Office Staff:
Biographies of the Executive Secretary and the staff

The office is run by a small full-time staff, headed by an Executive Secretary appointed by the Council. The office is in Sydney but deals with matters from all over Australia.

The current staff are:

Jack is the Executive Secretary of the Press Council. He is responsible to the Council for the day-to-day running of the Council office, management of its finances, and all other relevant administrative duties. He handles the processing of public complaints about the press, including attempts to mediate them. Additionally, he edits the Council's publications, including the Press Council News, the Annual Report, the Conference papers series and any occasional papers. Jack has been Executive Secretary since April 1994 and for the three years previous to that acted as the Council's Administrative Officer.

Among his other duties at the Council Jack has been responsible for the computerisation of the office and its use of the Internet, including the establishment of its Website, and has overseen the development of the Case Studies Seminars, writing many of the case studies and developing the Teachers' Notes that will enable them to be used in the classroom.

Jack came to the Press Council after a varied career that included sixteen years as a High School teacher (where in addition to teaching English, History and General Studies, he spent four years as a teacher of English as a Second Language), and time as a Professional Conference Organiser, a Reader for a press clipping service, a partner in a desktop publishing consultancy and a Director of a website development agency.

In 1995-6 he completed his B.A., by correspondence, at the University of New England, specialising in History, graduating in April 1997, 29 years after he matriculated to the University of Sydney where he studied for several years before dropping out, after majoring in student politics and debating. In 2001-2 he studied for and graduated with a Graduate Certificate in Accountancy in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Technology, Sydney.

In his spare time, Jack is an avid reader, with particular interest in fantasy, crime fiction and historical works, and movie watcher. He and his wife, Cath, like to travel, exploring various parts of Australia and taking the occasional bush-walk. They are members of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard, in the flotilla that patrols Botany Bay and the Georges River and are avid supporters of the Sydney Swans, attending as many of their matches as possible. They dream of paying off the mortgage but keep extending it.

Jack has been a competition debater, winning the NSW A Grade Championship on 4 occasions, and the Singles Debating Championship once. He twice represented NSW at the Australian Debating Championships and was once named to the Australian Universities' Debating team. He has also written a number of articles for literary journals, particularly on subjects relating to fantasy and to the work of Professor J R R Tolkien. As a result of these essays, he was awarded the William Atheling Jr Award for Criticism or Review in 1980.

Jack edits most of the Council publications and writes articles for the Press Council News. See the list of his articles and publications.

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Deborah has been with the APC since 1993. She joined as the assistant to the then-Executive Secretary and has, since 1994, been employed as the office manager.

Prior to coming to the Council, Deborah spent the majority of her working life in the legal field.

She left that area to study for the matriculation as a full-time student, and followed that up with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Sydney, majoring in History. Subsequently, she completed her Master of Arts, with a thesis on the history of the Australian Press Council.
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Deborah's role is to assist the Executive Secretary in the handling of complaints and, where possible, to mediate between publications and the public. Sometimes, she finds herself lending a sympathetic ear to an aggrieved person who simply needs someone to listen to their tale.

Deborah also writes articles for the Press Council News - see the list of her articles - and for other publications including an article (pages 62-63) on Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Press Council complaints process, published on-line by the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Austrlia.

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Leta has recently joined the Council as part-time policy and research officer. This role includes reviewing legislation and policy documents that have an impact on freedom of communication, freedom of the press and the public right to know and providing advice to the Council where comment and advocacy is needed.

Leta has a diverse background in policy, planning, organisational change and management at both State and Local Government levels and at intergovernmental level. She has provided policy advice to government departments, to Ministers and to Local Councils. Most recently she was Executive Director to the Shore Regional Organisation of Councils.

Leta holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree (majoring in sociology and drama), Graduate Diploma in Education, Post Graduate Diploma in Environmental Studies, a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws degree. Her legal studies included study in both administrative law and media law. Leta is a qualified planner, holding corporate membership of the Planning Institute of Australia and was admitted as a Legal Practitioner in the Supreme Court of NSW in 2001, is a member of the Law Society of NSW.

Leta's interests include politics, planning and social change, environment, theatre and film. Leta has previously taught film studies at the University of NSW and was previously on the Board of the Sydney Film Festival for 15 years. Working part time provides Leta with an opportunity to gain a better work/life balance and time to focus on her other interests. She is also commencing study towards a PhD in law where she will examine the changing balance in law between public interest and private rights and the implications that this has for the nature of our democracy.

Andrea has recently joined the Council as a part-time office assistant. After completing he Honours degree in Communications Studies in the UK in 1999, she set off to travel around Australia and has been here ever since!

Prior to having her son last year, Andrea worked in the recruitment industry as a Consultant for several years. She has a long-held interest in new and traditional media stemming from her university studies and further by her last Consultant role for digital media specialists, LaVolta.

Andrea works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and ensures the phones are answered, the letters typed and the office is ship-shape.

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