Karen is the CEO of Full Stop Australia, a national organisation dedicated to putting a full stop to sexual, domestic and family violence. 

Full Stop Australia is celebrating its 50-year anniversary since being funded to run the Sydney Rape Crisis Centre in 1974. The organisation now provides 1800 FULLSTOP a national helpline for people impacts by domestic, family and sexual violence, operates the NSW sexual Violence helpline, a national helpline for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and our Rainbow line for LGBTQ+ communities. 

Full Stop has always been a strong advocate for law reform and policy development to end gender-based violence and continues to lobby governments and build support for social change. Full Stop operates training and consulting to support businesses, government, NFPs and educational institutions to respond to sexual harassment, support employees impacted by gendered violence and create trauma informed and supportive workplaces. 

Karen is a passionate advocate for social justice, with =more than 30 years’ experience working across not-for-profit organisations, government and research institutions in executive leadership, strategy, advocacy, research, training, service delivery and community development.

Karen is currently the Chair of Mary’s House Services, a philanthropically funded domestic violence service in Sydney. She is a past president of the NSW Council of Social Services and previously sat of the boards of Youth Law Australia, the Intellectual Disability Rights Service and the Australian Council of Social Service.

Jess Hill has become one of the nation’s foremost speakers and educators on coercive control. Walkley-award winning investigative journalist and author who has been reporting exclusively on domestic abuse since 2014. Prior to this, she was a Middle East correspondent, and producer/reporter across ABC radio and TV. In 2019, she published her first book, See What You Made Me Do, about the domestic abuse crisis in Australia. It was awarded the 2020 Stella Prize, the Bookseller’s Choice Award, and has been shortlisted for several others, including the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards. Jess has also presented two documentary series for SBS – See What You Made Me Do in 2021, and Asking For it in 2023 – and wrote a Quarterly Essay on how #MeToo has changed Australia.

As founding CEO and Director of Thriving Communities Australia, a for-purpose charity, Ciara Sterling convenes over 350 organisations across sectors, together with people with lived experience, to forge deeper understanding of vulnerability and drive ecosystem change through social design innovation.

Ciara is also the Chair on the Board of Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC), a founding member of the Economic Abuse Reference Group (EARG) and sits on various corporate, government and regulatory advisory committees.

She has over 20 years’ experience collaborating across corporate, government, regulators, Ombudsman, community sectors and lived experience to address the root causes of vulnerability, domestic abuse, and inequality.

A key example of this is the development the One Stop One Story Hub a world-first cross-sector digital wrap around support platform enabling frontline workers in corporate, community and government organisations to connect and refer people to a range of supports through a single access point. She believes in the power of cross-sector collaboration to create genuine systemic change.

Cameron is a seasoned executive with over 20 years’ experience leading and transforming teams delivering industry-leading customer outcomes.

Cameron combines his passion for customer support with his deep expertise in running operations, including running large multinational contact centres and delivering technology platforms with multi-channel customer experiences.

Regan is a proud Wiradjuri / Ngunnawal woman born and raised in Cowra NSW. Regan has spent the last ten years as a front-line domestic violence specialist at a Redfern based, grassroots NGO providing long term, intensive and culturally responsive casework to women and children experiencing domestic violence and abuse.  Regan’s role involved managing a domestic violence service and working closely with the Executive leadership team across the organisation, to educate and empower staff and communities to end gender-based violence.

Regan is a fierce advocate for prevention, gender equality, attitudinal and systemic change around domestic and family violence and abuse. She is highly recognised in the sector and community as a skilled source of knowledge and expert in the complex intersections and nuances that exist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women experiencing gender based violence. 

Regan has recently joined Our Watch, a national leader of primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia. As Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy, Regan provides important cultural insight that informs Our Watch’s strategies, plans and policies appropriately to prioritise ending violence towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children. 

Regan has recently held positions as the Chair of Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre, Executive Council member of Aboriginal Women’s Advisory Network (AWAN) and is currently a member of the DVNSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Steering Committee.

Hayley Foster BBus(Ec), BLaws(Hons), GDLP, GFDRP, GAICD is a recognised leader and authoritative voice on gender and sex-based violence, harassment and discrimination. Over the past decade, in multiple roles, Hayley has led and advised on substantial reforms at the state and federal levels, including but not limited to the criminalisation of coercive control, affirmative sexual consent laws, a national curriculum on respectful relationships, paid domestic violence leave, and family law reform. Hayley is a trusted advisor to boards and executives of ASX listed companies, as well as Australian governments, the judiciary, the university sector, and a range of community organisations. Her work centres on supporting leaders to drive cultural change within their organisations and across their respective sectors and industries to create safer, more inclusive, and more respectful communities, free from gender and sex-based discrimination. Current advisory positions include membership on the Commonwealth Advisory Group for the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032 and the Fair Work Commission’s Sexual Harassment Working Group.

