SWAN PREVIOUS GUEST SPEAKERS 1996-2022
Following is a list the remarkable women who have addressed SWAN audiences between 1996-2022. It has been compiled based on SWAN’s early archival records; the comprehensive set of newsletters (2000-08) kept by inaugural SWAN Speaker Coordinator, Val McKenna; and copies of other newsletters and flyers from 2008 onwards held in SWAN archival material.
Local social justice advocate Denise Hassett was the principal speaker at the initial meeting held in Mt Martha in 1996 that led to the establishment of SWAN. Other outstanding women who addressed SWAN meetings in its early years included:
- The Hon. Joan Kirner AM, AC, Centenary Medal 2001 (1939-2015) the only female to date to become Premier of Victoria (1990-92) was SWAN’s inaugural guest speaker.
- Christine Campbell elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1996-2014 and holding various portfolios including Family Services and Women’s Affairs.
- Mary Crooks AO appointed Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust in 1996.
- Susan Feldman Jewish commentator on the Ageing, Adjunct Associate Professor at Federation University.
- Felicity Hampel AM, SC prominent human rights lawyer and Judge in the County Court of Victoria.
- Sally Mitchell manager of the family farm after the death of her husband. Chair of Community Leaders’ Group, involving rural youth in community leadership.
- Brownyn Pike AM served as a Member of the Victorian Parliament (1999-2012), and was appointed Minister for Education (2007-2010).
- Janet Powell AM, Victorian Honour Roll 2001 (1942-2013). Leader of the Australian Democrats (1990-91).
2025
September 2025: Ann Urch shared her lived experience of transitioning from male to female
July 2025: Kayla Cartledge, a proud Gurrindji woman from Larrakia country, moved to the Mornington Peninsula on Bunurong land during her primary school years, and later established ‘Our Songlines’ – to make Indigenous culture accessible to everyone in a supportive environment.
May 2025: Cyanna McLaren Co-ordinator of the Women & Mentoring (WAM) Young Women’s Program in the Frankston, Mornington Peninsula, Dandenong and Casey communities, presented on how and why the program is an effective strategy for empowering at-risk 12-24 year old cisgender women, transgender women, and non-binary people.
March 2025: Suzanne Murphy General Manager of the Frankston-based Women’s Spirit Project which provides support for the empowerment of women.
2024
November 2024: Professor Helen Keleher. Professor Keleher has wide experience in the prevention of violence against women, from nursing, public health to academia. She addressed some of the family violence prevention strategies from Victoria’s 2015 Royal Commission recommendations and programs to change long-standing patriarchal cultures that support gender inequality.
September 2024: Jackie Galloway OAM, CEO of the Peninsula Community Legal Centre and spoke about the increase in family violence and escalating cost of living and affordable housing crisis are adding significant pressure on services and the justice system.
July 2024: Jillian West, is a proud Bunurong woman who strives to give Aboriginal people a voice through mentoring, employment and education, with the aim of closing the gap. Jill’s presentation addressed the historical impact of colonisation and systemic injustices experienced by Indigenous people.
May 2024: Harriet Shing MP, Minister for Housing, for Water and for Equality. Harriet spoke about the achievements of her department and what her government is planning around the areas of Homelessness, Domestic Violence, equality and inclusion. Harriet then took questions from the floor.
March 2024: Lama Mahmoud, a 20 year old Palestinian woman who shared her personal story of seeking refuge in Australia six months ago.
2023
November 2023: No external speaker. There was a discussion about SWAN Future Directions and an opportunity for members to share their views on the recent Voice Referendum.
September 2023: Speaker unavailable. There was an impromptu discussion about all the work that members had been doing to raise community awareness so that they could make an informed vote in the Voice Referendum.
July 2023: Belinda Rodman, President of Southern Peninsula Community Support and Kara Van der Heyde, Assertive Outreach Worker for the same organisation spoke of the important work they do to assist those sleeping rough on the foreshore at Rosebud and of the lack of funding for housing and other services to assist these people.
