Friends Members

Pacific Friends’ members are well placed to increase awareness of the Global Fund and the important role it can play in underwriting national strategies and regional efforts to contain AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The more that government, the private sector and philanthropic agencies know about the Fund, the greater the likelihood that the Fund will be supported at the levels necessary to make real progress against the three diseases and especially in the Pacific region.

Pacific Friends’ members have a vital role to play in disseminating knowledge and awareness of the Global Fund. Members have been invited to participate in Pacific Friends by virtue of their eminence and experience in public and international policymaking and implementation and, in many cases, their expertise concerning one or more of the three diseases.

The ability of members to discuss and promote the Global Fund will be directly related to the quality and utility of the information that will be provided through Pacific Friends, as well as the opportunities board members have to discuss and shape the activities of Pacific Friends.

Pacific Friends’ members have been appointed primarily as individuals in their own right and not as representing a constituency, country or region.  Nevertheless, the members of Pacific Friends strike a balance between public and private sectors, civil society, legal representatives and public policymakers, experts in the three diseases, traditional and prospective donors, recipient countries and territories, and those with first-hand knowledge of the diseases. The larger countries in the Pacific region are represented, but there is certainly scope for further members to be drawn from Melanesia, Polynesia and Micronesia and from those with experience of Pacific regional institutions.

Sir Peter Barter Kt, OBE
Sir Peter Barter trained as a pilot with QANTAS and came to Papua New Guinea in 1965 as a volunteer pilot with the Franciscan Mission, later joining Territory Airlines (Talair). Peter has served on several boards including PATA, TPA, MVB and Modilon Hospital. He is a chairman of the Melanesian Foundation and the National Aids Council of PNG. From 1992- 97 he was elected to National Parliament and served in roles such as the Minister for Health. He again served (2002-07) as Minister for Health and HIV but has since relinquished this role to serve as Paramount Chief Masalahana (Peace Maker). He was awarded an OBE in 1980 and was knighted in 2001. In 2005 he received an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of Australia, Canberra.

Mr Bill Bowtell AO
Bill Bowtell is a strategic policy adviser, with particular interest in national and international health policy structures and reform. He trained as a diplomat, with postings in Portugal, Papua New Guinea and Zimbabwe. As senior adviser to the Australian health minister, Bill Bowtell played a significant role in the introduction of the Medicare health insurance system (1984). He was an architect of Australia’ successful and well-regarded response to HIV/AIDS. Between 1994 and 1996, Bill Bowtell was senior political adviser to the Prime Minister of Australia. He maintains a close interest in the potential impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the other communicable diseases, on the social, economic and political development of the Asia Pacific region. Since 2005, Bill was Director of the HIV/AIDS Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy and, since 2009, the Executive Director of Pacific Friends of the Global Fund. Pacific Friends is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In these positions, he has sought to increase knowledge and awareness of the challenges posed globally, and to the Pacific region, by the three diseases. He has written and broadcast extensively on these subjects and participated in many international and Australian conferences and seminars especially in relation to HIV/AIDS.

Ms Ita Buttrose AO, OBE
Ita Buttrose has had a long  and  committed interest in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  As chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on AIDS (NACAIDS:1984-1988) she and her committee spearheaded Australia’s National AIDS  Education Program. She chaired the AIDS Trust of Australia from 1990-1994.  Australia looking specifically at the effect of HIV/AIDS on girls and women. She is by profession a journalist and has held senior positions with Australia’s leading publishing companies. At News Ltd Australia she made media history by becoming the first female editor of a major metropolitan newspaper in Australia following her appointment by Rupert Murdoch as Editor-in Chief of the Sydney Daily & Sunday Telegraphs. She was also the first woman appointed to the board of News Ltd., Australia. She runs her own specialist publishing company and appears regularly on Channel Seven’s Sunrise program as a social commentator.

Hon Charles Chauvel MP
The Honerable Charles Chauvel is since 2006 a Member of Parliament in New Zealand. He currently chairs two committees of the Parliament – the Privileges Committee, which deals with contempts of Parliament, and the Regulations Review Committee which is responsible for scrutiny of delegated legislation. He is also a member of the Parliament’s Commerce Committee, and its ad hoc Committee on the Review of Climate Change Legislation. He speaks for the Labour Party as its spokesperson on Climate Change, Energy and Resources, and its Associate Spokesperson on Justice and on Commerce. In November 2007, he became Chairperson of the Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee, and in early 2008 was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Attorney-General roles in which he served until the 2008 New Zealand general election.

