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Speaker Type: Social Commentator
Amal Awad
Author, Education Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator, Social Issues
Amal Awad is a journalist, author and screenwriter who is focused on issues of society, religion and popular culture. She is the author of four books and is involved in several screenwriting projects. Amal is also a public speaker and has produced and presented for ABC Radio National.
» Read more about Amal Awad
Mary Delahunty
Author, Corporate, Inspirational Speaker, Personal Development, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Mary is a writer, award winning ABC Journalist and former Education Minister. She is National Director of Writing Australia and Chair of Orchestra Victoria. She was the first female solo prime time TV newsreader in Victoria, and the first female Planning Minister in Victoria.
» Read more about Mary Delahunty
Paul Dillon (DARTA)
Author, Education Consultant, Online - Virtual Visits, Personal Development, Social Commentator, Well Within
Paul Dillon has a unique investment in the wellbeing of young people. Founder of Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia and a former school teacher, Paul continues to conduct drug information sessions and workshops for school students across Australia and internationally, in countries as diverse as the UK, the Phillipines, and Indonesia.
» Read more about Paul Dillon (DARTA)
Linh Do
Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator
Linh Do is a Melbourne based activist with a globe-trotting lifestyle, having worked in over 15 countries. She’s done everything from changing one million lightbulbs (and mindsets) in Australia to working at the UN to create social change on environmental issues, and in 2013 was named as Australian Geographic’s Young Conservationist of the Year.
» Read more about Linh Do
Sean Dooley
Author, Corporate, Entertainer, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Sean Dooley has written for TV comedies like Full Frontal, Hamish and Andy and Spicks and Specks, is author of books such as The Big Twitch and Cooking with Baz, and is currently editor of Australian Birdlife magazine. He was also the national birdwatching champion, holding the record for seeing the most birds seen in one year. Sean Dooley is the Birdman.
» Read more about Sean Dooley
Clementine Ford
Author, Corporate, Online - Virtual Visits, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Clementine Ford’s take on social issues is bold, brave and entertaining. She inspires and challenges people of all ages in equal measure.
» Read more about Clementine Ford
Jackie French
Author, Curriculum Specialist, Education Consultant, Social Commentator, Social Issues
Jackie was the Australian Children’s Laureate for 2014/15 and the 2015 Senior Australian of the Year. She is also an historian, ecologist, dyslexic, and a passionate worker for literacy, the right of all children to be able to read, and the power of books.
Jackie’s writing career spans 25 years, 148 wombats, over 140 books, 36 languages, 3,721 bush rats, and over 60 awards in Australia and overseas.
» Read more about Jackie French
Tanya Ha
Author, Corporate, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Tanya Ha is an award-winning environmentalist, best-selling author, broadcaster, science journalist and sustainable living advocate. More hip than hippie, she makes sustainability and science easier to understand and is known for her TV shows, including ABC’s Catalyst and the SBS series Eco House Challenge.
» Read more about Tanya Ha
Maggie Hamilton
Author, Education Consultant, Personal Development, Social Commentator
Author and researcher Maggie Hamilton writes books and for magazines; gives frequent talks and lectures; is a regular media commentator and a keen observer of social trends. Her many books, which have been published in Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Italy, China, Lithuania, Korea, the Arab States and Brazil, include What Men Don’t Talk About, which examines the lives of real men and boys; What’s Happening to Our Girls? and What’s Happening to Our Boys? which take a close look at the 21st century issues boys and girls face, and offer practical, workable solutions to these challenges; and Secret Girls’ Business a fun funky empowering gift book for teen girls.
» Read more about Maggie Hamilton
Belinda Hawkins
Author, Corporate, Curriculum Specialist, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Belinda Hawkins has reported on national and international events for ABC TV and SBS TV for almost 30 years, filing from countries as diverse as Nigeria, Eritrea, Cuba, Germany and Russia. For the past twelve years she has been a senior journalist with ABC TV’s Australian Story program. Her documentary work has been recognised with a raft of awards, among them a Walkley award, seven Quill awards, four New York Festival Medals and four United Nations Media Peace Awards. She started her working life as high school teacher in country Victoria.
» Read more about Belinda Hawkins
Sophie Cunningham
Author, Social Commentator
Sophie Cunningham worked in publishing for twenty years before becoming the Chair of the Literature Board of the Australia Council. She is well known for her work as the editor of Meanjin, and is the author of two novels, Geography (2004) and Bird (2008) as well as the non-fiction Melbourne.
