SPEAKERS
At Progress, 100+ speakers will host big conversations, share best practice skills and help us reimagine what’s possible together.
We will keep adding to this page as speakers confirm. Check back regularly.
ASH SARKAR (UK)
Journalist, political commentator, activist and author of ‘Minority Rule’
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Ash Sarkar is a British journalist, political commentator and activist. She is Senior Editor at Novara Media, where her work explores the intersection of politics, popular culture and social justice. Her writing has been published in The Guardian, The Independent and HuffPost UK, and she is a regular voice on UK broadcast media, appearing on programs like Question Time, Good Morning Britain and BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze.
Ash also lectures at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, contributing to critical conversations about media, power and resistance.
Her debut book, Minority Rule, examines how identity politics became a defining force in the 2010s, both a vehicle for liberation and a target of backlash, in the context of deepening economic inequality.
DOM KELLY (USA)
Founder, President and CEO
New Disabled South
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Dom Kelly (he/they) is the Founder, President & CEO of New Disabled South. A lifelong disability advocate and organizer, Dom has been building progressive infrastructure in the U.S. South since 2009. He’s a celebrated movement leader, organizer, speaker, and writer, as well as a former touring musician who has recorded and performed with artists like Indigo Girls, The Bangles, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and more. Born with cerebral palsy, Dom began advocating for disability rights at age four. He previously worked as a senior advisor on Stacey Abrams’ gubernatorial campaign and at her organization Fair Fight Action. He holds multiple degrees, including a Master of Science in Nonprofit Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania and is completing a Doctor of Public Health degree at The George Washington University. Dom is a 2025 Atlantic Fellow for Health Equity, a 2024 Rockwood Fellow, and a 2023 J.M. Kaplan Innovation Prize winner. His writing has been published in Teen Vogue, The Hill, Mondoweiss, and more. He’s been featured on NPR, Sky News, Forbes, and TODAY.com. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and daughter.
NGARRA MURRAY
Co-Chair, First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria
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Ngarra Murray is a proud Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dhudhuroa and Dja Dja Wurrung woman who grew up in Shepparton, and is Co-Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria (the Assembly). She has significant cultural and familial connections to many parts of Victoria and NSW. Living and working on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country, Ngarra represents the diverse Aboriginal Communities of the Metropolitan region.
As the elected Co-Chair, Ngarra is a spokesperson for the Assembly. Her role is to elevate the voices and priorities of Community members on the journey to Treaties in Victoria. She is committed to meeting with all Traditional Owner groups and spending time ‘talking Treaty’ with communities to foster nation-building and consensus-building throughout her term.
Ngarra is passionate about community mobilisation, the inalienable power of sovereignty and lore, and Treaties in our near future. Before commencing her full-time leadership role at the Assembly, Ngarra was the Executive Lead of the First Peoples’ Program at Oxfam Australia. In her role, Ngarra worked across local, national and global alliances and led a team working across multiple national priorities; including building constituency for change, policy and influencing activities and the Oxfam Straight Talk program. Ngarra played a critical role in the success of the Straight Talk program, supporting hundreds of First Nations women to engage with political systems and forge important connections globally. Ngarra has made immense contributions to Oxfam Australia and devoted more than ten years of service to the organisation.
Ngarra has held a range of positions at The University of Melbourne, City of Melbourne, Co-Health and Museum Victoria. Ngarra was previously a Member of the National NAIDOC Committee and Member of Creative Victoria’s First Peoples Direction Circle. She is an Alumni of the Fellowship for Indigenous Leadership.
JAMILA RIZVI
Progress Emcee |
Deputy Managing Director at Future Women
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Jamila is an experienced leader and social policy expert, best-selling author, opinion columnist and broadcaster. As Deputy Managing Director at FW, Jamila champions gender equality through professional development, storytelling and advocacy.
A published author for adults and children, Jamila’s most recent book is Broken Brains, co-authored with Rosie Waterland and published by Penguin Random House. She is a columnist for the Nine newspapers and host of several popular podcasts.
Jamila was previously Editor in Chief at Mamamia Women’s Network, and advised the Rudd and Gillard Governments on gender, early childhood education, media and employment participation.
In 2024 Jamila was named as one of 25 Emerging Global Workplace Culture Creators, she won the Women and Leadership Australia Award in 2020 and has been included in the AFR’s 100 Women of Influence. Jamila is an ambassador for PLAN International and the Royal Melbourne Hospital Neuroscience Foundation.
CRYSTAL SIMEONI
(KENYA)
Executive Director, The Nawi Collective
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Crystal Simeoni is a Pan-African feminist activist and Director of Nawi – the Afrifem Collective (The Nawi Collective).
She works at the intersection of the technical and the colloquial, of critique and imagination, of knowledge and practice, of language and of the creation of community. She curates the work of the Nawi collective who, in community with other African feminists and organizations, work on analyzing, influencing and reimagining macro level economic policies and narratives.
In her understanding, in her critique and her imagining of a different way, her work is always at the service of life.
VESNA JUSUP (BELGIUM)
Director of Operations, European Center for Digital Action
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Vesna's background is in Art history, but the last decades she spent in the field of activism, feminism and capacity building, both for non-profits and political parties. Vesna speciality is structures building and process management, supporting organizations to grow and equip for fulfilling their mission. She has spent 10 years supporting Green parties Europe. Today she coordinates daily work at ECDA, bringing love for learning, growing and winning to progressive across Europe.
PROFESSOR JACKIE HUGGINS AM
Historian, advocate and Elder in Residence, Australian Progress + Common Threads
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Professor Jackie Huggins AM FAHA is Bidjara and BirriGubba Juru. She is currently Director of Indigenous Research, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Herston campus, Brisbane. She recently completed a role as Honorary Professor, Centre for Deep History, Australian National University. Her other roles include POU Atlantic Fellows Social Equity (Melbourne University); Director, National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth and Justice (Federation University Victoria); Co-Chair, National Apology Foundation; Elder in Residence, Australia Progress; Steering Committee Member for Passing the Message Stick and Common Threads; and Elder in Residence, Australian Broadcasting Commission. Professor Huggins is in demand as a speaker, mentor, writer, advisor with over four decades experience in community, academia, government and non-government sectors
JO SCHOFIELD
National President, United Workers Union
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Jo Schofield is the National President of the United Workers Union, one of Australia’s most diverse unions of 150,000 members from over 45 industries across the country.
Jo has been a trade unionist and social justice advocate for over 30 years, working as a union member, delegate, and elected leader to advance the rights of women and low paid workers through organising, campaigning and industrial advocacy. As President of UWU she oversees the union’s agenda for equality and justice, member voice and power, and supports the unions reconciliation agenda with First Nations members. Jo is a Vice President of the ACTU and a Director of Australian Super.
SIOBHÁN O’DONOGHUE (IRELAND)
Executive Director, Uplift
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Siobhán (she/her) is an Irish based community organiser, campaigner, leader and storyteller. Her experience spans decades of grassroots, local, national and global struggles for justice and equality. She is the founding Director of Uplift, Ireland's largest people powered campaigning community, connected to 7% of the population.
Prior to this Siobhan was Director of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland where she led several successful campaigns including rights for domestic workers, criminalisation of forced labour, protections for people undocumented. She has held a wide array of leadership roles across civil society including as lead negotiator in social partnership agreements in the late ‘90s.
She currently serves on the board of the global network, Online Progressive Engagement Network [OPEN], is the Chairperson of the Hope & Courage Collective, Ireland's leading civil society space countering extremism, founder of CorpWatch, a new space for action for collective action on corporate power and co-founder of the Democracy Hub.
GABRIELLA ZUTRAU (USA)
Digital Strategy Advisor - MoveOn, Zohran for NYC; Content Creator
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Gabriella Zutrau is a Digital strategy Advisor to campaigns and organizations, like MoveOn and Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. She specializes in organic social media, and has a background in community organizing, and she is best known for her social chatbot infrastructure builds.
In a very different lane, she is also a content creator in the pet niche, reaching millions of people every month through her dog’s accounts, @ednatherunt. Gabbi uses Edna's accounts as a lab where she experiments with new digital tools and tactics that she's interested in.
VIKTOR MAK (AUSTRIA)
Co-Director, European Center for Digital Action
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Viktor Mák is a Hungarian-American digital strategist and campaign director based in Vienna, working at the intersection of technology, organizing and democracy in Europe. He served as Digital Director for Jambor András, who won a parliamentary seat against Viktor Orbán’s regime, and later as Campaign Director for the teachers’ movement Tanítanék, which helped win a 50% pay raise for 100,000 teachers in Hungary.
Viktor is Co-Director of the European Center for Digital Action (ECDA), a pan-European hub that supports progressive parties, NGOs and movements to build large-scale digital organising programs, fundraising, and campaigning infrastructure across multiple countries.
He has also worked on the Harris campaign in the United States, bringing back lessons on distributed organising, narrative, and volunteer programs.
Across all these roles, Viktor focuses on combining strong narrative, organising and data-driven digital strategy to help progressive forces win and hold power in increasingly hostile political environments.
NOORULAIN MASOOD (PAKISTAN)
Founder, Center for Social Innovation in Developing Countries | Lead Trainer, Leading Change Network
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Noorulain is Founder and CEO of CSIDC, a Global South organisation that specialises in providing training and facilitation services to enhance the practice of leadership and organising in campaigns, particularly those in the climate, energy, and gender spaces.
After getting a Master's degree in International Development from Harvard University in 2009 as a Fulbright scholar, Noor has trained and coached over 1,500 campaigners and social justice leaders across South Asia, East Asia, Australia, Africa, and the United States.
She first taught with Professor Marshall Ganz at Harvard in 2012, and since has been teaching and leading teams in the instruction of Marshall Ganz’s Organizing and Heifetz’s Adaptive Leadership with Harvard University, LCN, and other institutions. Prior to founding CSIDC, Noor ran a rural leadership program; led a 1.2M USD non-profit called Teach For Pakistan; worked in the poverty and equity practice at the World Bank headquarters; and supported the Pakistan Mission in United Nations General Assembly proceedings.
GEORGIE DENT
CEO, The Parenthood
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Georgie Dent is the CEO of The Parenthood, Australia’s leading parent advocacy organisation representing over 80,000 parents, carers and supporters.
She is a best-selling author, former lawyer and prominent advocate for children, families, gender equity and mental health. The Parenthood champions paid parental leave, access to quality early childhood education and care and family-friendly workplaces.
She is a mum of three and lives in Sydney with her husband & co-partner in chaos.
KASSIE HARTENDORP (NZ)
Director, ActionStation Aotearoa
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Kassie Hartendorp (she/her) is a Māori community organiser based in Aotearoa (New Zealand). She is currently the Director for people-powered campaigning organisation, ActionStation. Her team campaigned to stop the Treaty Principles Bill which broke historical records for Treaty justice. She's passionate about building movements for indigenous rights and economic justice.
SHEREE LOWE
Executive Director, Social Emotional Wellbeing, The Balit Durn Durn Centre and Centre of Excellence for Aboriginal Families Wellbeing, VACCHO
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Sheree is a Djab Wurrung and Gunditjmara woman with strong ties to Southwest Victoria and has lived most of her life on Wadawurrung Country. With over 20 years of advocacy experience in Victoria’s Aboriginal community, Sheree’s career includes consulting for PwC on cultural safety and organisational transformation.
MOHAMED ALHARBI (USA)
Former Muslim and South Asian Constituency Field Manager, Zohran For NYC
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Mohamed Alharbi (he/him), is a Yemeni born, New York raised community organizer. Formerly Zohran Mamdani’s Muslim and South Asian (MSA) Constituency Field Manager, he’s broken the record three times for the largest single day Muslim voter engagement in the US and increased MSA voter turnout by over 300% in New York City.
He spent years prior working in the nonprofit sector, from providing case management services to newly arrived Americans to supervising the largest office of New York’s leading environmental organization. Mohamed is deeply committed to improving the quality of life for New Yorkers and to empowering communities that have too often been left out of the political process.
