Day one: Plenary session

Benn Barr

Chief Executive Officer, Australian Energy Market Commission

Benn Barr became the Chief Executive of the Australian Energy Market Commission early in 2020, bringing with him two decades of energy and climate change experience and deep expertise in energy markets and regulation. He was previously Deputy Director-General of Queensland’s Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy. Benn’s leadership at the AEMC has coincided with the development and release of the Energy Security Board’s post-2025 market design reforms. The AEMC is heavily involved in the ESB’s work –including policy, technical and corporate support.

Benn has a strong interest in effective modern governance, pursuing this field at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He places high value on meaningful stakeholder engagement and has built the AEMC’s capacity considerably since 2020. This includes turning the pandemic’s challenges into advantages for digital engagement that can reach more, and more diverse, stakeholder groups.

ABSTRACT: While technological, market-modelling and consumer behaviour research remain vital to the energy sector’s next decade, there is also a missing link when it comes to implementation. This broad field of ‘transition to deployment’ demands more attention as we continue to accelerate towards our energy transformation and the significant sustainability goals set for 2030 and 2050. This means less emphasis on ‘what do we do?’ and more on ‘how do we make it happen, quickly?’ Research is needed on implementation areas such as pilot-topolicy development, regulatory frameworks, governance and institutions, financing schemes, social licence and more. Successful research projects will have deployment ‘baked in’.

Chair

Lynne Gallagher

Chief Executive Officer, Energy Consumers Australia

Lynne Gallagher is the Chief Executive Officer of Energy Consumers Australia, which is the national advocacy organisation contributing to shaping Australia’s energy future for households and small businesses. Lynne has been with Energy Consumers Australia for seven years and has over 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in strategy, policy and research roles. Prior to working in the energy sector, Lynne held senior executive roles in business and in the public sector, where she delivered major reforms that contributed to improving the financial and economic wellbeing of many Australians.

ABSTRACT: The scale and pace of decarbonisation is setting challenges in framing the complex problems to be solved in the transition to a renewable energy system and developing solutions that are enduring. In formalising the research agenda to support this transition, we must also have a shared vision for the outcomes we want to achieve. And there needs to be consensus and commitment to achieving those goals – working together, with all the science, ingenuity and innovation at our command.

These goals must be about people and our community, remembering what energy is for –to power our homes and our businesses, to achieve wellbeing and prosperity. We need to go beyond the techno-economic framing of consumers as imaginary friends if we are to both address climate change and social inclusion.

Stuart White Co-Chair, ERICA Director, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney

Professor Stuart White is Director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures, where he leads a team of researchers who create change towards sustainable futures through independent, project-based research. With over 30 years’ experience in sustainability research, Stuart’s work focuses on achieving sustainability outcomes for a range of government, industry and community clients across Australia and internationally. This includes the design and assessment of programs for improving decision-making and resource use. Stuart has written and presented widely on sustainable futures and is a regular commentator on sustainability issues in the media.