysis of all
major defence capability proposals and the preparation of recommendations for the senior Defence committees and for Cabinet. From 1986-1990 he
was Deputy Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University.
Through the 1990s, Professor Babbage worked with ADI Limited, Australia’s largest defence company. In the late 1990s he served as Corporate
Executive Strategic Analysis, carrying primary responsibility for the company’s longer term thinking and planning. In 2000 he was appointed
the inaugural Director of the Centre for International Strategic Analysis in Perth. In 2003 and 2004 he served as Head of the Strategic and Defence
Studies Centre at the Australian National University. Professor Babbage has also served on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic
Studies in London for a maximum six year term.
Professor Babbage has Bachelor and Masters degrees in economics from the University of Sydney and a PhD in International Relations from the Australian
National University.
He is author of A Coast Too Long: Defending Australia Beyond the 1990s (Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1990), Rethinking Australia’s Defence
(University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1980), Preparing Australia’s Defence for 2020 – Transformation or Reform? (Kokoda Foundation,
Canberra, 2005) and Australia’s Future Underwater Operations and System Requirements (Kokoda Foundation, Canberra, 2007). Professor Babbage
has also written extensively on Asia-Pacific affairs focusing, in particular, on medium- and long-term regional trends.
MAJOR GENERAL PETER ABIGAIL (Ret'd)
Major General Peter Abigail (Ret'd) joined ASPI as Director in April 2005. Prior to that he spent 37 years in the Army. Following promotion to
Major General in December 1996, he served in a range of senior leadership appointments in the Defence Organisation.
As Assistant Chief of the Defence Force (Policy and Strategic Guidance) and then Head Strategic Policy and Plans (Australian Defence Headquarters)
(1996 - 1998) he was responsible for key aspects of Defence policy, military strategy and capability development.
As Deputy Chief of Army (1998-2000) he was responsible for managing the Army and its interaction with other Defence stakeholders. In his final
appointment, as Land Commander Australia (2000-2002), he commanded all of the Army's operational forces, full time and reserves, including those
that were committed to operations in East Timor, Bougainville and Afghanistan.
Peter retired from the Army in 2003 and formed a private company, Peter Abigail & Associates Pty Limited, specialising in strategic consultancy
services before taking up his position as Director.
Mark began his career as an academic working in theoretical physics. As a scientist he held research and teaching posts in Australia and the United Kingdom.
In the mid-1990's Mark joined the Department of Defence and commenced work in the Force Development and Analysis division scrutinising capability development proposals. Over the next five years he held a diverse range of jobs in the department that saw him working on budget management, organisational change and force development. In this period, he was deployed on operations as a Civilian Truce Monitor to Bougainville in 1997, and as Political Military Adviser to the INTERFET Commander in 1999.
In 2002 Mark joined the newly formed Australian Strategic Policy Institute as inaugural director of the Budget and Management Program. Mark's research
touches on a wide range of issues including Australia's defence and security budgets, links between strategy and force structure, the internal
management of the Department of Defence and defence industry. Mark participated in the government’s review of ADF Recruitment and Retention
in 2005-06 and was member of the Defence Industry Policy Review team in 2006-07.
STEPHEN
LOOSLEY
Chair of the Community Consultation Panel
Stephen holds a senior executive role within Babcock & Brown, acting as Principal Strategic Adviser to the firm.
Stephen was the General Secretary of the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party (1983-90), prior to being elected to the Australian Senate in 1990, where during his term he served as Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. He also served a term as ALP National President (1991-92).
Currently, he is the Chairman of the Committee for Sydney; a Councillor on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra; and a member of the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee, University of Wollongong. In addition, Stephen also serves on the Boards of the Partnership Executive of the National Rugby League; Thales Australia; the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue; Sydney Writers Festival; European Australian Business Council; Salvation Army Sydney Advisory Board.
Stephen holds First Class Honours degrees in Politics (UNSW, 1976) and the Law (UTS, 1997).
Stephen has contributed chapters to the books Australian-American Relations: Looking Toward the Next Century by William T. Tow (South Yarra: McMillan Education - 1998) and The Wran Era by Troy Bramston (The Federation Press - 2005).
He is a Member of The International Institute for Strategic Studies (London) and a Fellow of the Centre for International Legal Studies (Salzburg). Stephen
is a former columnist for the New Zealand Herald and The Sunday Telegraph and an occasional contributor to The Australian.
ARTHUR
SINODINOS
Deputy Chair of the Community Consultation Panel
Arthur joined the Department of Finance in 1979 as a graduate recruit. He was promoted to the Treasury in 1980 and served in various capacities until 1987. In October 1987 he joined John Howard’s staff as Senior Economic Advisor. In May 1989 he returned to Treasury as an Assistant Secretary when Mr Howard lost the position of Opposition Leader.