Lizette Twisleton is the Head of Engagement at No to Violence. She has worked in the human and community services sector for over 30 years for NGO’s and in local government. Lizette has experience in domestic and family violence having worked with victim-survivors, and men who use family violence. She has a background in nursing, youth work, health promotion and community development. She has specialised in men’s behaviour change work over the past twenty years, twelve years as a men’s behaviour change program facilitator, three years delivering partner contact and six years leading Sector Development projects and strategies at No to Violence.

Lizette is passionate about working collectively and collaboratively to create lasting safety for families.

Det lnsp Rachel Fawcett joined the NSW police force in 1992 and has devoted a significant portion of her distinguished 33-year career to protecting children and supporting victims of sexual abuse. Her commitment to justice and victim advocacy has been adefining feature of her service.

In 1998, while serving with the Criminal Investigations Unit at Macquarie Fields, she led a complex and confronting investigation into the abduction, serious sexual assault and torture of several young men. Her leadership and determination ensured the offender was brought to justice, resulting in a 20-year custodial sentence.

Designated a detective in 1999, Det lnsp Fawcett went on to serve in the
Victims and Major Offenders Squad and then the Robbery Squad, applying her expertise to investigations involving robbery, extortion and kidnapping. She then went on to join the Joint Investigation Response Team at Penrith, where she investigated serious child abuse matters

Promoted to sergeant in 2009 at Campbelltown Police Station, she returned to the Child Abuse Unit in 2011. In this role, she led teams working closely with commands across the state, tackling complex cases involving multiple victims and multi-offender networks. Her depth of knowledge and professionalism in this field saw her represent NSW Police at the Safe Children Conference in 2018, following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Beyond her investigative work, Det lnsp Fawcett has contributed to several significant organisational initiatives, including the review of the aged crime prevention officer role and the development of a translation app in partnership with internal police commands and Multicultural NSW. She currently sits on several interjurisdictional panels dedicated to victim-centric investigation models and holds thew NSWPF organizational portfolio for Human Trafficking and sexual servitude. Her career reflects unwavering dedication, expertise and a profound commitment to community safety.

Dr Bridget Mottram holds a PhD in Criminology, specialising in domestic, family, and sexual violence. She has over a decade of experience spanning academia, frontline practice, the non‑government sector, and government. With expertise in domestic, family and sexual violence policy, legislation, practice, and advocacy, Dr Mottram brings a strong commitment to ensuring systems are trauma‑informed, accountable, and centred on the safety and empowerment of victim‑survivors.

Sam Norman is a Detective Sergeant with over 24 years’ experience in community policing and a strong focus on improving police responses to domestic and family violence. His career spans forensic investigation, frontline patrol, operational policing, and serious and organised crime.

Sam led ACT Policing’s Family Violence Unit through its transition into the High‑Risk Domestic and Family Violence Investigation Unit (DFVIU). In this role, he implemented the DFVIU’s holistic investigations model that recognises domestic and family violence—particularly coercive control—as a pattern of ongoing harm rather than a series of isolated incidents. The model emphasises victim‑survivor experiences, risk escalation, and meaningful collaboration with partner agencies.

Since March 2026, Sam has led a major reform project to redesign police domestic and family violence training in the ACT. This work shifts the focus from procedural compliance to deepening police understanding of coercive control, family violence dynamics, trauma‑informed practice, and victim‑centred responses.

As a 2023 Churchill Fellow, Sam conducted international research into multi‑agency management of high‑risk recidivist offenders. He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Forensic Investigation), a Bachelor of Policing (Investigations), and a Professional Certificate in Evidence‑Based Policing Leadership.

Cara is the Chief Executive Officer of NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) and a strong advocate for equity, opportunity and dignity for all.

The NSW Council of Social Service (NCOSS) is the peak body for the social and community services sector in NSW. They bring together our members, communities, government, business and other stakeholders to eliminate poverty and create equity across the state.

She is also the Executive Chairperson of the Harding Miller Education Foundation, a national charity that provides scholarships to Australian public high school girls who have high academic potential and are experiencing socio-economic disadvantage. She was named in the 2021 Impact 25, which recognises the most influential people in the Australian social sector and was a finalist for the NSW Premier’s Woman of Excellence Award in 2024.

