Breakfast With Papers

The Hon Steve Bracks AC was Premier of Victoria for eight years. He is Chancellor of Victoria University, chairs Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Trust, The Shannon Company, and the AFL Strategic Community Investment Fund Advisory Board. He chaired the Cbus Superannuation Fund from 2009 to 2021. He was an honorary adviser to the former Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Xanana Gusmao from 2007 to 2017.

Maxine McKew is Hon Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. A former ABC and Bulletin journalist as well as Federal Labor MP, Maxine can rightly claim to be among the first of the modern political disrupters - having defeated prime minister John Howard in the seat of Bennelong in 2007. She has written two books: Tales from the Political Trenches and Class Act.

Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. 

Tony Jones is one of Australia’s most renowned journalists. He has reported for Four Corners and presented Lateline, winning Walkleys for both, and was the host of Lateline for over a decade and Q&A for 12 years. He has published two acclaimed thrillers: The Twentieth Man and In Darkness Visible.

Fintan O’Toole is an Irish Times columnist and writer. His books include We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Ireland Since 1958, Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain, and Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger. A member of the Royal Irish Academy, he is a winner of the European Press Prize and the Orwell Prize. He is also professor of Irish letters at Princeton University.

Prof Chris Wallace is an expert in modern and contemporary politics and leadership, and a former longstanding member of the Canberra Press Gallery. Wallace's books include Untamed Shrew, How To Win Elections and Political Lives: Australian Prime Ministers and their Biographers.

Dean Ashenden has worked as an academic, a political adviser, and journalist. His book, Telling Tennant's Story won the 2022 inaugural Political Book of the Year.

Jon Faine is an award-winning journalist who, until October 2019, hosted the morning broadcast for ABC Radio in Melbourne for more than twenty years. He regularly contributes to major newspapers with opinion pieces and has been nominated for three Walkley awards. Apollo & Thelma: A True Tall Tale is his second book.

Over the last three years, Mike Lorigan has covered some of the biggest stories in South Australia; from the COVID-19 pandemic; bushfires; River Murray floods; state politics and a specific focus on crime and emergencies. His work has appeared on every Nine News bulletin in the country, as well as the Today Show. Mike has a background in sports presenting for the network and began his career in radio.

Prof the Hon Bob Carr is the longest continuously serving Premier in the history of New South Wales and served as Australia’s Foreign Minister for 18 months. Since leaving politics Bob has led a distinguished career as a defacto diplomat, author and academic. He is the author of My Reading Life (2008), Thoughtlines (2002) and Diary of a Foreign Minister (2014) and his political memoir Run for Your Life (2018).

Tory Shepherd is a senior columnist with Guardian Australia and a former State Editor at The Advertiser. Her first book, On Freedom, was published in 2020.

Katrina Strickland is the editor of Good Weekend magazine. She is the author of Affairs of the Heart: Love, Loss and Power in the Art World.

Louise Adler Bio coming soon.

Sian Cain is deputy culture editor for Guardian Australia.

Grace Tame, 2021 Australian of the Year, is a survivor-advocate for victims of sexual assault, particularly those who were abused as children. Her memoir, The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner, was published in 2022.

Kate Legge is an award-winning journalist and author who has chronicled social and political affairs since the 1980s. Her novel, The Unexpected Elements of Love, was long listed for the Miles Franklin award. Her non-fiction book, Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story, was a finalist in the Queensland Literary Awards. Her latest book is a memoir: Infidelity and Other Affairs.

David Washington is Editorial Director of Solstice Media, the South Australian publisher of InDaily, SALIFE and CityMag. He began his career in journalism more than 30 years ago and has been a federal political reporter, food writer, public servant and small business operator. His reporting interests include the media, transport policy and politics.

Ashleigh Wilson is a journalist who worked at The Australian for two decades, including as arts editor. His series on unethical behaviour in the Aboriginal art industry won a Walkley Award and led to a senate inquiry. He is the author of Brett Whiteley: Art, Life and the Other Thing and On Artists. His new book is A Year with Wendy Whiteley.

Inala Cooper is a Yawuru woman and the Director of Murrup Barak Centre at the University of Melbourne. Her book Marrul: Aboriginal Identity and the Fight for Rights was published in 2022.

Peter McEvoy is the creator and founding executive producer of Q&A. In past lives he ran Media Watch and was an award-winning journalist at Four Corners, Radio National and triplej.

