Climate Integrity Summit 2026

Speaker

• More details about The Hon Dr Maina Vakafua Talia

  The Hon Dr Maina Vakafua Talia

  The Honourable Dr Maina Vakafua Talia is the current Minister for Climate Change and Environment for the Government of Tuvalu. He took his Oath of Office as Minister on the 28 February 2024. Born on the 18 of June, 1984, on the island of Vaitupu in Tuvalu. He is a Member of Parliament representing the Vaitupu Constituency, and was elected into politics in January 2024. Prior to his current position, Hon. Talia was an active leader of various NGO organizations in Tuvalu. He was the Secretary for the Tuvalu Climate Action Network since 2011; an Executive Director for the Tuvalu Association of Non-Governmental Organization from 2018 and 2021; co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change (IIPFCC) and has represented Tuvalu at international and regional conferences including the UNFCCC COP meetings and processes.

• More details about The Hon Senator Rosa Galvez

  The Hon Senator Rosa Galvez

  The Honourable Rosa Galvez, Ph.D., P. Eng. is an Independent Senator for Québec (Bedford) in Canada. She is an environmental engineer, researcher, and educator recognized nationally and internationally for her expertise in pollution control, water and soil decontamination, and evidence-based environmental policy. Originally from Peru, she has spent over three decades advancing scientific understanding of environmental contamination and advocating for policies that protect human health and ecosystems. Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2016, she has focused on climate change, environmental protection, and public health. She has sponsored key climate legislation, including the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act and the Climate-Aligned Finance Act, and plays a leadership role in international parliamentary climate cooperation through ParlAmericas. She has also represented Canada at UN climate conferences.

• More details about Dr Kate Wylie

  Dr Kate Wylie

  Dr Kate Wylie is a GP and Executive Director of Doctors for the Environment Australia. Based in Adelaide (Tarndanya), Dr Wylie knows that climate change is a health issue and believes that when we frame it as such, we invite the concept of treating it. She believes that doctors have a key role to play in shaping the community’s response to the climate crisis. By showing leadership on climate, doctors can show our communities the importance of climate action to protect the health of humanity and the planet upon which we rely. Dr Wylie is a previous chair of the RACGP’s Climate and Environmental Medicine Specific Interest Group, elevating the need for climate action with GPs across Australia and a previous chair of DEA. In all her work, Dr Wylie applies a medical model to the climate crisis and as such offers a treatment plan for climate change. She seeks to activate her audience so they can help create the paradigm shift that we need to combat the climate crisis.

• More details about Dr Kirsty Howey

  Dr Kirsty Howey

  Dr Kirsty Howey is the Chief Executive Officer of The Wilderness Society. She has spent the last twenty years driving policy, campaigns and real change for nature and communities. Since 2020, she has served as Executive Director of the Environment Centre NT, the Northern Territory's peak conservation organisation, leading campaigns against mass fossil fuel expansion, deforestation and the destruction of some of Australia's most extraordinary rivers and ecosystems. Before taking the ECNT helm, Dr. Howey built her career as a leading native title and land rights lawyer. She holds a doctorate exploring the intersection of environment, extractive development and First Nations rights in northern Australia, and is an established author.

• More details about Alison Reeve

  Alison Reeve

  Alison Reeve is the Energy and Climate Change Program Director at Grattan Institute. She has two decades of experience in climate change, clean energy policy, and technology, in the private, public, academic, and not-for-profit sectors. Alison was Grattan’s Deputy Program Director between 2021 and 2025. Before joining Grattan, she worked in the Commonwealth public service, most recently as the General Manager of Project Delivery at the Australian Renewable Energy Agency. She led development of Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy in 2019, as well as Commonwealth policy for offshore wind, energy innovation, energy efficiency, and structural adjustment. She was also a Visiting Fellow in ANU’s Zero Carbon Energy Australia-Pacific Grand Challenge in 2020.

• More details about Mike Bowers

  Mike Bowers

  Mike Bowers is a photographer and regular commentator on ABC Radio and host of Talking Pictures on Insiders, currently airing on ABC News. Mike has spent 39 years in the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery working for a number of publications including The Australian, The Canberra Times, The Age, The Bulletin, The Australian Financial Review, BRW, Time, The Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. He has covered thirteen federal election campaigns and has accompanied ten prime ministers on assignments around Australia and overseas.

