Alice Salomon
Uniting NSW/ACT
Alice Salomon is driven by her deep commitment for a fair and just world and has spent over 20 years working across a range of organisations and movements to achieve significant social change. She is the Head of Advocacy and Media at Uniting NSW.ACT a large not-for-profit providing care and support through every life stage working to create change so that people and communities that thrive, including acting and advocating for climate justice. Uniting is the service and advocacy arm of the Uniting Church NSW & ACT, the third largest Christian denomination in Australia, with more than 400 congregations who are called to to take action to care for the earth and as acts of worship and justice. In her spare time, Alice remembers she has no spare time, because she is also a mum of five children who she holds in her heart in every moment of her work on climate change.
Dr Brad Smith
Nature Conservation Council of NSW
Brad is Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, where he’s held a variety of climate and energy roles since 2016. Brad has led some of NCC’s most successful campaigns, including winning protection for thousands of hectares of old-growth forests, and the Repower NSW campaign which contributed to winning NSW’s landmark clean energy laws in late 2020. Brad started his career as an electrical engineer, before his passion for climate justice led him to campaigning and advocacy including through election campaigns, digital communications, research and investigations, policy, and campaign management. Brad holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a PhD in physics.
Connor Price
Smart Energy Council
Connor is the large-scale utility & manufacturing policy & engagement manager for the Smart Energy Council, a peak body for the renewable energy industry in Australia. He brings to the Renew Australia for All Steering Committee an industry policy focus. Connor has been heavily involved in the policy design of federal renewable energy and manufacturing schemes including Future Made in Australia, the Cheaper Home Battery Program and various state rebates. He previously was in the world of consulting for government clients in Canberra.
Daniel Sherrell
Australian Council of Trade Unions
Daniel Sherrell is the Senior Adviser on Climate and Energy to the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Prior to moving to Australia from the United States, he helped lead campaigns to win a Green New Deal bill for New York State, create good union jobs in renewable energy, and pass America’s first federal climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act. His first book, Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World (Penguin 2021), was named a Best Book of the Year by the New Yorker and Publisher’s Weekly, and shortlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize. His writing has appeared in the Washington Post, The Guardian, the Nation, and the Drift, among other outlets.
Elise Ganley
Queensland Community Alliance
Elise has a decade of experience working across civil society organisations and moved to Gladstone, Queensland in 2022 to work with locals to build a community voice in the energy transition with Qld Community Alliance. She mentors the Real Deal for Geelong project, and is on the steering committee for Renew Australia for All representing the Australian community alliances. She has organised with diverse constituencies to win action on social isolation and loneliness for a whole of person, whole of community, whole of government approach with the Queensland state government, and worked across a range of campaigns with international students, community centres and people seeking asylum and refugees.
Jessica Panegyres
Climate Action Network Australia
Jess is an award-winning climate and conservation advocate. A lawyer by training, she’s led some of Australia’s most important climate and conservation initiatives, driving significant reform in corporate policies, government legislation, and philanthropic investment. Jess recently established Solutions for Climate Western Australia, a Perth-based public interest climate advocacy initiative. A Rhodes Scholar, she holds first-class honours degrees in Law and Arts from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Politics and International Relations from the University of Oxford. She also serves on the board of Green Music Australia, which works with the music industry to reduce its carbon footprint.
Karrina Nolan
First Nations Clean Energy Network
Karrina Nolan is a descendant of the Yorta Yorta people. She is an experienced manager and organiser of complex programs and initiatives in Aboriginal communities and has worked as a facilitator, trainer, researcher and strategist alongside Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, young people and communities for over 25 years. Most recently, Karrina has been building the capacity for self-determination in the context of economic development, climate change and clean energy. She supports communities’ capacity to organise, act decisively, share knowledge and make informed decisions which take into account long-term community needs as well as country and culture.
Miriam Lyons
The Sunrise Project Australia
Miriam has over two decades of experience as a campaigner, campaign strategist, policy advocate, and public intellectual. She currently leads the Australian Energy Transformation Program at the Sunrise Project. She is a Fellow and former CEO of the Centre for Policy Development, which she founded in 2007. She is the co-author of Governomics, has contributed to several newspapers and magazines, and co-edited the books Pushing Our Luck and More Than Luck. She has been a repeat guest on various national TV and radio programs, including Q&A and The Drum. Earlier roles include Policy Editor for NewMatilda.com, researching freedom of speech in East Timor, and organising ideas festivals.
Noura Mansour
Democracy in Colour
Noura Mansour is an experienced strategist, community organiser and advocate with background in education and politics. Noura’s passion for racial justice and commitment to building people power are deeply rooted in her personal lived experiences as a Palestinian woman, academic training in politics and professional journey. As an educator, organisational consultant and a strategist, Noura has worked with civil society and grassroots organisations on campaigning and advocacy in Palestine, South Korea and Australia.
Tiarne Crowther
Australian Services Union
Tiarne Crowther is the National Policy and Advocacy Lead at the Australian Services Union, representing more than 135,000 members across local government, community and disability services, public services, airlines, call centres, and administration workers all around the country. Tiarne leads the day-to-day policy and political work of the ASU nationally. She has been an ASU member for over 9 years. She is an employment lawyer and experienced policy advocate having a Masters of Public Policy and having worked on both state and federal union campaigns for nearly a decade.