Brynn O’Brien is the Executive Director of the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) and leads a multidisciplinary team that conducts in-depth research, engages and collaborates with major institutional investors, and undertakes assertive shareholder engagement with major listed companies globally. Her purpose is to drive real world emissions reductions across these companies. She is an experienced lawyer and strategist, with expertise in corporate governance, shareholder engagement and stewardship. Prior to joining ACCR in 2017, she worked as a consultant and advisor on business and human rights projects and practised as a corporations and international lawyer. 

Julia Lester has worked as a journalist and broadcaster in radio and TV mostly with the ABC preceded by a brief stint in commercial media. She has also been a musician and teacher. She is interested in just about everything, in particular books, ideas, music and gardening.

Steve Meller spent many years both in Silicon Valley and elsewhere as an entrepreneur, investor, innovator, founder and board advisor and has had successful careers as a corporate executive and as a research professor. Steve has created and scaled innovative disruptive product and capabilities that have made in excess of $20B in bottom line profit.  He has created and scaled sustainability solutions globally around waste, water, energy and materials creating savings of > $1B annually while reducing carbon impact.

Eric Tlozek is an ABC News reporter based in Adelaide. He was formerly the ABC's Middle East correspondent (from 2018-21) and Papua New Guinea correspondent (from 2015-18). He is a video journalist who has covered major stories across Australia and the world, including the 2019 Sri Lanka terrorist attacks, Turkey's incursion into northern Syria and the 2018 PNG highlands earthquake. Eric was nominated as a finalist in the Lowy Institute's Media Award for best Foreign Affairs reporting in 2016 and 2017. Eric has been a journalist since 2003 and has worked for the ABC since 2007. He tweets from @erictlozek

Fran Kelly is one of Australia’s leading interviewers and political commentators, and has earned a reputation as an intelligent, informed and balanced journalist who has been a key contributor to the nation’s political, social and cultural debates for the past 25 years. In that time, she’s been the ABC’s Europe Correspondent based in London, the political editor for The 7.30 Report and the political correspondent for the prestigious AM program. Fran was, until recently, presenter of ABC RN Breakfast, Australia’s leading national current affairs radio show, which she hosted for 17 years. In 2022, she hosted her own TV chat show, frankly, on the ABC.

Walter Marsh is an Adelaide-based journalist and author of the forthcoming Young Rupert: the making of the Murdoch empire (Scribe, August 2023). A former editor and staff writer at The Adelaide Review and Rip It Up, his work has appeared in The Guardian, The Monthly, The Saturday Paper, The Age and InDaily.

Dr Erin O'Donnell is a water law and policy expert at the University of Melbourne Law School. and is recognized internationally for her research into the ground-breaking new field of legal rights for rivers. Her work explores the challenges and opportunities these new rights create for protecting the multiple social, cultural and natural values of rivers; and is informed by comparative analysis across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, the USA, Bangladesh, India, Colombia, and Chile. She has worked for the World Bank, examining water markets and their role in water security and sustainable development; and since 2018 has been a member of the Birrarung Council, the voice of the Yarra River. Erin works in partnership with Traditional Owners across Australia to identify law and policy pathways to address aqua nullius and increase Traditional Owner power and resources in water.

Martin Haese is a public figure, entrepreneur and educator. After founding Youthworks Retail Co, he later managed Rundle Mall and became the 78th Lord Mayor of Adelaide. With his community orientated approach, Martin initiated strong sustainability and technology agendas for the City of Adelaide. Until recently, Martin was the CEO of Business SA, where his leadership and advocacy supported thousands of business owners during COVID. Martin has delivered keynote speeches at the United Nations COP21 in Paris, the World Cities Summit in Singapore and has spoken at over 2,000 events over recent years. Martin is the Co-Host of Your Personal Podcast. He is the Chair of the Premier’s Climate Change Council and is passionate about the wellbeing of South Australia and its community.

Sally Scales is a Pitjantjatjara woman from Pipalyatjara in the far west of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in remote South Australia. She was elected as Chairperson of the APY Executive Board Council in 2019 and was the second woman to hold the position. Sally has worked with the APY Art Centre Collective since 2013 in cultural liaison, elder support and spokesperson roles. Sally is part of the youth leadership team for the Uluru Statement reform, having been involved in the Referendum Council's Constitution regional dialogues in Ross River, Adelaide and the national convention in Uluru in 2017. Since then, Sally has been involved with the Uluru Dialogue leadership. Sally is an independent elected board member of the Australian Children's Television Foundation and a board member on the Alinytjara Wilurara Landscape Board. On top of all of these commitments, Sally is foster mum to 6-year-old Walter.