Rt Hon Helen Clark MP
Helen Clark is a New Zealand politician and administrator and heads the United Nations Development Programme, the third-highest UN position. She was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008 and led the Labour Party from 1993 until it lost the 2008 general election. Before resigning from Parliament in April 2009, she was Labour’s foreign affairs spokeswoman and MP for the Mount Albert electorate which she had held since 1981.

Mr Ian Clarke
Ian Clarke is the Chairman of Gadens lawyers, and is the partner-in-charge of the firm’s Papua New Guinea practice. He is a Governor of The Foundation for Development Cooperation (FDC), an independent, not-for-profit international development organisation. Through alliances and partnerships, FDC undertakes a range of initiatives which seek to improve the lives of poor people in developing countries. Ian is in his second term as President of the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Council. He graduated from the University of New South Wales in 1977 and was admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales in 1978 and in Papua New Guinea in 1980. His practice includes work on many major PNG projects. He visits PNG regularly and has lived in the country on 2 occasions for a total of some 8 years. His area of specialty is corporate finance and major projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Professor David Cooper AO
David Cooper is Scientia Professor of Medicine at the University of New South Wales, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (FAA), and is Director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Sydney, Australia. In addition to the National Centre, Professor Cooper is Head of the Immunology/HIV/Infectious Diseases Clinical Service Unit at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, one of the largest inpatient and outpatient services for the treatment of HIV disease in Australia. He is co-Director of the St Vincent’s Hospital Medical Research groups and was appointed by St Vincent’s and Mater Health as Director of the St Vincent’s Centre for Applied Medical Research (AMR) effective October 1st, 2008. Professor Cooper is an author on over 400 published scientific papers and is on the editorial boards of several international journals. He is a past President of the International AIDS Society and Chairman of the World Health Organisation-UNAIDS HIV Vaccine Advisory Committee (VAC). He is a Director of HIVNAT, a clinical research and trials collaboration based at the Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre at the Chulalongkorn University Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand.

Professor Tony Cunningham
Tony Cunningham is Director of the Westmead Millennium Institute and Research Centres at Westmead Hospital and of the Centre for Virus Research, Professor of Research Medicine and Sub-Dean (research) Western Clinical School, the University of Sydney. From 1981-1983 he was an NHMRC Applied Health Sciences Fellow at the Division of Infectious Diseases, Stanford University, USA. In 1984 he was appointed Director of the Virology Department of the Institute of Clinical Pathology and Medical Research and consultant physician in the Infectious Diseases Unit at Westmead Hospital until his current appointment in June 1996. He was appointed Associate Professor of Virology/Medicine in the University of Sydney, Department of Medicine in 1989. He joined the Board of the Children’s Medical Research Institute as the nominee of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney in 1996.

Mr Philip Endersbee
Philip Endersbee started his career in manufacturing with Pacific Dunlop in 1973 and over the next 15 years built and managed factories in Australia, Egypt and China. In 1989 he started his own manufacturing company in Australia , Wilderness Wear, of which he is still the Managing Director. Philip also holds Directorships in Ace Investment Holdings and 3 Peaks Outdoor Gear. In the mid 1980′s Philip joined the Board of an AFL Club to help in their restructure and subsequent move to Brisbane. At the same time he joined the Board of Women’s Cricket Australia to help in their restructure and merge with the Australian Cricket Board to become Cricket Australia. In the 90′s Philip became a Fellow of Leadership Victoria, trained as a bereavement councilor for Caritas Hospice, joined the Board of the Rotary Club of Melbourne and became a Director of The John T Reid Charitable Trusts. Over the last 10 years Philip has added a Directorship for the East Timor Embassy building project, Deputy Chair of PLAN International Australia and next year will become the President of the Rotary Club of Melbourne. He is heavily involved in sport and particular yachting and car racing. Philip has represented Australia in yachting on 4 occasions and has completed 6 Targa’s in Tasmania.

