Thwaites joins the firm’s Melbourne office as a consultant, bringing substantial knowledge of policy at all levels of government in relation to climate change, water and environment. He held the deputy premier role from 1999 to 2007 as well as a number of senior ministerial portfolios including planning, health, water, environment and climate change. Prior to entering parliament in 1992, he was a barrister specialising in planning and administrative law and a former mayor of South Melbourne.

Dariel DeSouza, also joining the firm’s Melbourne office, has extensive experience in energy regulation. This includes working for seven years with the World Trade Organisation in Geneva and, most recently, as the director of enforcement and compliance for the Australian Energy Regulator. She also previously worked at Maddocks in the mid 1990s.

Both Thwaites and DeSouza join Maddocks’s newly formed sustainability and climate change team which will be led by planning and environment partner Maria Marshall. The team also includes commercial partner Robert Gregory, and planning and environment partners Stan Kondilios, Prue Burns and John Rantino.