Belinda Willis is InDaily’s senior reporter and has worked in journalism in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. She has covered wide-ranging issues from the future of the Murray-Darling Basin to the state of the South Australian economy, winning awards in Australia and overseas. Belinda was also as an adviser in Federal politics and managed the central BBC press office in London.

Dale Agius is a Kaurna, Narungga, Ngadjuri and Ngarrindjeri person with connection to communities and Country across South Australia. He is South Australia's inaugural Commissioner for First Nations Voice.The Commissioner’s role is to lead consultations with Aboriginal groups to lay the foundations for state-based implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.The first step of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is for a First Nations Voice to Parliament. His previous roles include Director of Aboriginal Practice and Partnerships within the Department of Human Services, Manager of DHS’ Metropolitan Aboriginal Youth and Family Services and Executive Officer in the Office of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement. His experience and ability to connect with Aboriginal nation groups, mainstream service providers and Government agencies will be valuable for working collaboratively in bringing together a Voice model. Away from work, Dale has been heavily involved in local sports as long serving President of the Kilburn Football and Cricket Club, Chair of the SA State Aboriginal Football and Netball Carnival and is a Director of the Tjindu Foundation which provides community-based cultural education activities for Aboriginal students across South Australia.

Patrick Conlon is a husband of a splendid wife, father of two gifted daughters, slave to a relentlessly needy cocker spaniel. Patrick was born in West Belfast but grew up in Port Adelaide. He fled LeFevre Boy’s Tech as soon as practicable and worked in blue collar roles, eventually becoming a union organiser. Patrick quit his union role to study law full time. He practised after graduating before being elected to the SA Parliament in 1997. He subsequently served as a state minister for 11 years. None of this could be said to be the result of any plan. Patrick retired from parliament in 2014. He sits on a few boards and has a small consultancy business. A lifelong obsessive reader and compulsive autodidact, Patrick likes to think of himself as a renaissance man. Sadly, no one else does. He is an excellent cook if he says so himself.

Claire O'Connor SC is a lawyer with over 40 years’ experience in the law. She is a barrister and a silk. She is known primarily for her advocacy around human rights. In relation to refugees - she argued the (famous for law students) case of Al Kateb in the high court. She assisted with the Manus Island class action. She represented Cornelia Rau whose story recently featured as a fictional Netflix series -Stateless.   She has appeared for families in inquests including the inquest into the sinking of the 221 off Christmas Island where 49 people died  Claire had also worked for Aboriginal justice issues including acting in the Hindmarsh Island bridge Royal Commission and the royal commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Recently, she acted for the Morrison family whose son and brother died in Yatala prison with a spit hood and cuffed lying face down in a prison van. Claire spoke last year at the March for Justice in Adelaide. She is a mother, a grandmother. A cyclist. A bush walker. And a feminist. 

Frances Nelson KC was admitted to the South Australian Bar in 1967 and became only Australia's fourth female QC when appointed in 1982. She is also a member of the Northern Territory and Western Australian Bar. She is currently the Chair of the Parole Board. Ms Nelson practises in administrative law, contract law, building disputes, criminal law, family law and civil remedies and has conducted in excess of 1800 mediations nationally and internationally - Italy, USA, Korea and UK. She has been Leader of the Bar in SA since 2000.She has been Chair of the Parole Board since 1983. She is the longest serving Parole Board Chair in the world. In 2006, she was the recipient of the President's award in the USA for her international contribution to the work of paroling authorities. Her contribution to the racing industry was recognised in 2021 when she was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame. She was the Chair of the controlling body of racing in SA for 11 years and in that time also chaired the national body Racing Australia for three years - the only woman to hold either position to date. She is the only woman to have been appointed a director of the international body of horse racing authorities and as Vice Chair of the Asian Racing Federation.

Stephanie Richards reports on politics, health and social issues for InDaily. Adelaide born and raised, she has twice been named SA’s Young Journalist of the Year. During her time as a political reporter, Stephanie has covered two state elections, one federal election and multiple state and federal budgets. She has worked in the parliamentary press gallery in Canberra and last year flew across the country reporting on the final days of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s election campaign. Stephanie is most passionate about reporting on issues impacting children and young people, including those caught up in the child protection and youth justice systems.

Rick Sarre is an Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice at the University of South Australia. He is a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Criminology, a previous Chair of the Academic Board of UniSA and a member of the University Council.

Vicki Chapman was the first female to be the Liberal Party State President, Deputy Premier of South Australian and Attorney General in SA. She is a former Australian politician, representing the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Bragg for the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia between the 2002 election and May 2022.

