Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, today announced twelve appointments to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
New appointees to the Tribunal are Mrs Chelsea Walsh as a part-time senior member and Dr Roslyn Blakley and Ms Kathryn Hogan as part-time members.
Mr Stanley Hotop, Mr Graham Friedman, Mr Steven Penglis, Mr Andre Sweidan, Mr Rodney Dunne, Brigadier Conrad Ermert (Retd), Dr Roderick McRae and Brigadier Anthony (Gerry) Warner (Retd) have been reappointed to their present positions.
Mr Egon Fice has been appointed as a senior member having previously been a member of the Tribunal.
Mr Fice, Mr Friedman, Dr Blakley and Dr McRae will be based in Melbourne and Mr Dunne in Adelaide. The remaining appointees will be based in Perth.
“I congratulate each of the appointees and wish them well in their new roles,” Mr McClelland said.
The appointments were made in accordance with the Government’s Merit and Transparency Guidelines for statutory office holders.
A short biography on each of the appointees is attached.
Media Contact: Adam Siddique 0407 473 630
Mr Stanley Desmond Hotop—reappointment as a full-time Deputy President (WA)
Mr Hotop was appointed as an acting part-time Deputy President in 2000 and in 2002 he was confirmed in that position. He was appointed as a full-time Deputy President for five years in 2005. He was an Associate Professor of Law at The University of Western Australia from 1989 to 2005 and served as Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1990 to 1993. He was previously an Associate Professor of Law at The University of Sydney from 1980 to 1989. Deputy President Hotop was admitted to practise as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 1970 and as a barrister of that court in 1976.
Mr Egon Fice—appointment as a full-time senior member (VIC)
Mr Fice has been a member of the Tribunal since 2003, and has been promoted to a senior member position. For 16 years he specialised in insolvency and commercial litigation; first as a solicitor and then as a partner in Phillips Fox and later as a partner in Charles Fice. Previously, he had been engaged for eight years as a commercial pilot following a twelve year career as a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force. Mr Fice holds the degrees of LLB (Hons), LLM and Bachelor of Business.
Mr Graham David Friedman—reappointment as a full-time senior member (VIC)
Mr Friedman has been a member of the AAT since 2001 and was appointed as a senior member in 2005. He was senior member of the Migration Review Tribunal from 1999 to 2001. He has been a member of other Government tribunals and practised at the Victorian Bar from 1988 to 1999. Mr Friedman has previous experience in administrative law with a number of Commonwealth agencies.
Mr Steven Penglis—reappointment as a part-time senior member (WA)
Mr Penglis was appointed to the AAT in June 2005. He was appointed as a member of the Legal Professional Complaints Committee of Western Australia in 2009. He is a senior commercial litigator with the national law firm Freehills which he joined in 1983, becoming a partner in 1987. He has been an elected member of the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia since 1996 and was Chairman from 2002 until 2007. Mr Penglis has been an elected member of Council of the Law Society of Western Australia since 2002 and is also the Convenor of the Society’s Courts Committee which he also convened from 1995 to 2000. Since 1992, he has been the Chair of Freehills’s Perth Pro Bono Committee. Mr Penglis was an adjudicator in the 2008 AAT Mooting Competition.
Mr Andre Sweidan—reappointment as a part-time senior member (WA)
Mr Sweidan has been a part-time senior member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal since 2005. He is also currently a Legal Consultant at Anchor Legal a Perth law firm which he co-founded in 2004. Prior to that Mr Sweidan was a partner of the national and international business advisory firm KPMG after being a partner in the national law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques for 10 years. He is a Barrister and Solicitor and has degrees in commerce and law and is also a qualified arbitrator and mediator.
Mrs ChelseaWalsh—appointment as a part-time senior member (WA)
Mrs Walsh has worked as a Senior Associate in the Taxation Department of Allens Arthur Robinson. Mrs Walsh has previously worked in the taxation departments of first tier law firms in both Perth and Sydney, as well as at boutique tax practices in Perth and Sydney. From 199 to 2000, she worked as a Tax Attorney in the Tax Department of Fried, Frank, Harris Shriver & Jacobson in New York, NY. Mrs Walsh was the Associate to Justice Graham Hill in the Federal Court of Australia (Sydney Registry) in 1997. She has a Master of Laws (with Honours) from the University of Sydney.
