Staff Profile

Jessica Shaw is the WA Program Director for the Superpower Institute and Director of Tactica Advisory.

From 2017-2024, Jessica was the Member for Swan Hills in the WA Legislative Assembly and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and Minister for State and Industry Development, Jobs and Trade, Federal-State Relations and Public Sector Management.

In the Premier’s office, Jessica had carriage of projects in energy transition, hydrogen industries, infrastructure development, domestic gas, trade and finance for economic diversification.

Prior to entering Parliament, Jessica was a senior commercial executive in the energy industry, responsible for developing and managing a wide range of regulated and unregulated assets. She has extensive experience in business development, commercial management, economic regulation and project delivery in electricity and gas infrastructure and commodity markets. Jessica has worked with publicly listed, private equity and government trading enterprises based both in Australia and overseas.

Jessica’s early career was in foreign affairs and trade. She was Political and Economic Attaché to the British High Commission and also worked for the Australian Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee.

In her first term of Parliament, Jessica was elected Chair of the Parliament’s Economics and Industry Standing Committee and led major inquiries into Microgrids and Distributed Energy Technologies; Regional Aviation; Short Stay Accommodation; the Motor Vehicle Insurance Industry and WA’s Trading relationship with the Republic of India.

Jessica has also served as Parliamentary Secretary in the Hydrogen, Commerce, Science, Culture and Arts, Heritage, Child Protection, Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence, Women’s Interests and Communities portfolios.

Jessica has three undergraduate degrees in law, politics and international relations, a Masters in Law from the University of Cambridge and has studied energy policy, climate science and economic development at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Jessica is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and was honoured to be admitted as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy in 2019 and Honorary Life Member in 2024.

Her policy interests centre on sustainable development, climate change and energy transition; economic diversification and growth; innovation, investment and trade; and strengthening partnerships between the public, private and community sectors to generate employment and produce and equitably distribute value.