News
Ros Kelly to open resources conference
3rd May, 2007
One of Australia's most respected political and business figures, former Federal Environment Minister Ros Kelly AO, will officially open an international conference to launch the first Queensland Resources Expo (QREX) in Rockhampton on 23 May.
Ms Kelly - awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia for her work in fostering dialogue between business and conservation groups - was Australia's lead representative at the United Nation's Rio Earth Summit in 1992, which confirmed environmental management as an international priority.
Since leaving politics in 1995, Ms Kelly has served on the board of construction, mining and services company Thiess, the World Wide Fund for Nature, the National Breast Cancer Foundation and Westpac Emergency Helicopter Service.
Ms Kelly's formal opening of Resourcing for the Future at Rockhampton's Pilbeam Theatre will set the tone for expert analysis and discussion of the resource sector's long-term outlook.
Rockhampton is the gateway to Central Queensland, which incorporates Australia's premier coal-producing region - the Bowen Basin - and associated minerals and energy processing centres including Stanwell, Callide and Gladstone.
With conference sessions devoted to climate change, business forecasts and issues associated with resource sector growth, Resourcing for the Future has attracted a first class line-up of speakers including:
- Dr Kelly Thambimuthu - chairman of the International Energy Agency's Greenhouse Gas R&D Program and Chief Executive of the Centre for Low Emission Technology
- Mr Paul Ross - Manager Energy and Minerals, Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics
- Professor Elizabeth Taylor - Executive Dean of Sciences, Engineering and Health, Central Queensland University
- Professor Robert Miles - Director, Institute for Sustainable Regional Development
- Mr Michael Roche - Chief Executive, Queensland Resources Council
- Mr John Smith - Chief Executive, BHP-Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance Coal (BMA)
- Mr Stephen Cantwell - Acting Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer, QR (Queensland Rail)
- Mr Alan Millis - Deputy Director-General, Department of Mines and Energy.
Resourcing for the Future will herald four days of activities under the QREX banner, putting the focus on the contribution and future of the industries that are the cornerstone of the Queensland and Australian economies.
QREX is a joint initiative of Rockhampton City Council, Central Queensland University and the Queensland Resources Council, the mineral and energy sector's peak representative body in Queensland.