State Coastal Policy draft amendment 01-25 Assessment Panel

Claire Hynes holds a Bachelor of Town Planning with Honours from the University of NSW and a Master of Environmental and Local Government Law from the Macquarie University, and is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia. Claire has more than 25 years’ experience in statutory and strategic planning. She has worked in various planning roles in the UK, New South Wales and Tasmania, primarily in state and local government. Claire has worked for the Commission as a Senior Planning Consultant and as a delegate since 2018.

Ross has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Planning), Graduate Diploma (Urban & Regional Planning), Graduate Diploma (Management) and a Master of Arts (Town Planning).

Ross has had an extensive career in regional and local government planning in Victoria and Tasmania and has expertise in a wide range of town planning fields. In his previous position, Ross was the Manager City Planning, at Clarence City Council.

Mark is a Geoscientist, Lecturer and Researcher in the School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences at the University of Tasmania (UTAS), and has taught GIS, geoheritage, geomorphology and geotourism courses from an introductory to an advanced level.

Mark serves as a co-leader of TAARN, a dedicated research group focused on Geoconservation in Tasmania and Australia. Before joining UTAS in 2017, Mark was an IT professional working in government and industry sectors in Australia and abroad across a variety of roles.

Professionally, Mark is actively engaged with the industry as a geoheritage specialist, practitioner, and consultant, concentrating on geoheritage protection, sustainable geotourism, and geoeducation. As part of this professional engagement, he chairs a working group on Digital Technologies for Australia’s National Geotourism Strategy.

James holds a Master of Engineering Science degree in Coastal and Water Engineering and has over 30 years of experience in coastal hazard assessment, coastal management and coastal engineering.

James currently holds the role of Principal Coastal Engineer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Water Research Laboratory (WRL). James has served on the NSW Coasts Oceans and Port Engineering Panel (COPEP) of Engineers Australia since 2000, and its National Committee on Coastal and Ocean Engineering (NCCOE) since 2017.

Prior to working at WRL, James worked in the construction industry, including construction and estimating experience for a civil/marine contractor. James has been involved in coastal hazard assessment and coastal management in all states of Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, including more than 30 assessments of coastal hazards (erosion, recession, inundation and climate change) around the coast of Tasmania. He has visited almost all of the inhabited coasts of Tasmania and has been a surfer, surf life saver and open water swimmer for over 40 years.