Stan Grant

Stan Grant is the Indigenous Affairs Editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, a multi-award winning current affairs host, an author and an adventurer.  Well known for having brought the former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to tears when interviewed about Indigenous affairs on The Point, Stan’s keynotes are insightful, engaging, always professional and at times, controversial.

Stan Grant’s Aboriginal heritage has shaped his dynamic, resilient personality. Born in Griffith in south-west New South Wales, in 1963, Stan Grant’s mother is from the Kamilaroi people and his father is of the Wiradjuri.

Stan spent most of his childhood on the road living in small towns and Aboriginal communities across outback NSW. His father was an itinerant saw-miller who worked when and where he could. Stan moved so often he attended 12 different schools before he was in his teens. The early traveling gave Stan a love of adventure and stories. He grew up listening to the tales of his grandfather and uncles and aunts. Despite poverty and an early sporadic education the security of his family and the larger Aboriginal community gave him a strong platform for life.  After attending University, Stan won a cadetship with the Macquarie Radio Network, launching a career in journalism that has spanned more than 30 years and more than 70 countries. In that time Stan has travelled the world covering the major stories of our time from the release of Nelson Mandela, the troubles in Northern Island, the death of Princess Diana, war in Iraq, the second Palestinian intifada, the war on terror, the South Asia Tsunami, the Pakistan Earthquake and the rise of China.

Stan has hosted major news and current affairs programs on Australian commercial and public T.V. He has been a political correspondent for the ABC, a Europe correspondent for the Seven Network based in London and a senior international correspondent for the international broadcaster CNN based in Hong Kong and Beijing. Returning to Australia in 2013, Stan continued to cover international events for Sky News Australia and reignited his passion for telling the stories of his own indigenous people. He has worked as the Indigenous editor for the Guardian Australia, managing editor for National Indigenous Television and international editor for Sky News. In 2016 Stan Grant was appointed as the special advisor to the then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Indigenous constitutional recognition.

Stan has won many major awards including an Australian T.V Logie, a Columbia University Du-Pont Award (the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and the prestigious U.S Peabody Award. He is a four-time winner of the highly prized Asia TV Awards including reporter of the year. Stan has written The Tears of Strangers and Talking To My Country (Harper Collins), and has published numerous articles and opinion pieces for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian.

Stan Grant is passionate about justice and humanity. His years of international reporting has given him a deep understanding of how the world works. He is deeply immersed in the politics and history of Asia and the Middle East. He can link the importance of leadership and the impact of history and above all believes in the power and resilience of people. Stan is married to ABC Sports Broadcaster, Tracey Holmes and has four children. He lives in Sydney.

Karen Cook

Karen has been a registered nurse for over 35 years and is currently Senior Nursing and Midwifery Adviser in the Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer at the Australian Government Department of Health where she is responsible for providing strategic advice on nursing matters and representing the Office of the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Office at key forums.

Her current projects include development of the National Nursing Strategy and providing secretariat for the National Nursing and Midwifery Education Advisory Network. In recent times she managed the project to develop the National Strategic Approach to Maternity Services and was a key adviser for Australia’s Future Health Workforce Report – Midwives.

She is also deputy chair of the Department of Health Disability and Carers Network, a group of Health staff who are interested in progressing issues for people with a disability and people who provide unpaid care and support to family members and friends who have a disability, mental illness, chronic condition, terminal illness, an alcohol or other drug issue or who are frail aged.

In her spare time Karen is a marriage celebrant and event MC.

Terri Barrett

Terri Barrett is currently the national President of the Australian College of Midwives (ACM). She has been a nurse and midwife for more than 30 years, working in both the public and private sector across metropolitan and rural Western Australia. She is currently a Co-Director with Child and Adolescent Health Service.

Having completed hospital based training Terri graduated as a midwife in 1982. Over the next 20 years she worked as a clinical midwife and education facilitator before moving into management roles. Terri has also worked in senior safety and quality roles and is passionate about ensuring governance systems enable clinicians to provide patient centred, high quality care.

Terri has completed university studies at Masters level and has been an active member of the Australian College of Midwives both locally and nationally.

Terri has undertaken a number of senior positions which have given her an in depth understanding of the professional issues and challenges facing nurses and midwives in all practice settings. She has sat on several national committees over the past ten years and led a number of state-wide initiatives over this time.

As President of the ACM, she is passionate about advancing the profession and believes that midwives are best placed to make a difference in terms of women’s experiences and outcomes. Enhancing the recognition, value and visibility of midwives is one of the key strategic priorities of the Australian College of Midwives and remains an ongoing challenge.