Australian IT minister shuffles NetAlert board

19.06.2006
Australian ICT and Arts Minister Senator Helen Coonan has announced a number of reappointments to the NetAlert board, including the current chairperson Karyn Hart.

Established in 1999, NetAlert is a government-owned company to promote a safer Internet experience.

Senator Coonan extended her thanks to outgoing directors Bernadette McMenamin and Mike Nermut for their hard work and contribution to the government's Internet safety strategy during their time on the board.

Coonan said the current chair Karyn Hart and four existing directors will remain on the NetAlert board until June 30, 2007.

"NetAlert plays a vital role in helping parents and young people safely navigate the Internet," Coonan said. "These reappointments ensure the board retains an appropriate mix of industry, legal, library services, law enforcement and educational experience and knowledge."

Hart has been chair of NetAlert since it was established, and has experience in the education sector as chair of the National Advisory Committee on School Drugs Education and has been president of the Australian and Queensland Secondary School Principals' Associations. She is now the principal of Macgregor State High School in Brisbane.

Other board members include Peter Coroneos, the chief executive of the Internet Industry Association (IIA); Kaaren Koomen, a government affairs executive with IBM Australia and New Zealand; Derek Whitehead, director of information services at Swinburne University of Technology; Kevin Zuccato, Australian Federal Police agent and director of the Australian High Tech Crime Center.