» Read more about Sophie Cunningham
Michael Hyde
Author, Curriculum Specialist, Journalist, Social Commentator
Michael’s novels for young adults, Hey Joe, MAX and Tyger Tyger have experienced critical success and continue to be widely read and taught in many schools. Hey Joe – about the Vietnam War, the movement against it and the sixties in Australia – was named as a Notable Book in the 2004 CBC Awards. Many of his short stories for younger readers are published in the Trend/Awesome Series including the popular titles: The Footy Coach from Hell, Seal Saves the Island and How I Got a Girlfriend. Michael also edited two senior anthologies for the Australian Association of English Teachers (AATE), Hunger (CBC Notable Book 2004) and The Girl who Married a Fly (CBC Notable Book 2002). Both anthologies feature popular YA Australian writers (including Michael) and like his novels, enjoy significant sales. Michael’s Change the Game series – choose-your-own-adventure sports books became overnight favourites with young readers, 20,000 + copies being sold in one year.
» Read more about Michael Hyde
Linda Jaivin
Author, Literary Critic, Social Commentator
Linda Jaivin is one of Australia’s most versatile writers. Her work spans humour, eroticism, social issues (The Infernal Optimist is set in an immigration detention centre), China studies, literary translation and cultural commentary. She has appeared on ABC’s Q & A and was a regular panelist on the now sadly defunct Critical Mass. She presented a three-part radio documentary on the subject of privacy called Nothing to Hide for Radio National’s Earshot program and another, four-part series on the state of arts criticism in Australia, Situation Critical, for Arts Hub.
» Read more about Linda Jaivin
Anna Krien
Author, Corporate, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Anna Krien is an award-winning Melbourne-based journalist, essayist, fiction writer and poet. Her book Night Games: Sex, Power & Sport, won the 2014 William Hill Sports Book of the Year in the UK, and is being developed into a television mini-series. Other publications include Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests, Booze Territory, Quarterly Essay 66: The Long Goodbye: Coal, Coral and Australia’s Climate Deadlock and Quarterly Essay 45 Us and Them: On the Importance of Animals.
Anna’s debut novel Act of Grace was published in October 2019 and shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards.
» Read more about Anna Krien
Benjamin Law
Author, Corporate, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Benjamin Law is a Sydney-based journalist, columnist and screenwriter. He is the author of two books: the black comedy memoir The Family Law (2010) and the travelogue Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East (2012). The Family Law has been translated into French and is currently being developed for television. Gaysia was published in India in 2013, with the US and other territories to follow in 2014. Both of his books were nominated for Australian Book Industry Awards, and he is currently working on his third.
» Read more about Benjamin Law
David Nyuol Vincent
Author, Corporate, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
David Nyuol Vincent is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He was trained as a child soldier in Ethiopia and lived as a refugee in Kenya until he was twenty-six. Since rebuilding his life here in Australia, David has become an advocate for refugees and the Sudanese community and he is a Victorian Human Rights Youth Ambassador and a People of Australia Ambassador. He also helped to set up an all-Sudanese refugee football team, the Western Tigers, in the Brimbank soccer league. David is a true humanitarian and is committed to achieving peace for his people in Sudan.
» Read more about David Nyuol Vincent
Robyn Treyvaud
Education Consultant, Social Commentator
Robyn Treyvaud is an educational leader and an internationally recognised expert in online safety and digital citizenship and is the founder of Cyber Safe Kids, a global organisation that assists educators, school and parent communities to understand the challenges of living and working in the digital world and then equips them to meet these challenges.
Robyn provides advice to the media, industry and governments in Australia providing a balanced and evidence based view based on her work in schools in Australia and Asia for the past decade.
Cyber Safe Kids is a global partner of Common Sense Media a not for profit organisation in the US whose mission is to empower parents, teachers and young people by providing unbiased information, trusted advice and innovative tools to help them harness the power of media and technology as a positive force in their lives.
Robyn is a leading consultant who works with public and private schools as well as international schools and conducts parent engagement programs and professional learning for educators. She provides schools with best practice approaches and resources to support a strategic, sustainable approach to digital citizenship and resilience.
» Read more about Robyn Treyvaud
Trent Southworth
Corporate, Personal Development, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Trent Southworth is a former NSW Police Officer with over fourteen years policing experience, including eight years employed in the Youth Liaison role. In his role, Trent worked closely with numerous government and non government agencies to identify youth related initiatives such as underage drinking programs, truancy, road safety, drug programs, and bullying.
Trent assisted in the implementation and monitoring of the State Governments Young Offenders Act, which targets all young offenders aged between 10 and 18 years of age. Through his experience in the NSW Police, Trent witnessed first-hand the importance of ongoing education of young people in today’s society.