Mr Andrew Forrest
Andrew Forrest has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Fortescue Metals Group Ltd since July 2003. His career includes creating two major Australian Resource Houses from inception who are major suppliers of nickel, cobalt and iron ore to the world’s steel industries. Previous roles include the founding Chairman of the Murrin Murrin joint venture from inception, financing, construction – and the long commissioning of what is now one of Australia’s single largest mineral exporters; director of Australia’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, the Western Australian Chamber of Minerals and Energy and  Chairman of Athletics Australia. He currently serves as Chairman of Poseidon Nickel Ltd and The Australian Children’s Trust. Mr Forrest has been awarded the Australian Centenary medal and the Australian Sports medal and on behalf of the company, has received multiple global finance awards.

Mr Allan Gyngell
Allan Gyngell is Director-General of the Australian Office of National Assessments. In his previous function, from 2004 to 2009, he served as the inaugural Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy. After graduating in history and political science from Melbourne University he served as an Australian diplomat in Rangoon, Singapore and Washington. He also spent a number of years with the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s national intelligence analysis organisation. He was later First Assistant Secretary in the International Division of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. From 1993 to 1996 he was foreign policy adviser in the office of the Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating. After leaving government in 1997 he worked as a consultant to a number of Australian companies. In 2003, he was appointed as the founding Executive Director of the Lowy Institute. He is a member of the Australian Government’s Foreign Affairs Council.

Ms Jane Halton PSM
Jane Halton is Secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing. She is the chair of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Health Committee. Jane was an Executive Board Member on the World Health Organisation (WHO) 2004-2007 and President of the World Health Assembly (2007), and was Vice-Chair of the Executive Board 2005-2006 and Chair of the WHO Program, Budget and Administration Committee 2005-2007. She is currently Chair of the WHO Intergovernmental Meeting on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness. Prior to her appointment in January 2002 as Secretary of the Department of Health and Ageing, Jane Halton was Executive Co-ordinator, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) and was responsible for advising on all aspects of Australian Government Social Policy including the Status of Women. Prior to joining PM&C, Jane Halton was national program manager of the Australian Government’s Aged and Community Care Program with responsibilities for long term care. Jane holds an honours degree in Psychology from the Australian National University, is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and an honorary fellow of the Australian College of Health Service Executives. She was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2002, and the Centenary Medal in 2003.

Dr Graeme Killer AO
Graeme Killer is the Principal Medical Adviser to the Repatriation Commission and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA). He trained as an Occupational Physician and served for 23 years in the Royal Australia Airforce (RAAF) including overseas postings to Malaysia and the United Kingdom.  He served in Malaysia during the Vietnam War and was involved in aeromedical evacuation.  On his retirement from full-time Defence service in 1990, he was responsible for Occupational and Environment Health for the Australian Defence Force (ADF). He has been Principal Medical Adviser to DVA since 1991. He pioneered the introduction of care planning and preventive annual health assessments for older Australians and initiated the Health Links Program between the Departments of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs. He has served as personal physician to Governors General and Prime Ministers of Australia since 1992. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1999 for his service to the veteran community.

Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG
The Honourable Michael Kirby retired in February 2009 as one of the seven Justices of the High Court of Australia, the nation’s highest court.  At the time of his retirement, Michael Kirby was Australia’s longest serving judicial officer.  In 1991 Michael Kirby was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal.  He has taken an active part in international bodies including the World Health Organisation, UNAIDS, UNDP, ILO, UNODC, UNESCO, OECD and the Commonwealth Secretariat.  He presently serves on the UNAIDS Global Reference Panel on AIDS and Human Rights.  In November 2008, he was nominated by the Internal Justice Council of the United Nations for election by the General Assembly to be a Judge of the United Nations Appeals Tribunal.  In January 2009, he was nominated by the Executive Council as counsellor to the Council of the American Society of International Law.

Sir Terepai Maoate KBE
Sir Terepai Maoate was Prime Minister of the Cook Islands from 18 November 1999 to 11 February 2002. He is currently foreign minister, Deputy Prime Minister of the Cook Islands and Minister of Finance, Health and Broadcasting in the Cook Islands Cabinet. He is a member of the Cook Islands Democratic Party. Maoate was born in Rarotonga on 1 September 1939, and educated at Ngatangiia Primary School, Fiji Medical School, and the University of Auckland. He worked as a medical doctor before becoming Director of Clinical Services for the Ministry of Health in 1976.

