Violet Coco
Violet CoCo is an artist, musician, aunty and climate activist. She was the first person sentenced under controversial new anti-protest laws in NSW, receiving a sentence of 18 months in prison for blocking the harbour bridge under the banner Fireproof Australia, a campaign supporting firefighters. Her sentence was dropped on appeal. She feels this repression should not waver our commitment to defend our planet. Violet has been arrested 33 times, and imprisoned four times, including famously for burning a pram outside Parliament House on the same day the IPCC declared a Code Red for Humanity due to climate breakdown. Violet Coco describes herself as a conscientious objector to the murder of our planet. She has been a part of organising major disruptive festivals of civil disobedience with Extinction Rebellion, supported First Nations and the decolonisation of so called Australia, while also advocating for world peace, justice for women, refugees, and queer communities.
Michelle Grattan
Michelle Grattan is one of Australia’s most respected political journalists. She has been a member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery for more than 40 years, during which time she has covered all the most significant stories in Australian politics.
She was the former editor of The Canberra Times, was Political Editor of The Age and has been with the Australian Financial Review and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Michelle currently has a dual role with an academic position at the University of Canberra and as Associate Editor (Politics) and Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation.
In her role at the University of Canberra, Michelle is teaching, working on research projects in politics and political communication, as well as providing public commentary and strategic advice.
She is the author, co-author and editor of several books and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2004 for her long and distinguished service to Australian journalism.
Chris Taylor
Dr Chris Taylor is an environmental scientist and researcher with a strong focus on landscape ecology, forest management, and conservation. With a background in studying the impacts of land use on biodiversity, Chris has contributed significantly to our understanding of how human activities affect natural ecosystems. His work often involves collaborations with Indigenous communities and other stakeholders to develop sustainable land management practices. Chris is known for his dedication to preserving Australia’s unique environments, particularly in the context of climate change and habitat loss, and has published extensively in the field of environmental science.
Jim Everett-puralia meenamatta
Jim Everett, also known as puralia meenamatta, is a Palawa Elder from Tasmania and a passionate advocate for Aboriginal cultural heritage. A prolific writer, poet, and filmmaker, Jim has dedicated his life to preserving and promoting the history, stories, and rights of the Palawa people. His work is deeply rooted in the land and culture of Tasmania, focusing on decolonisation and the empowerment of Indigenous communities. Jim’s contributions to Aboriginal literature and film have made him a key figure in the fight for Aboriginal rights and the preservation of cultural identity in Australia.
Peter T. C. Chang
Peter T.C. Chang is a research associate at the Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is trained in the field of comparative philosophy and religion.
Gary Murray
Gary Murray is a respected Elder of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Yung Balug Clans and serves as the Chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria. With a deep commitment to Indigenous rights, Gary has been instrumental in advocating for the recognition and preservation of Aboriginal culture and heritage. His work spans over decades, focusing on land rights, sovereignty, and self-determination for First Nations people. Gary is also a dedicated leader in community development, working tirelessly to ensure that the voices of Aboriginal people are heard and respected in all aspects of governance and society.
Guest author John Fitz
Emeritus Professor John Fitz is an Australian living in the UK since 1970. He was formerly a Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University.
Michel Chambon
Michel Chambon is a French theologian and cultural anthropologist who studies Christianity in the Chinese world. At the National University of Singapore, he coordinates ISAC, the Initiative for the Study of Asian Catholicshttp://www.isac-research.org
Daniel Mulino
Dr Daniel Mulino MP is chair of the House of Representatives Standing Economics Committee and has a PhD in economics from Yale. He first completed degrees in arts and law at the ANU and then completed a Master of Economics (University of Sydney).
In 2018 he was preselected for the new federal seat of Fraser and became its first MP at the 2019 election. Born in Brindisi, Italy.
Luke Hunt
Luke Hunt, a journalist of more than three decades of experience, is an expert on East Asia’s socio-political issues. A columnist, author, and academic, he covers Cambodia and beyond for UCA News.
Mehmet Rakipoglu
Mehmet Rakipoglu is an assistant professor at Mardin Artuklu University and a researcher at the Dimensions for Strategic Studies Centre in London. His work focuses on Turkish foreign policy, Gulf countries, and Islamic movements.
Caroline Fitzwarryne
Caroline Fitzwarryne has a background in public health and community development. She has worked at all three levels of government (from fieldworker to senior executive), as CEO of a national NGO, as Adjunct Associate Professor, and as development aid worker in 13 countries.
Ben Harburg
Ben Harburg is a Managing Partner at global investment firm MSA Capital and a member of the Board of Directors of the National Committee on United States China Relations.
Suzan Wahhab
Suzan Wahhab was born in Jerusalem and grew up listening to Nakba stories in occupied Ramallah. She is the President of Palestinian Christians in Australia and is an accountant and financial strategist.
