From the CEO - December 2021
Last month at our Annual General Meeting (AGM), we farewelled Kate Lamont AM as Board Chair and welcomed Tony Joyner into the role. Tony is a Partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, one of the founding members of the Committee for Perth, and has taken a keen interest in our research and activities over the past 15 years. Directors Tim Shanahan and Andrew Hill retired and Kevin Brown was announced as the successful nominee in the recent elections.
At the AGM, we also released our 2021: A year in review report. This year we were pleased to finalise our major research project the Future of Work through the release of The Future of Work: Equipping WA and its people to lead the Nation in the future world of work report and we also commenced work on the Race to the Top project.
A new Chair heralds the creation of a new strategic plan and early in the new year, we will be inviting members to attend workshops to help shape our future direction. Members will also have the opportunity to attend Roundtable Discussions to advance the recommendations of The Future of Work report and reflect on the early findings of our Race to the Top research.
As the year draws to a close, we’ve continued a sprint to the finish line releasing research outputs, holding face-to-face and online events as well as presenting to external organisations on issues in which we are experts.
Associate Professor Paul Maginn was the author of our final research release of the year, FACTBase Bulletin 77 - COVID (Sub)Urbanisms: Intra-Mobility Trends in Greater Perth. Paul presented his key findings during our member-only FACTBase Talks webinar and we undertook a number of media engagements on the day of the public launch.
In terms of in-person events, at the AGM Food for Thought Leaders Luncheon Dr Richard Walley OAM and Dr Noel Nannup OAM shared the development of the Danjoo Koorliny ‘Walking Together’ project; Minister The Hon. John Carey MLA shared updates on both his Housing and Local Government portfolios at the last Chairman’s 20 event for the year followed by the City of Mandurah’s Mayor Rhys Williams addressing the last Food for Thought Leaders Luncheon on the Transforming Mandurah strategy with our Research & Policy Specialist Dr Tram Le providing a sneak peek of research to be released in the new year about skills shortages and the labour market.
Our online events are always very popular. In November the Reshaping Working Group received a briefing from the Public Transport Authority on the High-Capacity Signalling Project and Public Transport Operations Control Centre and our New Horizons event focused on the CBD office market with a briefing from the team at Knight Frank. A very busy program of member engagement to share city making and shaping initiatives.
Our partnership with Business News this year has been particularly fruitful resulting in the seven-part Promoting Perth series and the six-part Future Perth Podcast. These have created opportunities to talk Perth up and explore the region’s future as recommended in our Boorloo Kworp ‘Perth is Good’ report.
In closing, I would like to thank our members for their ongoing support which ensures we can continue to make a positive difference to Greater Perth and wish you all a safe and happy festive season.
Marion Fulker AM
Chief Executive Officer
Adjunct Senior Research Fellow UWA
Photo: Future Perth Podcast - Perceptions of Perth; Food for Thought Leaders Luncheon - Greater Perth's Human Capital; AGM Food for Thought Leaders Luncheon - Danjoo Koorliny; Chairman's 20 - An update from Minister The Hon. John Carey MLA.