Dr Roslyn Blakley—appointment as a part-time member (VIC)
Dr Blakley has been a senior medical adviser with the Department of Defence, Area Health Services, Victoria since February 2008. Her experience in the Australian Regular Army includes as acting director of Army Health at Australian Army Headquarters (2005-08) and deputy director of the Joint Health Support Agency (2002-04) in Canberra. She was also director of clinical services (2000-01) in the 2nd Health Support Battalion and, prior to that, officer commanding clinical company (1996-98), regimental medical officer (1994-96) and resident medical officer and intern (1992-93) in various military and civilian hospitals in Brisbane. She was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2004 for outstanding achievements in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in the area of health administration. She has a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Queensland and Master of Health Administration from the University of New South Wales.
Mr RodneyWilliam Dunne—reappointment as a part-time member (SA)
Mr Dunne was appointed as a part-time member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in June 2005. Although previously a partner, he is now also a Special Counsel with the Adelaide law firm, Donaldson Walsh, and is a qualified accountant. Between 1963 and 1981, he was with the Australian Taxation Office, in Adelaide and Canberra, including 4 years as an Australian Taxation Representative in London.
Brigadier Conrad Ermert (Rtd)—reappointment as a part-time member (VIC)
Brigadier Ermert has been a part-time member of the Tribunal since 1991. Brigadier Ermert is the Chairman of AMOG Holdings, a specialist engineering consultancy. He is a past Victorian State Chairman of the Institution of Engineers (Australia) and Chairman of Judges of the Engineering Excellence Awards. His Army career included active service in South Vietnam and he retired as Director General of Logistics. An electronics engineer, he holds an MSc in Guided Weapons, is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Ms Kathryn Hogan—appointment as a part-time member (WA)
Ms Hogan was a partner of Holding Redlich in Melbourne from 1987 to 1993 and of Dwyer Durack in Perth from 1993 to 1998. Since 2005 she has practised as a barrister at Albert Wolff Chambers, primarily in the areas of personal injuries and medical negligence. She commenced working as a part-time Conference Registrar of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in 2007. Ms Hogan is a member of the Western Australian Bar Association, the Law Society of Western Australia and a committee member of the Women Lawyers Association of Western Australia Inc. She has a particular interest in promoting diverse opportunities for women within the legal profession.
Dr Roderick John McRae—reappointment as a part-time member (VIC)
Dr McRae has been a part-time member of the Tribunal since 2006. Dr McRae is a qualified medical and legal practitioner residing in Melbourne. He is a qualified adult anaesthetist and intensive care physician primarily in the public sector, with interests in clinical research and teaching, and is an adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University, and a reviewer for several medical journals. He is currently a member of the Australian Medical Council, and Chairman of the Australian Medical Association and the Australasian Medical Publishing Company. He is a member of several hospital ethics committees, and assisted in the development of the Medical Board of Australia’s Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors in Australia.
Brigadier AG (Gerry) Warner AM LVO (Ret)—reappointment as a part-time member (WA)
Brigadier Warner has been a member of the Tribunal since 2005. His military career, following graduation from the Royal Military College Duntroon, included extensive command experience, tours on the personal staff of Governors-General, pivotal operations and personnel staff appointments and UN peacekeeping on the Golan Heights and in Southern Lebanon. He was the Senior Defence representative in Western Australia in 1996–97 and in his final posting was Chief of Staff Land Headquarters in Sydney during a period of intense operational tempo, including the East Timor campaign and support to the Olympic Games. After separation from the Army in 2003, he was appointed to the independent committee convened by the Board of Western Power to report on the power supply crisis of February 2004. During October 2007–March 2008 he served on the independent panel appointed by the Prime Minister to review recognition for the battle of Long Tan and service in Ubon, Thailand. He is a sessional senior member of the Western Australian Administrative Tribunal, a member of the Mental Health Review Board of Western Australia and is Chief Executive Officer of the RAAF Association (WA Div) Inc.
