2023 Don Dunstan Oration: Inspiration for environmental justice – then and now

Mike Rann AC CNZM is the UK Chair of the Climate Group, headquartered in London, and is CEO of Rann Strategy Group. He was Premier of South Australia from 2002 to 2011 and was also Climate Change Minister, the first in Australia and one of the first in the world, leading the State’s transition from a reliance on fossil fuels to reliable renewable energy. When he was elected in 2002, South Australia had below 1% renewables. It now has more than 70% from wind and solar.

Mike has served as Co-Chair of the Climate Group's States and Regions Alliance and the Climate Group’s International Leadership Council. In 2010, he was presented with the "Global Champion of Climate Change Award" by Indian environmental NGO Exnora International.

Mike was an adviser to two previous Premiers, Don Dunstan and John Bannon, and has served as Australian High Commissioner to London, and later Ambassador to Italy, San Marino, Albania and Libya. For five years until July 2022 he chaired the international children’s charity Power of Nutrition and is a Visiting Professor at the Policy Institute of King’s College, London.
He now lives in Italy and Australia.

Jane Lomax-Smith is a Pathologist with a career in research and clinical medicine. She trained in London and has worked in Boston and Adelaide where she gained a PhD in immunology.

Jane has run hospital departments and private practices including her own. She is a staunch supporter of conservation of heritage buildings and Adelaide Park Lands. She has held elected office as a City Councillor, Lord Mayor and as MP for the City when she was also Minister for Education and Tourism.

She has written Commonwealth and State Government reports on funding for universities and the future of Leigh Creek. She is now the Chair of the Teachers Registration Board and the Don Dunstan Foundation which researches and promotes ideas on a range of social justice issues.

Appointed on 1 July 2014, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment Erma Ranieri works passionately towards creating a world-leading public sector that serves South Australians well, does what it says it will do, and to which every public servant is proud to belong.

With the role of the public sector being to serve and support South Australia to thrive, Erma leads sector-wide reform to modernise the public sector and continue to build on its value and service to the South Australian community.

Erma has worked for more than 30 years to help organisations optimise productivity and employee wellbeing. She was named a 2014 Telstra Business Woman of the Year as SA Winner of the Telstra Community and Government Award for her role in leading transformational change throughout the public sector.

With a key focus on flexibility, diversity and leadership development to ensure the public sector is positioned as an Employer of Choice, Erma continues to challenge cultural and structural barriers to drive innovative, collaborative and connected services for the community.