• More details about Dr Kate Dooley

  Dr Kate Dooley

  Dr Kate Dooley is an ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. She is a political geographer and lead author of the Land Gap Report, the first global assessment of the land area implied by national climate pledges. Her research examines the politics of land use in climate mitigation and the pursuit of equitable land transitions, strengthening the evidence base for how land-based mitigation is understood and integrated into climate targets. She holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, where she is an ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow in the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. She serves on the Natural Ecosystems Advisory Board of the Minderoo Foundation and is an expert advisor to Climate Integrity.

• More details about Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett

  Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett

  Oscar Kaspi-Crutchett is the Senior Research Organiser at Victorian Trades Hall Council - the peak body of Victorian unions representing over 400,000 workers and their families. Oscar is the author of Antidote, a strategic manual for fighting the far-right published by the Victorian union movement in March 2026. Oscar's work focusses on key threats and opportunities for working-class power in the 21st century, including the far-right, artificial intelligence, democratic decay, and economic inequality. Oscar's work is future-facing but historically grounded, often drawing on the styles, insights and traditions of Australian labourism. He is an ardent believer in workers and considers their movements, voices and perspectives to be society's single most effective instrument for achieving justice.

• More details about James Sherley

  James Sherley

  James is the Senior Climate Justice Campaigner at Jubilee and has been with the organisation since 2022. James led Jubilee’s successful campaign to commit Australia to the Clean Energy Transition Partnership, effectively ending Australia’s public financing of overseas fossil fuels. James works closely with First Nations-led advocacy organisation Sea of Nations, supporting their work to protect Sea Country from gas expansion. He has a background in grassroots community organising with climate-impacted communities, and prior to his work in environmental and human rights championed professional development for diverse storytellers in Australia’s screen industry. James holds a bachelor of arts, majoring in Politics, International Relations and History.

• More details about Rowan Hanley

  Rowan Hanley

  Rowan Hanley is a long-time campaigner with Surfrider Foundation Australia, a volunteer sea roots charity that has protected Australia's ocean, waves, and beaches since 1991. Over more than 11 years with Surfrider, Rowan helped drive the community-led STOP PEP 11 campaign from its start in 2019 through to its landmark win in 2025, stopping an offshore oil and gas project through sustained public pressure and setting a precedent for federal intervention against fossil fuel expansion.’

• More details about Arielle Gamble

  Arielle Gamble

  Arielle Gamble is the Co-Founder and CEO of Groundswell Giving, Australia’s first giving circle for climate action. Since launching in 2020, Arielle has nurtured Groundswell into a nationwide community of people committed to funding strategic climate action for a safer future.

• More details about Sue Mckinnon

  Sue Mckinnon

  Sue manages the McKinnon Family Foundation and has, over the past ten years, initiated innovative high risk, high impact projects that effectively challenge and change structures of power in Australia. She deals not in hope but in duty and courage, harnessing the power of the collective to step up and do the impossible.

• More details about Bruce Robertson

  Bruce Robertson

  Bruce Robertson has been an investment analyst, fund manager and professional investor for over 40 years. He has worked with Perpetual Trustees, UBS, Nippon Life Insurance and BT. He has appeared as an expert witness before a number of government enquiries into energy issues.

