Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Thursday 03 September
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
Beyond the city gates (okay, the urban sprawl) lies regional Australia: home to around a third of the nation’s population. Too often missing from the national conversation, the regions will be the focus of this Question Time event. We’ll examine the issues facing country communities and shine a light on the advances and innovations that are changing regional Australia as we know it. Think infrastructure, transport, the NBN, disaster management, exports and climate change.
As Australia’s population continues to amass around its major cities, we’ll examine our reliance on those in the country. We’ll consider, too, how regional communities can have a stronger voice in national debates – and how they can influence policy and decision-making at government level. Vibrant, adaptable and integral to our future: come and find out about what’s happening … out there.
Madeleine Morris hosts a full hour of audience Q&A with a panel including Su McCluskey, immediate past CEO of the Regional Australia Institute, rural leader and Voices for Indi president Alana Johnson and Mark Muller of R.M. Williams Publishing.
Based out of town, but have questions?
By popular demand, we're offering everybody the chance to contribute remotely to Question Time: Regional Focus. We'll stream the event live via Periscope (download the app to your Apple or Android phone or tablet), and relay some of your questions to the panel in Melbourne on your behalf. Follow @wheelercentre or keep an eye on our Twitter feed to see when it's getting started.
As usual, we'll post a podcast soon after it's over.
Featuring
Madeleine Morris
Madeleine Morris is a Melbourne-based reporter for ABC television’s 7.30. She was formerly a presenter for the BBC in London and reported from dozens of countries before returning to her native Australia. She is the author of Guilt-Free Bottle-Feeding: Why Your Formula-Fed Baby Can Grow Up To Be Happy, Healthy and Smart, published by Finch.
Su McCluskey
Su McCluskey was named the winner of the 2013 Australian Financial Review and Westpac Regional Women of Influence Award. She was the 2014 winner of the Women in Australian Agribusiness outstanding contribution to policy category, and was a Panel Member on the Harper Review’s Competition Policy Review Panel. She is currently a member of the Regional Telecommunications Independent Review and the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration. After three years as CEO, Su McCluskey stepped down from her position at the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) in June 2015.
Su joined the RAI from the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations where she served for three years as CEO. She is a past Executive Director of the Office of Best Practice Regulation, was a Consultant Specialist Advisor to the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources and held senior policy positions with the Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers' Federation and the Australian Taxation Office.
Su has extensive expertise in regional policy development, taxation, regulatory reform and governance. As well as a broad understanding of policy implementation, her personal experience running a beef cattle stud in Yass, NSW gives her grassroots insight into regional and rural issues.
Mark Muller
Mark Muller is editor-in-chief of R.M.Williams Publishing. This multi-award winning business is devoted to telling stories from rural and regional Australia. It produces a range of magazines, books, and digital publications including the flagship R.M.Williams OUTBACK magazine.
Muller grew up outside of the small town of Penola, in country South Australia. He holds degrees in Philosophy & English, and Journalism. He has variously worked in media, agriculture, and tourism & hospitality in Australia, the USA, and the UK. He has spent the past twelve years with R.M.Williams, regularly travelling throughout Australia gathering stories and images celebrating and recording life in the bush. Mark lives in Sydney with his wife and their two children.
Alana Johnson
Alana is widely recognised for her work in rural development and gender equality. In January 2020 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her services to women.
A pioneer of the rural women’s movement in Australia, Alana is a founding member of Australian Women in Agriculture Inc. and former President of the Foundation for Australian Agricultural Women.
Alana is the Chair of The Victorian Women’s Trust, the state’s peak women’s advocacy body. In 2018 Alana was appointed to the inaugural Ministerial Council on Women’s Equality in Victoria and was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women.
Alana Johnson was the Rural Women’s Award Victorian winner and Australian runner up for 2010. Alana was named in the inaugural 100 Women of Influence in Australia by the Australian Financial Review and the inaugural 100 Women in Australian Agribusiness by Rural Press.
Alana is a founding member and past President of Voices for Indi, the acclaimed democracy project that has seen Indi be the first electorate in Australia to elect an Independent Member to follow an Independent Member of Parliament.
Currently Alana is Dep. Chair of the Victorian Catchment Management Council and a Director of Goulburn Murray Water.
Recognized for her rural activism, Alana has been a panel member on ABC Q+A and featured in the book Women’s Word of Wisdom, launched by the Governor General to celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.
In 2019 Alana received a Distinguished Alumni Award from La Trobe University. She has been awarded an Australian Post Graduate Scholarship to undertake her PhD research at Monash University. Alana is a graduate of the Australian Rural Leadership Program and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Alana is fifth generation family farming engaged in cattle production, farm forestry and an award-winning habitat restoration near Benalla in NE Victoria.