Jenny McAllister is the National President of the ALP.
She has been a party member since 1992 and believes that active party membership can make a difference on important issues. She has been active in campaigns for the environment, peace and women’s parliamentary representation. In 2003 she co-founded the Labor Environment Activist Network with former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally. Now a national organisation, the network campaigns within the ALP on environmental issues, particularly climate change.

In 2009 Jenny was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship to undertake study in the USA on the transition to a low carbon economy.

Jenny’s political interests include economics, indigenous culture and policy, the environment, Australia’s role in the Pacific, and e-campaigning.

She grew up in northern NSW and attended university in Queensland and Sydney, graduating with an honours degree in Arts from the University of Sydney.

She is married and the mother of two young boys, and lives in the Sydney suburb of Redfern with her family.

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Senator Helen Kroger is the Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate, the first Victorian Senator elected to this role. She is the Federal Parliamentary Patron for the Liberal Party’s Federal Women’s committee and has held key leadership positions in the Liberal Party, including State President of the Victorian Division and later as Federal Vice President.

Prior to her election to the position of Chief Whip, Helen was Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee and Acting Deputy Chairman of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.

In the lead-up to the 2010 Victorian State election, Helen strongly advocated that the Liberal Party not preference the Greens. The Victorian Division subsequently decided to place the Greens last on its ballot papers and won in a landslide. This decision has shaped the national political agenda.

Helen is the Coalition Convenor of Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse and Neglect, a parliamentary friendship group which aims to increase awareness of, and work to eliminate, child abuse and neglect.

Before entering parliament, Helen was a successful small business owner and remains a passionate advocate for the small business sector.

She was the fund-raising director for Wesley College Melbourne for six years and has a great appreciation of volunteerism and the central role it plays in Australia.

Mikey Robins is best known for his work on Good News Week as team captain along with Paul McDermott and Claire Hooper.

Mikey has recently filmed shows for Foxtel including The Jesters, You Have Been Watching and The League Lounge.

Mikey’s radio career began with 7 years as host of Triple J’s National Breakfast Show.

He has also worked for Triple M and vega. Early TV career included Live and Sweaty and McFeast followed by regular appearances on Sunrise, Spicks and Specks and The Fat.

He devised and hosted a series of documentaries on Channel 10 about Australians and their favourite pubs, the success of which lead to shows being filmed in both Ireland and Las Vegas. He also hosted shows for the Foxtel network including Campaign and Hollywood Head to Head.

Mikey has co-Authored two books Three Beers and a Chinese Meal with Helen Razor and Big Man’s World with Tony Squires and Steve Abbott AKA The Sandman.

Mikey has been a columnist for The Daily Telegraph and GQ and has written for several publications including Men’s Style.

Mikey’s career began after graduating from Newcastle University and joining the cabaret group The Castanet Club.

In March 2011 Mikey went to Afghanistan to entertain the troops.

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Robert Manne was born to Jewish refugee parents in Melbourne in 1947. He attended government schools until moving to the University of Melbourne in 1966, where he studied history and where, on anticommunist grounds, his politics shifted away from the mainstream Left. In 1969 Robert went to Oxford University where he completed a postgraduate degree in International Relations. In 1975 he was appointed as Lecturer in Politics at La Trobe University. He now holds a Personal Chair there and is the Convenor of its Ideas & Society Program.

Robert has published or edited nineteen books including Whitewash: Keith Windschuttle and the Fabrication of Aboriginal History; The Howard Years; Left, Right, Left; Political Essays-1977-2005; Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia and Making Trouble: Essays against the New Australian Complacency. Recently he has published a study of WikiLeaks in The Monthly, “The Cypherpunk Revolutionary: Julian Assange” and a Quartely Essay on The Australian, "Bad News". His books and essays have won various awards including the Washington National Intelligence Center Prize; the Alfred Deakin Prize (jointly); and the Queensland Premier’s Prize for a work advancing public debate.

Between 1987 and 2004 he was a columnist, at different times, for both the Murdoch Press and Fairfax, and also a regular commentator on ABC Radio. Between 1990 and 1997 he was editor of Quadrant. The editorship ended in controversy. Since then he has been Chair of the Boards of both Australian Book Review and The Monthly, where he remains. In 2005 he was voted Australia’s leading public intellectual in a survey conducted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Robert is married to the writer and social critic, Anne Manne. They have two daughters. He and Anne live on the outskirts of Melbourne with a dog, four cats and three horses.

Tim Wilson is the Director of Climate Change Policy and the IP (intellectual property) and Free Trade Unit at the Institute of Public Affairs and a Senior Fellow at New York's Centre for Medicine in the Public Interest.

In 2009 he was named by The Australian newspaper as one of the ten emerging leaders of Australian society, and is a recipient of an Australian Leadership Award from the Australian Davos Connection.

He is regularly published in Australian and international newspapers and journals, including The Wall Street Journal, Australian Financial Review and The Australian. He is also a frequent commentator on television and radio.

Tim is currently a Director of Alfred Health and formally served on the Board of Monash University and a number of service companies in the tertiary education sector.

He has previously worked in consulting and international aid and development, as well as for a number of State and Federal Members of Parliament. He was also twice elected President and Chairman of the Monash University Student Union and was also elected to the Council of Monash University. He completed a Masters of Diplomacy and Trade from the Monash Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University. He has several international diplomas and is a trained carbon accountant.

Tim is a member of a large number of civil society organisations, including the Australian-American Association, the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne Football Club, Melbourne Cricket Club and the National Gallery of Victoria.

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