Giving, Sailing and Coasting  are the Key Award Winning Messages

Australian of the Year Simon McKeon will devote 2011 to inspiring individuals and especially corporations to dig deeper for those doing it tough. He has played key roles with World Vision Australia, the Global Poverty Project and Red Dust Role Models and is currently chairman of the CSIRO. He is pictured with around the world sailor 2011 Young Australian of the Year Jessica Watson. Previous award winner Tim Flannery – in his capacity as Chairman of the Coastal and Climate Change Council – calls for urgent Government leadership on coastal adaptation to drive collaboration and consistent approaches across all levels of government.

Born-again banker out to make charity the bottom line

BY BREANNA TUCKER

26 Jan, 2011 01:00 AM

Australian of the Year Simon McKeon will devote 2011 to inspiring individuals and especially corporations to dig deeper for those doing it tough.

Speaking at Parliament House after last night’s awards ceremony, Mr McKeon urged all Australians to donate more of their time to charitable causes and hoped the corporate sector would go one step further than simply writing out a cheque.

Mr McKeon is the executive chairman of Macquarie Bank’s Melbourne office but now performs the role part-time. In 1994, he was in the middle of a lucrative investment banking career when he decided to devote more time to community work.

”I come from the big end of town and for many years have tried to preach, if you like, what happens when a big corporation actually does give money,” he said.

”It’s there to make a profit, I’m not going to deny that. But I think there are many ways in which corporates these days can share their expertise, their people, their facilities and, of course, a bit of money as well … of course they can give more.”

Mr McKeon has played key roles with World Vision Australia, the Global Poverty Project and Red Dust Role Models and is currently chairman of the CSIRO.

He also recently retired as founding chairman of MS Research Australia after having himself been diagnosed with the disease.

He says a brief period of blindness and paralysis from the hip down showed him the importance of contributing to the organisations that make a difference.

”It was a wonderful thing for me because I encountered what life might have been like if I had been struck with it permanently,” he said.

Last year’s ceremony drew heavy media attention after 2010 award recipient, Professor Patrick McGorry, used his new title to accuse the Federal Government’s immigration detention centres of being ”factories for producing mental illness” before later retracting the comment.

Mr McKeon steered clear of controversy last night and acknowledged that the Treasurer had ”a damn hard job of allocating scarce resources”.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard last night congratulated Mr McKeon on his award and praised his achievements as an inspiration to the Australian community.

”Simon’s example is about fund-raising but it’s also about putting in your personal time and direct support, your skills, your mentoring, into organisations that need your help,” she said.

Also revealed at last night’s ceremony was 2011 Young Australian of the Year Jessica Watson.

The 17-year-old last year achieved her dream of sailing solo, unassisted, non-stop around the world but last night she maintained she was ”no one special”. ”Heroes aren’t these people put up on pedestals … so dream big and more importantly, let’s make it happen.

Source: www.canberratimes.com.au/

14/01/2011

The Chair of the Coasts and Climate Change Council, Professor Tim Flannery, provided the Coasts and Climate Change Council’s end of term report to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, the Hon Greg Combet AM MP.

In its report, the Council suggests an urgent need for Australian Government leadership on coastal adaptation to drive collaboration and consistent approaches across all levels of government. It proposes a 10-year national coastal adaptation agenda be defined and suggests four priority areas:

• accessible and consistent information for coastal communities;
• high quality and regionally targeted data for decision-makers;

• clarification of legal liability for local governments; and  
• greater policy and regulatory consistency for local governments and professions.

Many coastal assets – critical infrastructure, beaches and public open spaces, public facilities, homes and commercial interests – are at risk from rising sea levels and other impacts of climate change. The value and distribution of assets at risk reveals the national scale of coastal adaptation.

Effective coastal adaptation will require innovation, reform and structural adjustment. Australia’s policies, institutions and investors are not well positioned to manage the scale of risk that climate change will bring to Australia’s coast. There is an urgent need now for improved cooperation and collaboration between all levels of government, with leadership from the Australian Government, to drive risk assessment, improved land use planning and design standards and to enhance decision-making capacity in coastal regions.

Continuing to engage stakeholders across both private and public sectors will be critical to the development of partnerships which can deliver demonstrable progress in reducing the climate change risks to our economy, social values and ecosystems.

Early action can help reduce the severity of long term adverse impacts in many areas. This is because the use of strategic risk-based land use planning and well designed legal and regulation reform can ensure that exposure to risk does not unnecessarily increase with further development, and reduce financial and adjustment costs to future generations.

The Coasts and Climate Change Council can assist in communicating risk and impacts to private and public sectors and communities, and continue to provide independent advice to the Minister on effective approaches to coastal adaptation.

Read the Coasts and Climate Change Council report.

Source: www.climatechange.gov.au