May 2023: Jean Ker Walsh facilitated a Kitchen Table conversation, followed by discussion in small groups about how to ensure SWAN endures into the future.
March 2023: Jean Ker-Walsh, a strategic and media communications professional and co-Chair of Grandmother for Refugees (G4R). Jean has extensive experience in facilitating groups that are engaged in community based social action. Her presentation focussed on the recent history of G4R and the strategic approach taken by the organisation and its members in advocating to change Australia’s inhumane refugee policies.
2022
November 2022: Dr. Sarah Russell, founder of Aged Care Matters in 2016, and former critical care nurse was motivated into advocacy by successive governments’ failures in the Aged Care sector, including personal experience. Since 1999, Sarah has been the principal researcher at ‘Research Matters’ where her work has focused on public and mental health, ethics and aged care. Her persistent advocacy for some of the most vulnerable people in our society has won her widespread respect.
September 2022: Dr. Diana Johns, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Melbourne with extensive expertise in youth justice, crime prevention, post-prison reintegration and collaborative research with African-Australian communities, addressed the criminalisation of children – how it happens and why it needs to stop. She spoke about the effects of criminalisation, the impacts of imprisonment, and the possibilities of restorative and relational justice practices.
July 2022: Stephanie Ross and Alice Ugle from the First Peoples’ Assembly spoke about the important work being done by the Assembly towards negotiating a Treaty or Treaties between First Nations Peoples and the Victorian Government. The Assembly is an independent and democratically elected body that represents Traditional Owners and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in the State. It is anticipated that Treaty discussions will begin in 2023.
May 2022: Judy Carroll and Katie Shafar of the Bayside Refugee Advocacy and Support Association spoke about the struggles of refugees and asylum seekers through their personal experiences of working in the field. They also provided a comprehensive update on the sudden release of many detained asylum seekers just prior to the 2022 Federal election.
March 2022: Joanna Hayter AO is recognised for ‘distinguished service to women in the areas of gender equality and individual rights through leadership and policy development roles, and to the promotion of global health, peace and security. She was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll for Women (2016). Joanna was the CEO of International Women’s Development Agency from 2010-2017 and is the Women’s Rights Convenor with Macquarie University’s Global Leadership Program. She spoke about the global gender equity gap and of the challenges that still face women in Australia in trying to address these injustices.
2021
November 2021: Fiona York, Executive Director of Housing for the Aged Action Group spoke about the rising number of homeless women in the 50+ age group. Fiona also highlighted other social justice concerns and discrimination related to inadequate housing and tenancies, and health and wellbeing issues associated with homelessness for older people.
September 2021: Coralie Alison, is a Board member from Collective Shout, a grassroots campaign and women’s movement against the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls in media, advertising and popular culture. Coralie shared many examples of the campaigns she led to victory both nationally and globally. Her heart for justice drives her to bring about change in her local community and beyond.
July 2021: Helen Bnads, Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll (2019): has direct family ties to the Cherbourg Aboriginal Mission. Aunty Helen is a highly respected Elder in the local First Nations community, employed as a health professional by Peninsula Health. She practices a holistic approach to improving the health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians. Helen is a board member of Willum Warrain Aboriginal Gathering Place and was inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll in 2019 in recognition of her life’s work in health, academia and reconciliation. Aunty Helen spoke of the urgent need for the Australian people to accept the invitation from First Nations People to walk with them to achieve the significant structural reforms requested in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
May 2021: Ronnie Gorrie is a proud Gunai/Kurnai woman and author of ‘Black and Blue: a Memoir of Racism and Resilience’. With a gift for story-telling and a wicked sense of humour, she spoke frankly and movingly about the impact of racism on her family, the effects of intergenerational trauma resulting from cultural dispossession, and the inevitable difficulties of making her way as an Aboriginal woman in the white, male-dominated police force.