Arthur served in the Structural Policy, Financial Institutions, Economic and International Economy divisions of Treasury. He has experience in micro-economic reform, budgetary issues, foreign investment policy, labour markets, economic forecasting and international economic issues. He was Assistant Secretary, Labour Markets Branch (1992-1994), Acting First Assistant Secretary, Economic Division (1993-1994 Budget to January 1994), and Assistant Secretary, International Finance and Development Branch (1994-1995).
In 1995, Arthur returned to John Howard's staff, and upon the election of the Howard Government, was appointed the Policy Director in the office of the Prime Minister. In October 1997, Arthur was appointed as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, a position he held until December 2006 when he resigned to take a Senior Director position with Goldman Sachs JBWere.
In that role Arthur advised the firm and its clients on international and government relations matters, drawing on his extensive knowledge of public policies and processes, including industry and financial issues.
In August 2007, Arthur joined the National Australia Bank as Regional General Manager – Finance, Strategy, and Wealth in the Business and
Private Bank. He retains a role as an Advisory Director at Goldman Sachs JBWere.
Since 2005, Professor Tanya Monro has been the Chair of Photonics and the Director of the DSTO Centre of Expertise in Photonics within the School of Chemistry & Physics at the University of Adelaide. From 1998 to 2004, Tanya worked at the ORC at the University of Southampton, UK, on silica and soft glass microstructured optical fibres, where she was a Royal Society University Research Fellow.
Prior to this she completed a PhD at the University of Sydney, Australia on self-written waveguides in photosensitive glasses, and she received the Bragg Gold Medal for the best physics PhD in Australia in 1998 for this work. Current research within the Centre of Expertise in Photonics focuses on the design, fabrication and device applications of new classes of soft glass microstructured optical fibres, with a emphasis on sensing, the mid-infrared, new fibre lasers and nonlinear fibres. Tanya Monro has published more than 265 papers in referred journals and conferences, and has presented more then 50 invited talks. In 2006 she was awarded the Cosmos Magazine inaugural "Bright Sparks" award, in 2007 she was listed by the Sunday Mail as one of Adelaide's 50 "Rising Stars", in
2007 she was a finalist for the SA Scientist of the Year Award, and she is the Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lecturer for 2007/2008.
In 2008 she was awarded a Federation Fellowship by the Australian Research Council.
REAR
ADMIRAL SIMON HARRINGTON AM RAN (Ret'd)
Simon Harrington retired from the Royal Australian Navy in 2002 after nearly 40 years of service. He served in many ships culminating in the command of the Guided Missile Frigates CANBERRA (1987/8) and ADELAIDE (1992/3). His shore postings were mainly concerned with strategic development issues or personnel matters and included command of the Naval College at Jervis Bay (1991/2). On promotion to Rear Admiral in 1997 he was appointed as the inaugural Naval Component Commander of the Joint Support Command Australia before being posted as Head of the Australian Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in the USA.
On retiring from the Navy he undertook some consulting work before being appointed the Services Member of the Repatriation Commission in August 2003. He held this position for 3½ years. In November 2007 he was appointed to the Council of the Australian War Memorial.
He has an MBA from Deakin University and is a Member of the Order of Australia and an Officer of the United States Legion of Merit.
Peter is an Independent Director of HOSTPLUS, the superannuation fund for the Hospitality industry.
He is also currently Chairman of the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, the Cancer Institute of NSW, and St John Ambulance (NSW) as well as serving on the boards of Macquarie Generation and the Workers Compensation Insurance Fund Investment Board (NSW).
He was an ABC-TV journalist and practiced at the NSW Bar prior to his election to the NSW Parliament in 1981 at which time he chaired the Defence & Foreign Affairs Committee of the Liberal Party (NSW). He held several Ministerial portfolios including Treasurer, Attorney – General, and Health and the Arts after which he became Leader of the Opposition. He stood down from the NSW Parliament after 22 years at the 2003 election.
He has maintained an active interest in Defence matters throughout his life and has been an officer in both Army (1964-9) and Navy (since 1975) Reserves. He was Honorary Colonel of the elite 1st Commando Regiment and wrote its regimental history “Strike Swiftly” (published in 2005). After more than a decade as a naval intelligence officer, he transferred to the Navy’s legal branch in 1992.
Peter Collins was promoted to Commander and awarded the Reserve Force Decoration in 1994 and has twice been the RAN’s acting Fleet Legal Officer as well as working as an Inquiry officer. He led a tri-service ADF legal team deployed to Iraq in 2007 serving with the Law & Order Task Force in Baghdad. His current posting is Director Naval Reserve Support –NSW.
Peter holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of Sydney. He is also the author of “The Bear Pit” about
his experiences in the NSW Parliament and has written Defence articles for “The Australian” and “The Australian Financial Review”. He
is a member of the Australia Defence Association.