JAN FRAN
Co-Founder, Ette Media
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Jan Fran is a Walkley award-winning journalist, co-founder of Ette Media and host of the We Used to be Journos podcast. She is known for hosting several prime-time weekly television shows, including SBS's The Feed, Channel 10's The Project, and most recently ABC's Question Everything. She's also known for her sharp social commentary videos on social media, which attract millions of views. Across her 15-year career, she's produced documentaries from around the world, made a number of award-winning podcasts, and is currently writing her first book. In 2025, she co-founded Ette Media with fellow journalist, Antoinette Lattouf, to help tackle media misinformation and provide much-needed media literacy.
ANTOINETTE LATTOUF
Co-Founder, Ette Media
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Antoinette Lattouf is an award winning journalist, presenter, author and human rights advocate whose surname has become a verb: Lattoufed. It describes being sacked or silenced, then refusing to fold.
Her landmark Federal Court win, Lattouf v ABC, became a national flashpoint, sharpening debates about free speech, employee rights, institutional cowardice, and what happens when a journalist speaks truth to media power. The case exposed how quickly large organisations retreat under pressure, and how costly that retreat can be for individuals.
Antoinette is the co founder of independent media company Ette Media and the not for profit Media Diversity Australia. She is a TEDx speaker and a regular fixture on lists including the AFR’s 100 Women of Influence, recognised for her work on media ethics, representation, and human rights.
Her second book, Women Who Win, explores women who saw the rulebook, chuckled, and used it as a coaster. It is out in April 2026.
JOSEPH MITCHELL
Assistant Secretary, Australian Council of Trades Union (ACTU)
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Joseph was re-elected as Assistant Secretary at the ACTU Congress in June 2024.
Joseph joined the ACTU in 2016, where he has been Political Director and a Policy Officer, as well as working with the Innovation and Growth Taskforces.
Most recently he led the ACTU Centre for Workers’ Capital.
Joseph grew up in Canberra and like many young Australians was a waiter through high school and university at local cafes and restaurants.
As ACTU Assistant Secretary, Joseph is passionate about winning a better future for working people and growing the union movement.
Joseph has a Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Arts from Australian National University and a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance from the University of NSW.
Outside of work, Joseph is a proud father and a supporter of the Canberra Raiders.
DIANA CONNELL
Lived Experience Leadership & Co-design Facilitator
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Diana Connell is a lived experience leader and co-design practitioner working across housing and family violence systems reform in Victoria. Drawing on more than two decades of lived experience, Diana now works within the Impact Team at Global Sisters in the area of Women’s Economic and Housing Security and serves as an Ambassador for both Global Sisters and McAuley Community Services for Women.
Through her work with Global Sisters, Diana is actively involved in the Little Green Houses for Her initiative, an affordable housing model supporting women into secure home ownership, and holds a governance role on McAuley’s Safe at Home Trial. Diana has contributed to state inquiries into domestic violence, homelessness and mental health and regularly speaks at sector forums including Council to Homeless Persons’ Walk in Her Shoes exhibition and the Victorian Homelessness Conference on embedding lived experience into policy, service design and housing responses.
HEATHER BLAKEY (UK)
Regional Women's and Equalities Officer, North East Yorkshire and Humber, Unite the Union
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I am Unite’s Women’s and Equalities Officer in the North East, Yorkshire & Humber region of the UK. I support our women, Black and Asian, disabled, LGBT+ and young members to fight for their rights at work (and to be heard with the union movement). I also coordinate Unite NEYH’s Standing up for our Class programme. This is our response to the rise of the far right. It’s an on-the-ground organising approach to political education that starts from the knowledge that change comes through acting together, it isn’t handed out by demagogues. United we stand, divided we fall.
ANDREW HUDSON
CEO, Centre for Policy Development
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Andrew Hudson has 25 years of experience in the social change movement. He is an expert in building collaborations and changing systems to improve the lives of disadvantaged people.
Andrew joined CPD in June 2021 and has been CEO since April 2022. Before joining CPD, Andrew was CEO of Crisis Action in New York, leading a global team of 50+ people in 11 countries. Crisis Action builds coalitions to protect civilians in wars such as Syria, Yemen or South Sudan.
Prior to Crisis Action, Andrew worked at Human Rights First in New York, where he coordinated UN advocacy, managed the Human Rights Defenders Program and led Latin American work. Previously, Andrew was a lawyer in Australia representing disadvantaged clients and refugees and spearheading law reform projects.
He has also worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. He was Australia’s first Youth Representative to the UN. Andrew holds honours degrees in politics and law from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Laws from New York University. He is a John Monash Scholar and Board member of Australian Progress.
CHRIS COOPER
Co-Founder, Research + Action
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Cooper is a founder, social impact campaign director, and advocacy strategist. He has 15+ years of experience co-designing and implementing social impact programs and campaigns across six continents, working at the intersections of disinformation, climate, democracy, responsible tech, and public health.
He is co-founder of Research+Action (R+A) – which builds networked strategic infrastructure for understanding emergent fossil fuel narratives and tactics, and acting to outmanoeuvre them. R+A partners with diverse stakeholders across Latin America, Asia and Africa - providing intelligence, capacity building and support to advance just transitions.
He is a member of Climate Integrity's Expert Panel, and a board member of Sweltering Cities. Previously, he was co-founder and executive director of Reset.Tech Australia, and Head of APAC at Purpose.
JACQUELINE KING
General Secretary, Queensland Council of Unions
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Jacqueline is the General Secretary of the Queensland Council of Unions, the state peak body for unions representing 400,000 union members.
Jacqueline has worked across a range of unions since her early 20s, in organiser, research, industrial, policy and education roles, as well as having been a senior advisor to Labor Governments, and established and ran industry training organisations in the power, electrical and construction sectors.
She has a particular passion for women's rights and work health and safety and in her role with the QCU has overseen a number of campaigns around psychosocial hazards, gender equity, mental health, sexual harassment and reproductive leave initiatives.
She holds a First Class Honours Law Degree and a Master of Business Administration along with several other qualifications.
AROHA NISBETT
Advocacy Campaigns Manager, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT
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Aroha is Advocacy Campaigns Manager at Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, where she believes communications can do more than inform, they can transform systems and lives.
With extensive experience in advocacy and strategic communications, she leads campaigns that centre lived experience and turn insights into action, from co-designing initiatives with community members to creating sensory campaigns and driving national collaborations.
Her work blends creativity with strategy to influence policy and shift perceptions. Aroha experiments with new techniques (from AI prototypes to inclusive storytelling) to make inclusion tangible and measurable. She is passionate about building campaigns that resonate, inspire, and deliver meaningful impact.
SAFFRON ZOMER
Executive Director, Australian Democracy Network
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Saffron is a lawyer, campaigner and political strategist with more than a decade of experience leading law reform campaigns. Prior to the Australian Democracy Network, Saffron was Government Relations Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation. She spent several years living and working in the US, where she held a range of campaign and government relations roles.
In 2017, Saffron co-founded and led the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance which secured critical changes to 2017 Electoral Act amendments to protect the rights of civil society organisations to engage in advocacy.
EL GIBBS
Disability advocate
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El Gibbs is a person with disability with over fifteen years of experience in policy, strategy, and advocacy for the rights of people with disability. She has worked as a sought-after consultant in policy, communications, and strategy, and has held senior roles at various national disability representative organisations. Additionally, El is an award-winning writer, regularly published on NDIS and disability issues in leading publications. El lives on unceded Wiradjuri country, in regional NSW.
El has most recently been the CEO of the Disability Advocacy Network Australia. El also is a member of the Jobs and Skills Australia Ministerial Advisory Board.
JO SCARD
Founder + Chief Executive Officer, Fifty Acres
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As the Founder and CEO of Fifty Acres, Jo offers 20 years’ experience in communications and a wealth of knowledge in public relations and project management. Standing as one of Australia’s most highly sought-after strategic advisors, Jo has a proven reputation in the field across corporate and political advisory and journalism.
A trained lawyer and respected former journalist in the UK and Australia, Jo has worked with ITV, Associated Press, Seven Network, SBS, ABC and Fairfax, and previously acted as a senior adviser in the Rudd and Gillard governments as well as the British Labour Party.
GAUTAM RAJU
Global Director, Policy and Advocacy, Movember
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Gautam is the Global Director, Policy & Advocacy at Movember. Gautam has over 14 years experience leading a number of public campaigns and advocacy strategies across Europe, Kenya, India, and the US on youth policy, health, democracy and digital rights. Most recently at Purpose, Gautam led the United Nations Secretary General campaigning response to combat misinformation on COVID-19 which has reached over 1 billion people. He is also Chair of the Board for Australian Democracy Network.
At Oxfam International, as Head of Digital Campaigns he headed the digital worldwide influencing strategy – an ambitious agenda to build the digital campaigning capacity of Oxfam and partners. There, he took on campaigns from Europe, Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia, working with in-country teams, partners, and coalitions to mobilize around issues on land, climate change, inequality, and humanitarian crises. Under Gautam’s leadership, the digital worldwide influencing strategy has mobilized of 2.5 million supporters around the world and built tools and resources that were accessible to over 2,000 partners. Before joining Oxfam, Gautam co-founded OurSay.org – an independent organization started by a team of young people passionate about harnessing the power of social media to revitalize critical participation in democracy. He has also worked on public policy and external relations for Teach For Australia and in the Australian public service.
Gautam was Visiting Fellow at Oxford University (2022) and has a Master’s in International Development and a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) and Arts (Advanced Chinese Mandarin). In his spare time, Gautam loves to cook, travel and play the bass guitar. He is a native of Melbourne, Australia and has lived in Shanghai, New Delhi and London.
TOM MACLACHLAN
Filmmaker and Founder, ChopChop
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For the past 20 years, I’ve helped purpose-driven organisations tell stories that move people to act. I’ve founded three video production companies dedicated to the for-purpose sector, partnering with nonprofits, advocacy groups and governments to raise money, shift public opinion, and win campaigns.
Today, I’m the founder of ChopChop, an Australian video service built for comms and marketing teams who need high-quality, on-brand videos without the cost, delays or complexity of traditional production. ChopChop streamlines more than 300 steps of filmmaking into a simple system so organisations can turn important ideas into persuasive, accessible videos in minutes of their time.
My career began as a playwright and journalist before turning to filmmaking to make complex stories simple. Across hundreds of campaigns, I’ve learned that anyone trying to make a difference has a story worth telling. My job is to help tell it clearly, creatively, and with impact.
RENEE PHILLIPS
Co-Founder and Director of Learning and Programs, National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition
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Renee is a Saibai, Kerema and Daru woman from Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait) and Papua New Guinea. She is a Co-Founder of NIYEC and currently serves as its Program and Learning Director. A trained Science and Maths high school teacher, Renee has taught at an Independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school in Gimuy - Yidinji (Cairns) and at a state high school on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country. She has also worked as a Primary Educator and Community Development Officer at Children's Ground on Arrernte Country.
LAUREN BLUNDELL
Dream Design Summit Delegate, National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition
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Lauren Blundell is a Gunditjmara young person who pours her passion for mob and the environment into her activism; starting conversations online and taking direct action in the streets.
Previously taking part in the NIYEC FNQ workshop, and Dream Design Summit as a delegate, Lauren continues to stay involved with NIYEC by attending, and participating in, our monthly Deep Dive Yarns.
Lauren hopes for a world where all aspects of Indigenous people’s lives are self-determined and believes NIYEC is a fantastic starting point.
DANEY FADDOUL
Campaign Manager, Human Rights Law Centre
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Daney Faddoul (he/him) joined the Human Rights Law Centre in March 2020 and focuses on the campaign to create an Australian Human Rights Act.
Daney has a wealth of campaigning experience from his time within the union movement, and at GetUp where he was a Senior Campaigner and then their Political Director. At GetUp he developed and led campaigns on economic justice and oversaw all of their political engagement activities, and assisted with a wide range of high-profile campaigning, messaging, media, fundraising and policy work.