March 2021: Jodi Peskett is former co-lead of the Women’s and Equality team at Victorian Trades Hall Council, a job she shared with Pia Cerveri, a social worker, specialising in working with children and their families, youth justice and women in the Victorian prison system. Jodi was unable to attend but Pia spoke about their work towards achieving gender equality and stopping gendered violence in the workplace, including through the collective power of the union movement.
2020
November 2020: Teela Reid was the guest speaker for the postponed NAIDOC week meeting. Teela is a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman, a criminal defence lawyer, award-winning junior fiction writer and former teacher. Teela gave a powerful presentation in which she explained the long history leading to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. She stressed the critical need for a First Nations Voice to Parliament to be enshrined in the Australian Constitution and for a Makarrata Commission to enable Treaty and Truth-Telling.
May, July & September meetings were cancelled due to COVID lockdowns.
March 2020: Shen Narayanasamy, Human Rights Campaign Director of GetUp! spoke about her long-term advocacy work as one of Australia’s most powerful influencers of political discourse on humanitarian issues. With a strong background in human rights law, economic justice and land rights, Shen founded the ‘No Business in Abuse’ campaign targeting corporate involvement in mandatory offshore detention of asylum seekers, led #LetThemStay, a campaign preventing the deportation of hundreds of asylum seekers to Nauru, was actively involved in the Medevac Bill effort and was the Economic Justice Advocacy Coordinator with Oxfam Australia.
2019
November 2019: Pamela Curr AM, who had recently retired from her long-term employment with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Melbourne, spoke about her work in advocating for people in community detention. Since her workplace retirement Pamela has volunteered with the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project. She is also a member of the Refugee Advocacy Network, the Liberty Refugee Policy Group and is one of the regular Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) detention centre visitors.
September 2019: Leonie Morgan AM discussed her passion for equal political representation with particular reference to her co-founding of Emily’s List Australia. She also spoke about her work with the International Women’s Development Agency in which she brought together six female MPs from Myanmar with six Australian women MPs as mentors. This ‘Women Supporting Women Program’ was so successful that she was replicating it with women MPs from Timor-Leste.
May 2019: Micaela Cronin, Director of the Future Social Services Institute spoke to us about her long-term work in the not-for-profit community sector, including as CEO of Hagar International based in Cambodia and as President of ACOSS.
March 2019: Nyadol Nyuon OAM, Sudanese-Australian lawyer, writer and community advocate was born in a refugee camp in Ethiopia and spent part of her childhood in the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, spoke to us about her passion for social justice, a fair society and the nature of our public discourse.
2018
November 2018: Dr. Dalal Smiley, CEO Wellsprings for Women, Deakin University, spoke about the valuable work being done by this community as a gathering and learning place in support of migrant, refugee and asylum seeker women.
July 2018: Celeste Liddle, Victorian Honour Roll (2017), proud Arrernte woman, public speaker, author and activist employed as the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Organiser for the National Tertiary Education Union, inspired us with her moving NAIDOC Week address.
May 2018: Santilla Chingaipe, acclaimed journalist, filmmaker and researcher spoke to us about the experience of African refugees and of her research concerning racism and difficulties facing South Sudanese refugees living in Melbourne.
March 2018: Rosie Batty AO, CEO of the Luke Batty Foundation and Australian Citizen of the Year 2015 spoke of her relentless campaign work to raise awareness and action concerning family violence.
2017
November 2017: SWAN celebrated its 21st anniversary. Some of the founding members spoke about the establishment and early days of SWAN; others brought memorabilia to share; and participants enjoyed a rolling slideshow of photos of past events that triggered further memories of SWAN’s social justice actions and events over two decades.
September 2017: Teresa Gillespie, an Advanced Care Planning Clinician spoke on the topic: ‘Planning Ahead for Health Care’. She outlined the benefits of this process that enables people to identify their preferred health care and medical treatment options should they become too ill to make decisions.
