Ripples and Resilience: Navigating Our Rivers

Richard Beasley is a Senior Counsel at the New South Wales Bar. He is the author of five novels, including Hell Has Harbour Views, which was adapted for TV and screened by the ABC. Beasley's most recent book about the Murray Darling Basin, Dead in the Water, is his first work of non-fiction.

Dr Margaret Cook is fascinated by water and its interaction with humans, animals, and the environment over time. She writes about climate-related disasters, with a particular focus on rivers and floods, and is the author of “A River with a City Problem: A History of Brisbane Floods”. Cook is a historian and is a Research Fellow at the Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University, and La Trobe University.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has become one of the country's leading voices on women in politics, environment and nature protection, media policy, and human rights. Her short book En Garde was a personal expose that helped break the silence on women’s treatment in modern Australian politics. Sarah has headed the push for a shake of media laws in Australia and a Royal Commission for media reform and diversity.

Kate McBride is a fifth-generation farmer, born and brought up on a 500,000-acre sheep property located on the Lower Darling-Barka River. After witnessing the collapse of the river she grew up alongside, she has become a familiar face in the fight for better water policy in this country. She has been working for The Australia Institute as a researcher on rural issues such as health and services in regional Australia and climate change.

Natasha Mitchell is a multi-award-winning journalist, radio presenter, podcaster, and documentary maker. She is host of ABC Radio National's Big Ideas program, was founding host and producer of the radio show and podcast All in the Mind, hosted the ABC's daily social affairs program Life Matters, and was founding host and producer of Science Friction. Mitchell was recipient of a prestigious Knight Fellowship at MIT/Harvard. Her journalism has received numerous accolades.