Simon Royal has been a TV and radio broadcaster for more than 30 years, working on state and national programs in both mediums. An inveterate late bloomer/procrastinator, he’s more recently turned his hand to writing feature articles for InDaily and ABC online. Simon is interested in most things, except football - a firm resolve that came to him at an early age. Growing up in country South Australia in the late 60s/70s, this presented some social difficulties, although he seems to have largely recovered from that now. He is besotted with Irish Terriers and John F. Kennedy, having written his postgraduate diploma thesis about the latter, and a series of essays on the former. He is deeply drawn to things with a devil may care attitude, as well as lost causes.

Hon Amanda Vanstone AO is the presenter of ABC Radio National’s Counterpoint and serves on the boards, councils and committees for various organisations, including Drinkwise Australia, Adelaide Festival, Woomera Protected Area Advisory Committee, Lockheed Martin Australia and the University of Adelaide. She hoards cookbooks and believes chatting about childhood recollections of food, sharing recipes and ideas is the greatest way to bridge ethnic, social and political boundaries. Sadly, she remains the longest serving female Cabinet minister since Federation. Been to a few rodeos.

Jo Dyer was the Director of Adelaide Writers’ Week from 2019 until 2022. She has held leadership roles at national cultural institutions including Sydney Writers’ Festival, Sydney Theatre Company and Bangarra Dance Theatre and her freelance productions have been staged at venues including the Sydney Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai, and the legendary Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas. A two-time nominee for Best Picture at Australia’s AACTA awards, Jo’s films have won awards and screened worldwide, notably at the Berlin International Film Festival. Jo’s first book, Burning Down the House: Reconstructing Modern Politics, was published in February 2022 as part of Monash University Publishing’s In the National Interest series. In 2008, Jo established Soft Tread, a producer of theatre and film. Soft Tread is the producer of the 2023 Adelaide Festival show Maureen: Harbinger of Death.

Dr Jane Lomax-Smith is Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide and a doctor with a career in research and clinical pathology. She has worked in Boston and Adelaide, running hospital departments and private practices, including her own. Jane served nine years as a City of Adelaide councillor (1991 to 2000), three years as Lord Mayor (1997 to 2000) and eight years as the Labor MP and Minister (2002 to 2010).  She was ‘recycled’ last year as Lord Mayor after defeating incumbent Sandy Verschoor at the 2022 local government elections. Jane is an ardent supporter of the Adelaide Park Lands and heritage conservation.

Angela Skujins is an Adelaide-based journalist writing for CityMag. She regularly digs her teeth into social, arts, culture and First Nations stories, which appear in print, online and podcast form. Her byline can also be found in international and national publications such as Dazed Digital, VICE and Broadsheet. When not at her desk, Angie can either be found at Adelaide Town Hall covering local government, or on her bike cycling to a source.

Amelia Chaplin is passionate about demystifying climate science and the political jargon that surrounds it to empower young people with the knowledge and tools to make impactful change. With experience building the climate resilience of communities both internationally and here at home in Australia, Amelia has dedicated her career to advocating for circular food systems and the regeneration of our soils, sea’s and communities. 

Royce Kurmelovs is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, Rolling Stone AU, BBC, VICE and others. He is the author of four books, including the best-selling The Death of Holden and his latest book, Just Money.

Max Opray is Schwartz Media’s newsletters editor, and is up early each weekday to produce the news bulletin Post. Max has worked as a reporter across Australia, Europe, Africa and South America, with a focus on environmental journalism — including longform features for The Saturday Paper, sustainable business coverage for The Guardian, and climate fact-checking for Australian Associated Press. His multi-award-winning journalism has appeared in a range of outlets including InDaily, VICE, Earther and The New Daily.​

Hon Steven Marshall MP was first elected to State Parliament in 2010, became Leader of the South Australian Liberal Party in 2013 and Premier of South Australia in 2018. His time as Premier was marked by astute handling of the first global pandemic for one hundred years and framed by his vision for the transformation of the South Australian economy into a global leader creating new industries, businesses, jobs and prosperity. Lot Fourteen, on the site of the old Royal Adelaide Hospital, was of particular focus for Steven and is a significant part of our economic renewal as a global hub for innovation, research, entrepreneurship, education and our unique indigenous culture. Due to his persuasive lobbying, South Australia is now home to the Australian Space Agency and more than 100 individual space related entities, echoing past achievements and setting us up for an exciting future. South Australian born and bred Steven graduated from the University of South Australia with a Bachelor of Business and Durham University with an MBA.

Rex Patrick Bio coming soon.

Tom Rehn Bio coming soon.