Dr Nafsiah Mboi
Nafsiah Mboi, a Paediatrician and Master of Public Health by training, has studied in Indonesia, Europe and the US. She has been active in the field of HIV & AIDS since its first appearance in Indonesia. She presently serves as Secretary of the National AIDS Commission, a position to which she was appointed by the President of Indonesia in 2006. Nafsiah served in Parliament later joining the World Health Organization in Geneva as Director of the Department of Gender and Women’s Health. She has been active on a voluntary basis having served as chair of the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child and prior to that, served as Vice Chair of the Global Commission on Women’s Health. She has been honoured for her work both at home and abroad, notably receiving the Roman Magsaysay Award for Government Service, in 1986.

Ms Wendy McCarthy AO
For 40 years Wendy McCarthy has been a teacher, educator, change agent and public advocate in Australian life.  She has worked with government, corporations and community based organisations in education, health, media, conservation and heritage, women’s affairs, public health and waste management and has held national leadership roles in all of these areas. Wendy has represented Australia internationally at meetings in women’s health and leadership, conservation, broadcasting, education and heritage. Since 1995, when she left line management, Wendy has consulted to major corporations on mentoring, managing change and diversity and establishing sustainable corporate community partnerships.

Mr Matthew Mitcham OAM
Matthew Mitcham is an Australian diver. He is the 2008 Olympic champion in the 10m platform, having received the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. He is the first Australian male to win an Olympic gold medal in diving since the 1924 Summer Olympics. He is Youth Ambassador for Pacific Friends.

Professor Rob Moodie
Rob Moodie is Professor of Global Health at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne.  Between 1998 and 2007 he was the CEO of VicHealth. He is currently the Chair of the National Preventative Health Task Force. Since 1979 he has worked for Save the Children Fund, Medicins Sans Frontieres, Congress, the Aboriginal Health Service in Alice Springs, the Burnet Institute and for the World Health Organization, and the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Rob chairs the Technical Panel to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s HIV prevention program in India. He also chairs the Melbourne Storm Rugby League Club. He is married to Anne, a physiotherapist and they have two children Nick 23 and Penny 21. He writes regularly in the media and is co-editor/author of four books, including Hands on Health Promotion. His most recent book is Recipes for a Great Life written with Gabriel Gate.

Lady Roslyn Morauta
Roslyn Morauta has lived and worked in Papua New Guinea since 1982.  Prior to that, she worked in publishing in England, taught Politics at the University of Ghana, the Australian National University and Queensland University, and worked as a research officer in the Defence Department in Canberra and for the Australian Social Welfare Commission. In Papua New Guinea she has worked for the National Planning Office and the Department of Finance and Treasury (through the United Nations Development Programme), undertaken consultancy management with Coopers & Lybrand, and now acts as manager of Morauta family business interests. Roslyn is Chair of the Papua New Guinea Country Coordinating Mechanism of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria and the PNG Alliance of Civil Society Organisations Against HIV/AIDS.  Other board and committee memberships include the PNG National AIDS Council, the Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV/AIDS, Anglicare (PNG) and the PNG Maritime College Board.

Professor Robyn Norton
Robyn Norton is Principal Director of The George Institute for International Health, a not-for-profit medical research institute with offices in Sydney, Beijing, Hyderabad and London. The Institute undertakes large-scale clinical, population health and health system research studies, in collaboration with partners around the world, and especially in low and middle-income countries in Asia. Robyn also holds the positions of Professor of Public Health and Associate Dean (International) within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. In addition, she holds the positions of Honorary Professor at Peking University Health Science Centre in Beijing, China and Honorary Consultant Epidemiologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. Robyn is also Chair of the Road Traffic Injuries Research Network, an initiative supported by the Global Forum for Health Research, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, aimed at increasing research and research capacity to address the current and growing burden of road traffic injuries in low and middle-income countries.

Mr Brad Orgill
Brad Orgill recently retired from UBS where he was a member of the global Group Managing Board and Chairman of UBS Australia. His career, across Asia and Australia, included roles as UBS CEO / Country Head for each of Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Australia. He holds degrees in Economics and Asian studies and has served in industry, business and advisory groups including the BCA, AFMA, YPO and the Malaysia Stock Exchange.

Senator Marise Payne
Marise Payne completed her education at MLC School, Burwood and her Bachelor of Arts and Laws at the University of NSW. A member of the Liberal Party since 1982, Marise was the National Young Liberal Movement’s first, and to date only, female President. She also served on the NSW Liberal State Executive for 10 years and at branch and electorate levels.Having served as a political adviser to some of the most significant figures in Liberal politics of their time. Marise went on to a career as a public affairs adviser in the finance industry. In 1997 Marise filled a casual vacancy to represent the people of New South Wales in the Australian Senate. She was returned to the position at the election of 2001. Marise is Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to The Hon Andrew Robb MP, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. She plays an active role in the Senate and is a member of a range of Joint and Senate committees. Marise is also a member of several parliamentary associations. Outside of parliament, Marise continues to work in the community on issues as diverse as human rights, emerging technologies and the implications of our ageing population.