Since leaving the Police, Trent has developed and facilitated numerous seminars for students, teachers, parents and community groups Australia-wide.
» Read more about Trent Southworth
Sheree Marris
Author, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator
Aquatic Scientist Sheree Marris is one of Australia’s youngest environment ambassadors. She is committed to educating the community about their responsibilities in water preservation, marine life and other environmental issues such as recycling. Among her many accolades, she was Young Australian of the Year (Victoria) in 2002.
» Read more about Sheree Marris
Najaf Mazari
Author, Social Commentator
A shepherd boy from the mountains of Afghanistan, Najaf became a rugmaker of genius but was forced to flee his homeland under the onslaught of the Taliban. He painstakingly rebuilt his life in Australia and rescued his family from the despair of Pakistan’s refugee camps.
» Read more about Najaf Mazari
Dr Michael Nagel
Author, Corporate, Education Consultant, Personal Development, Social Commentator
Dr Michael Nagel is an Associate Professor and the Head of Education Programs in the School of Science in Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Dr Nagel teaches and researches in the areas of cognition, behaviour and learning and human development and early learning.
» Read more about Dr Michael Nagel
Angela Savage
Author, Social Commentator
Angela Savage’s crime novels are inspired by the six and a half years she spent living in South-east Asia in the late 1990s, working for the Red Cross on HIV/AIDS programs. Her love affair with Asia continues, and in 2008 she spent the year in Cambodia with her partner and their two-year-old.
» Read more about Angela Savage
Ellen Sandell
Corporate, Inspirational Speaker, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Ellen has been National Director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, one of Australia’s largest non-profit climate organisations. During her leadership, the organisation grew from a handful of friends wanting to change the world to a national organisation with over 80,000 members and the ear of politicians and business leaders due to it’s quirky and innovative campaigns.
Ellen has become one of Australia’s leading commentators and campaigners on the issue of climate change. Since leaving the AYCC in late 2012 she has worked in politics, as Campaign Manager for Simon Sheikh’s Senate campaign in the ACT (mobilising thousands of volunteers and just missing out on a Senate seat) and as a Senior Campaigns Advisor for Greens leader Senator Christine Milne.
» Read more about Ellen Sandell
Andrew Rule
Author, Corporate, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Since starting on a country newspaper in 1975, Andrew Rule has worked on three metropolitan newspapers and in both radio and television production. He has written, co-written, edited and published many books, including the Underbelly true crime series and the Chopper series, which inspired the successful feature film. He hosts a regular fortnightly spot on Triple M’s Hot Breakfast called In The Rule World.
» Read more about Andrew Rule
Alice Pung
Author, Corporate, Curriculum Specialist, Inspirational Speaker, Online - Virtual Visits, Personal Development, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Alice Pung is a writer and lawyer who loves teaching. Alice’s books are studied in secondary schools and universities in Australia as well as the United States, and she has taught writing workshops to students from the ages of 8 to 80 in Australia, China and the States. Alice is also an Ambassador for the 100 Story Building Project, a social enterprise which helps promote literature and literacy skills to young people in the Western suburbs.
» Read more about Alice Pung
Ben Pobjie
Author, Journalist, Social Commentator
Ben Pobjie is the author of the Reality Recap of Australian History Error Australis and Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. He is the resident satirist for Medium and TV writer for the Saturday Age, he co-hosts the comedy podcast Gather Around Me, and is a regular voice on ABC radio,Triple R and 3CR as well as writing occasionally for TV.
» Read more about Ben Pobjie
Tim Pegler
Author, Journalist, Social Commentator
Acclaimed YA author Tim Pegler is an award-winning journalist, extensively published in newspapers, magazines and online. Tim’s experience covering social issues, such as homelessness, disability and juvenile justice, provides the foundation for much of his writing for young adults.
» Read more about Tim Pegler
Clare Wright
Author, Education Consultant, Social Commentator
Clare Wright is a historian who has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant and radio and television broadcaster. Her first book, Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans, garnered both critical and popular acclaim. She researched, wrote and presented the ABC television documentary Utopia Girls and has co-written a four-part series to commemorate the centenary of WWI for ABC1. The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka won the 2014 Stella Prize. You can listen to Clare’s Radio National podcast, Shooting The Past here. Clare lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children.
» Read more about Clare Wright
Dianne Todaro-Wells
Author, Personal Development, Social Commentator
Dianne Todaro-Wells (Diploma of teaching), is an experienced educator and author specialising in relationship and sexual identity education. Dianne has a community radio program called ‘Speak up’ that serves communities to talk about information that inspires us all to have our ‘voice’.