• More details about Ruby Rodgers

  Ruby Rodgers

  At just 16 years old, Ruby Rodgers is already one of Australia's most exciting young artists. Ruby released her debut EP ‘Crisis’ in 2025, after starring in 'Future Council’ - Damon Gameau's youth-led documentary (released in 2024). She delivered a TEDx talk exploring songwriting as a way of making sense of an increasingly complex world, and has been speaking and performing across Australia and overseas. 2026 marks the release of her Sophomore EP 'Sixteen" written alongside collaborators Alex Hope, Aubrie Mitchell, Rhys Lewis, Nick Kingswell, Shane Nicholson and Benjamin Rodgers, with production by Benjamin Rodgers Ruby was recently awarded the 2025 Environmental Music Prize People's Choice Award for Hits the Heart, a song inspired by her experience in 'Future Council'. Voted on by listeners across 61 countries, the track cemented Ruby as one of Australia's most compelling emerging voices, pairing intimate songwriting with urgent social commentary. Alongside her own artist project, Ruby has become an increasingly sought-after songwriter and topliner, collaborating with artists across Australia and internationally. Most recently, she earned a co-writing credit on Lance Savali’s latest single ‘Higher’ Ft. RIta Ora, further cementing her reputation as one of our most exciting emerging songwriting talents. She recently featured as a vocalist and co-writer on Sweatbaby's SWITCH and was announced as Lead Youth Patron of the Next Up Music Awards, working alongside a national Youth Council to help shape Australia's newest music awards platform. Drawing influence from artists including Phoebe Bridgers, Radiohead and Ethel Cain, Ruby continues to establish herself as one of Australia's most compelling young songwriters. Never provocative for provocation's sake, her songs are driven by emotional honesty, examining uncomfortable subjects with nuance, vulnerability and remarkable empathy. Ruby's live performances are immersive, emotionally resonant and mark the arrival of a remarkable new voice in Australian music.

• More details about Fiona Katauskas

  Fiona Katauskas

  Fiona Katauskas has been cartooning since 1997, and her work appears in The Point. Her cartoons have also featured in a wide range of publications, including The Guardian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, The Age, New Matilda and Eureka Street. She was MoAD's Political Cartoonist of the Year in 2023. She is the author and illustrator of the children's books The Amazing True Story of How Babies Are Made (2015) and Hi from Outer Space (2024).

• More details about Ben Oquist

  Ben Oquist

  Ben Oquist is a highly respected policy analyst, commentator and political and communications strategist. He served as Executive Director of the Australia Institute from 2015 to 2022. Ben has a 25 year career engagement with Canberra policy and politics, with a wealth of experience in helping shape policy debates and outcomes. Known for his ability to negotiate across the political spectrum, Ben and the Australia Institute played a key role in stopping the government’s revenue cutting agenda in the form of large company tax cuts, a role for which he was acknowledged in the Australian Financial Review 2018 Power List. He also played a pivotal role in the deal which saw the Senate crossbench save the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) and the Renewable Energy Target, preserving $23 billion in clean energy investment. Ben is also a regular commentator and contributor across broadcast and print media

• More details about Louise Morris

  Louise Morris

  Louise Morris is the Head of Fossil Fuel Transition at The Australia Institute. Louise is an award-winning advocate with 20 years’ experience encompassing climate, energy, forest protection, and law reform in the not-for-profit sector, and federal politics before joining The Australia Institute.

• More details about Amy Remeikis

  Amy Remeikis

  Amy Remeikis is the Chief Political Analyst at The Australia Institute. Amy is renowned for her incisive political commentary and extensive experience as a journalist, author, and former Guardian Australia political reporter. Amy regularly appears in national media and is celebrated for her powerful writing on gender, politics, and social justice. Her work continues to influence public debate and policy discussions across Australia.

• More details about Noah Schultz-Byard

  Noah Schultz-Byard

  Noah Schultz-Byard is the Strategy Director at The Australia Institute. Noah is a communications professional and former ABC reporter who now leads the development and optimisation of The Australia Institute’s national strategic partnerships. His work has a particular focus on issues relating to climate change, environmental sustainability, and economic inequality. He has previously worked in the Federal Senate and as a communications consultant for a range of organisations, combining evidence-based research with engaging storytelling. Originally hailing from Adelaide, he aims for his work to help improve the level of conversation around public policy issues, both in South Australia and across the nation.

• More details about Dr Richard Denniss

  Dr Richard Denniss

  Dr Richard Denniss is the co-Chief Executive Officer of The Australia Institute. Richard is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the university of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books including: Dead Centre: How political pragmatism is killing us, Econobabble, Curing Affluenza and Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next?

• More details about Leanne Minshull

  Leanne Minshull

  Leanne Minshull is the co-Chief Executive Officer of The Australia Institute. Leanne has built an extensive network across political, advocacy, and business communities, working as a senior strategist in social, environmental, not-for-profit, and political sectors. Leanne was admitted to practice as a solicitor in NSW and holds degrees in politics, industrial relations and law.