Airport Safety and Emergency Management Forum 2025

Lorie Argus was appointed CEO of Melbourne Airport on July 1, 2022 after seven years as Chief of Aviation and Chief of Landside Access, Utilities and Facilities.

With more than 30 years’ experience in aviation, she brings a “passenger first” focus to her role.

Lorie started her career in Canada before relocating to Australia and joining Virgin Australia. In her ten years at the airline, she was appointed Manager of International Airport Operations and General Manager of Ground Operations.

In 2017 Lorie graduated with an Executive MBA from Bond University including a Dean’s award and high distinction. Lorie is an active member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and became a Graduate of AICD  (GAICD) in 2019.

With over 30 years of professional experience in aviation and transport management and consultancy roles, Michael is the PwC Global Aviation Leader. He has extensive experience in transport infrastructure advisory, with a specialization in airport and aviation infrastructure. This includes: M&A, privatisation, concession and PPP structures; due diligence; commercial operations strategy; market assessment and traffic analysis; government transport policy advisory; and, transport operations process and performance improvement. Undertaking advisory assignments and leading teams in the UK, US, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia, Michael has focused on the development of new business propositions and service strategies for transport, and especially airport and aviation services assets. He has built extensive airport operational and financial models, as well as integrated demand forecasts and traffic models. His transport investment clients include infrastructure funds, pension funds, private equity and investment banks – though he also works with government clients, regulators and transport and aviation operators.

Jane is a Partner at PwC Australia with 15 years of global experience across Asia, Australia and Europe advising organisations through disruption and transformation. Jane is recognised for her expertise in forensic investigations, strategic crisis management, and enterprise resilience.  Jane is a Certified Member of Business Continuity Institute (CBCI) and has extensive experience in helping clients respond to critical events and build their resilience maturity, drawing upon her knowledge of the key global resilience regulations such as SOCI, CPS230, EU DORA and EU Critical Entity Resilience Directive. As a member of PwC Global Network’s Strategic Intelligence and Response Centre, Jane works with the global team to ensure globally consistent intelligence and crisis response strategy to protect brand and operations during critical events.

Brad established Krisis Consultancy after working in the Emergency Management industry across private sector organisations and public service roles at local, state, and federal government levels. This experience provided him insight into different approaches for developing organisational capability and resilience. He has a background in aviation safety, with over 17 years of industry experience. Brad holds a Graduate Certificate and a Master’s degree in Emergency Management, and is currently pursuing a PhD at Edith Cowan University. His doctoral research focuses on reviewing existing Australian Emergency Management Arrangements, exploring opportunities for improved harmonisation across jurisdictions in response to an increasingly climate change driven risk environment.

Jesse has over two decades of experience in the aviation industry. Currently serving as the Emergency Planning Advisor at Gold Coast Airport, responsible for developing, maintaining, and overseeing Airport Emergency Plans that ensure coordinated and effective response to a wide range of incidents — including aircraft emergencies, natural disasters, security threats, and public health crises.

Jesse’s role involves close collaboration with local emergency agencies from both Queensland and New South Wales, to assist with seamless multi-agency coordination and preparedness.

Jesse is committed to enhancing resilience and safety in our dynamic airport environment.

Kevin has worked in Victorian Corrections for 40 years and is currently the General Manager of the Security & Emergency Services Group within the Security & Intelligence Division. This group provides the tactical response across the system including all Prisons, Youth Justice, Post Sentence Branch and Community Corrections. Post the 2015 riot he was the inaugural General manager of the Emergency Management Unit, responsible for EM capability development, delivering over 80 exercises with multi agency stakeholders annually, moved sideways to set up the EM arm of CQV for 2 years and has been an invitational speaker to the USA on 10 occasions, receiving a 3-month fellowship to research violence across international jurisdictions in 2017.

Laura left her job managing airline safety for Regional Express in 2008 in search of some adventure. She mistook a job ad for a small town the United Arab Emirates as a job in Dubai and took off with two suitcases and two cats for “two, maybe three years”. Almost twelve years later she had led teams at the world’s busiest international airport through delivering and operating terminal concourses, runways, flying schools and airshows. Plenty of stories were gathered along the way (there is evidence of some). Laura came home in 2020, just in time to work for but never see Melbourne Airport. Nowadays she’s working on the delivery of the third runway project. She misses the smell of jet fuel with her morning coffee.

Our presentation will centre around Operational Readiness planning and how a structured approach to any scenario will improve the outcomes and objectives. It will be applying the benefits of the planning context of annual emergency exercise planning and also sharing how Operational Readiness applies to new developments on the aerodrome.

Case studies will include what a ConOps process looks like and will case study the ORAT work Southpac delivered with Newcastle Airport (including their Mass Passenger Exercise). It will also run through the emergency exercises we’ve staged in WA and for Darwin Airport.

Bjorn comes from a background of aviation having learnt to fly at 14 with aspirations of being a pilot Bjorn decided the ground was where he belonged and instead undertook a Bachelor of Aviation after which Bjorn began working for Airservices Australia in Air Traffic Control. Bjorn then moved to Sydney to be closer to family where he took on the challenge of managing aviation safety and the Airport Operator’s License at Sydney Airport. Having worked across multiple parts of the aviation industry, Bjorn is now the Head of Safety for Star Aviation where he ensures the safety and wellbeing for its more than 800 employees.

Clinton Cardozo is the CEO and Co-founder of OneReg, the next-generation tech platform revolutionising aviation compliance. He is driven by enabling outcomes that matter: clearer operational visibility, faster and more reliable decision-making, real-time audit-readiness, and safer operations supported by timely, trusted information. Clinton’s vision is for a shared source of truth among airports, airlines, and regulators. He is pioneering an industry-led, future-ready aviation data ecosystem that serves the whole community – enabling national-level data sharing and benchmarking to elevate safety and performance across the aviation industry.

Tom is a Group Product Manager overseeing Safety & Security products, along with AI, and Ecosystem capabilities at Motorola Solutions. Tom has served in product for five years and before this spent a decade in Safety and Security roles at various maritime ports across Australia. Starting out in WA, then Tasmania with his last role in industry just nearby down on the banks of the Yarra at Melbourne International RoRo and Automotive Terminal.

Rachel grew up wanting to be a pilot and studied a Bachelor of Aviation at USQ, where Rachel chose Aviation Management as my major (a fortunate decision in 2020 when the world changed). Rachel started her career at Archerfield Airport in Queensland before moving to Melbourne Airport, where Rachel now works in the Airfield Operations and Safety team. Rachel’s work has focused on using CCTV to investigate and share safety learnings, running safety campaigns and driver safety modules, and using digital platforms to strengthen safety communications across the airport community.