David Harrison has been appointed the new National President of the Property Council of Australia, with the Charter Hall Managing Director and Group CEO elected to the role on Tuesday.
Mr Harrison takes the reins of the industry association from JLL Australia and New Zealand CEO Stephen Conry, whose two-year term concluded at Tuesday’s Property Council board meeting.
The GPT Group’s CEO Bob Johnston and Sophie Fallman, Managing Partner, Real Estate at Brookfield, have both been elected as National Vice-Presidents.
For the first time in the Property Council’s history, the 20-member Board of national and local leaders now also features a 50:50 gender balance.
Following his election, Mr Harrison said he was honoured to take on the role at what is a critical time for Australia’s biggest industry.
“It has been a tough year for the property sector, but we should be proud of the major role the industry has played in Australia’s response to the COVID pandemic,” Mr Harrison said.
“Property has done much of the heavy lifting to pull our economy out of recession and stands ready to achieve even better results over the long term with a continuation of positive policy settings.”
He said as government stimulus and support packaged continued to be wound down, the Property Council would continue to lead public debate around issues such as reactivating CBDs, resuming overseas migration and reforming tax and plannin g systems.
“As stimulus and support measures are wound down the Property Council will be leading the public debate on reactivating CBDs, resuming overseas migration and reforms to our tax and planning systems.”
“With property employing 1.48 million Australians, and contributing $234.7 billion to our economy, the health of our industry needs to be front of mind for all levels of government,” he said.
The full Board of the Property Council of Australia is:
