Communities in Control
Our Community Matters • 20 •
Bright sparks to light up Communities in Control conference BY MATTHEW SCHULZ, JOURNALIST, OUR COMMUNITY
The talent that will illuminate Australia’s most important community conference has been locked in, with final speakers confirmed for the event that all community leaders must have in their calendar. Seventeen of the country’s brightest sparks will be speaking at the conference, which takes place on May 18–19 in Melbourne under the banner “Connection, creativity, community: Finding hope in a climate of crisis.” The 2020 annual Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration will be delivered by social justice advocate and veteran political commentator Paul Bongiorno. He’ll take aim at a political climate in which dissent is quelled, and share his insights into what can be done to ensure that social justice prevails. Others joining the fray are a who’s who of outspoken artists, intellectuals, experts, troublemakers, and the simply inspirational. Highlights of the conference will include: • Professor Hilary Bambrick, renowned for her work on the health effects of climate change for the groundbreaking Garnaut Review, which predicted the 2020 bushfires • Katie Noonan, acclaimed singer-songwriter, with an unforgettable musical performance
Journalism legend Paul Bongiorno will deliver the Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration at Communities in Control 2020. • Jo Dodds, president of Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action, welcomed by Black Saturday bushfires royal commissioner Susan Pascoe • Danielle Wood, the incoming chief of Australia’s top public policy think tank the Grattan Institute, on the economics of equality • Dr Fiona Kerr of the NeuroTech Institute, on the power of human connection