Michális S. Michael
Dr Michális S. Michael is Honorary Senior Research Fellow at La Trobe University and was Director of the Centre for Dialogue– Global Reconciliation. He has taught, published and researched extensively on political science, international relations, conflict resolution, foreign policy, and the theory and practice of dialogue. His work involves the careful study of intergroup and international conflict and their transformations away from narrow notions of state-bound security. By using various case-studies he investigates the conditions and circumstances in which disputants can alter their goals and perceptions of each other by exploring alternative modes of engagement to entrenched situations. Effectively, Dr Michael’s work seeks to deepen our understanding of the increasingly complex and often volatile social, political and cultural environments which conflict inhibits, and the corresponding pressures it places on both governance and civil society. By probing the need for dialogue in the conflictual setting, his research gauges the extent to which dialogue offers an effective form of communication that goes beyond traditional approaches of mediation and negotiation, and provides both governmental and non-governmental agencies with new possibilities for defusing polarisation and maximising the prospects for constructive engagement.
Patrick Gourley
Paddy Gourley is a former Commonwealth public servant who has spent the last 20 years working in the private sector.
Ali Bakir
Ali Bakir is a research assistant professor at Ibn Khaldun Center for Humanities and Social Sciences. He is following geopolitical and security trends in the Middle East, great power politics, small states’ behaviour, emerging unconventional risks and threats, with a special focus on Turkey’s foreign and defence policies, Turkey-Arab and Turkey-Gulf relations. He tweets @AliBakeer
Zahra Al Hilaly
Zahra is a Palestinian and Iraqi woman, who is working to decolonise story-telling to flourish revolution. Zahra is an established writer and vocalist for change.
Pearls and Irritations guest Eva Bartlett
Eva Karene Bartlett is a Canadian-American journalist who has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years). She was a recipient of the 2017 International Journalism Award for International Reporting, granted by the Mexican Journalists Press Club (founded in 1951), and was the firstrecipientof the Serena Shim Award for Uncompromised Integrity in Journalism. See her extended bio on her blogIn Gaza. She tweets from@EvaKBartlettand has the Telegram Channel,Reality Theories.
Guest author Arseniy Kotov
Arseniy Kotov born in Samara in 1988, Arseniy Kotov grew up in an urban landscape consisting of standardised Soviet-era housing blocks and industrial towers. He has been taking photographs of city landscapes since he was a teenager.
Benedict Rogers
Benedict Rogers, a human rights activist and writer, is the co-founder and chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, and Senior Analyst for East Asia at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a rights organisation specializing in freedom of religion or belief. He is the author of seven books, and his faith journey is told in his bookFrom Burma to Rome: A Journey into the Catholic Church(Gracewing, 2015). His new book,The China Nexus: Thirty Years In and Around the Chinese Communist Partys Tyranny,was published in 2022 by Optimum Publishing International.
Joshua Black
Visitor, School of History, Australian National University
Dr Joshua Black is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Australia Institute, and a visitor with the School of History at the Australian National University, Canberra. His PhD thesis, entitled ‘Bleeding Off the Page: A Cultural History of the Political Memoir in Australia’, was completed in March 2023. Josh has also held a Palace Letters Fellowship with the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University.
Guest author Ray Champ
Ray Champ has worked in the Public Service for five years and is studying a bachelor of economics at Macquarie University.
David Lee
David Lee is Associate Professor in the University of New South Wales, Canberra, National Archives of Australia Cabinet Historian, author of The Second Rush: Mining and the Transformation of Australia and co-editor of a book of official documents on Australia and the People’s Republic of China, 1949-1972.
Guest author Roger Gurr
Roger Gurr Associate Professor Gurr,MB BS DPM MRC Psych, FRANZCPis the Clinical Director ofheadspace Early Psychosis inWestern Sydney. He also holds a Conjoint Appointment in Psychiatry, Western Sydney University Faculty of Medicine and is theBoard Chair for the NSW Service for the Treatment & Rehabilitation of Torture & Trauma Survivors (STARTTS). He wasawarded the NSW Government Human Rights Medal in 2021. He is presenting at the NDIS and Mental Health Conference on Tuesday 21 January at the ICC in Sydney.
Guesr author Andrew Y Glikson
Andrew Y Glikson Earth and climate scientist. The University of New South Wales.
Craig Fowler
Dr Craig Fowler’s diverse experience in Public Administration and Higher Education in Executive roles makes him exceptionally well qualified to reflect on the topic of diversity in career experience and its potential benefits for senior executive service (SES) leadership in the public sector.
Frank Bongiorno
Frank Bongiorno AM (born Nhill, Victoria, 1969) is an Australian labour, political and cultural historian. Prior to joining the Australian National University, he held lecturing positions at King’s College London (2007-11), the University of New England (2000-07) and Griffith University (1996), and also taught previously at the ANU (1994). He has been an Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the ANU (1997 and 1998-2000), and in 1997-8 was Smuts Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge and Mellon Visiting Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Shuyang Yu
BA student at Beijing Foreign Studies University, major in English literature, intern at the Center for China and Globalisation.
Richard Wolff
Richard Wolffis the author ofCapitalism Hits the FanandCapitalisms Crisis Deepens. He isfounder ofDemocracy at Work.