Rod is a consultant economist with more than 25 years’ experience helping governments and utilities make robust, value-for-money investment decisions in water, environment and climate-related infrastructure.
Rod's career has spanned Treasury, utilities, banking and consulting (ACIL economics), giving him an unusually broad perspective on how public and private sector decision-making intersects in complex infrastructure and environmental settings. He is especially experienced in water resource economics, regulatory pricing, and the economic evaluation of projects where financial, environmental and social impacts must be assessed together.
He brings a distinctive combination of technical economics capability and practical public-sector experience. Rod is particularly known for his work in non-market and environmental valuation methods, including contingent valuation, stated preference and choice experiments, and he pioneered the use of these approaches in major wastewater and water quality investment decisions in New South Wales.
As a consultant economist with Cobalt59, Rod contributes specialist depth in water resource economics, project assurance and infrastructure evaluation, helping clients navigate complex investment decisions with rigour, clarity and defensible evidence.
Rod provided the economic evaluation for the NSW Far West Power Outage Grants Program, commissioned by the Premiers Department and conducted in accordance with NSW Treasury Evaluation Guidelines. He designed and delivered the cost-benefit analysis across individual and business grant streams, modelling three scenarios and producing benefit-cost ratios that informed considerations for future emergency grant program design. This work combined economic modelling with mixed-methods evidence to assess program value for money in a compressed evaluation timeframe.
Rod led the economics input to the Warragamba Environmental Flows Project over more than five years, from project design through to business case and Gateway Review, providing valuation, cost-benefit and business case advice across all technical workstreams. He also contributed long-term economic input to the Sydney Metropolitan and Lower Hunter Water Plans, including methodology review, hydrological optimisation, desalination planning and choice modelling valuation of water supply reliability across multiple planning cycles.
Rod managed research input for Sydney Catchment Authority's submission to IPART's water pricing determination, coordinating the capital program and managing core elements of the formal review process. He also managed the Authority's response during IPART's independent review of operating and capital expenditure, and sat on the Project Management Review Panel that established and maintained the formal project management and capital program governance system.
Rod has provided cost-benefit and financial modelling for regional water infrastructure bids under the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund, developed asset valuation and cash flow models for the transfer of water and hydro-electricity assets between state and local government utilities, and reviewed economic inputs across mining, agriculture and urban water sectors for the Upper Hunter Priority Catchment Program. His work helps regional clients clarify options, test assumptions and build defensible investment cases in complex and resource-constrained settings.
Bachelor of Agricultural Economics, University of New England
Postgraduate studies in Corporate Finance, University of Technology Sydney
Member, Australian Water Association
President, Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES) — NSW Branch
