James allan 2 kevin andrews mp 2

JENNIFER BUCKINGHAM

Dr Jennifer Buckingham is a Research Fellow and acting Research Manager at The Centre for Independent Studies. Jennifer’s main area of work is school education, and she has published papers on school funding, school choice, religious schools, teacher training and employment, class size, league tables, literacy, educational disadvantage, and child care.

Her most recent publications are Why Jaydon Can’t Read: How Ideology Triumphed Over Evidence in Reading Instruction (2013) and School Funding on a Budget (2014). Jennifer was schools editor at The Australian newspaper from 2004 to 2005. She completed her PhD this year on literacy and social disadvantage.
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GRAHAME CAMPBELL

Grahame Campbell is a Consultant to WorleyParsons and was a Director there for 13 years until 2010.

He worked as a Project Manager for major oil and gas projects in Iraq, Trinidad, the United States, Indonesia and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. Grahame served as CEO for Williams Bros-CMPS Engineers for 16 years. For the past 11 years, Grahame has served on a number of listed public company and government boards such as Iluka Resources, Anaconda Nickel, Statewide Roads, and State Rails. His major interests now are energy policy and water management.
Grahame is joined at Consilium by his partner, Julie Hibberd. Julie is a professional musician and has played the piano and organ in many parts of the world. Her main interest is jazz music. Julie performs with her jazz band, Cool Change, in Cairns.
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ROBERT CARLING

Robert Carling is a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies. Robert is researching and writing about fiscal policy, taxation and federalism. Some of Robert's recent publications include States of Debt, Shrink Taxation by Shrinking Government! and Australia’s Future Fiscal Shock.

Prior to joining the CIS, Robert was Executive Director, Economic and Fiscal at the New South Wales Treasury from 1998 to 2006. Previous positions have been with Commonwealth Treasury, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He holds academic qualifications in economics and finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Georgetown University and the University of Queensland.
Robert’s wife, Elizabeth Merino, is joining him at Consilium. Elizabeth was born in Peru and worked as an economist in the Central Bank of Peru in the 1980s. After that, she worked as an economist for the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C.
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ALAN CASTLEMAN

Alan Castleman is a professional non-executive director and board consultant. For the last 20 years he has been chairman of over 15 companies and organisations, including ASX listed companies, other public companies, mutual companies, government, private and NFP organisations, and served as a director on other companies. Key sectors include health, infrastructure, financial services, energy, mining & manufacturing.

Prior to this, his executive career was principally in BHP where he held senior financial and general managerial roles. Currently he chairs the Australian Centre for Health Research, Vemco Australia, the Australian Unity Foundation, and The Board Advisory Group, which provides board search and board advisory services. He is a fellow of The Institution of Engineers, the Institute of Management and the Institute of Company Directors.
Alan’s wife, Dr Beverley Castleman, is joining him at Consilium. Beverley Castleman is a social scientist and art collector. She received her PhD for a major thesis on Changes in the Commonwealth Machinery of Government, a major study of departmental changes over the 50 year period from 1928 to 1982.

Currently she is collecting and writing about the Hermannsburg School of Aboriginal Art, and is an active and long standing member of Monash Health ( Victoria ) Research Ethics Committee.

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NICK CATER

Nick Cater has just been appointed Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre. Nick is currently working on a new project based on Enlightenment ideas which is being held at the Centre for Independent Studies. He is also completing his second book, a sequel to last year’s The Lucky Culture.

Nick spent 24 years at News Corp with nine years in senior editorial positions at The Australian including editing The Weekend Australian and several years as a News Corp correspondent in Asia. He started his career at the BBC but migrated to Australia where he first worked on the Adelaide Advertiser in 1989.
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PATRICK CHOVANEC

Patrick Chovanec is Chief Strategist and Managing Director at Silvercrest Asset Management. He was Associate Professor for International MBA Program at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing, and lectured at Harvard University, MIT, and University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Patrick also provides his insights to media outlets about Chinese economics, business, politics, and culture, and regularly featured on CNN, BBC, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg. Patrick has worked for several China-focused private equity funds, and was Chairman of the Public Policy Development Committee for the American Chamber of Commerce in China. China’s Global Times named him one of the “Ten Foreigners Who Had the Most Influence on China in 2009” and his blog was also named as one of “The Best Economic Blogs” by The Wall Street Journal in 2010.
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STEVEN CIOBO MP

The Hon. Steven Ciobo MP was sworn in as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer in 2013 and was first elected as the Member for Moncrieff in 2001. He has been a member of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics in the 41st, 42nd and 43rd Parliaments, including, most recently, serving as Deputy Chair.

Steven was actively involved in the Committee’s biannual review of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the key interaction between the Parliament and the central bank. Before entering Parliament, Steven built a professional career as an executive in the economic reform unit at international firms Coopers & Lybrand and, later, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
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