Mr Murray Proctor
Murray Proctor was Australian Ambassador for HIV/AIDS from December 2007 to October 2012. The role of HIV/AIDS Ambassador encourages political, business and community leaders in the Asian Pacific region to provide the direction and support needed to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce the suffering it causes. With more than 25 years experience in aid and development, Murray has made a great contribution to furthering cooperation with Australia’s regional partners in advancing the fight against HIV/AIDS. Murray was previously Deputy Director General of the Program Enabling Division, Deputy Director General of AusAID’s Asia Division, and before that managed the AusAID Office of Review and Evaluation and Australia’s aid program to PNG. He worked from 1999 to 2001 at the World Bank on East Timor reconstruction and public sector reform. He holds degrees in Psychology and Economics from the University of Queensland and Australian National University respectively.

Ms Heather Ridout
Heather Ridout is Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, and has previously held the positions of Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director – Public Policy and Communications. She has responsibility for the overall development and implementation of the Australian Industry Group’s policies, strategies and services. Her policy interests embrace the whole range of industry and she has been particularly active in developing Ai Group’s public policy in relation to economic, industry, innovation, education and training. She holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) degree from the University of Sydney.

Mr Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers is the Director General of Secretariat of the Pacific Community in Nouméa, New Caledonia. He is a Medical Doctor by profession specialising in Anaesthesia.

Ms Ann Sherry AO
Ann Sherry is the Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Australia. She was the Chief Executive Officer, Westpac New Zealand and Group Executive, Westpac New Zealand and the Pacific until April 2007. This made her the first female CEO of a bank in New Zealand, and she had responsibility for Westpac operations in New Zealand and seven Pacific countries. Previously, Ann was the CEO of the Bank of Melbourne and Group Executive, People & Performance. Ann has been with Westpac for 12 years, and in that time has worked in all key business units. Prior to Westpac, Ann was First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in Canberra. In this role Ann advised the Prime Minister on policies and programs to improve the status of women in Australia and was Australia’s representative to the United Nations forums on human rights and women’s rights. Ann is a Fellow of the Institute of Banking & Finance and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration. She is a Director of Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships.

Ms Lucy Turnbull
Lucy Turnbull is a businesswoman and company director.  She is a director of several companies including Pengana Holdings Limited.  From 1999 to 2004 Lucy was Sydney’s first female Lord Mayor (2003-4) and Deputy Lord Mayor (1999-2003) and  was the first woman to hold both these positions. Lucy is currently the Chair of the Salvation Army’s City of Sydney Red Shield Appeal and a member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army; Deputy Chair of the Committee for Sydney, a member of the boards of the Centre for Independent Studies, the Woolcock Institute for Medical Research and the National Portrait Gallery. She is the Commissioner of the Australian Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Mr Bill Whittaker AM
Bill Whittaker has served as the Executive Director of the AIDS Council of New South Wales, the National President of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), and as the Founding member and executive member of the National Association of People with HIV/AIDS (Australia) (NAPWA). Currently, Bill is a Special Representative for NAPWA, focusing on international and regional policy and planning; treatments access; and Australia’s future strategic response to HIV. Bill was a founding member of the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO) and has worked and advised on regional and international HIV/AIDS responses for more than a decade, including advising UNAIDS and WHO on strategic and programmatic responses to HIV.  He was a member of the Australian Government negotiating team for the development of the United Nations General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001 and 2006.

Dr Alex Wodak
Alex Wodak has been Director of the Alcohol and Drug Service, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, Australia since 1982. He has a major interest in prevention of HIV among injecting drug users, treatment of drug users, health aspects of prisons and drug policy reform. Dr. Wodak is President of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation and was President of the International Harm Reduction Association (1996-2004). He helped establish the first needle syringe programme and the first medically supervised injecting centre in Australia (when both were pre-legal) and often works in developing countries on HIV control among injecting drug users. Dr Wodak has published about 250 papers on medical aspects of alcohol and drugs in scientific journals.