Introducing our panellists

Minister for Finance, Women, and the Public Service/Senator for the ACT

Minister Katy Gallagher has dedicated her working life to improving the lives of Australians, whether it was advocating for people with disability as a community worker, standing up for the rights of public servants as a Community and Public Sector Union Organiser or delivering for citizens of Canberra as the Chief Minister of the ACT.

As a Minister in the ACT Government and later as Chief Minister, Katy Gallagher led a progressive and future-focused government that legislated marriage equality, started Australia’s first public nurse-led walk-in medical centres and committed the Government to a 100% renewable energy target by 2020.

As a senior Cabinet Minister holding the Federal Government’s finance, data and digital, public service and the women’s portfolios, Katy Gallagher is passionate about putting people at the forefront of government decision-making, policy development and service delivery.

Chief Data Integration Officer (CDIO), Defence Data Division

As Chief Data Integration Officer, Dr Robards is responsible for implementing the Defence Data Strategy, and supporting the Defence enterprise to better govern, trust, discover, use and share data. Paul also manages the implementation of the Defence Business Integration Program to ensure the right capability investment and intended effects are realised across the Defence enterprise. Paul served for over 30 years in the Australian Army before transitioning to the Australian Public Service in 2019. Paul holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Information Science and in 2010, he was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia.

Chief Data Officer (CDO), Department of Social Services, Data and Evaluation Group

Gemma is the Department of Social Services Chief Data Officer, empowering everyone in the department to achieve more with data through improved capability, governance, culture, data access and sharing, and technology.  The National Disability Data Asset and its underlying infrastructure, the Australian National Data Integration Infrastructure, are key priorities for the department,  bringing together Commonwealth, State and Territory public sector data to improve the lives of those living with disability.  Gemma has thirty-five years of data experience including 30 years in the Australian Bureau of Statistics, three in the United Nations, and a secondment to the Australian Government Prime Minister and Cabinet’s department where she led development of the Government’s response to the Productivity Commission’s Data Availability and Use Inquiry.  Gemma graduated from the Australian National University with an honours Science degree majoring in mathematics and statistics.

General Manager, Strategy, Planning and Performance, Digital Transformation Agency

Lucy leads the Strategy, Planning and Performance Division which focuses on providing whole-of-government strategic leadership to the development and implementation of digital policies, the Australian Government Architecture as well as the Data and Digital Government Strategy. 

In this role, Lucy also oversees the management of the government’s digital investment pipeline to ensure an integrated and coordinated approach to government’s investment in digital and ICT. 

A key priority for Lucy is driving the achievement of the Australian Government’s vision to implement world class digital capabilities to deliver outstanding outcomes for all. This includes the analysis of how emerging technologies can better support the delivery of simple, secure and connected services for all people and businesses. 

Prior to joining the DTA, Lucy held senior executive roles at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian Public Service Commission where she led several transformation programs. Lucy has experience across a range of sectors including Australian federal and state governments, the private sector and the UK civil service.

Principal Analyst, Intermedium

Judy was a Deputy Commissioner of Taxation when she left the Australian Public Service and was responsible for a range of major ICT-dependent program reforms, including the implementation of the Tax File Number System.

She has an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management and founded Intermedium in 2004, as a specialist researcher of Australian public sector use of digital and ICT.

As an independent industry analyst, she has an extensive understanding of key technology and digitisation issues facing senior government decision-makers.