Conference Guest Speakers
General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK CVO MC (Retd) was born in Sydney in 1947. The son of a soldier, he attended Waverley College in Sydney and graduated in 1968 from the Royal Military College, Duntroon.Early in his military career, he fought in Vietnam, commanding a rifle platoon. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1971 for his performance and leadership during an assault on enemy positions.
In 1972, he served as Aide de Camp to Governor-General Sir Paul Hasluck. He returned to regimental life as second in command of a Company, rising to Adjutant then Company Commander in the Army’s 5th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (5 RAR), then 5/7 RAR in Holsworthy, Sydney. Subsequent appointments included a period as a tactics instructor at the Army’s Infantry Centre in Singleton, New South Wales; a year’s study at the United States Marine Corps Staff College in Quantico, USA; extended periods of duty in the United Kingdom and India; and command of 1 RAR. He was appointed a Member in the Military Division of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service in command in 1983-84.
On 28 March Cosgrove was sworn in as Governor-General by Chief Justice Robert French, becoming Sir Peter Cosgrove.
On 16 December 2018 Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that The Queen had approved the appointment of retired General David Hurley, the current Governor of New South Wales as the next Governor-General of Australia commencing in July 2019, and that Cosgrove’s term would be extended until that time to ensure smooth transitions following the New South Wales election in March and federal election expected in May 2019.
Liz (Elizabeth) Courtney – Rotary International President Representative Rotary D9660 Conference
Zone 8 Rotary Public Image-Advisor
District Governor 2014-15
Vice Chair Rotary Oceania Zone Operations (ROZops)
Rotary Oceania Co-Chair Learning & Development 2022-2023 District 9999 Learning & Development Training Chair
Vice Chair Rotary Community Breast Milk Bank
Liz is a Director of Courtney Architects – Designers Ltd with Rotarian husband Nick. They have employed and mentored numerous graduate architectural students from within New Zealand and overseas. As a result Liz has developed her business management and public relation skills along with growing her Interior Design Consultancy within the Practice.
Liz was a member of the District Matched Student Exchange committee for three years and has been Chair of the Youth, Vocational, Fellowship & Community Committees and has taken active roles within the Administration and Foundation Committees within her Rotary Club of Papanui while home hosting Vocational and Group Study Exchange visitors.
Her District Governor focus was on Child and Maternal Health encouraging Rotary members to look for projects in their locality and to engage with people who work in this area. As District 9970 Public Image Chair for Rotary Liz is involved in presentation work at training events and Rotary clubs, managing social media, writing for radio campaigns and assisting with fundraising events and conferences to raise the awareness of Rotary in the community.
Working at “grass root” level in our community has always been of great importance to Liz as she believes that by helping others to have access to education and health services it will lead them to become independent contributing members of society. Giving people a hand up and not just a hand out.
Liz has 5 children, 9 grandchildren and 3 adolescent step grandchildren some of whom live overseas. As a result one of her passions is travelling and experiencing different cultures.
Brett Odgers has been named one of the top 100 Business & Executive coaches in the world and the number 1 Consultant in Asia Pacific for leadership development using behavioural profiling in 2016.
His company, Business Growth Advisors”, helps organisations instal teamwork and culture that helps them overcome any obstacle….
On the weekends you’ll find him on the side of a soccer field mentoring young men to become leaders and teaching them how to build high performance teams.
Brett explains his philosophy like this “I believe that you don’t build a business. You build a team… And they build your business”
And on the sports field, we see greatness all the time. Wouldn’t it be cool if we saw more of that every day in our workplace culture.
Commissioner Webb joined NSW Police Force in May 1987 and has performed general duties and criminal investigations both in the metropolitan area of Sydney and Regional NSW. She has performed duties at the Child Mistreatment Unit, Drug Enforcement Agency, Detectives Training Unit and command roles at Forensic Services Group, Local Area Commands, Operations Manager, North West Metropolitan Region Commander, State Surveillance Branch and Assistant Commissioner Police Transport & Public Safety Command and Traffic and Highway Patrol Command.
Commissioner Webb has led high-level projects including a joint National Institute of Forensic Science/Prime Minister & Cabinet research project, National Accreditation of NSW Police Forensic Services laboratories, 90 Years and 100 Years of Women in Policing celebrations. She was awarded the Australian Police Medal in 2015.
Commissioner Webb has also commanded several operations including Invictus Games 2018, Australia Day 2018 & 2019, sporting events, crime reduction and public safety strategies and was a member of the World Youth Day command team. She was a Local Area Commander for the Merrylands High School riot, bias-crimes such as the Sri-Lankan acid burn attack and multiple drive-by shootings. These events received national and international media attention requiring high-level discussions and stakeholder engagement.
Rosie Attard was 17 years old and driving to her final Year 12 assembly, when she swerved to avoid an animal on the road.
In that moment, her world was turned upside down.
When Ms Attard’s car crashed, she suffered a spinal cord injury and lost the use of her legs.
She had to spend the next year in a Sydney rehabilitation centre.
Being in a wheelchair has not dampened Ms Attard’s enthusiasm for life.
She always wanted to work with young children and was determined to still make that happen, despite the extra physical challenges.
Now, twelve years after her accident in 2011, Ms Attard is an early childhood educator.
“I knew before my accident I wanted to work with kids, they are fun and bright and that’s what I wanted to surround my world with,” she said.
“So for years, children have been my passion and now I am here.
“It’s very warming and very rewarding as well, it’s an easy job to do, they are hilarious, they say the funniest things.
David Heine – CEO of Regional Australia Bank since July 2021.
David has worked across the finance and banking sectors for over 30 years. David has held executive positions at Cuscal Ltd, eftpos, Cardtronics and Linfox Armaguard specialising in innovation, technology, financial markets, balance sheet management and payment systems. He has served as a director at eftpos, Australian Payments and Clearing Association (now AusPayNet) and Credit Union Financial Support System (CUFSS).
Jessie Harman has been a Rotarian for the past seventeen years, a member of the Rotary Club of Wendouree Breakfast in District 9780, Australia.
She has been active at club, district and international levels. Jessie is a past club secretary and president and was governor in 2010-2011. More recently she has served as Rotary coordinator (2013-2016) and project lead for the Regional Membership Plan for Zones 7B & 8 (2013-2017).
She has been a member of the national training team and training leader at Rotary’s International Assembly in San Diego. She is presently the seminar trainer for International Assembly.
Jessie’s first experience of Rotary was as a participant of RYLA in 1987, and she maintains an active interest in Rotary’s youth and leadership programs to this day. She is also keenly interested in membership development and is co-author of ‘101 strategies for recruiting and retaining members’. Continuing her interest, Jessie has also served on Rotary International’s Membership Committee – a standing committee of the Board of Rotary International.