Chair

Mary Kostakidis

Presented World News Australia on SBS television for over two decades.

Her role as a freelance journalist, commentator, and her service on various boards and committees reflects her commitment to social justice and active citizenship. Mary was Chair of the Sydney Peace Foundation when it awarded the Human Rights Medal to Julian Assange in 2011.

The panel

Greg Barns

Barrister, author and National Campaign Director of the newly formed WikiLeaks Party’s federal election campaign.

He is a former senior political adviser and was National Chair of the Australian Republican Movement from 2000-2002. He left the Liberal Party in 2002 because of his opposition to the Party’s policies on asylum seekers.

Julian Burnside AO QC

Barrister, author, human rights and refugee advocate.

He is known for his staunch opposition to the mandatory detention of asylum seekers and has acted pro bono in many human rights cases for fair treatment of refugees. He was voted a National Living Treasure and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2009.

Robert Manne

Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Convenor of the Ideas & Society Program at La Trobe University.

A well-known public commentator, he is the author of Left, Right, Left: Political Essays; Making Trouble: Essays against the New Australian Complacency and three Quarterly Essays, most recently “Bad News”.

 

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