July 2017: Karan Kent, Leader of the MPSC Warringinee Group gave the SWAN NAIDOC Week address. She spoke about the work being done by this team to support cultural diversity and understanding across the Shire and deliver programs and services to Aboriginal People and Torres Strait Islanders People living on the Peninsula.
May 2017: Kathleen McInnes from WAYSS Housing and Support Services addressed the topic: Homelessness in Our Region. With over two decades of experience in issues of homelessness, mental health and older people at risk, Kathleen explained who and why people become homeless and informed us about the supports and linkages for homeless people in our region.
March 2017: Luz Restrepo, Founder and CEO of SisterWorks spoke about the work being done by this admirable community organisation that supports migrant, asylum-seeker and refugee women to develop their own small businesses and achieve financial independence.
2016
November 2016: Ambreen Mirza, Chief Operating Officer of the Australian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human Rights, spoke about the Centre’s work in lifting the situation of Muslim women towards full participation in Australian society.
September 2016: Aline Burgess, from the Peninsula Carer Council and winner of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 2016 Citizen of the Year, gave an inspiring speech outlining the power of grassroots organisations, explaining how she came to recognise the need for support for carers of those with mental illnesses. She spoke about the work of the Peninsula Carer Council in assisting the mentally ill and inspired SWAN members to take action on these issues.
July 2016: From Baluk Arts, award winning Indigenous artist and curator Lisa Waup and Indigenous artist Tracey-Lea Smith, Manager Baluk Arts, discussed the work of Indigenous artists on the Mornington Peninsula and around Australia. This not-for-profit organisation has, through their support, enabled family groups and members of the stolen generation to be reconnected with their culture.
May 2016: Jeanette Lane CEO of the Peninsula Advisory Committee for Elders (PACE) provided SWAN members with a comprehensive report on the recent National Elders Abuse Conference and the work of PACE on Mornington Peninsula.
March 2016: Carmen Hawker from the Global Women’s Project spoke about the work being done by this Australian based NGO to empower women and support grassroots organisations in Nepal & Cambodia. She also told us about the GWP mission to support women to be educated, employed, empowered and equal, and about her personal efforts to prevent violence against women.
2015
November 2015: SWAN hosted a ‘Peninsula Forum’ in which several women spoke about local issues such as domestic violence, palliative care, homelessness and abuse. Speakers included Giselle Bailey, Program Manager Good Shepherd Organisation; Rachel Bovenizer CEO Peninsula Home Hospice; Judy Cooper Salvo Care Eastern Rosebud; and Ruth Stuettgen Focus on Balance.
September 2015, AGM: Gabriella Bornstein who holds a Science/Law degree is employed by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) spoke about key social justice issues being addressed by ASRC. She also outlined the organisation’s core principles to ‘Assist, Advocate for, Empower, Engage & Educate’ those seeking Asylum in Australia’.
July 2015: Meena Singh, Director of the Legal & Strategy Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service spoke about the important work being done by this organisation, including trying to address the over-representation of First Nations Peoples in the criminal justice system and in child protection. Meena also shared her views on the need to change the Australian Constitution to include Aboriginal & and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
May 2015: Hannah Jay, Program Manager at Save the Children, South East Asia gave a presentation entitled: ‘Women and Girls in the International Development Agenda’. She discussed issues such as barriers to girls accessing education and gender based violence.
March 2015: Dr. Philomena Horsley, Victorian Honour Roll (2001) co-founder of the Women’s Information and Referral Exchange (WIRE) and Research Fellow, Australian Centre for Sex, Health & Society at La Trobe University spoke about the Centre’s world-class research and education on the social dimensions of sexuality, gender, health and human relationships. This includes working collaboratively with other researchers, communities, community-based organisations, government and professionals to advance knowledge and promote positive change in policy, practice and people’s lives.
Southern Women's Action Network 