Presenters

Mike Young, Professor Emeritus, School of Economics and Public Policy, University of Adelaide
Mike Young is Professor Emeritus in Water and Environmental Policy at the University of Adelaide, was the Founding Executive Director of its Environment Institute, is a fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Mike is a specialist in water policy reform and his research led to the unbundling of Australia’s water licences and the resultant development of an efficient trading system and the Australian Government decision to transfer responsibility for the administration of the Murray Darling Basin’s water resources to an independent expertise-based authority. He played a key role in establishing Australia’s National Land and Water Resources Audit. Mike has held the Gough Whitlam and Malcom Fraser Chair at Harvard University, has served on Global Water Partnership's Technical Committee and the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Water Security. He was a founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. In 2006, Mike was awarded Australia’s premier water research prize – the Land and Water Australia Eureka Award for Water Research. He has played a critical role in the consideration of options for the Murray Darling Basin. Prior to joining the University of Adelaide, Mike spent 30 years with CSIRO where, amongst other things, he established their Policy and Economic Research Unit. In 2003, Mike was awarded a Centenary Medal “for outstanding service through environmental economics”. His full curriculum vitae lists over 240 publications.


Ellen Chapple, Director Legal NRAR, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Ellen is Director Legal at the Natural Resources Access Regulator. She manages water law prosecutions and other legal action to enforce the Water Management Act. Ellen has over 10 years of experience in public law and litigation and was previously a Manager Litigation with the NSW Environment Protection Authority. Ellen has worked in environment and water law in NSW and Aotearoa, including at the Crown Law Office and as Private Secretary to the Attorney-General of New Zealand. She has a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, which she attended as a 2017 R. G. Menzies Scholar.