Cara has experience across the not-for-profit, public service, political and corporate sectors. She has experience in the military and at all three levels of government in Australia.

She has qualifications in business, political science and international development and she is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

With more than 35 years of experience in the domestic violence and child welfare fields, David created the Safe & Together Model, a transformational approach to changing how systems and practitioners respond to domestic violence when children are involved. He has identified how a perpetrator pattern–based approach can improve the ability to partner with survivors, intervene with perpetrators as parents, and improve outcomes for children.

David is the founder of the Safe & Together Institute, which works with governments and NGOs across the globe, including North America, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Through their live training, organizational consulting, online courses, and trainer certification, the Safe & Together Institute provides organizations and systems with a wide range of practice change tools. Currently, the Institute supports more than 500 Certified Trainers and more than 100 Partner Agencies worldwide. The Model has proven its relevance to multiple sectors, including family court, substance use, law enforcement, mental health, multi-agency efforts, and other disciplines.

David has written or co-written numerous journal articles, book chapters, and white papers, including his most recent one on the alignment of the Safe & Together Model with the children’s best interest framework. The Institute’s work is regularly the subject of research studies, including a current project examining the relevance of the Model in a First Nations context in Australia. He has just published his first book, Stop Blaming Mothers and Ignoring Fathers: How to Transform the Way We Keep Children Safe from Domestic Violence, which is available online through Amazon.com. David & his partner Ruth Reymundo are co-founders of the technology company, SafetyNexus, focused on AI-driven solutions using the principles, practices, and values behind the Safe & Together Model.

Beth is a qualified social worker (Hons 1) who lives and works on beautiful Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi & Jinibara country. She has worked in violence prevention for 20 years, specifically in the areas of child sexual abuse and domestic and family violence. A career highlight was working at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, from its inception in 2013 to its conclusion in 2017, as a counsellor and lead policy writer.

As National Education Manager for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, Beth leads national primary prevention projects to strengthen child safety education. She is also a sitting member of the Queensland Child Death Review Board, which recently completed the In Plain Sight report on early years system responses to child sexual abuse.

Susan McLean is Australia’s leading expert in the area of cyber safety and was a member of Victoria Police for 27years. She was the first Victorian Police officer appointed to a position involving cybersafety and young people. She has completed the Protecting Children Online Certificate from Fox Valley Technical College, USA and the ‘University Certificate in Child Safety on the Internet’ from the University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom.

Susan provides her expertise to schools both in Australia and internationally. She presents regularly throughout Asia, as well as the United Kingdom, Europe and the USA and consults to a wide range of organisations including all levels of Government, Sport, Medical Practitioners, Adolescent Psychologists, corporations and NGO’s. Her expertise is internationally recognised and she is highly sought after by all forms of media for expert comment. She has recently been published in the Journal of Paediatrics on the topic of technology facilitated child sexual abuse. Susan is afforded expert status by the Safer Internet Programme Europe and is the author of the best-selling book Sexts Texts & Selfies (Penguin). Her new book, ‘Growing Up Digital,’ (Allen & Unwin) is the definitive guide to online safety. She is an ambassador for Positive Schools and Board member for Safe Teens online and the Age Assurance Technology Trial that provided advice to the Australian Government in relation to new laws around young people accessing online platforms.

María Atiénzar Prieto, PhD, is a Research Fellow at Griffith University. Her research centres on technology-facilitated coercive control among young people with a focus on how they perceive and understand this form of abuse. She also researches other aspects of domestic and family violence, including its impact on child and adult survivors.

Mary Jo McVeigh is the founder and CEO of Consultancy. She is a proud Belfast Irish woman, radical social worker and activist, dedicated family member, and friend. Mary Jo completed her Honours degree in social science in 1983 and a master’s degree in social work in 1986. Mary Jo is in the final stages of completing her PhD at the University of Sydney.

Mary Jo is acknowledged as an expert in child protection and rights-informed intervention. She has written many training packages and widely published within the profession.

She was a finalist for the NSW Woman of the Year award, 2018. She was awarded the Allied Health Australian Social Worker of the Year award 2019, Canada Bay Citizen of the year award 2020, and Order of Australia medal for social work services to children and young people, and she held the Australian social worker of the year award 2022.

Nikki Butler is a child protection consultant with over 30 years’ experience in leadership and training services across Australia and New Zealand. Nikki holds qualifications in social work, research and professional supervision, and has worked across multiple service areas including addiction, mental health, disability, education, child protection, and local government. Achievements include receiving a Queensland Child Safe Organisations Award and implementing a national ‘Violence Intervention Program’ to being a leader within New Zealand. Her expertise lies in equipping professionals with trauma-informed, developmental, and empathetic approaches to complex practice, and guiding services to remain grounded, reflective and effective in challenging settings.

