Dr John Daley, Chief Executive, Grattan Institute

John Daley has been the Chief Executive of the Grattan Institute since it was founded over ten years ago. He has published extensively on economic reform priorities, budget policy, tax reform, retirement incomes, housing affordability, and generational inequality. This work is underpinned by themes of prioritising government initiatives, and the limits to government effectiveness.

John graduated from the University of Oxford in 1999 with a DPhil in public law after completing an LLB (Hons) and a BSc from the University of Melbourne in 1990. He has worked at the University of Oxford, the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, McKinsey and Co, and ANZ Bank, in fields including law, public policy, strategy, and finance.

Emma Dawson, Executive Director, Per Capita

Emma Dawson is the Executive Director of Per Capita. Formerly, she was a senior advisor on Digital Inclusion at Telstra, Executive Director of the Institute for a Broadband Enabled Society at the University of Melbourne, and a senior policy advisor in the Rudd and Gillard governments.

Emma has published reports, articles and opinion pieces on a wide range of public policy issues, which have appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Guardian, The Australian, and a number of online publications. She is a regular panellist on The Drum on ABC TV.

Emma holds a BA with First Class Honours from LaTrobe University and an MA with Distinction from Monash. She sits on the board of the Prader-Willi Research Foundation Australia.

Mary Delahunty, Head of Impact, HESTA

Mary is the Head of Impact for HESTA and has been with the fund since early 2013. She has held senior roles in financial services organisations for over 15 years and is passionate about progressing responsible investment practices. HESTA is one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds with $50bn under management and over 880,000 members.

Mary is a 2015 Churchill Fellow awarded for the completion of international research on equity for women in pension systems.

Mary is the Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Gender Equality in the State of Victoria.  The Council’s role is to advise the Minister for Women on the Safe and Strong equality strategy.

Mary is also a councillor and former Mayor of the City of Glen Eira.  Mary is also a Board Member of The Emergency Services Telecommunication Authority and an advisory panel member for the State Government, she is a past Chair of Reclink Australia, a National Not For Profit organisation offering sports and recreation opportunities to break the cycle for disadvantaged Australians.

Mary holds a Masters of Finance (Corporate Advisory) and has three young children.

Dr David Knox, Senior Partner, Mercer

David is a Senior Partner at Mercer and Senior Actuary for Australia.  He is the National Leader for Research; actuary to the Tasmanian and Western Australian public sector superannuation plans; and lead author of the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index.

Before joining Mercer, David was at PricewaterhouseCoopers and prior to that was the Foundation Professor of Actuarial Studies at The University of Melbourne. In his two decades in academia, he acted as a consultant to a range of financial organisations, in both the private and public sectors, specialising in superannuation and retirement incomes. He has spoken and written widely in this area and has served on many Government and industry committees. 

David was an independent Board member of Australian Prudential Regulation Authority from 1998 to 2003 and President of the Institute of Actuaries of Australia in 2000.

Ali Moore, Journalist and Broadcaster

Ali Moore has more than 25 years experience as a journalist and broadcaster, working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia's Nine Network, and for the BBCs global news network, based in Singapore. She has covered major news and current affairs events across the region, reporting from Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China.

In her more than two decades as a broadcaster Ali has interviewed key decision makers from a range of companies, industries and political theatres. Her previous roles include ABC China Correspondent, host of Australia's premier late night TV current affairs program (Lateline), and anchor of some of the country's key business news programs (Business Sunday, Lateline Business). She is now a freelance broadcaster and journalist.