Disaster and Beyond

Donna Wheatley is a Commander with Fire Rescue Victoria. After 15 years' service on trucks she was one of the first two women to achieve this rank in Victoria in 2018. With still less than 4% representation of women in operations within the paid fire services across the county, trail blazing continues to have its gender bias challenges in this industry. Donna came to the Fire Brigade from an established career in gendered services - managing family violence outreach across 3 shires of central Victoria and a specialisation in Gestalt Psychotherapy, with a lens of systems theory. As a result her ability to see the systemic gendered disadvantage has won her accolades and enemies for the work she has done "calling it out" for 20 years.

As Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent is responsible for overseeing implementation of the Gender Equality Act 2020 and plays a key leadership role in promoting gender equality in the Victorian community and workplaces.

Dr Vincent has a wealth of experience in gender equality and organisational leadership. This includes most recently serving as the South Australian Commissioner for Equal Opportunity since May 2016. In this role, Dr Vincent was responsible for the general administration of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (SA).

In her capacity as Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, Niki Chaired the Australian Council of Human Rights Authorities (ACHRA), served on the national management committee of Play by the Rules, and was a member of the SA/NT Advisory Council for the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA). She holds an appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor in UniSA’s Business School. In addition, she is an active ambassador for Time for Kids – a respite foster care organisation.

Prior to her appointment as Commissioner for Equal Opportunity, Niki held the position of CEO of the Leaders Institute of South Australia as well as a concurrent appointment as a member of the Remuneration Tribunal of South Australia. She has also led major programs of research in previous roles and has established and run two successful not-for-profit organisations.

A mother of four adult children, Niki has also been a weekend respite foster mum for almost five years. She spends her sparse free time with her partner, family and friends, hiking, seeing films, listening to Radio National podcasts and a variety of music, gardening, doing yoga and camping in remote places.

Cathy came to national attention when she won the seat of Indi as an independent in 2013. The community backed her again in 2016. In 2019 Indi made Australian political history when Dr Helen Haines was elected as Indi's second, independent woman. During her time as a politician Cathy actively worked in Parliament to develop policy around regional development, constitutional change for First Nations people and a solution to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. In 2019 she was awarded The Accountability Round Table award for political integrity. She is an Officer in the Order of Australia, a Churchill fellow and lives very happily on her farm in the Indigo Valley in NE Victoria.

Dr Meagan Tyler is a Senior Lecturer based in the School of Management and the Centre for People, Organisation, and Work at RMIT University, Melbourne. Her research interests include: gender inequality, violence against women, sexual exploitation, emergency management, and disaster studies. She has published significant works on the social construction of gendered inequalities in the context of bushfire preparation and response in Australia, as well as gendered issues around bushfire policy. Her most recent book on these issues (with Peter Fairbrother) is 'Wildfire and Power: Policy and Practice' (Routledge, 2019).