As CEO of Women’s Community Shelters, Annabelle Daniel OAM, has worked with local communities around NSW to establish and open eight shelters at Hornsby, Forster, Castle Hill, Penrith, Bayside, Parramatta and Revesby.  She has also been instrumental in the ongoing success of the very first WCS shelter which opened in Manly in 2010. (Now known as Northern Beaches Women’s Shelter.)

She has collaborated with a range of organisations, individuals and stakeholders, from the community and all levels of government to achieve change in the field of homelessness for women and children.

Annabelle is continuing this work to establish further shelters throughout NSW and is currently working with the community in Camden to open shelter number nine in the WCS network.

Annabelle is also the Chair of DV NSW.

Pip Davis is the Principal Solicitor at Women’s Legal Service NSW (WLS NSW).  She has worked in community legal centres for more than 22 years, with the last 11 of those years at WLS NSW.  

WLS NSW is a state-wide specialist community legal centre that aims to achieve access to justice and a just legal system for women in NSW. WLS NSW seeks to promote women’s human rights, redress inequalities experienced by women and to foster legal and social change through strategic legal services, community development, community legal education and law and policy reform work and prioritise women who are disadvantaged by their cultural, social and economic circumstances. WLS NSW provides specialist legal services relating to domestic and family violence, sexual assault, family law, discrimination, victims support, care and protection, human rights and access to justice.  

Karen is the CEO of Full Stop Australia, a national organisation dedicated to putting a full stop to sexual, domestic and family violence. 

Full Stop Australia is celebrating its 50-year anniversary since being funded to run the Sydney Rape Crisis Centre in 1974. The organisation now provides 1800 FULLSTOP a national helpline for people impacts by domestic, family and sexual violence, operates the NSW sexual Violence helpline, a national helpline for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse and our Rainbow line for LGBTQ+ communities. 

Full Stop has always been a strong advocate for law reform and policy development to end gender-based violence and continues to lobby governments and build support for social change. Full Stop operates training and consulting to support businesses, government, NFPs and educational institutions to respond to sexual harassment, support employees impacted by gendered violence and create trauma informed and supportive workplaces. 

Karen is a passionate advocate for social justice, with =more than 30 years’ experience working across not-for-profit organisations, government and research institutions in executive leadership, strategy, advocacy, research, training, service delivery and community development.

Karen is currently the Chair of Mary’s House Services, a philanthropically funded domestic violence service in Sydney. She is a past president of the NSW Council of Social Services and previously sat of the boards of Youth Law Australia, the Intellectual Disability Rights Service and the Australian Council of Social Service.

Darian Brooker is a foster care leaver, psychology student, TEDx speaker, and the founder and CEO of We, Future Leaders – a youth-led education and mentoring organisation assisting students from pre-school to university to reach their full academic and personal potential. Motivated by her experiences, she envisioned a world where all students could be heard, valued and adequately supported, no matter their circumstances.

Darian now leads a team of 50 who work with a range of students weekly on a 1:1 and small groups basis within her learning centre, online, and within schools, including young people in out-of-home care or with a care experience. We, Future Leaders is also partnered with Westmead and Randwick Ronald McDonald House Charities to provide our services to young people who have missed large amounts of school due to hospitalisation. We, Future Leaders, have supported thousands of students across NSW to date and aim to positively impact 1 million Australian youth by 2040. Darian is an active board member of ‘Southern Industry Forum’ and The Youth Partnership’s ‘Work Placement Reference Group’, proudly supporting local business and student work placement opportunities.

Carolyn Robinson is an Educator and the Founder/Managing Director of Beyond DV, a Brisbane-based charity which was established in 2017 after her younger daughter was impacted by domestic violence. 

Beyond DV is focused on supporting women and children as they rebuild their lives, through innovative recovery programs and services underpinned by their “Five Pillars of Recovery” Framework and delivered from their three secure centres across Brisbane. These centres have become a “home away from home” for many DFV survivors- places where families can heal, supported by professionals and peers.

In 2022, Beyond DV established the HOPE Hub at Westfield Carindale. The first of its kind in Australia, this highly secure and accessible space has been accessed by more than 2000 community members seeking support around social issues, with a focus on domestic violence and mental health. 

In 2023, Beyond DV opened Hannah’s Sanctuary, a nine-townhouse transitional housing complex in partnership with a Brisbane developer and Small Steps 4 Hannah. Nine families representing eight nationalities are currently rebuilding their lives after DFV, supported by the Beyond DV team and with full access to their suite of recovery programs.

