In this episode, we’re joined by Professor John Thwaites, who boasts a very impressive CV.

John Thwaites is currently the chair and Professorial Fellow of Monash University’s Sustainable Development Institute, ClimateWorks Australia & BehaviourWorks Australia.

John is Chair of Melbourne Water and a Director of Fair Trade Australia New Zealand.

John is the Chair of the National Sustainable Development Council, which has developed the Transforming Australia: SDGs Progress Report 2018. We’ll be speaking with him today predominantly about the 2020 update of the Transforming Australia report, for which John was the Principal Lead. You can find the report at sdgtransformingaustralia.com

He is a Co-Chair of the Leadership Council of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (“SDSN”) launched by the Secretary General of the United Nations to provide expert advice and support to the development and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Lancet Covid-19 Commission, one of the pre-eminent global bodies created solutions to the pandemic appointed John as a Commissioner.

John Thwaites was also Deputy Premier of Victoria from 1999 until his retirement in 2007, as well as holding Ministerial portfolios including Health, Planning, Environment, Water, and has the honour of being Victoria’s first Minister for Climate Change.

In this episode, we’re joined by Jody Lightfoot of the Campaign for Australian Aid

Jody’s work aligns most closely with Goal 17 – Partnerships for the Goals, specifically target #17.2, which is:

Developed countries to implement fully their official development assistance commitments, including the commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income toward official development assistance to developing countries and 0.15 to 0.20 per cent of gross national income toward official development assistance to least developed countries official development assistance providers are encouraged to consider setting a target to provide at least 0.20 per cent of gross national income toward official development assistance to least developed countries

Campaign for Australian Aid is a movement of people, organisations, communities and businesses who believe Australia can and should do more to help build a better, fairer future for all. The Campaign is made up of fifty of the country’s leading aid and development organisations, including World Vision, Oxfam and Save the Children, to name a couple.

In this episode, we’re joined by Daniel Pejic of the University of Melbourne’s Connected Cities Lab.

Dan’s work aligns most closely with Goal 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Daniel Pejic is a Research Fellow in International Urban Migration and a PhD researcher at University of Melbourne’s Connected Cities Lab as part of the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning.

The Connected Cities Lab is a laboratory designed to address the challenges city leadership faces, and the information it needs in an interconnected and increasingly urbanised planet.

Dan is currently researching the role of cities as actors in global migration governance and the rescaling of the politics of migration