Our Board

The Copyright Council's board has up to nine directors. At each Annual General Meeting (in April), affiliated organisations elect a maximum of six directors. Each elected director must be a representative of an affiliated organisation, and have been nominated by two other representatives of affiliated organisations.

The elected directors may appoint a representative of an affiliated organisation to fill a casual vacancy. In addition, the elected directors may appoint any person as an additional director, provided the total number of directors does not exceed nine.

Each director must retire at the following Annual General Meeting, but may be re-nominated for election or re-appointed.

Kate has practised as an intellectual property lawyer since 1989, and is one of the foundation partners of Banki Haddock Fiora, established in 1995.

She has extensive experience advising collecting societies and publishers in relation to all aspects of their business, including in particular copyright and competition law. She provides advice on all aspects of copyright management and transactions relating to dealings with copyright properties. In particular, she has close experience of all aspects of the legal issues facing collecting societies, including under competition legislation.

Kate also conducts litigation and manages disputes and enforcement proceedings relating to copyright and competition and consumer laws, in particular in the music industry. She has extensive experience in the Copyright Tribunal of Australia. Her clients include collecting societies, publishers and other companies with creative interests.

Kate is a lay member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance ethics panel, and a member of the management committee of the Copyright Society of Australia.

Since 2009, Kate has been included in the intellectual property section of the Best Lawyers of Australia list published by the Australian Financial Review.

Dean is the Chief Executive Officer of APRA AMCOS. Dean has worked closely with the Federal and State Governments, lobbying for the recognition and support of creators’ rights and securing investment for a range of initiatives including Australian music export office Sounds Australia, the Live Music Office, SongMakers high schools program and SongHubs collaborative songwriting residency program. Dean has initiated research relating to the economic contribution of the Australian venue-based live music industry, the potential application of tax-offsets to the commercial music industry, and most recently the issues of gender equity in the Australian contemporary music industry.
He holds a Bachelor of Education in Music, a post-graduate qualification in marketing and is a graduate of the High Potentials Leadership program at Harvard University. In a former life Dean was a high school music teacher.

Alida is the former Chief Executive of Viscopy, the rights management organisation for visual artists in Australia and New Zealand. Alida has practised law for more than 10 years in Australia and New York specialising in intellectual property and information technology transactions, competition and regulatory law. On returning from the United States in 2005, Alida worked as the Senior Solicitor at the Arts Law Centre of Australia representing artists and arts organisations and as a Solicitor in the Office of General Counsel at The University of Sydney. Alida has degrees in Arts and Law from the University of New South Wales. She served on the board of directors of Viscopy from 2007 to 2012 and currently serves a director of Disabled Wintersport Australia, as well as the management committee of the Copyright Society of Australia.

Lynne is currently the General Manager of both ARIA (the Australian Recording Industry Association) and PPCA (the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia). Formerly with Festival Records, Lynne has been with ARIA and PPCA since 1996, and has held a range of roles.
Lynne is also a director of the music industry benevolent fund, Support Act Limited, and has acted as Support Act’s Secretary/ Treasurer since 1998.

Libby is Policy Director at the Copyright Agency, which provides rights management services for writers, artists and publishers. She has a law degree from the University of Adelaide, and was previously Executive Officer of the Australian Copyright Council. Libby is a former board director of the Australian Music Centre and member of the Management Committee of the Copyright Society of Australia.

Olivia Lanchester is the CEO of the Australian Society of Authors. Previously, she ran the ASA's Contract Assessment Service and is passionate about advising authors and illustrators on their rights and optimising their position. Olivia has also worked as an intellectual property lawyer in private practice and as a freelance editor. Olivia advises authors and illustrators on many aspects of the publishing process. She has worked closely with the Office for the Arts, lobbying for the expansion of PLR / ELR payments to digital formats. Olivia coordinates the ASA's advocacy on copyright and unfair contracts, and has worked on industry agreements and protocols with the Australian Publishers Association, Australian Booksellers Association and the Australian Library and Information Association.

James Dickinson is the Chief Executive of Screenrights. He has over 20 years of experience at the organisation, across licensing and regulatory affairs, and advocates in support of screen creators’ rights in Australia and New Zealand. James has an in-depth understanding of the regulatory framework underpinning the film sector. He works closely with stakeholders in government and education to benefit the screen industry as a whole, and to improve access to screen-based learning resources.

Paul Muller is Chief Executive Officer of the Australia New Zealand Screen Association (ANZSA), an organisation established to promote and protect the interests of its members, which include; Disney, Fetch TV, Netflix, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warner Bros. Paul oversees the implementation of ANZSA’s strategic initiatives, highlighting the importance of content protection, copyright and screen production through public awareness and research programs. Prior to joining ANZSA, Paul held various senior commercial positions within the entertainment industry, including Managing Director for Paramount Home Media Distribution in Sydney, and Marketing and Sales director roles at both EMI Music and Universal Music in his country of birth, the Netherlands. Paul commenced his career at Procter & Gamble after completing Masters Degree’s in Business Administration and Civil Engineering.

Grant McAvaney is a senior media and entertainment lawyer with extensive litigation and commercial law experience. Grant heads the litigation team at the ABC; he has just returned to this position after spending 18 months as the CEO of the ACC where he remains as the Company Secretary. Prior to joining the ABC the first time, Grant held positions as both a Partner of Minter Ellison, and Senior Legal Counsel of Ninemsn. He has a wealth of varied legal experience including pre-publication, court appearances, defamation, contempt, newsgathering, intellectual property, privacy, production contracts, copyright licensing, and legislative/policy reviews.Grant has also been active in the wider profession, including lecturing media law to University students and members of the Media & Entertainment Arts Alliance, and he was recently awarded a 2018 Pro Bono Award by the Arts Law Centre of Australia.