Carolyn is also the creator of the highly innovative Love&Learn Teen Relationship App which helps young people to identify healthy and unhealthy relationships.

Carolyn is the current Chair of the Australian Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Recovery Alliance, which was launched in May 2022. The Alliance brings together the voices of frontline workers, academics, corporates and lived experience community members to advocate on the importance of long-term, holistic, trauma-informed and culturally appropriate recovery programs for women and children impacted by domestic, family and sexual violence, as a critical form of prevention.

The desire to turn a negative experience into something positive will continue to be a focus for Carolyn and the Beyond DV Team. 

Ben Vasiliou is a social entrepreneur and the proud CEO of The Man Cave, Australia’s leading preventative mental health charity for teenage boys and young men. Ben is a social justice advocate, a seasoned CEO and a Father of 2. He is passionate about helping boys become great men. He has held a number of non-executive director board positions with Australian charities and is a Justice of the Peace. Ben graduated from the Executive Education in Social Entrepreneurship Program at Stanford University. Most importantly, Ben has an insatiable appetite to change the world.

Elena is a lawyer, speechwriter and former political staffer who has worked in legal and social policy for 25 years. Elena’s expertise includes therapeutic justice, women’s decarceration, equal opportunity and human rights, as well as the prevention and elimination of violence against women and children.

At the Centre for Innovative Justice, Elena oversees a program of research which predominantly focuses on family violence, as well as the way in which experiences of trauma can push women and children into contact with the criminal justice system. In this capacity, Elena has led projects for Government departments and courts to support the implementation of recommendations from Victoria’s Royal Commission into Family Violence.

Elena has been Chief Investigator in ANROWS funded projects focusing on interventions with adult perpetrators of family violence. Elena also leads a program of research focusing on young people’s use of violence at home, including the capacity of legal and service systems to respond to the complexity of need across families and communities. In this capacity Elena has been Principal Chief Investigator in a series of ANROWS funded projects, including the most recent WRAP Around Families Experiencing AVITH: Towards a Collaborative Service Response.

Previously Elena worked as a legal adviser and staffer in the Victorian Government for over a decade. Elena has also been employed as a consultant for a range of social policy and justice organisations, including the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Riley Ellard is a qualitative researcher, consultant and trained lawyer. At the Centre for Innovative Justice at RMIT University, she leads a program of work focused on children and young people’s experiences of violence, use of violence, and criminalisation. She was lead author on the Unsafe and Unseen project, which examined young people’s interrelated experiences of family violence and homelessness; co-authored, with Elena Campbell, the WRAP Around Families experiencing Adolescent violence in the home (AVITH) research; and is a Chief Principal Investigator on the IVY Study, which aims to improve understanding of young people’s use of intimate partner violence. More broadly, she has led the design and evaluation of service models, tools and practice frameworks which aim to build the capacity of services and systems to respond to children and young people who have experienced (or enacted) harm. Coming from a family of teachers, Riley’s favourite part of her job is engaging directly with young people – both as research participants, advisors and co-creators – and she is passionate about centring the voices of children and young people in research and reform.

Samara is a social worker who has worked across education, family services and Aboriginal community-controlled settings. At the Centre for Innovative Justice, she brings her strong interpersonal skills to conduct person-centered research, with a strong focus on the family violence experiences and criminalisation of children and young people. Samara coordinated the lived (and living) experience advisory group of the Centre’s Unsafe and Unseen project, which examined young people’s interrelated experiences of family violence and homelessness; evaluated an early intervention program for children using challenging and aggressive behaviours in the aftermath of family violence; and conducted a number of interviews with young people in Victoria’s youth justice system to better understand their transitional support needs. Outside of work, Samara volunteers her time for a number of First Nation’s led organisations, including Justice for Walker and the Gladys Elphick Committee.

Susan is a clinical supervisor, trainer, groupworker and mentor with a 40-year career in Community Services, specialising in domestic and family violence interventions since 2010.  With a ‘whole of family safety’ and trauma-informed approaches, Susan has worked extensively supervising practitioners, facilitating men’s behaviour change programs and contributing to the development of this sector.  Susan is currently employed as Team Leader Family Safety program for Sydney City Centre at Relationships Australia NSW.

Susan holds a Master of Family Studies with Distinction, Graduate Certificates in Men’s Behaviour Change Group and Individual Interventions; Clinical Supervision and Personnel Management, a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) and an Associate Diploma in Social Welfare.  Susan has presented at numerous conferences to challenge her own practice and further the wisdom of practice.