» Read more about Dianne Todaro-Wells
Angela Pippos
Author, Corporate, Inspirational Speaker, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Angela Pippos is a journalist, TV and radio presenter, columnist and author of The Goddess Advantage – One Year in the Life of a Football Worshipper. It’s as much about love, loyalty, stuffed tomatoes and Greek mythology as it is about Australian rules football.
» Read more about Angela Pippos
Dr Susan Carland
Corporate, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Dr Susan Carland is an academic, author, and social commentator. She has a PhD from Monash University’s School of Social Sciences, and she is the director of the Bachelor of Global Studies, also at Monash University.
Susan is a regular Friday panellist on ABC TV’s News Breakfast, and hosted the ABC Radio National Series Assumptions. She has guest-hosted on ABC Melbourne radio, and was co-creator and presenter of SBS’s Salam Café. She has appeared on the Agony series, Lateline, Q and A, The Project, 7:30, The Drum, Home Delivery, and has featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Dumbo Feather, The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sunday Life, and 200 Women. Her first book was Fighting Hislam, was published by Melbourne University Publishing in 2017, and her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Age, The Saturday Paper, in academic publications, and numerous anthologies. In 2017, she presented on a panel at the United Nations in Geneva as a guest of The Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement.
In 2018 she was named on Who magazine’s “Women Who Fight” list, and in 2017, she was named on the “Who’s Who of Australian Women” list, in InStyle as a “Woman of Style”, and in Elle as one of 17 women “To Know and Be Inspired by”. In 2012 she was named on the “20 Most Influential Australian Female Voices” list by The Age. She has also been named on the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World list, and as a “Muslim Leader of Tomorrow” by the UN Alliance of Civilisations.
Susan is an ambassador for UNICEF Australia, and is also a certified scuba diver!
» Read more about Dr Susan Carland
Waleed Aly
Author, Corporate, Journalist, Social Commentator, Speaking Out
Author, academic, broadcaster, rock musician, former human rights lawyer and AFL mascot, Waleed Aly is one of Australia’s most exciting political and social commentators. Waleed is known in the public eye as a host on The Project, and from appearances on Q&A, Meet The Press, The 7.30 Report, Enough Rope with Andrew Denton and the host of ABC’s Big Ideas. In December 2014 he finished a two-year stint as the presenter of ABC Radio National’s Drive program.
» Read more about Waleed Aly
Dr Arne Rubinstein
Education Consultant, Inspirational Speaker, Personal Development, Social Commentator, Social Issues
Dr Arne Rubinstein is an expert on adolescent development, with 30 years experience as a doctor, counsellor, mentor, speaker and workshop facilitator. His programs and seminars have been attended by over 25,000 people in Australia and around the world and are designed to support boys and girls to successfully make a safe, healthy transition from children to young adults, with a particular focus on creating coming of age Rites of Passage. In 2008, he was nominated for Australian of the Year for his groundbreaking work with youth.
» Read more about Dr Arne Rubinstein
Mariam Issa
Author, Online - Virtual Visits, Social Commentator, Social Issues
Mariam Issa is a visionary storyteller and delivers a story of determination and strength that is uniquely inspirational.
As an author and renowned speaker, Mariam tailors her talks to the interests of her audiences, and has spoken about a wide variety subjects including leadership, community building, culture and diversity, gender issues, social justice, social inclusion and cohesion, as well as advocacy on FGM.
» Read more about Mariam Issa
Jenna Guillaume
Author, Inspirational Speaker, Journalist, Social Commentator
Jenna Guillaume is a lively and engaging author and journalist with a passion for empowering young people – and having a lot of fun along the way. She loves to talk about things like body image, social media and online toxicity, the intersection of feminism and pop culture, digital media, mental health and self-love.
» Read more about Jenna Guillaume
Randa Abdel-Fattah
Author, Social Commentator
Randa is a prominent Australian author, academic, human rights advocate, former lawyer and mother of four children. She was recently nominated for Sweden’s Astrid Lindgren Award, the world’s biggest children’s and young adult literature award. The award-winning author of 11 novels published and translated in over 20 countries, Randa writes across a wide range of genres and actively seeks to translate her academic work into creative interventions which reshape dominant narratives around race, human rights, multiculturalism and identity in popular culture. She has been publishing her op eds in Australia’s national and international newspapers and journals since 1998. She has had regular appearances on Q&A, the Drum, Lateline and the 7.30 Report and radio interviews (RN Drive, ABC Books and Arts, the Conversation Hour etc).
» Read more about Randa Abdel-FattahAudience
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