Before his time at GetUp he was negotiating enterprise agreements as an Industrial Officer within the trade union movement, and coordinating national industrial plans and campaigns. Daney studied law at Western Sydney University.
FIONA YORK
Executive Officer, Housing for the Aged Action Group
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Fiona York is the Executive Officer of Housing for the Aged Action Group (HAAG), an organisation dedicated to ensuring older people have safe, affordable, and appropriate housing.
With extensive experience advocating for social justice and community rights, Fiona has led HAAG’s efforts to highlight the challenges older people face in the housing system, particularly older women at risk of homelessness.
She is a respected voice in housing policy and brings a wealth of knowledge about the practical and systemic changes needed to support older Australians.
LEO PATTERSON ROSS
CEO, Tenants' Union of NSW
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Leo (he/him) works to help renters, their advocates and the broader community navigate, understand and transform Australia's housing system.
After more than a decade of experience in community development, individual and systemic advocacy roles Leo became CEO of the Tenants' Union in 2020 and continues to provides analysis and commentary that focuses housing debate on making a difference in the real world.
He brings together social, economic and legal frameworks and the on-the-ground experience of the 30,000 renters the Tenants’ Union and Tenants Advice and Advocacy Services of NSW work with each year.
NOURA MANSOUR
National Director, Democracy in Colour
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Noura Mansour (she/her) is a Palestinian educator, political analyst, writer and community organiser and National Director at Democracy in Colour, an anti-racist national organisation that works for racial justice.
Noura studied Political Science and Education and received masters in International Relations from Haifa University.
Noura’s passion for racial justice and commitment to building people power are deeply rooted in her personal lived experiences as a Palestinian woman, academic training in politics and professional journey in international development. As an educator, organisational consultant and a strategist, Noura has worked with civil society and grassroots organisations on campaigning and advocacy in Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia. As one of the leading figures in the Palestine movements, Noura has been working extensively on advocacy, strategy and movement building in Australia for 10 years, ever since she migrated to Wurundjeri country.
ALEXANDRA JONES
Co-Founder, Friends of Really Excellent Dentistry (FRED)
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Dr Alexandra Jones is a dental practitioner, scientist and educator with more than 30 years’ experience working to improve oral health outcomes across Australia.
She is the Co-Founder and Board Chair of Friends of Really Excellent Dentistry (FRED), a national health promotion charity and advocacy body focused on prevention, health equity, and reaching communities that are systemically excluded from traditional models of care.
Alex’s career spans clinical practice, molecular biology research, and rural and remote service delivery, including with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. She has deep expertise in the biological and social drivers of oral disease, and is a strong advocate for integrating oral health into Australia’s broader health reform agenda.
At FRED, Alex leads work that uses digital tools, community partnerships and evidence-based prevention to reduce avoidable disease and strengthen systems so everyone can enjoy good oral health and the many benefits it brings.
EMMA BACON
Founder and Executive Director, Sweltering Cities
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Emma Bacon is the Founder and Executive Director of Sweltering Cities. Since the beginning of 2020 Sweltering Cities has connected with thousands of people around the country, working directly with communities in our hottest suburbs to campaign and advocate for more liveable, equitable and sustainable cities.
Emma is a passionate organiser, campaigner and activist. She has worked across movements for social and environmental justice for over 12 years on campaigns including an international asbestos ban, 10 cent deposits on bottles and cans, and union campaigns with shopping centre cleaners. She has run successful political campaigns and been part of winning significant outcomes for progressive change at local to international levels.
Emma is committed to building a broad movement for climate justice.
Emma lives and works on the land of the Wurundjeri Woi wurrung people.
WIL STRACKE
Assistant Secretary, Victorian Trades Hall Council
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Wil Stracke is the Assistant Secretary of the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the peak body for unions in Victoria, and a long-term campaigner for women’s and queer rights. She was previously an Associate Solicitor at Slater & Gordon before commencing as an organiser with the Australian Services Union where she worked with members on workplace and industry wide industrial campaigns. She was the Lead Organiser in Victoria for the ASU national ‘Equal Pay’ campaign that achieved wage justice for underpaid, predominantly women workers in the community services sector.
In 2017, Wil coordinated the Victorian field campaign for the ‘Yes’ campaign for marriage equality.
In her role at Trades Hall, Wil leads the ongoing work of the Victorian trade union movement in addressing the challenges faced by working women as well as the union movement’s work in occupational health and safety. Wil’s work was acknowledged with the 2018 John Cummins Award for Victorian Unionist of the Year and the Jennie George Award in 2024 for outstanding contribution by a woman to the Australian union movement.
WESA CHAU
Executive Director, Per Capita
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Dr Wesa Chau is Executive Director of Per Capita and serving as a member of the Victorian Government Anti-Racism Taskforce and National Foundation of Australia China Relations. A respected leader with over two decades of experience across not-for-profit, government and university sectors, Wesa has dedicated her career to advancing progressive policy and system-level reform grounded in fairness, shared prosperity, inclusion and social justice. Her work has spanned policy areas including international affairs, gender, multicultural, climate, disability, education and philanthropy.
Wesa brings a unique blend of academic insight and practical experience to her work. She holds a PhD in Political Science, a Master of Business Management, and Bachelor degrees in both Software Engineering and Commerce.
Wesa Chau has received several awards, including education category winner for the 40under40 Most Influential Asian Australian 2020; Victorian International Education Internationalisation Award 2016; inductee to the Victorian Women Honour Roll in 2012; and named Young Victorian of the Year in 2010.
CARLI LEIMBACH
Leadership Programs Director, Women's Environmental Leadership Australia
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Carli Leimbach (she/her) is a dynamic Learning Designer, Lead Facilitator, and Leadership Consultant with over a decade of experience in women-centred coaching, facilitation, and leadership. She works with individuals, teams, and organisations to unlock human ingenuity, build systems thinking, and grow regenerative leadership practices. Carli’s career journey includes spearheading the ‘Innovate to Regenerate’ national challenge at WWF-Australia and establishing the first emerging leaders program for the ABC. As a Design Thinker for Google, she focused on building a stronger future for the news industry in the Asia Pacific region and was the first Fempreneur in Residence, engaged to support, promote and celebrate women entrepreneurs at The University of Technology, Business School. As Leadership Programs Director at WELA, she cultivates collaborative ecosystems and equips participants to generate, test, and scale new approaches to leadership in support of a thriving planet.
ANNA JACKSON (NZ)
Communications and Strategy, For Purpose NZ
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Anna brings a background in communications, human-centred design, and social innovation to her work in advocacy and systems change. Her experience spans documentary film, co-design, creative technologies, and academia, including teaching design thinking as a senior lecturer. Passionate about narrative change and values-based messaging, Anna helps teams navigate complexity together, building shared understanding, clarity, and trust.
JOE TODD (UK)
Founder, Movement Research Unit
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Joe Todd is a founder, organiser and writer. He was Head of Communications at the campaign group Momentum during the 2017 and 2019 UK General Elections, helping build a nationwide grassroots movement and organise tens of thousands of activists to knock on hundreds of thousands of doors.
He is part of the Social Practice, a collective founded by Bernie Sanders organisers, which support unions, candidates and campaigns to organise at scale.
He also helped found The World Transformed, Europe's largest festival of politics; Common Knowledge, a worker coop that designs digital tools for grassroots activists and The Movement Research Unit, a network of 650 researchers who support 80 grassroots groups a year.
He researches and writes on progressive parties for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Novara Media and on Substack. He is the co-host of the Life of the Party podcast.
ELENA YI-CHING HO
Director, Research + Action
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Elena Yi-Ching Ho is the Co-founder and Director at the Research + Action, an NGO dedicated to countering climate disinformation. She is also pursuing her PhD in Communication and Media Studies at Queensland University of Technology.
Her research interests include political communication, information integrity, and social media. She has extensive experience examining issues such as climate change, democracy, and human rights.
SAM LEWIS
President, The Flying Bats Football Club
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Sam Lewis (she/they) is the President of The Flying Bats Football Club, the biggest and longest-running LGBTQIA+ women's and non-binary soccer club in Australia.
She is also a women's football journalist, podcaster, and advocate, having covered all levels of the game from grassroots through to World Cups for organisations including the Guardian, ABC, ESPN, and SBS.
BRENDAN KENNEDY
Chair, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations
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Descendant of the Murray & Murrumbidgee River Traditional Nations, Brendan is a water justice leader and advocate, centering Traditional Owner sovereignty, self-determination, and rights to own and manage water and Country. Brendan has been reviving culture and languages for over 15 years, contributing to language books, animations, digital apps, Country reports, art exhibitions, as well as providing cultural guidance and leadership on various boards and committees.
As the current Chair of the Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations (MLDRIN), Brendan has been part of the organisation’s more assertive engagement with the colonial system of water governance, culminating in the first legal challenge of the Federal Water Act (2007) in 2023.
Brendan is passionate about supporting Nations’ access to knowledge and resources to create tangible, on-country opportunities that support Nation building.
As a Tati Tati man, Brendan is also part of Tati Tati Nation’s entry onto the Victorian Treaty Authority Negotiation’s Register, marking a significant step toward negotiating a Treaty with the State of Victoria.
FENYA FISCHLER (BELGIUM)
Organiser / Member, European Jews for Palestine & Another Jewish Voice
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Fenya Fischler (she/her) is a dedicated queer feminist organizer with a strong foundation in international human rights law and over a decade of experience in community and solidarity building across feminist, LGBTQI+, and broader social justice movements, with a specific focus on decriminalisation. Currently, she works as a Community Manager for the Global Narrative Hive, bringing together narrative workers globally and across movements to build relationships, experiment and learn from each other. She has co-founded several anti-racist Jewish collectives and is passionate about building new Jewish visions of safety rooted in solidarity, care and liberatory futures for all.
JOANNE SUTTON
Strategic Campaigns and Communications Coordinator, Electrical Trades Union
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Jo Sutton is the National Communications Coordinator for the Electrical Trades Union, a position she has held since early 2024. Jo has been working with unions and in the community activism and organising space since 2004. Prior to being employed by a union, Jo was a workplace delegate for the hospitality division of the then LHMU. She has held positions as organiser, lead organiser and political coordinator with the United Workers Union. And in 2023 she was one of the two South Australian Coordinators for the Yes campaign.
GENEVIEVE GRIEVES
Filmmaker & Educator
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Genevieve Grieves is a proud Worimi woman, award-winning filmmaker, educator, and Co-Creator and Creative Director of GARUWA. A leader in Indigenous storytelling, she creates works grounded in First Nations knowledge, cultural authority, and systemic change. Her acclaimed projects include “Lani’s Story” (SBS), “Power to Country” (ABC), and “Motherhood in the Colony” (2025), as well as co-curating “First Peoples” at Melbourne Museum. Genevieve also leads sector change through initiatives like the annual “First Nations Impact Lab” (with Doc Society), building bridges across communities and mentoring the next generation of storytellers with a vision for justice, sovereignty, and enduring cultural resilience.
Genevieve’s commitment to social change is underpinned by her work as co-founder of enterprise Shifting Ground, and she serves on the boards of Arts Pay, Darwin Community Arts, Original Power, and Koorie Heritage Trust.
ADAM BANDT
CEO, Australian Conservation Foundation
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Dr Adam Bandt is the CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation, the country’s oldest and largest nature and climate organisation. After a decade in the private sector including as a Partner in a major national law firm, Adam read climate science. Spurred on by the need to act, he ran for Parliament, was elected as the Member for Melbourne and served there for 15 years, including as Leader of the Australian Greens. A believer that people power can change the world, Adam recharges by going camping with his family and hitting the decks as an enthusiastic DJ.
SARAH BAARINI
Activist & Organiser, Free Palestine Naarm
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Sarah Baarini is a woman from Naarm of Lebanese, Italian and Maltese heritage. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Politics) and is undertaking a Master of International Relations.
Sarah is an Immediate Past Executive Member on the board of the Islamic Council of Victoria and an organiser of the Free Palestine protests in Naarm/ Melbourne.
EMMA SHORTIS
Director, The Australia Institute
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Dr Emma Shortis (She/Her) is Director of the Australia Institute's International & Security Affairs Program. Emma is a historian and writer, focused on US history and politics and foreign policy. In a conversation often dominated by the same voices, Emma offers a fresh perspective on international relations grounded in moral questions about how we might imagine a post-America future. She's a regular media commentator and host of the popular podcast "After America". Her latest book is After America: Australia and the New World Order.
KRISTIN GILLIES (NZ)
Director, For Purpose NZ
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Kristin is Director at For Purpose NZ and focused on supporting people working to make the world a better place. When not working, Kristin likes to ride bikes.
KATHERINE TREBECK
Economic Change Program Director,
The Next Economy
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Katherine’s (she/her) roles include writer-at-large and co-director of the Compassion in Financial Services hub at the University of Edinburgh and Economic Change Programme Director at The Next Economy.
She is a member of the Club of Rome and co-founded the Wellbeing Economy Alliance and WEAll Scotland. She is Distinguished Visitor at ANU’s Planetary Health Hothouse and was 2024 thinker-in-residence at the Australian Health Promotion Association.
HUGH DE KRETSER
President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
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Hugh de Kretser commenced his five-year term as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 30 July 2024. For more than two decades, Hugh has played a critical role advancing human rights in Australia.
Before joining the Commission, he was the CEO of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations people in Victoria. He previously worked as the Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre and the Executive Officer of the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres.
Hugh has also served as a Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and a Director of the Sentencing Advisory Council. He has held a range of not-for-profit board, governance and advisory positions including for Flourish Australia, the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, knowmore and the National Association of Community Legal Centres. He has worked as a community lawyer, managing the Brimbank Melton Community Legal Centre and started his legal career advising companies on employment and anti-discrimination law.
SOPHIE CUSWORTH
CEO, Women With Disabilities Australia
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Sophie Cusworth (she/her) is the Chief Executive Officer of Women With Disabilities Australia, the national Disability Representative Organisation and National Women’s Alliance for women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities. Sophie has a background in systemic advocacy and as a lawyer specialising in employment, safety and discrimination. Her work is grounded in an intersectional feminist and human rights framework, and is informed by her lived experience of disability as an Autistic person with chronic pain.
RICARDO BORGES MARTINS
(BRAZIL)
Cofounder and Strategy Director, Quid
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Ricardo Borges Martins is the co-founder and Strategy Director at Quid. His work centers on civic engagement and mobilization within pro-democracy social movements and NGOs. Over the past decade, he has co-created initiatives like Pacto pela Democracia, Advocacy Hub, and Virada Política. He holds a degree in Social Sciences from USP, a Master’s in Social Influence, and an MBA in Government Relations from FGV-SP. He is also a visiting professor at FGV-SP, teaching Advocacy and Public Policy.
JESSICA BIRCH
Advocate/Lived Experience Advisor
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Jessica is a national advocate and speaker living with FASD.
Since her late diagnosis, she has turned her attention to awareness building and education around this complex injury, to create a better understanding of the prevalence and consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure in Australia; She believes awareness and action is key to slow the rate of FASD in our communities.
Over 6 years Jessica has been involved in a number of projects and has appeared in a variety of news, radio and television interviews; Notably, she successfully campaigned alongside Australia’s peak bodies for clear pregnancy warning labels on all alcohol products within Australia, and currently works as a lived experience advisor as part of FARE's National FASD Program.
Jessica regularly consults with researchers, health professionals and decision makers, and sits on several expert and community advisory boards, including those for NOFASD, FARE and the FASD HUB.
ALISTAIR SISSON
Research Fellow, Macquarie University
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Alistair is a researcher whose work spans housing, planning and urban development.
His research has particularly focused on issues in public and private rental housing – issues which he regularly discusses in media and public events as well as academic publications.
As a research fellow in the Macquarie University Housing and Urban Research Centre, he has collaborated with the Tenants' Union of NSW, Shelter NSW, OFFICE and Action for Public Housing, and sits on the Shelter NSW Members Working Group. His current project examines how politics and policy is being reshaped by the housing crisis.
IKA TRIJSBURG
Director of Urban Analytics, ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society
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Ika Trijsburg draws on diverse sector expertise to address complex challenges to democracy. She leads the Disinformation in the City global research project, and was lead author of the world first Disinformation in the City Response Playbook in 2024. Ika is Director of Urban Analytics at the ANU Institute for Infrastructure in Society in the Crawford School for Public Policy and Head of Democracy and Diplomacy at Municipal Association of Victoria.
She also holds positions with the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Initiative for Peacebuilding at the University of Melbourne. She has provided guidance on disinformation response to key actors globally including cities, national governments, international networks and UN agencies.
PAUL COSTELLO (GERMANY)
Senior Manager, German Marshall Fund of the United States Cities (GMF Cities)
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Paul Costello is a Berlin-based senior program manager for GMF Cities. He leads the team’s City Directors of International Affairs (CDIA) Network and several initiatives on democracy, disinformation, and climate displacement. Paul has a background in public policy and prior work experience in sustainability and public diplomacy programs. He holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree in political science from McGill University in Montreal. Paul speaks English, Catalan, Spanish, and French.
KRISTA FISHER
Research Fellow, Movember Institute of Men's Health
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Dr Krista Fisher is a global thought leader in young men’s mental health and digital culture. As a Research Fellow at the Movember Institute of Men’s Health, she explores how online worlds shape young men’s wellbeing, translating evidence into policy and action to spark conversation, break down stigma and drive meaningful change to help young men live mentally healthy and socially connected lives.
BEN SPIES-BUTCHER
Deputy Director, Macquarie University Housing and Urban Research Centre
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Ben Spies-Butcher is Deputy Director of the Macquarie University Housing and Urban Research Centre, Co-Director of the Australian Basic Income Lab, and is co-author of Housing and the 2025 Federal Election. His research explores the political and economic dynamics of social and ecological policy. Alongside his focus on housing, his funded research collaborations include The Climate Economy: Emerging Strategies for Australia (Australian Research Council), and Aboriginal led solutions: strategies for reinvestment (Australian Public Policy Institute). His most recent book, Politics, Inequality and the Australian Welfare State After Liberalisation, shows how our economy is changing and what governments and citizens can do to make it more equal.
TOM SULSTON
Head of Policy, Digital Rights Watch
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Tom (he/him) is one of the founders of Digital Rights Watch and is now employed as its head of policy. Here, he's responsible for working out how we can have an internet that allows us to freely participate online while remaining respectful of our human rights.
He likes cats more than AI.
LINA PRZHEDETSKY
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne Law School and ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society
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Lina Przhedetsky (she/her) is a Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S). Her academic work is at the forefront of Australian research into the regulation of emerging technologies, specifically, the use of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making in essential services markets. Her research interests include housing, consumer protection, platform governance, citizen science, and surveillance.
In 2025, Lina joined University of Melbourne node where she works on the ADM, Ecosystems and Multispecies Relationships', AI Regulation' and Ad Observatory' projects. Prior to this, she undertook a PhD at UTS Law School. Her doctoral research analysed rental application technologies through a sociotechnical lens, used doctrinal analysis to identify gaps in consumer protections and proposes solutions for effective regulatory interventions. Her academic research is informed by her previous work as a policymaker in government and an advocate in the consumer and union movements.
VISHAL PRASAD (FIJI)
Director, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change
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Vishal Prasad is a Fijian climate justice advocate and Campaign Director of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), the student-led organisation behind the push for an International Court of Justice advisory opinion on climate change. Joining the campaign in 2019, he has helped craft the roadmap from a Pacific classroom idea to a global legal movement, coordinating coalition outreach, and ensuring frontline testimonies anchored this case. That strategy helped build momentum for the UN General Assembly to request the opinion and kept pressure focused on rights, equity, and accountability. In July 2025, the ICJ delivered its landmark Advisory Opinion on the “Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change,” widely welcomed as a major win and a new baseline for climate accountability. Vishal now works on turning the Opinion into practical leverage for policy, diplomacy, and justice.
JOSH KLEMONS (USA)
Digital Storyteller/Strategist, Reverbal Communications
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Josh Klemons is a Digital Storyteller and Strategist, and the founder of Reverbal Communications—a digital agency that helps progressive campaigns, brands, and organizations win the internet.
He’s worked on 100+ political campaigns—from city council to US Senate—and helped just as many brands navigate social media, email, paid ads, and more.
He’s also the host of Hello Merge Tag, a podcast about the intersection of politics and social media.
Learn more at joshklemons.com.
LARAH KENNEDY
General Manager, Quiip
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Larah Kennedy is a seasoned community professional specialising in connecting organisations with their audiences through online community and social media. Larah is passionate about creating productive, equitable and safe online spaces through strong governance and active community management.
Over the past two decades, Larah has worked across government, NFP, and private sectors with clients such as Australian Ethical Super, Alcohol & Drug Foundation, Take 3 for the Sea, VicHealth and Movember.
ANASTASIA RADIEVSKA
Protest Rights Campaigner, Australian Democracy Network
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Anastasia has worked as a campaigner on a number of social issues, including creating a fairer welfare state, enabling a fair and fast energy transition and promoting citizen participation in democracy.
As a founding member of Legal Observers NSW, she helped lead the campaign against NSW's 2022 anti-protest laws and worked with grassroots communities to widen the space for democratic expression.
Having experienced the importance of community involvement in political action in her native Ukraine, she is passionate about ensuring communities are empowered to have a say in the issues that matter to them.
JOSIE ALEC
First Nations Lead, Australian Conservation Foundation
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Kuruma Marthedunera woman Josie Alec is the First Nations Lead for Australian Conservation Foundation, the co-founder of Save our Songlines.
“I have been blessed with an extraordinary life journey. From stolen generation, to growing up with a wonderful foster family, to making my way back home to my amazing family and culture.”
Spiritualism runs strong in both of my families and was the grounding I needed upon my return home. My Mum was a traditional healer and held many sacred gifts and knowledge. Our Lore and Culture has played a big part in the rejuvenation and longevity for centuries in my country and informs the way we connect and live our daily lives.
As the First nations Lead at ACF we created a documentary called Heart of Country, which explores different First Nations people across Australia and their plight to save their country.
I am pleased to share my journey about learning how important our connection with country is and the care for country practices, as first nations people we share.
Looking after the environment is key to our future.
JOSH DEVINE
Systemic Investment Lead, Regen Melbourne
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Josh is a proud Wonnarua man based in Naarm (Melbourne). He is currently the Systemic Investment Lead at Regen Melbourne, an organisation driving systems-level collaboration in service of a regenerative economy. In this role, Josh is focused on the growing field of systemic investment (at the intersection of finance, systems thinking and place based approaches) where he is exploring investment models that enable capital to flow toward systemic initiatives in service of regeneration.
He also serves on the Advisory Board of The Nature Conservancy Australia and the First Nations Steering Committee of Dilin Duwa (Indigenous Business Leadership Institute).
JORDY NIJENHUIS (THE NETHERLANDS)
Director, Dare to be Grey
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Jordy Nijenhuis is a storyteller, campaigner, consultant and trainer based in The Netherlands. He is the director of Dare to be Grey, an award winning organisation that aims to counter polarisation, disinformation and hate. He co-founded the European Observatory of Online Hate (EOOH) is the lead trainer of the Digital Media to Counter Disinformation and Hate course at Radio Netherlands Training Center (RNTC). He is involved in a variety of different projects, and trains media professionals from all over the world in (social media) campaigning, storytelling and countering radicalisation, hate speech and disinformation. He believes that media is a powerful tool for behavioural change, and that we need new creative approaches to achieve fundamental change.
CARLY WALLACE
Director, Disability Dialogue
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Carly is the Director of the Disability Dialogue – a national, disability led project that centres the voices, leadership and experiences of people with disability in conversations about social justice, human rights and systemic change.
A proud Dulguburra Yidinji Aboriginal woman from the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland, Carly is based in Brisbane and is also neurodivergent.
Her leadership sits at the powerful intersection of disability justice, First Nations self-determination and human rights.
Carly brings decades of experience across media and communications, First Nations engagement, youth work and disability advocacy.
KATE MAY
Health Communicator & Advocate
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Kate May is a communications consultant and registered health promotion practitioner based in Naarm/Melbourne. She brings both professional and lived-experience insights to her work, shaped by years of navigating chronic illness alongside roles in public health, communications, research, and policy. Kate currently freelances with organisations including Common Cause Australia and the Australian Women’s Health Alliance and is an active advocate for people living with chronic pain. Her work focuses on shifting public narratives and supporting health and social change through strategic communications and community engagement.
CHERRY MUDDLE
Partnerships Manager, Women's Environmental Leadership Australia
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Cherry (she/they) is a passionate conservationist with over a decade of experience empowering communities to protect the places and wildlife they love. She has led grassroots and national campaigns with the Australian Marine Conservation Society, including the landmark Fight For The Reef campaign, and has represented Australia at the World Heritage Committee. Cherry has co-founded community organisations in regional NSW focused on climate action and stronger planning laws, and continues to champion collaborative, diverse and community-led solutions. She is a long-standing member of Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia and now works as Partnerships Manager, supporting and amplifying women and gender-diverse leaders driving change.
ZENAIDA BEATSON (NZ)
Director & Designer, For Purpose NZ
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Zenaida is a Director & Designer at For Purpose Aotearoa, where she combines visual and collaborative design to help organisations engage people in the issues that matter. Her practice is grounded in participatory approaches, working alongside communities to co-create impactful campaigns, digital tools and identities. She has partnered with unions, advocacy groups and charities across Aotearoa and internationally. In this workshop, she brings skills that transform abstract challenges into tangible processes teams can work through together.
MAXINE BENEBA CLARKE
Poet
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Maxine Beneba Clarke is the author of over fourteen books for adults and children, including the ABIA and Indie award winning short fiction collection Foreign Soil, the critically acclaimed bestselling memoir The Hate Race, the self-illustrated picture book When
We Say Black Lives Matter, which was longlisted for the UK’s Kate Greenaway medal, and the CBCA Honour Book The Patchwork Bike (illustrated by Van T Rudd), which won the 2019 Boston Globe Horn Prize for Best Picture Book. Her poetry collections include Carrying the World, which won the 2017 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry, How Decent Folk Behave, and It’s the Sound of the Thing: 100 new poems for young people, which won the 2024 ABIA for Book of the Year for Younger Readers. Maxine was the inaugural Peter Steele Poet in Residence at the University of Melbourne 2023–2025.
YAARA BOU MELHEM
Director & Producer, Illuminate Films - Yurlu | Country feature doco
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Yaara Bou Melhem is a two-time UN Media Peace and six-time Walkley-award winning Australian writer, director and producer who makes films that often tackle the most pressing issues of our time. Her debut feature, Unseen Skies (2021), interrogates the inner workings of surveillance and artificial intelligence screened in competition at dozens of festivals worldwide (SFF, SFFILM, CPH DOX). She recently wrote, directed and co-produced The Whiteley Art Scandal (2023), a 2 x 1hr series about one of Australia’s biggest art fraud trials for the ABC. Her award-winning shorts range from following the creation of a secular democracy in war-torn Syria to profiling disinformation campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Maria Ressa. Her latest film, the Walkley Award-winning ‘Yurlu | Country’ (2025) is currently on the festival circuit and is a collaboration with First Nations Elder Maitland Parker about his fight to heal his homelands in the Pilbara, WA - the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere. Banjima people have since launched the Clean Up Wittenoom campaign for the remediation of their lands.
NICK MORAITIS
Managing Director, Watershed
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Nick co-leads Watershed's work to build large scale advocacy projects accelerating Australia's climate transition. Over a 20 year career, Nick has worked at the intersection of movement-building, technology and philanthropy, including as founding Executive Director at Australian Progress, CEO at the Foundation for Young Australians, and in key roles with an range of NGOs including Amnesty International, Greenpeace and GetUp. Currently he is also a director of Global Citizen in Australia and an advisor to Tripple.
IAN PALMER (NZ)
Director, Supergood
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Ian is a founding director of campaigns agency Supergood. As Jacinda Ardern’s Director of Communications during her tenure as Prime Minister of New Zealand, Ian saw first hand the challenges of communicating progressive change across radically shifting political landscapes and crises, as well as the opportunities offered by new digital channels and approaches.
Supergood, formed by a group of former Ardern-team colleagues, supports good causes around the world to achieve step change. Today, it is a leading agency in persuasion and behaviour change, commissioned by campaigning organisations and progressive funders to help develop and implement strategies for change.
As well as overseeing campaigns, Supergood has developed groundbreaking IP, helping to set new standards for progressive campaigning best practice. This includes the Persuasion Genome, which is changing the way campaigns employ short form video to shift attitudes and change minds, with more exciting projects underway for 2026.
KELLY TRELOAR
Disability Dialogue Operations and Engagement Manager, Disability Advocacy Network Australia
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Based on Kaurna Country in South Australia, Kelly Treloar (she/her) is a neurodivergent and physically disabled policy and advocacy specialist with lived experience in the First Nations and LGBTQIASB+ disability communities. She is passionate about creating inclusive communities where disabled people’s voices lead change. Kelly has led national work to improve outcomes for First Nations people with disability, including developing frameworks grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She has a strong commitment to tackling intersectional discrimination and ensuring marginalised voices are centred in policy and decision‑making. Kelly is the Operations and Engagement Manager for the Disability Dialogue at DANA. She is also a parent and unionist, and enjoys music, travel, and enthusiastically annoying people by talking far too much about birds and politics.
FREYA DINSHAW
Associate Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre
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Freya Dinshaw (she/her) is an Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, with over a decade of experience specialising in business and human rights. Freya’s work focuses on exploring opportunities for deploying advocacy, strategic litigation and international mechanisms to challenge the treatment of marginalised communities by governments and companies. Examples include supporting Australian Uyghurs in legal action against Kmart over forced labour concerns, co-authoring the Paper Promises and Broken Promises reports on the Australian Modern Slavery Act, assisting Bougainville communities in a human rights complaint through the OECD National Contact Point, and Supreme Court litigation in relation to an asylum seeker’s death in offshore detention. Prior to joining the HRLC, Freya was a Senior Associate at Allens Linklaters, and she previously worked at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. She is an honorary research fellow in modern slavery and regular guest lecturer at Melbourne Law School, and serves on the Modern Slavery Expert Advisory Group, Australian OECD National Contact Point Advisory Board and steering committee of the Australian Corporate Accountability Network.
RAMILA CHANISHEFF
President, Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association
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Ramila Chanisheff was born in Urumchi, East Turkistan (Xinjiang, China), came to Australia with her parents and sister in early 1980 as a child. She has lived in Adelaide most of her life, but has studied and lived overseas for a period of time. She has been an active part of the Uyghur community in Adelaide, and is currently the inaugural President of the Australian Uyghur Tangritagh Women's Association, when it was established in early 2020. She considers herself an activist by default, and has been working together with her team on community and also advocacy work since 2017. She is passionate about human rights, and has been an active advocate for Uyghur voices in Australia, educating the general public and lobbying the Australian Government to do more to hold China to account.
MICHAEL WRIGHT
National Secretary, The Electrical Trades Union
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Michael Wright is the National Secretary of the Electrical Trades Union. Since joining the Union in 2007, Michael has represented electrical workers across Australia and the region. He is committed to advancing members’ rights and ensuring a bright future for the workers delivering our energy transition.
ALEX KELLY
Director, Economic Media Centre
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Alex has a background in strategic communications, political organising, speculative futures and documentary filmmaking with expertise in impact producing. Alex was impact producer on The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone, In My Blood it Runs and Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein’s This Changes Everything. Alex is a founding member of impact film company, the Unquiet Collective and a PhD candidate at Uni SA.
ANITA TANG
Organising Director, Australian Progress
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Anita Tang is passionate about building people power to secure public policies that benefit the community. During her career, she’s explored many ways to make a difference – through direct service, policy development, consumer protection bodies, and Parliamentary Committees, and non-government policy advocacy. During her 12 years at Cancer Council NSW, she led the development of the grassroots advocacy approach that led to significant campaign wins on smoke-free legislation, cost of chemotherapy, access to treatment, and policies to protect people from known cancer risks. Currently, Anita is focused on increasing the impact of the advocacy work of NGOs by helping them unlock the potential of their grassroots supporters.
JINGHUA QIAN
Senior Media Advisor, Economic Media Centre
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Jinghua (ey/eir/em) has two decades experience in media, arts, and activism. As head of news at Sixth Tone in Shanghai, Jinghua shaped the publication’s influential coverage of contemporary China, in particular its reporting on trans and feminist movements. Since returning to Australia, Jinghua has written for The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald, Overland, Meanjin, and ABC TV's China Tonight. Jinghua is passionate about foregrounding decolonial and anti-border perspectives in economic discourse and class analysis.
THUY LINH NGUYEN
Senior Social Justice Advocate, Uniting NSW/ACT
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Thuy Linh Nguyen is a community organiser and campaigner dedicated to building the power of marginalised communities to drive systemic change. She is a Senior Social Justice Advocate at Uniting NSW.ACT, where she leads Uniting's climate justice campaigns and high‑level government and Pacific stakeholder engagements. Previously, she was the Director of Innovation and Impact at the Multicultural Leadership Initiative and led the Voices for Power campaign at the Sydney Alliance, empowering culturally diverse communities on energy justice. With an established history working in civil society coalitions and partnerships, and with grassroots communities, she seeks to push for a shift towards clean energy that support people experiencing the worst impacts and leaves no one behind.
MAIY AZIZE
Chair and National Spokesperson, Everybody’s Home
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Maiy Azize is the National Spokesperson for Everybody’s Home, a campaign to fix Australia’s housing crisis. Everybody's Home is made up of 500 housing, homeless and welfare organisations, and over 43,000 supporters who have come together with a shared vision of ensuring that everybody has a safe, affordable and decent home.
Maiy is also the Deputy Director of Anglicare Australia, a network of welfare and caring organisations linked to the Anglican Church. She has authored many reports and studies, including Priced Out for Everybody’s Home and Homes for All: A Roadmap to Affordable Housing for Anglicare Australia.
CATERINA GEORGI
Founder and Partner, For Purpose
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Caterina is a not-for-profit leader with more than 15 years experience working for purpose-driven organisations. She is the Founder and Partner of For Purpose, and was previously the CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE), and a Founding Member of Women in Public Health. She is an ambassador for National Organisation for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (NOFASD) and has served on the boards of YMCA Canberra and Fair Agenda. She holds an honours degree in public health, was a finalist in the 2015 ACT Young Woman of the Year Awards, and is a fellow of the Centre for Australian Progress and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
MATT KUNKEL
CEO, Migrant Workers Centre
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Matt is the founder and CEO of the Migrant Workers Centre in Melbourne. He is an experienced not-for-profit leader and trade unionist with nearly two decades of impact across strategic advocacy and coalition-building. He has developed and led large alliances, shaped policy outcomes and built enduring partnerships between unions and civil society. Prior to his work at the Migrant Worker Centre, he worked in various union roles at the Victorian Trades Hall Council and United Voice (now the United Workers Union).
SOFIA MADDEN
Co-Director, Watershed Change
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With over a decade at the intersection of politics and purpose, Sofia has led high-impact campaigns across Australia and the US. She’s delivered work for clients including the Australian Labor Party, AI Impact Lab, Paramount, Spotify, Thrive by Five, and the Equality Campaign. Her work has contributed to marriage equality, a Human Rights Act in Queensland, minimum wage increases, and dozens of electoral and legislative wins. Sofia specialises in storytelling, digital campaigning, AI, and content strategy.
DR AMANDA CAHILL
Founder and CEO, The Next Economy
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Amanda is the founder and CEO of The Next Economy. She is an author, sought after media commentator, and trusted advisor to communities, government and industries navigating the complex transition to net zero emissions. She has over two decades experience working on economic development, public health, gender equality and climate adaptation across Australia, Asia and the Pacific.
LARISSA BALDWIN-ROBERTS
CEO, Common Threads Indigenous Peoples Organisation
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Larissa Baldwin-Roberts is a proud Widjabul Wia-bal woman from the Bundjalung Nations. She is the Co-Founder and CEO of Common Threads: a First Nations-led organisation building collective power for justice and self-determination.
Larissa also serves as the research director of Passing the Message Stick, Co-Chair of the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change, and Board Director with Climate Action Network International.
PAUL YIALLOUROS
Industrial Officer, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation
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Paul Yiallouros is an Industrial Officer at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, which is the nation's largest trade union with 356,000 members. He has previously held similar roles at the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and the Australian Services Union.
Paul has a background in law, music, and languages.
NIKITA WHITE
Strategic Campaigner, Amnesty International Australia
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Nikita is a strategic campaigner at Amnesty International Australia with extensive experience designing and delivering campaigns to promote and protect human rights. With degrees in law and international relations, and a demonstrated understanding of international human rights law, she is Amnesty's campaign and government relations lead on their Human Rights Act and climate justice campaigns.
KATIE CONNOLLY
Strategic Communications Adviser, KCB Mason
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Katie Connolly is a strategist and communications expert who has worked at the highest levels of politics in both the United States and Australia. Most recently she spent four years working as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Director of Strategic Communications.
Before returning to Australia, Katie spent a decade working as a pollster and strategist at the Benenson Strategy Group in Washington DC and New York. In that role, she advised Democratic presidential campaigns including President Obama (2012), Hillary Clinton (2016) and Pete Buttigieg (2020).
Katie spent several years as a reporter covering US politics for the BBC and for Newsweek magazine, where she was an embed on the 2008 presidential campaign. Her work helped Newsweek win a coveted New York Press Club Award and garner a National Magazine Award nomination.
She holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she won the prestigious Menzies scholarship.
FREYA WOLF
Writer, Activist, Facilitator
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Freya is a pleasure activist, writer, speaker, and sensual embodied dance facilitator. She’s ridden the waves of many movements, from disability rights to safety and embodied liberation, while mothering alongside a complicated dance with blindness. She had decades of experience in disability advocacy including leading the building access project for people with disability Australia for 5 years and she currently is an ambassador for the Australian human right commission equality at work project.
Freya is passionate about our connection with body, pleasure,
earth, and community. Her fierce love of cats has sustained her through most of life’s twists and turns.
She lives, loves and dances on Gadagal country.
ELEANOR GLENN
Co-Director, Common Cause Australia
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Eleanor co-directs Common Cause Australia, an organisation that helps social change agents to put values at the heart of their work. Eleanor is a researcher and trainer, with a PhD in climate change communications and engagement. Over the past decade she has supported dozens of organisations and communities to create transformative systems change, including on contentious issues such as safer speeds on local streets (30km/h speed limits) and First Nations Treaty in Victoria. She has delivered tailored trainings on strategy and communications for social change, across health, environment, human rights, equity and justice. She lives on beautiful unceded Turrbal and Yuggera Country in Meanjin/Brisbane.
GRACE VEGESANA
National Director, Australian Youth Climate Coalition
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Grace Vegesana (she/they) is the National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, and a 26 year old woman-of-colour who has been building youth power to end fossil fuel expansion since she was 17. Her legacy includes co-founding the People of Colour Climate Network, pioneering climate justice organising on Dharug Country in Western Sydney with AYCC, and mobilising 3000 Australian businesses to join the Climate Strikes. At the heart of Grace’s work is a fierce belief in a better, brighter, and more climate-resilient world for young people to inherit and thrive in - and a reminder that hope is not just a feeling, but a call to action.
Grace's commitment to justice extends beyond activism to governance, and she sits on the Boards of the Foundation for Young Australians and Cricket for Climate, as well as being one of the 10 young Australians who constitute the first International Climate Youth Advisory Council to the Australian Government on all matters UNFCCC & COP. She believes that we should not just advocate for change, but shape the institutions that drive it.
SARAH ROGAN
Equality Campaign Lead, Oxfam Australia
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Sarah is Equality Campaign Lead at Oxfam, building alliances and growing collaborations with organisations working on tax reform. For over two decades, she has campaigned for workers' rights globally and locally, economic justice, climate action and queer rights. She is proud of her Malaysian Chinese heritage. Sarah is also Branch President, ASU Private Sector.
NINA GBOR
Director, Circular Economy & Waste Program and Founder of Eco Styles and Swap in the City
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Nina Gbor is a media personality, sustainable fashion & circular economy expert, international speaker, researcher and clothes swap maven dedicated to transforming the fashion industry's impact on people and the planet. Nina is the Director of the Circular Economy & Waste Program at The Australia Institute. She has co-authored notable papers such as textile waste research highlighting that Australia is one of the world's largest consumers of textiles per capita. She was featured in Australia's most prominent environmental TV series, the ABC TV's award-winning, War On Waste.
Nina has launched a Change.org petition for reform in Australia's fashion and textiles industry, calling on the Australian Federal Government to revive the sector through holistic sustainable, circular economy and ethical legislation.
Nina founded Swap in the City, Australia's first no fast fashion clothes swap hub. She also works with media, councils, organisations, schools, community groups and individuals to develop strategies for holistic systems change towards a more circular and sustainable future. Nina has a master’s degree in international development and guest lectures at universities in Australia and abroad.
JORDY SILVERSTEIN
Historian & Writer
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An anti-zionist Jewish woman, I am an author and historian based in Naarm. I work at the University of Melbourne, researching histories of migration policy and migrant, refugee and stateless communities in settler-colonial Australia. And I am a member of the Loud Jew Collective and I sit on the board of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) and the board of the Institute of Postcolonial Studies (IPCS).
EFRAIM LEONARD (INDONESIA)
Community Engagement Lead, Bijak Memantau
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Efraim (He/Him) is a movement builder, amplifier and social justice campaigner with a specialization in engaging the urban middle-class Indonesian youth. He focuses on maximizing the power of digital platforms to reach and mobilize thousands of youth, as well as collaborating with hundreds of civil society organizations and communities. He has extensive experience in gathering and mobilizing volunteers, actively collaborating with organizations and communities for the last 8 years. Up until today, Efraim has gathered and worked with more than 1,000 volunteers in 36 cities in Indonesia and abroad in various projects: from fundraising, providing free language classes, to collaborating with more than 80 communities & organizations to co-create more than 90 forums discussing youth-related policies with policymakers in Indonesia and abroad.
LAUREN CAULFIELD
Coordinator, Beyond Survival Project
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Loz (She/Her) is a community-based organiser and researcher working at the intersection of interpersonal and state-based gender violence, and her work crosses advocacy, support work, movement lawyering and narrative therapy.
She is also the coordinator of the Naarm-based Beyond Survival Project, which responds at the nexus of family violence and policing harms and works to prevent the criminalisation of people experiencing family violence.
RITA JABRI MARKWELL
Legal Advisor, Australian Muslim Advocacy Network
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A solicitor practising in employment, discrimination, human rights and charity law, Rita leads a number of public interest cases as well as high impact policy ideas. She has contributed to the Red Lines Package to stop Australia funding and arming atrocities; and helped develop the definition of dehumanising material for all communities to use in Australia.
SISONKE MSIMANG
Writer
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Sisonke is a writer whose work has focussed on money, power, equality and justice. She has worked in philanthropy, community arts, and has published widely. She is the author of two books about South Africa - Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home, and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela: A biography of struggle.
MAT TINKLER
Group CEO, Save the Children Australia
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Mat Tinkler is the Group CEO of Save the Children Australia and has been a leading voice for child rights for over a decade. Trained in biochemistry and molecular biology, he began his career as a commercial lawyer at Minter Ellison before serving as Acting Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Clearing House (now Justice Connect) and as Adviser to Senator Natasha Stott Despoja. He later became Chief of Staff to the Hon Bill Shorten MP during the Rudd and Gillard Governments.
Mat has led Save the Children’s drive to become be the leading voice for child rights in Australia. He has built a large and diverse portfolio of international programs, including with key multilateral donors like the Green Climate Fund, Education Cannot Wait and the Global Partnership for Education.
Mat has been at the forefront of Save the Children’s business model diversification, sitting on the Board of a number of social enterprises and Chairing the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. He sits on Save the Children’s global Management Committee, overseeing programs in 120 countries.
WILL POTTER
National Director, Tomorrow Movement
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Will is a Gundungurra Aboriginal man and is the National Director at Tomorrow Movement. He was previously an organiser at Seed Mob, a facilitator at the Community Organising Fellowship and has organised in Western Sydney.
ALICE SALOMON
Head of Advocacy & Media, Uniting NSW/ACT
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Alice Salomon is Head of Advocacy and Media at Uniting NSW/ACT, with over 20 years’ experience driving social change across movements, not for profits and public advocacy. Her work focuses on building power for change by translating values, evidence and lived experience into campaigns that shift public debate and decision making.
At Uniting, Alice focuses on moving from responding to harm to challenging the systems that cause it. She leads organisation wide advocacy across issues including climate justice and drug law reform and translating frontline service delivery into clear action for systems change. Her role involves making hard strategic choices about when to step into public debate, how to hold internal tension, and how to align leadership, staff and communities behind bold advocacy embedded in organisational strategy.
She is also a mum of five, grounding her strong interest in systems that actually benefit people, and leaving very little patience for those that don’t.
BEE CHARIKA
Asian / Migrant Lead, Vixen
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Bee (they/them) is an Asian migrant sex worker and works with Vixen as the Asian Migrant Lead. They advocate for Asian migrant sex workers’ rights and call for an end to Australian Border Force (ABF) workplace raids.
Bee founded Rising Red Lantern to challenge racism, raids, and neglect, honour Asian migrant sex workers who were murdered, and build community collective power.
Bee supports reforms that centre migrant voices, challenge racial profiling, and uphold labour rights, working toward the full decriminalisation of sex work in Australia rooted in justice and self-determination.
MICHELLE HIGELIN
Executive Director, ActionAid Australia
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Michelle Higelin is Executive Director of ActionAid Australia, a global women’s rights organisation working at the intersection of gender equality, climate change and global justice. She brings nearly three decades of experience advancing women’s rights and global justice domestically and internationally. Her experience spans strategy, programming, campaigning, fundraising and communications, with a strong focus on feminist leadership and coalition building. Under her leadership, ActionAid Australia has supported innovative models of solidarity, including the growth of a 10,000-strong women’s movement in Vanuatu and the Shifting the Power Coalition which promotes Pacific women’s leadership in climate action. Michelle is a member of the Global Leadership Team at ActionAid International, which works with movements and communities in more than 70 countries to campaign for a fair and just world for all. She is also Co-Chair of the Australian Women, Peace and Security Coalition and Vice-President of the Australian Council for International Development
JESS MILLER
Strategic Comms / Deputy Lord Mayor for Sydney, Tradie Shift / City of Sydney
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Jess Miller brings 20 years’ experience in strategic communications working in the climate and sustainability movement. Through agencies like the Republic of Everyone, and Finding Infinity, Jess has designed and implemented strategic collective impact projects that address waste and promote a circular economy, increase urban greening, and enable communities to take meaningful action on climate in practical, fun and creative ways.
More recently her experimental research and projects have focused on how to understand and engage conservative-leaning audiences through relevant cultural influence - specifically through the Tradie Shift and ‘Big Shift’ projects.
Jess is also the Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney, is the Deupty Chair of the Transport, Heritage & Planning Committee, and is a member of the Cycling Advisory Panel and Nightlife & Creative Industries Panel. A former TEDxSydney curator and speaker, she is also a board member of the National Art School.
Her key advocacy areas at Council are the activation of ‘lazy spaces’ for affordable housing, creative and urban greening uses, the 24-hour economy and urban mini-REZs.
Jess hails from Somerville and lives in Glebe.
ELOISE BROOK
CEO, Auspath Australian Professional Association of Trans Health
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Dr Eloise Brook (she/her) is a writer, public health strategist and national advocate for trans health. She has worked as a researcher and lecturer in public health policy and political science at the University of Sydney and Western Sydney University, and for more than a decade has collaborated with government, hospitals, primary health networks and clinicians to strengthen equitable access to evidence-based care.
Eloise is the CEO of AusPATH, Australia’s national peak body for professionals working in trans health. She leads national advocacy, regulatory engagement and professional education initiatives focused on safeguarding access to care as a matter of health equity, bodily autonomy and non-discrimination, embedding trans healthcare within mainstream systems while strengthening institutional accountability.
In a global climate of coordinated anti-trans misinformation and politicised clinical debate, Australia faces similar pressures. Eloise leads AusPATH’s efforts to support clinicians, engage regulators and defend evidence-based standards to prevent the erosion of care.
Her work sits at the intersection of health, governance and human rights, grounded in the principle that access to healthcare is a core human rights obligation.
THOMAS WALKER
CEO, Think Forward
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Thomas (Tom) is an economist, geographer, and the CEO of Think Forward. We promote intergenerational equity and argue that structural issues in our tax systems—not a lack of education, hard work, or savings—are hindering younger generations from building economic security.
Education, research and community building are key tasks. We take a new media approach to meet younger people where they are, helping them understand how things work, what’s broken, and present opportunities to do things differently. We’re replacing misinformation and individualism with curiosity, connection and a shared belief that through economic and tax reform, we can build a better future.
CHRISTOPHER PATZ
Advocate & Documentary Filmmaker, European Coalition for Corporate Justice (former)
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From 2017-2025 at the European Coalition for Corporate Justice, Chris advocated and campaigned for landmark EU legislation to hold corporations liable for the human rights and environmental harms in their global value chains. He worked on cases against EU textile companies and factory auditors and told the story in the documentary Discount Workers.
NINA CARR
Disability Advocate
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Nina Carr (she/her) is an Independent Disability Advocate working across health, disability and community systems. She brings lived experience of disability to her work in policy, governance and co-design, with a focus on embedding lived experience leadership in decision-making processes.
Nina contributes to advisory groups, research collaborations and sector reform initiatives aimed at strengthening equity, access and inclusion. Her work centres on practical approaches to shared decision-making and advancing structural inclusion across advocacy and social change movements.
Her advocacy is informed by a commitment to fairness, dignity and systems that enable participation and belonging.
SANMATI VERMA
Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre
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Sanmati (She/They) is Legal Director of the Migration Justice team at the Human Rights Law Centre, an advisor to the United Workers Union and a board director of the Migrant Workers Centre. She has worked as a migration and refugee lawyer across the community legal sector, for Victoria Legal Aid and the Legal Aid Society NYC. She has written and published widely on race, policing and the political economy of migration.
MARGARET QUIXLEY
Campaign Manager, Everybody's Home
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Margaret (She/Her) is Campaign Manager at Everybody’s Home, leading national advocacy to fix Australia’s housing system. With over two decades of experience in campaigning and coalition-building, she works with communities and people with lived or learned expertise, to drive systems change and create a fairer and more just world.
Margaret has previously worked across a diversity of areas from environment and aid, to gambling and youth empowerment. She has dedicated her career to shifting power back into the hands of communities, and is passionate about creating a healthy democracy that prioritises people and planet over profit.
KRISTIN O’CONNELL
Co-coordinator, Antipoverty Centre
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Kristin O’Connell is an antipoverty activist and unwaged social policy researcher relying on Centrelink payments to survive. She established the Antipoverty Centre with other welfare recipients to counter problems with politicians, academics, paid advocates and others in the political class speaking over and making harmful decisions on behalf of people they purport to represent.
NICOLE MCPHERSON
National Assistant Secretary, Finance Sector Union
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Nicole McPherson is a National Assistant Secretary of the Finance Sector Union of Australia.
After starting her career as a lawyer, Nicole joined the Finance Sector Union and worked as an Industrial Advocate and National Industrial Officer. She was then elected as the Secretary of the Victoria and Tasmania branch of the Finance Sector Union before being elected as the National Assistant Secretary in 2023.
Nicole leads the Finance Sector Union's Organising and Industrial teams in fighting for progressive rights for all finance workers. She is passionate about business and human rights, the ethical use of artificial intelligence in the finance sector, and workplace health and safety.
Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Laws with Honours, Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and Master of Laws.
PAUL FERRIS
Interim Co-CEO, GetUp
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Paul Ferris is interim co-CEO of GetUp, where he is currently focused on re-building and re-scaling the organisation to take on the growing power of the far right in Australia. He moved back to Australia in 2025. Prior to that, he spent 15 years working with political campaigns, NGOs and unions in the US and Europe, including as partner at the 50-person progressive communications and campaigns agency Reform Society.
CLAIRE PULLEN
Group CEO, Australian Writers' Guild and Australian Writers' Guild Authorship Collecting Society
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Claire is the Executive Director of the Australian Writers’ Guild and the Group CEO of the Guild’s group of companies, including AWGACS. AWGACS is the collecting society for royalties for Australian and New Zealand Screenwriters, which distributes millions every year to writers.
Prior to working at the Guild, Claire was a Director at several large trade unions, both private and public sector. She began her career as a union organiser, becoming an Industrial Officer and senior Industrial Officer ensuring fair treatment for workers including paramedics, teachers aides, waitresses, train drivers, public servants, and firefighters.
During her time in the union movement Claire drafted the landmark firefighter occupational cancer list now in place in every state and territory in the country, and completed her Masters of Labour Law from Sydney University.
Claire has begun her Masters of Copywright Law, but as yet there are no signs of her finishing it.
SARAH SCHWARTZ
Executive Director, Jewish Council of Australia
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Sarah is a human rights lawyer and co-founder of the Jewish Council of Australia, a Jewish organisation committed to antiracism, fighting antisemitism and supporting Palestinian freedom and justice. She is also a Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, focusing on democratic freedoms including the right to protest and participate in public affairs, and a lecturer at Melbourne Law School. Sarah has written widely on issues of policing, racism, protest rights and Palestinian human rights.
EMMA BENNISON
CEO, Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA) Limited
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Emma Bennison is the CEO of Disability Advocacy Network Australia (DANA), the national voice for independent disability advocacy. She’s an award-winning leader, advocate, TEDx speaker, and mentor, passionate about building inclusive communities, empowering people with disability, and creating a fairer, more equitable society.
DAVID TRAN
Acting Campaigns and Advocacy Lead,Oxfam Australia
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David is acting Campaigns and Advocacy Lead at Oxfam Australia. He has led work on and written about labour rights, tax and inequality, climate justice and climate inequality.
NICK WILLIS
Community Organiser, Rising Tide
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Nick is an organiser, trainer and facilitator with Rising Tide. He lives on unceded Wurundjeri land in Naarm/Melbourne. Rising Tide engages in targeted civil resistance, demanding: an end to new coal and gas projects; a 78% tax on fossil fuel profits to support fossil fuel workers; and an end to coal exports from Newcastle by 2030. Working with other trainers, Nick supports Rising Tide members to explore social movement theory, storytelling strategy, community-building, and action design.
Outside Rising Tide, Nick is completing his PhD at ANU. He has published on feminist epistemology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of history.
OSCAR KASPI-CRUTCHETT
Senior Research Organiser, Victorian Trades Hall Council
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Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett is a 25-year-old trade union activist and writer based in Melbourne. He currently works as the Senior Research Organiser at Victorian Trades Hall Council - the peak body of Victorian unions representing over 400,000 workers. Oscar previously worked as an opinion columnist and a political staffer in the Commonwealth Parliament. He completed his studies at the Australian National University in 2023, graduating with an honours degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Today, Oscar's work focusses on a range of critical issues relevant to working people in 2026: The rise of radical-right movements, the emergence of AI, and the entrenchment of economic inequality. Oscar's writing, while future-facing, is often historically grounded and seeks to draw upon the styles, insights and traditions of Australian labourism. Oscar is an ardent believer in workers: and considers their movements and perspectives to be society's single most effective instrument for achieving justice.
ALISON PENNINGTON
Chief Economist, The McKell Institute
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Alison Pennington is an economist and writer who investigates economic and social issues facing Australia and working people. She is Chief Economist with The McKell Institute, and author of the widely acclaimed Gen F’d. Alison is a regular media commentator, with writing published in AFR, SMH, The Saturday Paper, and The Conversation. She is an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Politics, Philosophy and Economics with La Trobe University, and a former senior advisor to Cabinet ministers in the federal government.
BYRON FAY
Executive Director, Climate 200
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Byron is a climate strategist, former Paris Agreement negotiator and adviser to the Independent Senator Tim Storer. Byron worked for a Biden-aligned Political Action Committee during the 2020 US presidential election, holds a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Oxford, and is a proud descendant of the Dharug nation.
PAIGE BURTON
Campaign Messaging Expert
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Paige is a campaign messaging and strategy expert. She has worked on campaigns around the world for a range of organisations including the Foundation for Young Australians, Equality Australia, Pew Charitable Trusts, Oxfam Solomon Islands, the Attitude Foundation
In 2017, Paige conducted the largest ever face-to-face consultation of young Australians.
Paige has addressed the United Nations General Assembly on multiple occasions, represented Australia at the ECOSOC Youth Summit, and was a member and mentor of Australia’s civil society delegation to COSP 12, the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability in 2019.
Paige has served as the Board Chair of UN Youth Australia, and Vice President of People with Disability Australia. She has been a member of the Advisory Boards of the Melbourne University Social Equity Institute, and Pain Australia.
In 2015 and 2016 Paige was named as one of the 25 Most Influential People in Australia's Social Sector.
TOM MAITLAND
Founder, Filament Analytics
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Tom is the CEO of Filament Analytics and the co-founder of Raisely. He is a history nerd turned software engineer who's spent his career building technology that amplifies causes.
Starting at Agency, Tom led bespoke digital campaigns for organisations across the world. Out of that work came Kepla, a CRM for non-profits – and Raisely, online fundraising for ambitious campaigns. Tom led Raisely to a 40+ global team, pioneering remote work and a four-day work week while 1,500 charities raised $750M on the platform.
Tom stepped aside from Raisely post-acquisition, and is back to building for people and planet through Errinundra and it's first venture, Filament.
RYLEE AHNEN
Director of Communications, Home Forward
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Rylee Ahnen (he/him) is a strategic communications leader specializing in public policy, mission-driven storytelling, and organizational change. He currently serves in a senior communications role at Home Forward, the housing authority for Multnomah County, where he helps lead communications strategies related to housing policy, public accountability, and community engagement.
Rylee has more than a decade of experience helping public agencies, unions, and advocacy organizations translate complex policy issues into clear, compelling narratives that build trust and drive action. His work spans legislative advocacy, crisis communications, digital organizing, and coalition-based campaigns across housing, education, and health policy.
In 2025, he was selected as a Global Messaging Program Fellow with Australian Progress and a Defending Democracy Fellow with the Western States Center. Rylee holds a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota and is passionate about using storytelling to strengthen democratic institutions and build more equitable communities.
SCOTT SANDERS
Digital Strategist, Creative Freedom
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Scott believes technology should amplify humanity. For more than 20 years he has partnered with some of Australia’s most respected nonprofits — including World Vision, Amnesty International, and Greenpeace — helping them harness digital tools to grow movements, inspire supporters, and fund change. He has founded and led several creative agencies and also served as CEO of an advocacy nonprofit, giving him a rare perspective from both sides of the sector. Today, Scott leads Creative Freedom, where he works with nonprofits to design and deliver campaigns that maximise their digital potential. His focus is on building capacity and confidence within organisations, creating sustainable solutions that empower them to achieve lasting impact.
SHANNAN DODSON
CEO, The Healing Foundation
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Shannan Dodson is a Yawuru woman, her family are from Broome, Western Australia. She is the CEO of The Healing Foundation; that provides a platform to amplify the voices and lived experience of Stolen Generations survivors and their families. She was previously the Deputy CEO of the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA).
