Directors
Dr Anthony Ockwell
Anthony is a highly experienced transport policy analyst, with an extensive background in transport and agricultural economics. From 1978 to 2006, he worked in the Australian Government, largely at the Senior Executive level in the Department of Transport and Regional Services. In that capacity, he had responsibility for a wide range of activities, including road transport reform, road safety policy and research, infrastructure investment analysis, technology and innovation, evaluation of government regional programs and economic research. He was directly involved in the road transport reform agenda (1992-98 and 2003-05), serving as the principal Australian Government member on a wide range of committees and working groups, including the initial introduction of heavy vehicle charges in July 1995 and the alternative compliance regimes covering Queensland Fatigue Management, Victorian Mass Management and NSW Road Worthiness. As part of that reform, he chaired a Commonwealth/State Working Group on Taxes and Charges Paid by the Road Transport Industry. He maintained sound working relationships with industry.
Anthony had a lead role in the development of strategic transport policy issues, urban transport and intelligent transport systems, as well as administration of the Federal Road Safety Research Programme and the Federal Black Spot Road Safety Funding Programme. He chaired the Commonwealth/state working group responsible for development of the National Guidelines for Transport System Management in Australia for the assessment of road/rail infrastructure initiatives in Australia and now provides assistance to organisations in use of the guidelines. He also chaired working groups on urban congestion and the National Transport Data Framework.
Anthony has extensive international experience including for three years (1985-87) in Africa on an agricultural research and development project. He also completed two short term transport consultancies in PNG for the World Bank in 1991. He was appointed Principal Administrator of the OECD Road Transport and Intermodal Linkages Research Programme (1998-2002). He recently worked on a project on Trade in Transport Services for the Australian Indonesian Partnership for Economic Governance (AIPEG).
Since retiring from the Australian Department of Transport in 2006, Anthony has worked on a number of consultancy projects. He has a sound understanding of government policy processes and the COAG road transport reform agenda.
Anthony is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Australia and is a former chair of the ACT and Southern NSW Section. He holds a B. Sc. Agric. (Hons, with majors in economics and agricultural economics, from the University of Sydney (1974) and a Doctor of Philosophy, also from The University of Sydney (1981).
Phil Potterton
Phil is a transport and infrastructure advisory consultant with a senior executive background in policy and research in government. Phil's recent projects include advice to the National Faster Rail Agency on opportunities to more comprehensively reflect benefits and costs of faster passenger rail projects in project evaluations and an industry profile of dangerous goods transport in New South Wales. As Canberra lead for GHD Strategy & Economics in the 2010s, Phil led projects including the Northern Australia infrastructure audit (for Infrastructure Australia) and technical development of a state aviation strategy (for the Western Australian Department of Transport). As head of the federal Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics for over five years in the 2000s, Phil directed projects for government use and for publication in economic investment appraisal, pricing and regulation, transport and the environment and urban and regional development.
Phil earlier directed the labour market assistance evaluation activities of the Department of Employment, Education and Training and authored the original Handbook of Cost-Benefit Analysis (Department of Finance, 1991), now updated. While with Northern Territory Treasury in 2001, Phil developed corporatisation policy and legislation for government-owned enterprises. Prior to this in a 30 year public sector career, Phil appraised international development projects, with the DFAT Overseas Aid Program and held transport policy advice and analysis roles.
Phil is a member of the Economics Society of Australia and is secretary and a former chair of the ACT and Southern NSW section of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport in Australia.
Phil holds a Master of Public Policy (Kennedy School of Government, Harvard (Transport Economics) a Master of Arts in International Relations (Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (History and English Literature, Cambridge University).