The conference organisers invited a group of outstanding speakers who offered a range of tobacco control expertise reflecting the breadth and depth of the conference streams. These included international and Australian keynote speakers, Dr Michael Cummings (USA), Dr Frank Chaloupka (USA), Professor Allan Fels AO, Professor Alistair Woodward (NZ), Dr Ann McNeill (UK), Professor Simon Chapman (Aust), Associate Professor Ian Anderson (Aust), Professor David Hill (Aust), Dr Ron Borland (Aust), Michelle Scollo (Aust) and Peter Gordon, a senior partner with law firm Slater and Gordon, as the conference dinner speaker.

Dr Ann McNeill: Dr McNeill's keynote address will examine issues associated with preventing harm and addiction, including factors associated with addiction, particularly in young people; how addiction occurs in young people and the measurement of addiction in children, and; implications for strategies to prevent the uptake of smoking

Dr Michael Cummings: Dr Cummings' keynote address will examine the issues of product disclosure, industry regulation and the conduct of the tobacco industry, including: the role of product ingredients in the context of harm and addiction; the key features and technology of nicotine delivery devices; and past and present conduct of the industry and the need for further regulation of the industry.

Professor Allan Fels AO: Professor Fels has been Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission since 1995 and has been reappointed until June 2004. Professor Fels was Chairman of the former Trade Practices Commission from 1991 until 1995. He was also Chairman of the Prices Surveillance Authority from 1989 until 1992.

Professor Alistair Woodward: Professor Woodward's address will focus on his research in the tobacco field which has centred on exposure to second hand smoke and the consequent health risks. He will discuss the health effects of environmental tobacco smoke for hospitality workers and other high risk groups.

Professor Simon Chapman: Simon Chapman is Professor in Public Health at the University of Sydney. In 2001 the US National Institutes of Health awarded him a grant of $1.6m to study 40 million pages of internal tobacco industry documents. At the conference he and his colleagues will present a special session on document research in Australia.

Associate Professor Ian Anderson: Associate Professor Ian Anderson has worked in Aboriginal (Koori) Health for almost 15 years. In his address, Associate Professor Anderson will explore past and present issues surrounding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tobacco control with an emphasis on future directions. This presentation will also include an explanation of the disparity of prevalence rates between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations and the overall Australian population.

Professor David Hill: Professor David Hill is the Director of The Cancer Council Victoria. David is one of Australia's leading public health researchers, and is widely regarded as a leading international expert in social marketing and public health campaigns. In the tobacco control field he is particularly known for his research on: adolescent and adult smoking rates; strategies help smokers quit and prevent young people from starting to smoke; banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship smokefree workplaces and restaurants health warnings on cigarette packs. He is now chairman of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Tobacco which is responsible for the National Tobacco Strategy to which all states and territories committed in June 1999.

Dr Ron Borland: Dr Borland is Co- Director of the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control. His research interests in tobacco control include studies on: the impact on smokers of restriction on their smoking; community responses to ETS control; factors influencing successful quit attempts; efficacy of smoking cessation strategies; determinants of smoking uptake; effects of health warnings on smokers and potential smokers; exploration of better systems of informing consumers about what they ingest when they smoke; better systems for regulating tobacco; understanding what is needed for optimum community-wide tobacco control; and barriers to stronger governmental tobacco control initiatives.

Michelle Scollo: Michelle Scollo is Co- Director of the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control. Michelle has worked on major policy initiatives in taxation reform, tobacco product regulation, clean air policies and comprehensive approaches to tobacco control. Michelle was the author of VCTC's key document: Tobacco Control: A Blue Chip Investment in Public Health.

Peter Gordon: Peter Gordon is a senior partner with law firm Slater and Gordon, which represented Rolah McCabe, the first person outside the United States to successfully sue a tobacco company for damages. The case has triggered several official inquiries into the conduct of BAT and Clayton Utz and investigations by the US Justice Department. Peter has extensively researched tobacco documents from around the world in his efforts to pursue litigation against the tobacco industry.

Professor Lloyd Sansom Professor Sansom graduated in pharmacy in 1962 and completed his PhD in Biophysical Chemistry at the University of Adelaide in 1972.He held academic posts for 38 years retiring in 2000 as the Head of the School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at the University of South Australia.

Dawn Milner MB BS LRCP MRCS MRCGP Chair of the Technical Advisory Group of SCOTH. Vice President of QUIT UK.

Jonathan Liberman Legal Advisor VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control and Quit Victoria

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