BURTON, Jane

Jane Burton has close to three decades of public and private sector experience spanning roles in industrial chemistry, research and development, regional economic development and land use planning. She holds a Masters Degree in Chemistry as well as being a member of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, a fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Post-graduation, Jane worked in Morwell, where a Japanese consortium of five leading companies delivered a pilot project to make liquid fuel from brown coal. Commencing as a junior chemist she became the chief chemist by the end of the project. Jane went on to work as an energy education consultancy delivering training packages to the Chinese market, for regional economic development, for local government (town centre redevelopment, planning, urban design) and for WorkSafe (leading its agricultural program for Victoria).

In 2019 Jane was the Victorian Winner of the Minerals Council of Australia’s Exceptional Woman in Resources Award. It should be noted that the Exceptional Woman in Resources Award denotes a continued commitment by Jane to increase and promote gender diversity in mining operations, in corporate offices, and across the broader mining equipment, technology and services sector.

Previously as Executive Director, Earth Resources, Department, Jobs, Precinct and Regions she worked to develop Policy and legislative reform for sustainable low emissions for Victorian Earth’s resources and associated infrastructure including:
Integrated and comprehensive long-term planning for the sustainable development of
Victoria’s brown coal resources in line with the Victorian Government’s Statement on Future
uses of Brown Coal;
Delivery of the joint state and commonwealth carbon capture and storage CarbonNet Project
Strategic planning for the state’s extractive resources to support infrastructure development.

Jane and her team were tasked specifically to identify opportunities that exist for brown coal in the Latrobe Valley to be converted to hydrogen. The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) Pilot Project was a critical first step in realising a commercialised hydrogen production and export industry. The pilot was commenced in 2019, witnessing a new clean hydrogen sector emerge.

Operations commenced in 2020, which now sees brown coal gasified in the Latrobe Valley and the hydrogen separated, compressed and transported to Hastings. The product is then liquefied and shipped to Japan’s maritime port of Kobe in the greater Osaka area. Added to which, lessons from this pilot will also apply in the future to hydrogen produced via other pathways including renewables.

Most recently in June 2023, Jane became Project Director, CarbonNet with Invest Victoria. CarbonNet is a major CCS project which initially aims to store 5 million tons of CO2 per year for 25 years. The CarbonNet project is a project which will utilise the data accumulated by the Victorian Government, to capture CO2 which is emitted when producing hydrogen and safely store the CO2 underground. This significant CCS project is aiming for large-scale commercialisation globally.

Jane was also a Deputy Chair of the Board of Director at Quantum Support Services which provides support to some of Gippsland’s most vulnerable individuals and she completed her tenure in 2022.

Jane is an ardent ambassador for Gippsland and its community. Her weekend passion is running a small horse and cattle farm in Drouin West. In her remaining spare time she is a Committee Member of the Tonimbuk Horse Trials Committee - volunteer committee that leases the Tonimbuk Equestrian Centre and delivers events, including the Annual Tonimbuk Horse Trials in March each year.