Chairman - Richard F E (Dick)
Warburton AO
Deputy Chairman - Chris Jordan AO
Other non-government members
Ex-officio members
Conflict of Interest Declaration
The Board of Taxation consists of ten members, seven of whom have been appointed from the business and community sector in their personal capacities. Also on the Board, as ex-officio members, are the Secretary to the Treasury, the Commissioner of Taxation, and the First Parliamentary Counsel.
Chairman - Richard F E (Dick) Warburton AO
Mr Warburton is currently Chairman of Tandou Ltd and Magellan Flagship Fund Ltd and is a director of Citigroup Ltd. He is also a Director on the Advisory Board of The Garvan Research Foundation. Mr Warburton is a former Board Member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, former Chairman of the NSW Olympic Business Roundtable, a past National President of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a former Chairman of Caltex Australia Ltd and former Chairman and CEO of Du Pont Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Warburton has been Chairman of the Board since its inception in September 2000
Deputy Chairman - Chris Jordan AO
Mr Jordan is Chairman of KPMG New South Wales and was previously Partner in Charge of the New South Wales Tax and Legal Division of KPMG. He is the former Chairman of the New Tax System Advisory Board and was also the State Chairman of the New South Wales Division of the Taxation Institute of Australia. Mr Jordan is a member of the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation Board and is also a member of the Board of the Bell Shakespeare Company. He has been appointed by the NSW Government to the Games Advisory Committee of the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games.
Mr Jordan has been a member of the Board since its inception in September 2000. He was appointed to the new position of Deputy Chairman in January 2005.
John Emerson AM
John Emerson has been a partner in Freehills, lawyers, since 1976 and is widely recognised as a specialist in the tax and other laws applicable to charities. He heads the firm's charity law practice.
He is the Freehills Melbourne Office Pro Bono Partner and a member of a number of legal and public sector committees active in the charity tax and pro bono areas.
Mr Emerson was appointed to the Board in January 2007.
Brett Heading
Mr Heading is a Partner and Chairman of legal firm McCullough Robertson. He is a corporate lawyer advising on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and capital raising particularly for emerging companies. He is also an experienced company director, and is presently Chairman of ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Ltd and director of Peanut Company of Australia Ltd and Australian Agricultural Company Ltd. He has diverse personal agribusiness interests in the South Burnett in Queensland (cattle, vineyard, lucerne and olive operations and the wine producer Clovely Estate). Mr Heading is also a member of the Takeovers Panel.
Mr Heading has been a member of the Board since its inception in September 2000.
Keith James
Mr James has been a Partner at Hall & Wilcox Lawyers. He is a key figure in the tax advisory profession. His involvement has extended to Chairman of the Public Accountants Committee, Victorian President and National Councillor and Chairman of the Taxation Centre of Excellence for CPA Australia. Mr James was the accounting profession representative on the Commissioner of Taxation's Advisory Panel, his National Liaison Committee and the Advisory Committee on the Taxpayers Charter. He was joint Chairman of the working party on the national review of standards of the tax profession and a member of the steering committee of the Pappas Carter Report reviewing the Tax Office's large case audit program.
Mr James is an active public speaker within the industry and regularly has articles published in legal and accounting publications.
Mr James has been a member of the Board since March 2004.
Eric Mayne
Mr Mayne is the Chief Supervision Officer of ASX Markets Supervision at the Australian Securities Exchange. He also chairs the ASX Corporate Governance Council.
Mr Mayne is responsible for ASX's supervision of the Futures and Equities markets, including company disclosure, market surveillance and participant activity and compliance with ASX's Operating Rules.
Mr Mayne joined ASX in May 2005 after 35 years experience in government revenue regulation and law. During this time, he was a partner at the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques for nearly 16 years, including the National Managing Partner for approximately 5 years. Mr Mayne has a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Graduate Diploma of Business (Accounting), and is a member of the Financial Reporting Council and the Corporations Committee of The Law Council of Australia.
Mr Mayne has been a member of the Board since January 2005.
Curt Rendall
Mr Rendall is the Senior Partner of Rendall Kelly Chartered Accountants.
