Paula Rogers on her love affair with Perth – and on guiding its future

It has been more than 30 years since Paula Rogers stepped out of a plane at Perth Airport after leaving her London borough, but the light-filled spring day is ingrained in her memory.

“I think it was that iridescent blue light … a day like today would be like Ireland in summer,” she says as we scan the lunch menu in the back corner of Petition, gesturing to the light flooding the State Buildings on the eve of winter.

WAtoday reporter Jesinta Burton and Committee for Perth chief executive Paula Rogers at Petition.Credit: Ebony Talijancich.

“You can hop in a car or on a train from the city and be on one of our extraordinary beaches in 15 minutes or the Jarrahdale forrest in 25.

“It’s large enough that you can retain an element of anonymity, but small enough that once you get the keys to the kingdom, it just opens: there’s so much opportunity.

“I remember my first meeting with Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas, and he said to me ‘I think you’ll find I’m the most passionate advocate for Perth’, and I said, ‘I think you’ve met your match’.”

But the rosy picture Rogers paints of our sprawling city is a world away from the reputation crisis from which Committee for Perth was born.

The independent, apolitical advocacy body was founded in 2006, shortly after international travel guide publisher Lonely Planet dubbed Perth ‘Dullsville’.

Since then, the policy think-tank has amassed more than 120 member organisations over dozens of different sectors across the city whose shared goal is to help the city shed that reputation.

And since inaugural chief executive Marion Fulker AM opened the committee’s doors in 2007, it has commissioned more than 150 pieces of research — including a vision statement which was the precursor to the state government’s landmark planning framework for accommodating 3.5 million people by 2050.

With the foundational research done, Rogers says her focus when taking over was on platforms to facilitate discussion and debate about Perth’s future.

That includes landing events like the ‘Future-Ready Forum’ in April, headlined by Wales’ first Future Generations Commissioner who was charged with holding the government to account for how its decisions affected future generations.

Committee for Perth chief executive Paula Rogers at Petition.Credit: Ebony Talijancich.

It also means staying across local news and events, meeting with members, attending events, and, in recent weeks, poring over the state budget.

“No two days are really ever the same, and it’s fortunate that I’m a social person and I like doing that. And it’s a lot of learning from others,” she says.

“As an independent member-based organisation, we say 40 different sectors, so schools, universities, industry, hospital, aged care … and we get this diversity of opinion and perspective, but also it can drive and advocate for that future.”

Perth might be her first love, but Rogers is also fiercely passionate about advocating for women, the power of networking and the importance of financial literacy.

The catalyst was her experience returning to work after having her first child, where she was met with middling tasks and her first brush with the systems that had held women back professionally.

Later, she attempted to squeeze a demanding role into three days a week in exchange for flexibility to spend time with her children, but wound up doing hours of unpaid work.

“To do the role, I sacrificed a lot of time with my kids, and that’s a big regret,” she says.

“I think things are better now, but they’re not perfect, and I get frustrated now when I attend an event and don’t see a single woman onstage ... and I say to women, ‘Did you notice there were no women onstage?’

“We shouldn’t pack up our toys and go away quietly when we have children, we need to let them know we’re coming back — like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“My advice? Never ever use the word ‘part-time’ for flexible working.”

“My advice? Never ever use the word ‘part-time’ for flexible working.”

Rogers could not have known when she secured a working holiday visa and swapped England’s capital for the outer suburbs of a city with one-fifth of the population, arriving in a world of petrol rostering and 6pm dinners, that she would one day helm an organisation tasked with steering the city’s future.

She had been living and working in London since she graduated from university, leaving her home in Ireland alongside 50,000 of her peers amid the deep, dark recession that preceded the Celtic Tiger — a period of rapid economic growth buoyed by foreign investment.

Her relocation saw her abandon her initial pursuit of a career as a social worker to enter the world of media sales.

“I was going to save the world... then [I] exited stage right and got into media and sold advertising for a financial publication, which launched on Black Friday in 1987,” she says.

A decade after their first trip, she and her then-husband made the permanent move to Perth — this time, with their two young children in tow.

“Isn’t that the most isolated city in the world?” she was asked by her big-city colleagues, a question she now detests.

Initially, Rogers says she was determined to stay home with her children, then aged five and one.

But the social extrovert concedes that wasn’t something she was very good at — which won’t come as a surprise to anyone in her orbit.

WAtoday reporter Jesinta Burton and Committee for Perth chief executive Paula Rogers at Petition.Credit: Ebony Talijancich.

Rogers landed a role at The West Australian newspaper with the help of fellow Irish export and former business editor John McGlue overseeing the production of special publications, including former journalist Ray Jordan’s annual Wine Guide.

She went on to hold a variety of roles, including state director of Committee for Economic Development of Australia, leading her own consultancy firm and advising the state government.

She also served as a non-executive director of Edith Cowan College and the North Metropolitan Health Service before being approached about taking the reins of Committee for Perth.

Initially, she wasn’t certain the role leading the not-for-profit advocacy body was right for her.

And mid-way through the recruitment process, she travelled 15,000 kilometres to Ireland to be with her family following the tragic passing of her mother.

It was there in her parents’ home that she realised just how much she wanted the top job, reflecting on the words of first-century scholar Hillel the Elder.

“When I saw my phone light up, I thought ‘oh, I really want this job’,” she says.

“I’ve always loved Perth, I just think it’s an extraordinary place and to have the opportunity to actively advocate for it and kind of shout from the rooftops about it.”

“If not now, when? If not me, then who?”

She may not be saving lives in the way her 17-year-old self thought, but she does intend to save Perth from its tired narrative: something she believes remains its greatest challenge and one that starts with changing the way its 2.3 million residents speak about their city.

Rogers practices what she preaches, and her enthusiasm is infectious.

“We have beautiful beaches, we’re three hours from Indonesia, we’re in the same time zone as the fastest growing economy in the world,” she says.

“Exciting, transformational things are happening that fly under the radar, like the Square Kilometre Array. What a great place to be!”

Rogers is also steadfast in her belief WA’s economy needs to diversify and lessen its reliance on the resources industry — a key priority shared by WA Premier Roger Cook.

But Rogers hasn’t entirely abandoned her Irish roots.

“I have two homes, but when people ask me if I think I’ll ever go back [to Ireland], inside I’m thinking ‘probably not’,” she says.

“If Australia is going up against anyone else, I back Australia, but if they’re up against Ireland, I still barrack for Ireland, which I think people who haven’t lived elsewhere find difficult to understand.

“Although I’m an Australian citizen, I still have a bit of green blood inside.”

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