The Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources has left vacant eight of the eleven board positions on the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board after exiting the unpaid advisors from their roles.
The Australian Government Directory lists Catherine Roberts, Meghan Quinn, and Alfred Wassal as the remaining members of the 11-person board. The other spots, including the chair and deputy chair’s positions, are listed as vacant.
“The work of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board has been deferred while the Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources reviews the Agency’s governance arrangements,” an Australian Space Agency spokesperson told Space & Defense.
Open-source data detailing Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources portfolio appointments suggests the department quietly initiated its review some time ago. As of early May 2023, the deputy chair and three board positions were vacant and have remained so ever since. At the same time, the department declared the deputy chair and three board positions vacant. The chairperson, Dr Megan Clark, appears to have left her board role sometime between May and October 2023.
In 2022, the department appointed six new faces to the advisory board; Professor Margaret Sheil, Professor Steven Freeland, Frank Robert, Professor Svend Peter Klinken, Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, and Dr Chris Pigram. Most were appointed for two years through April 2024. However, Pigram and Shiel were appointed for twelve months only.
The Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources did not respond to a request for comment from Space & Defense.
Unlike many advisory roles to government agencies, Australian Space Agency advisory board positions are unpaid. The department says the Board is non-statutory, independent and skills-based. The board advises the agency’s head, Enrico Palermo, reviews and advises on the space agency’s strategic direction and performance, and supports it to achieve its purpose. The advisory board is not a decision-making body and has no governing legislation.
Clark was appointed to the chair’s role after a stint as head of the agency, a job she acquired in 2017 after leading the Australian government’s review of the country’s space capabilities. That review lead to the creation of the Australian Space Agency.
Of the remaining members, Florida-based Wassal took up his position on the advisory board in September 2021, bringing substantive experience in commercial and government space operations to the role. Quinn is Secretary of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and was appointed to the advisory board position in August 2022, with no fixed end date.
Roberts was appointed to the advisory board in late 2019. Roberts is best known as the former commander of Australia’s Defence Space Command, a position she stepped down from in December 2023. Like Quinn, Robert’s tenure on the advisory board has no pre-determined end date. Wassal is due to step down in September 2024.
