Earlier this year we opened expressions of interest for the inaugural AELERT Practitioner Fellowship Program, and the response was well beyond what we anticipated. Thank you to everyone who put their name forward. The calibre of applications reflected the depth of experience and commitment to the profession that runs right across our membership.
The Practitioner Fellowship Program connects experienced environmental regulators and practitioners with leading regulatory researchers from the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales, the School of Law at RMIT University, and the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at the Australian National University, and other partner institutions to co-produce capability tools, contribute to AELERT’s research agenda, and bring the reality of frontline regulation into the academic conversations that shape the profession.
Fellows will have the opportunity to collaborate and share knowledge with some of the leading research teams and academic professionals working at the intersection of law, regulation, and environment in Australia and New Zealand, while contributing meaningfully to a new cohort of practitioners developing their expertise across each jurisdiction represented in the network.
Introducing our inaugural Fellows
We are honoured to welcome the first cohort of AELERT Practitioner Fellows. Our Distinguished Practitioner Fellows are senior regulatory leaders whose work and careers play an active role in shaping regulation at the highest levels across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific.
The Practitioner and Associate Practitioner Fellows are a host of experienced and energetic regulators at varying stages of their career and working to advance the craft in their agency and niche, all of whom we are proud to feature as part of the program.
Distinguished Practitioner Fellows
Keith Manch
Former Chief Executive, Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime New Zealand
Keith recently retired from his role as the Chief Executive and Director of the Civil Aviation Authority, having previously been the CE and Director of Maritime NZ, and before that CE and Registrar of the Real Estate Agents Authority. His career has included being in NZ Police, and he has worked at senior levels in the Commerce Commission (competition and fair trading law enforcement), Ministry of Consumer Affairs (consumer policy, information and education; trade measurement; electricity and gas safety), Department of Internal Affairs (gambling, censorship, anti-money laundering, anti-spam and identity, fire and civil defence policy), Ministry of Social Development (benefit fraud, debt collection and data matching). He has been involved in the leadership of cross-system efforts to improve regulatory capability and regulatory stewardship for many years.
Dr Ash Bunce
Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, ACT; Inspector-General of Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports
Dr Ash Bunce is the Inspector-General of Animal Welfare and Live Animal Exports and a regulatory expert with a focus on building capability and professionalism across the regulatory community, supporting governments to solve a range of contemporary, complex and challenging issues to deliver better citizen outcomes. He has over 20 years’ experience as a senior executive in multiple jurisdictions, championing the transformation of key industries and leading complex regulatory reform across the biosecurity, animal welfare, agriculture and environment sectors.
His career began in the University sector where he inspired the next generation of conservation scientists and led world class research developing innovative solutions for the conservation and management of marine biodiversity both locally and globally (with over 50 research publications). Ash continues to hold an adjunct appointment with the Australian National University.
Dr Melissa McEwen
Inspector-General of Biosecurity
Dr Melissa McEwen is the Inspector-General of Biosecurity and an experienced former executive with more than 14 years’ experience in the federal Senior Executive Service. She has led large organisations through periods of transformation, including most recently serving as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). She was formerly the First Assistant Secretary for Live Animal and Plant Exports and has held other senior roles spanning the Environment, Agriculture, and Education portfolios leading reform, stakeholder engagement and complex regulatory change.
Melissa is passionate about effective regulation and improving regulatory cultures. She has championed the development of regulatory training across the APS, working with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian Public Service Commission on its development and implementation.
Dr Marie Doole
Regulatory practitioner, advisor, trainer and academic researcher
Dr Marie Doole is a regulatory practitioner, advisor, trainer and academic researcher, most recently producing critical work on managing the risk of regulatory capture in environmental legal systems. Marie has a regulatory background in local and central government in addition to the research and not-for-profit sector and consulting. Marie combines a transdisciplinary research approach with sharp communication skills, regularly presenting and running training for regulators on a variety of important strategic and operational topic areas.
Kari Jones
Executive Director, Operational Excellence and Enablement, Financial Markets Authority New Zealand
Kari Jones is an executive leader with deep expertise in organisational transformation, digital capability, and the practical application of AI and emerging technology in complex institutions. Over the past decade she has led large-scale transformation functions across some of New Zealand’s most prominent organisations spanning retail, aviation, health, media, government, and financial regulation — consistently focused on lifting organisational performance, simplifying complexity, and building the capacity of leaders and teams to respond to change with confidence.