She has 20 years experience working in Indigenous affairs and is a strategic communications and engagement specialist. She has extensive skills in management, campaigning, public speaking, media, writing, and community engagement.
She was recently the Co-Chair of the National NAIDOC Committee and worked on the Australian Marriage Equality campaign. Shannan is passionate about First Nations' rights and understanding mental health issues, particularly intergenerational trauma for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
COCO VENAGLIA
National Organiser, Yes2Renewables
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Coco (she/her) grew up in regional Queensland surrounded by bush and ocean, Coco has since moved around predominantly regional areas of country NSW and currently resides in Castlemaine, Victoria. Coco has been working alongside regional communities for over a decade, leaning into her own lived experience of growing up in the regions. Originally working in human rights, Coco moved into the climate change space in 2022 when she realised that the impacts of climate change are the biggest threat to people accessing a safe and equitable life. Coco is currently the National Organiser for Yes 2 Renewables, a Friends of the Earth campaign, and works with regional communities to support them in building fair, equitable and sustainable access to renewable energy - and helping them build support for a fair and just transition to renewable energy.
RAND KHATIB
Organiser & Co-Founder, BDS Youth
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Rand is a first generation 'kannawiyeh' Palestinian migrant and organiser practicing BDS principles and abolition in her work. She organises alongside the BDS Youth collective, which she co-founded in 2019, on various international campaigns and youth projects. Rand has worked in the advocacy space and represented her fellow students in feminist and anti-racist capacities on both a university and national student body level. She has also volunteered in the food relief space and is passionate about mutual and material aid. Rand is an aspiring filmmaker and is currently seeking employment in the NFP sector. Her favourite author is her mum.
DR SELINA NAMCHEE LO
Executive Director, Australian Global Health Alliance
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Dr Lo has nearly three decades experience in global and international health with qualifications in medicine (University of Melbourne), tropical medicine (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) and a Masters in Public and International Law (University of Melbourne).
She is currently also Consulting Editor (Global and Planetary Health Commissions) for The Lancet medical journal where she was previous Senior Editor based in London and Beijing. She has been handling editor of a number of global health peer reviewed commissions including the Rockefeller Lancet Planetary Health report, the first Lancet series on Transgender Health and Global Health 2035: Investing in Health.
Selina has worked in Afghanistan, Myanmar, China, Thailand, and Bangladesh specifically with refugee, stateless, ethnic minority, and IDU and sex worker communities. She was a Medical Director for Essential Medicines for Médecins sans Frontières based in Geneva. She has worked for Save the Children UK and was Clinical Advisor for the seminal Clinton Foundation national HIV AIDS treatment partnership based in China CDC, and inaugural CEO for Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA). As a consultant Selina has worked with WHO HQ on Common Goods for Health, Victorian Department of Health COVID19 response, and was a visiting fellow to the UN International Institute of Global Health Malaysia on Gender and Health.
Selina sits on the steering committee of SESH global which builds crowd funding capacity for lower and middle income country researchers in infectious diseases and the International Advisory Board of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH). Selina came to the Alliance from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute (MSDI). She retains an active interest in the arts and local community – supporting Correspondences and by writing the occasional art review.
RANGIMARIE SOPHIE JOLLEY (Aotearoa, NZ)
Writer, Poet, Editor & Arts Commentator
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Rangimarie Sophie Jolley (Waikato-Tainui) is a Māori writer, poet, editor and arts commentator based in Porirua, Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work spans poetry, prose, fiction, children’s literature and visual arts writing, often exploring Māori storytelling, identity and the creative voices of wāhine Māori. Rangimarie is a founding member of the Māori women’s artist collectives Hine Pae Kura and Toi Wāhine, and she contributes to literary and arts events across Aotearoa as a curator, facilitator, and speaker. Through her work with ActionStation Aotearoa, she supports the organization to create opportunities that enrich people's understanding of Te Tiriti Justice. She is committed to uplifting Māori narratives and fostering spaces for storytelling and creative exchange.
KEVIN RASSOOL
Technical Director, High Impact Athletes
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Kevin Rassool is Tech Director at High Impact Athletes, where he built the technical platform behind Race for Impact, a fundraising product that raised $2M in its first six months across 15 countries. Before that, he spent eight years developing low-cost oxygen technology for childhood pneumonia in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific, funded by the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, and USAID. He is a founding board member of ALLFED Australia, where he secured federal government funding for disaster resilience research. His approach to technology in small teams is pain-point driven: connect the tools, let people discover their own workflows.
JASON BOBERG
Founder & Director, Activate Agency
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Jason Boberg is a disabled innovator, strategist, and climate expert with over a decade of experience working at the intersection of disability rights and climate.
He is the Founder and Director of Activate Agency, a disability-led social impact agency embedding disability rights across climate, human rights, and innovation, through research, policy, and narrative change. Activate has led major initiatives to increase disability-led climate adaptation.
Jason has engaged at UN climate negotiations since 2017, co-founded the SustainedAbility Disability and Climate Network (SDCN), creating the ground work and vision for the effort to establish a Disability Caucus within the UNFCCC.
Jason is also a filmmaker telling ethical stories for change. He co-authored “Nothing About Us Without Us: Climate Change & Disability Justice” in Climate Aotearoa, edited by Helen Clark.
Jason is a Climate Reality Leader, has served on the boards of Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA) and the New Zealand Climate Action Network (NZCAN). And Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled Peoples working group, refreshing the New Zealand Disability Strategy.
Jason can be found cycling, adaptive skiing, playing guitar, or behind a film camera.
DYLAN MCBURNEY
Peer Research Assistant, Murdoch Children's Research Institute
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Dylan McBurney is an experienced transgender and disability advocate. Previously a Project Support Officer at Children and Young People with Disability Australia, they currently hold a lived experience research role within the Trans Health Research Group. They have worked with countless organisations in developing radically inclusive and accessible workplaces, programs and policy.
They have also toured Australia and Europe as a stage manager and producer of theatre, and run a youth-led production company 'Pilot Comedy' that engages underrepresented young people to create and showcase new work.
JORDAN WIMBIS
First Nations Director, FYA
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Jordan Wimbis (he/him) is the First Nations Director at the Foundation for Young Australians, where they lead transformative work across programs such as Blakollective, BlakAbolition Lab, BlakUp!, Seeding Strength, and the First Nations Governance Group. With years of experience as a First Nations justice campaigner and organiser, Jordan has been deeply involved in movements that centre community sovereignty, youth leadership, and systemic change.
Their work is grounded in love for mob and Country, and shaped by values of care, truth-telling, and collective liberation.
MONIQUE HURLEY
Lawyer, Human Rights Law Centre
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Monique Hurley (she/her) is a human rights lawyer who works in solidarity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to call out racial injustice and alongside people with lived experience of incarceration to hold governments to account for the mistreatment of people behind bars. Monique acted as instructing solicitor for the family of Yorta Yorta woman Aunty Tanya Day in the coronial inquest into her death in police custody, and was part of the legal team that assisted the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in their intervention in the coronial inquest into the police-shooting death of Warlpiri and Luritja teenager Kumanjayi Walker.
LARA WATSON
Indigenous Officer, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
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Lara Watson (she/her) is a Birri Gubba woman from Central West Queensland and the Indigenous Officer at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). With over 20 years’ involvement in the trade union movement, Lara has worked across organising, campaigning and movement‑building, including leading major campaigns at state and national levels. Her current work focuses on advancing anti‑racism, combating extremism, supporting union engagement in Together for Treaty, strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices across the union movement, and winning industrial rights that break barriers and promote equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers.
MADDIE BURKITT
Senior Communications and Campaigns Advisor, Grata Fund
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Maddie (she/her) is a strategic communications expert with more than nine years’ experience in campaigns and communications across Australia's progressive movement. She is currently at Grata Fund, where she leads communications strategies for strategic litigation in human rights, climate justice, and democracy. She previously led campaigns and digital engagement work at GetUp and Greenpeace Australia Pacific.
KERA SHERWOOD-O’REGAN (NZ)
Impact Director & National President, Activate Agency & Disabled Persons Assembly NZ
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Kera Sherwood-O'Regan is a Kāi Tahu disabled climate justice expert and human rights advocate. She is President of the Disabled Persons Assembly, and Impact Director of Activate Agency – a social impact agency focused on the intersection between human rights and climate change.
In 2023, Kera was named one of BBC’s 100 Women as a "Climate Pioneer" for her work on Disability and Indigenous rights, and climate change.
Kera is a ClimateReality Leader; alumnus of the Progress Campaigning Fellowship; and NUKU 100 Women #030. She is currently a member of the NZIndependent Monitoring Mechanism for the UNCRPD and Chair of the DPO Coalition.
Working in partnership with Indigenous and Disabled Peoples' Organisations, NGOs, government agencies, and purpose-driven groups, her work centers communities in social change. Her practice is grounded in kaupapa Māori approaches and more than 15 years’ experience in the climate movement.
She has participated extensively in United Nations climate processes - with the IIPFCC and SustainedAbility Disability and Climate Network, including delivering Closing Addresses for the Indigenous Peoples' Constituency & Disability Caucus at COP25 & 27 respectively.
NAOMI KLEIN
Journalist, author and Professor of Climate Justice, University of British Columbia
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Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author. She is a columnist with The Guardian. In 2018 she was named the inaugural Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair at Rutgers University and is now Honorary Professor of Media and Climate at Rutgers. In September 2021 she joined the University of British Columbia as UBC Professor of Climate Justice (tenured) and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice.
![Selah [Filipina, short black hair] is smiling wearing a colorful blouse.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/68424cc9328bdb57f408f428/b7457065-fa5b-4040-a2ae-a609fff73f1d/Selah+Torralba.png)
SELAH TORRALBA (USA)
Advocacy Manager, Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition
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Selah Torralba is the Advocacy Manager for the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Selah joined TIRRC in 2022 as a Deep Canvasser while still in university. Selah’s experience in student organizing, political analysis, and narrative campaigns guide what it means for her to help build a Tennessee where people of all immigration statuses, races, beliefs, and backgrounds can live good lives.
As the daughter of Filipino immigrants and an Asian Appalachian from the state of West Virginia, Selah grew up witnessing the power of community care, labor & interfaith organizing, and music & art as tools for social change—all experiences that have instilled the deep values that continue to guide Selah today.
OGY SIMIC
Head of Refugee Leadership, Advocacy & Communications, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
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Ogy Simic arrived in Australia as a refugee at age 11 and trained as a lawyer. He is a senior leader at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Australia’s largest organisation supporting refugees and people seeking asylum. The ASRC campaigns to end immigration detention and offshore processing while directly supporting people held in offshore detention through its Detention Rights Advocacy team. Working alongside people with lived experience, Ogy focuses on challenging harmful policies and advancing freedom, safety and dignity. He has extensive experience in campaigning and community organising, and is committed to people-driven change.
SETAREH GHANDEHARI
Advocacy Director, Association of Visitors to Immigration Detention
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Setareh Ghandehari is the Advocacy Director at Detention Watch Network (DWN) where she works alongside other DWN staff and members to abolish immigration detention in the United States. She has been involved in social justice movements for over 20 years.
GEE MANOHARAN
Co-Director of Policy and Influencing, Association of Visitors to Immigration Detention
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Gee Manoharan is Co-Director of Policy and Influencing at AVID (Association of Visitors to Immigration Detention), a network coordinating visitors to people held in detention. AVID exists to reduce the immediate suffering of people in immigration detention and work towards a future without detention. Gee has personal experience of being detained in the UK, and first-hand experience of navigating the hostile environment.
ANDONEA DICKSON
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, International Relations at the University of Edinburgh
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Dr Andonea Dickson is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh, where she works on the project “Immigration Detention: Investigating the Expansion and Global Diffusion of a Failed Project” and is brining the panel of advocates and organisers together. Her research and activism focus on migration, borders and carcerality. Prior to joining the University of Edinburgh, she held a lectureship at the University of London Institute in Paris (ULIP) and a fellowship with Research Centre for Migration at the University of Amsterdam.
This is only the beginning! More speaker announcements coming soon.