Mr Rendall was previously a member of the Dawson Review, Chairman of the Federal Government’s Small Business Consultative Committee and Deputy Chairman of the New Tax System Advisory Board. He has also been Chairman of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Small and Medium Enterprises Committee as well as a Member of the Small Business Development Corporation of New South Wales. His most recent Government appointment has been as an Associate Commissioner of the Productivity Commission undertaking an enquiry into the relationships between participants in the smash repair industry.
Mr Rendall has been a member of the Board since January 2005.
Michael D'Ascenzo - Commissioner of Taxation
Mr D'Ascenzo was appointed Commissioner of Taxation on 1 January 2006.
After joining the Tax Office in 1977, Mr D'Ascenzo worked in the area of tax avoidance schemes before moving on to head up recoupment tax, then international operations. He then introduced the large case program, auditing Australia's top 100 companies.
Mr D'Ascenzo led the improvements to the self-assessment system in 1992, and worked to raise the standard of tax technical decisions as Chief Tax Counsel. Before being appointed Commissioner, Mr D'Ascenzo was Second Commissioner since 1998 focusing on interpretation and implementation of tax laws, corporate planning, finance and governance.
Mr D'Ascenzo has been an ex officio member of the Board since January 2006.
Ken Henry AC - Secretary to the Treasury
Dr Henry has been Secretary to the Australian Treasury since April 2001. Dr Henry’s experience in taxation matters began when he joined Treasury as a member of the Treasury’s Taxation Policy Division from 1984 to 1986. After fulfilling various positions both inside and outside Treasury, Dr Henry returned to the Treasury in January 1994 as head of the Taxation Policy Division. In August 1997 he was appointed Chairman of the Government’s Taxation Task Force, responsible for providing advice to the Government on tax reform options. Dr Henry was then appointed to other executive roles before taking up his current position.
Dr Henry was recently appointed Chair of the Review into Australia’s Future Tax System. He is also Chair of the Standard Business Reporting Board, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Australian Office of Financial Management, Chair of the ANZSOG Research Committee and Joint-Chair of the Trans‑Tasman Banking Council. He is a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Board of Infrastructure Australia, the National Broadband Network Panel of Experts, the Council of Financial Regulators, and the COAG Working Groups on the Productivity Agenda and Indigenous Reform. Dr Henry is Alternate Governor (for Australia) of the International Monetary Fund.
Dr Henry has been an ex officio member of the Board since April 2001.
Peter Quiggin PSM - First Parliamentary Counsel
Mr Quiggin is the First Parliamentary Counsel of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, which is responsible for drafting all principal legislation for the Australian Government, including all principal taxation legislation.
Mr Quiggin's 7 year appointment as First Parliamentary Counsel started on 13 May 2004. He has been a drafter with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for about 19 years and has drafted legislation covering a wide range of topics including taxation, native title and immigration.
Prior to working at OPC, Mr Quiggin worked for a number of years with the Tax Office and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Mr Quiggin was awarded a Public Service Medal (PSM) in the Australia Day Honours 2008.
Mr Quiggin has been an ex officio member of the Board since January 2004.
Christine Barron - Secretary to the Board
Ms Barron has held a number of senior positions in Treasury. She has experience across a wide range of areas of Treasury, including most recently overseeing Treasury's involvement in the Pacific region. Her experience in tax policy includes personal tax, fringe benefits tax and not-for-profit issues. Ms Barron has secretariat experience from her role as Secretary to the Inquiry into the Definition of Charities and Related Organisations. She is also currently General Manager of the Indirect Tax Division of Treasury.
Ms Barron has been Secretary to the Board since January 2008.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST DECLARATION
All members of the Board are taxpayers in various capacities. Some members of the Board derive income from director's fees, company dividends, trust distributions or as a member of a partnership.
The Board's practice is to require members who have a material personal interest in a matter before the Board to disclose the interest to the Board and to absent themselves from the Board's discussion of the matter, including the making of a decision, unless otherwise determined by the Chairman (or if the Chairman has the interest, the other members of the Board).
The Board does not regard a member as having a material personal interest in a matter of tax policy that is before the Board merely because the member's personal interest may, in common with other taxpayers or members of the public, be affected by that tax policy or by any relevant Board recommendations.