Kari is particularly focused on how AI and emerging technology can improve productivity, decision-making, and the effectiveness of public institutions — a dimension of growing urgency for environmental regulators navigating data-intensive compliance environments, risk-based decision frameworks, and increasing public accountability demands. Her cross-sectoral perspective offers the AELERT community valuable insight into how member agencies can build the organisational and digital capability needed to be effective, adaptive, and future-ready.
Debby Butler
Inspector-General of Regulatory Systems, Ministry for Primary Industries
Debby stepped into the role of Inspector General of Regulatory Systems at the Ministry for Primary Industries in 2019. Prior to this, Debby spent 8 months acting in the role of Director Audit, Risk, and Evaluation in the Compliance and Governance business unit at MPI.
Previously, Debby held senior management roles in ACC (the Accident Compensation Corporation) and the Department of Corrections. She has experience in audit, risk, corporate governance, directorship, and a wealth of commercial experience from within SOEs (state-owned enterprises), consulting, and the financial industry.
George Mason
Director of Regulatory Environment, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
George Mason is a senior public servant and legal/regulatory expert who has served in executive roles within New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Since October 2021, Mason has held the role of Director of Regulatory Environment at MBIE, where he advises on regulatory regimes and national capability whilst prior to this he has been General Manager of the Labour Inspectorate and of Workplace Relations and Safety Policy. George is also completing his doctorate at the School of Regulation and Global Governance ANU examining regulatory failure and what social systems theory adds.
Joel Abraham
Executive Director, Asia Pacific Regulatory Centre
Executive Director of the Asia Pacific Regulatory Centre, a regional centre of excellence he founded to support Pacific governments in regulatory reform, capacity building and policy development. Through the Pacific School of Regulation, he has trained more than 150 regulators across 12 island states. He is also a Regional Regulatory Expert for the Asian Development Bank, advising on energy sector reform, water regulation and utility governance across Pacific Island countries, and an external advisor to the FCDO Transforming Energy Access programme across South East Asia and the Indo-Pacific.
Before his current regional roles, Joel served as Chief Executive Officer of the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission, a national statutory regulator covering market competition, consumer protection and economic regulation. In that role he led major investigations, regulatory reform, voluntary compliance frameworks, market reviews, price regulation and organisational transformation, with the organisation receiving national business excellence and employer-of-choice recognition during his tenure.
Practitioner Fellows
- Anita Murrell, Environmental regulator and system improvement specialist, Te Papa Atawhai – Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
- Peter Thorning, Manager, Reef Compliance, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (Queensland)
- Dr Elise Murray, Assistant Director, Environmental Permitting and Compliance, National EPA (Commonwealth)
- Dr Promil Mehra, Senior Environmental Adviser, South Australian EPA (South Australia)
- Tanja Porter, Director of Performance Assurance, Inspector-General of Water Compliance (Commonwealth)
- Timothy Reid, Manager, Waste Crime, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (Queensland)
- Stuart Panozzo, Assistant Director, Regulatory Strategy and Support, DCCEEW (Commonwealth)
- Guy Randall, Outreach Team Leader, Natural Resources Access Regulator (New South Wales)
- Slaus Kukh, Manager, Quality and Compliance, City Rangers, Council of the City of Sydney (New South Wales)
Associate Practitioner Fellows
- Mariah Brown, Senior Environmental Officer, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (Queensland)
- Belinda Evans, Assistant Director, Hazardous Waste and NTCRS Section, DCCEEW (Commonwealth)
- Inde Halligan, Permissions Monitoring Ranger, Department of Conservation (New Zealand)
- Nikita Tully, Senior Assessment Officer, DCCEEW (Commonwealth)
- Dr Olga Pilipenets, Senior Environmental Officer, Waste Assessment, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (Queensland)
- Michelle Playford, Environment Restoration Plan Education Officer, Liverpool City Council (New South Wales)
- Dr Harsha Sapdhare, Senior Environment Protection Officer, South Australian EPA (South Australia)
- Jacinta Padgett, Senior Environmental Officer, Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (Queensland)
- Renee Hilditch, Supervising Fisheries and Marine Officer, Aquatic Biosecurity Compliance, DPIRD (Western Australia)
What’s coming next?
Full profiles for our Practitioner and Associate Practitioners will also be published on the AELERT website in the coming weeks alongside up to date information on new projects and research collaborations as the program develops.
In the meantime, two of our Distinguished Practitioner Fellows, Keith Manch and Dr Marie Doole, are also facilitating AELERT’s next Regulatory Masterclass on Integrity, Ethics and Professionalism running across six cities from August to September 2026, a direct opportunity to learn from them in person!
Masterclass program details will be published next week, to prebook please contact the Leadership Team at aelert@sa.gov.au.
