Network engineer, internet industry director, and amateur radio operator based on the Gold Coast, Australia.
I've spent the last twenty years working across the Australian internet industry, with a focus on network engineering, ISP operations, and data centre infrastructure. I'm the Chief Network Engineer at NAB Investment Holdings, an Australian internet service provider and data centre operator with points of presence across the country.
Most of my professional life has been spent on the technical side of the industry: designing and operating networks, contributing to peering and interconnect, and helping run the systems that keep small and mid-sized providers viable in a market dominated by much larger players.
Away from work I'm a licensed amateur radio operator (callsign VK2NAB), with a soft spot for Icom, Yaesu and Motorola gear. I particularly enjoy digital modes and HF communications. I also tinker with 3D printing, mostly for projects around the workshop and the occasional badge or enclosure.
I have a keen interest in aviation and hold a current Aeronautical Radio Operator's Certificate of Proficiency (AROC), though these days I rarely find as much time to play with or listen to radio as I'd like. I also run several active ADS-B decoders feeding Flightradar24 and FlightAware, contributing position data from the Gold Coast and Greater Sydney area to their global flight tracking networks.
I'm a former NSW Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighter and Communications Deputy Captain of 10 years. My service included many sleepless nights responding to Triple Zero calls and dispatching appliances or managing incidents either on the ground, from the Fire Control Centre, or from home in the early hours. Operational deployments ranged from Air Base Operator to spending weeks at the Sydney Police Centre in the aftermath of the 1999 Sydney hailstorm, and days on the fireground delivering logistics and dispatching resources during the 2001 Black Christmas bushfires.
In my younger years, I also completed work experience at VKG6 in Penrith (NSW Police communications), and have extensive knowledge of radio systems, emergency operations, and Incident Control Systems. That experience in emergency management and emergency communications still shapes how I think about resilient infrastructure and incident response.
I read, I travel where I can, and I'm a quiet supporter of initiatives that broaden participation in the technical side of our industry.
Following discussions with the full Board of the Internet Association of Australia, I have withdrawn my leave of absence and resumed my duties as an elected Director.
I am grateful to the members who placed their confidence in me, and to my fellow Directors. My focus returns to the work, supporting the Internet industry in Australia, the Association's members, and the community we serve.
I am issuing this statement in response to recent commentary surrounding a comment I made on 14 April 2026, on a Facebook post by RadioToday.com.au.
The post in question was a comment I made in response to public commentary by Jennie Hill, founder of the Australian activist group Mad Fucking Witches (MFW). I strongly disagreed with the views Ms Hill had expressed, and in voicing that disagreement I used the phrase "extreme prejudice."
In everyday Australian usage, that phrase commonly means "harshly," "severely," or "without leniency," and that is the sense in which I intended it. The phrase also has older, literal connotations dating to military jargon, and I accept that it is open to those alternative readings. My comment has been lifted from the context of that disagreement and interpreted in ways I did not intend or imply.
To be unambiguous: I did not advocate, and would never advocate, physical harm against Ms Hill or any other person. The wording I chose was poor, and I should have expressed my disagreement in different words. I unreservedly regret the distress my post has caused, and I am sorry for the way it has landed with those who read it.
I have worked in the Australian internet industry for nearly two decades. I have served on the Board of the Internet Association of Australia across four terms spanning the past ten years, and I was part of the IAA team that launched the IAASysters program in 2021 to support women and gender-diverse people building careers in our industry. I remain deeply committed to those values and to the people the program exists to support.
To prevent any further distraction to the Internet Association of Australia, its Members, and its staff, I have today requested a leave of absence from the Board to take personal time to reflect on this matter and consider my position. The work of the IAA matters far more than any controversy attached to me personally. Narelle Clark, her team, and the Board work tirelessly on behalf of our industry and the Association's Members, and I will not allow my situation to overshadow that work.
I will not be making further public comment on this matter.
I am pleased to share that I have been re-elected by Members to the Board of the Internet Association of Australia for a further three-year term, following the 2025 Annual General Meeting.
Having first joined the Board in 2015, I look forward to continuing to support the Association alongside Chair Matthew Enger, CEO Narelle Clark, and my fellow Directors. The IAA's work advocating for Members across Australia's internet and telecommunications sector remains as important now as it has ever been, and I am grateful to the Members for their continued confidence.
After founding and building Simtronic Technologies for twelve years, the company was acquired by an Australian private equity firm in 2019.
Simtronic was established in 2007, beginning as a provider of telecommunications aggregation services to small and medium-sized businesses. Over the following years the company grew to operate its own fixed wireless network across the Penrith region, a regional data centre opened in 2013, a 1,600 sqm office and data centre facility in the Penrith CBD opened in 2016, and a purpose-built 200-rack data centre completed in 2018. The company was subsequently rebranded as Iperium in 2020 and continues to operate today, providing voice, data, and colocation services across Australia.
Founding and growing Simtronic remains one of the most rewarding chapters of my career, and I'm proud of what the team built over those twelve years.