Trailblazing Talent - Sunday Life
Earlier last week The Sydney Morning Herald celebrated 25 years of Sunday Life and their panel selected their nominees for Australia's most influential change-makers. They explored different facets of what a change-maker looks like and included the courageous ones, the intelligent women who have inspired us over the last 25 years and also those who are leading the charge now.
It was great to see so many recognisable Saxton speakers in the mix, see below some of the powerful women who were nominated as Trailblazing Talent and what the Sunday Life wrote about their incredible journeys.
In terms of achievement, it’s hard to beat being Australia’s first and, as yet, only female prime minister. Reflecting on her political career, Gillard tells?Sunday Life?her proudest achievements are creating the NDIS, calling the royal commission into child sexual abuse and Labor’s education reforms.
But many would argue that her misogyny speech should be up there, too. It’s a huge part of her legacy, launching Gillard into the world of viral TikTok content and inspiring millions of women and girls around the world. In turn, who inspires her? “Women, like those in Iran and Afghanistan, who dare to resist oppressive regimes,” she says.
As one of the world’s most successful female surfers, Layne Beachley holds the record as being the only surfer, male or female, to claim six consecutive world titles, which she did between 1998 and 2003. She went on to win a seventh world title in 2006 before retiring in 2008.
In the 14 years since she has been fighting for pay equity in surfing and providing scholarships through her Aim For The Stars Foundation to help young girls and women achieve their dreams. When asked what she’s most proud of, Beachley says it’s her legacy.
“I’m proud that my peers and I left the sport in a better place than we found it. Witnessing the success of today’s champions fills me with satisfaction. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, ‘For our success to be real, it must contribute to the success of others.’ ”
And who inspires her? “People who achieve great things, challenge the status quo or defy the odds and continue to embrace life, irrespective of the cards they’re dealt.”
As a survivor of child sexual abuse,?Grace Tame’s activism?– and fierce defiance – is borne of necessity. She does not mince her words. Nor does she smile on cue. She was 15 when she was repeatedly sexually abused by her 58-year-old maths teacher. Unable to advocate for herself, she lived in shame and silence while her convicted abuser could speak freely.
Years later, her case would become the catalyst for the #LetHerSpeak campaign that changed Tasmania’s Evidence Act so survivors could speak publicly about their experiences. After being named 2021’s Australian of the Year, Tame established her eponymous foundation as a framework to drive structural and cultural reform.
In August, Tame was notified of the national review of sexual assault legislation. “To both be a part of and observe this historic moment wherein child sexual abuse survivors are reclaiming their stories and the dial of power is recalibrating away from perpetrators is phenomenal,” she says.
It wasn’t until she was in her mid-30s that Australia’s matriarch of food found her calling. It started with a pheasant farm in South Australia’s Barossa Valley. Next came a farm-gate shop, then a restaurant. This eventually led to a media career, writing newspaper columns, before becoming a regular TV fixture in shows such as?The Cook and the Chef?and?MasterChef.
In 2010, Beer was named the Senior Australian of the Year, and more recently has been campaigning to improve the quality of food in aged care facilities. “Even though I’ve been working on this since 2014, I feel I’m only just starting,” she says. “What I want to achieve is for every cook or chef in aged care to be given the specialised education needed for this complex arena and be given the respect and conditions they deserve.”
When asked about the best advice she’s ever received, Beer has this to say: “No one person or organisation can bring about change alone – collaboration is essential.”
Ash Barty’s accomplishments on the tennis court are too numerous to list here. But the most significant is her being only the second Australian tennis player to be ranked No.1 in the world in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association – following in the footsteps of a fellow Indigenous woman and Barty’s hero, Evonne Goolagong Cawley.
Asked to name her proudest achievement, it’s no surprise that Barty lists winning Wimbledon in 2021. But on a personal level, she says it’s “working hard to become the best version of myself”.
While her?retirement from tennis?at just 25 years old may have been unexpected, Barty says that there are many things she’d still like to achieve. “Expanding my community work is a big priority for 2023. I’m excited to share a few things I have been working on in the coming months,” she hints. “Helping to nurture the next generation of tennis talent is another passion.”
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Already a national treasure for her comedic roles, most memorably as loveable Sharon Strzelecki in?Kath & Kim, the country’s respect only grew for Magda Szubanski when she began her work as an advocate for LGBTQI+ rights.
Szubanski first came out on live TV in 2012 in support of same-sex marriage. In a recent tweet, she celebrated the 10-year anniversary of that moment. “One of the best decisions of my life,” she wrote. While it remains one of her most notable public achievements, her proudest feat has been more personal and closer to home. “Nursing my mum through her dying days was a privilege,” she says.
Asked what she’d still like to achieve, the unstoppable Szubanski admits, “I’m sure it’s totally uncool to say but I’d fricking love to win an Oscar.” And who inspires her? “My friend Jane Vadiveloo, who started Children’s Ground. I’m in absolute awe of the years of dedication, care and sheer hard slog she has put in.”
At two years of age, Ellie Cole was diagnosed with a rare tumour and, after unsuccessful cancer treatment, had her right leg amputated above the knee. Eight weeks after the surgery, she began swimming lessons as part of her rehabilitation and immediately showed talent in the pool.
Cole began competitive swimming in 2003, and would go on to become Australia’s most-decorated female Paralympian. For Cole, her greatest achievement is finishing her sporting career having achieved pay parity with her Olympic counterparts. “Sport has come a long way in embracing diversity and it makes me very proud to reflect back on a 16-year career and see how far we have come.”
But there is still plenty more she’d like to achieve. “My lived experience with a disability has always been celebrated due to my sport,” she says. “However, this isn’t the case for many Australians who are living with an impairment. There is plenty of work to do and I would really like to celebrate diversity in all areas, not just in sport.”
When Rosie Batty steps out in public, she’s still astonished (“and humbled”) that people know who she is. But this recognition is no surprise to the rest of us because when we think of family violence, it is Batty’s face – and her unimaginable pain – that inevitably enters our minds.
In 2014, Batty’s 11-year-old son, Luke, was murdered by his father during cricket practice in Melbourne. It triggered an outpouring of grief, and then anger at the rates of male violence against women in this country.
The following year, Batty was named Australian of the Year, which set her on a path of advocacy that ultimately changed the discourse around family violence by thrusting it into mainstream conversations. That same year, Australia’s Royal Commission into Family Violence was completed. Batty describes her campaigning as “critical work”. Her north star? The complete eradication of violence against women and children. “As unrealistic as that may seem, you can’t aim for anything less than that,” she says.
Kate McClymont doesn’t fit the typical hard-nosed journalist stereotype. She’s warm and bookish, with a wicked sense of humour. You only need to follow her Twitter commentary and listen to?Liar Liar?– the podcast she co-hosts on the disappearance of fraudster Melissa Caddick – to witness her comic talents.
Her journalism is an alchemy of holding the powerful to account and standing up for those without a voice, her exposés of the sexual misconduct of television personality Don Burke and High Court judge Dyson Heydon being just two examples.
McClymont is the recipient of multiple Walkley journalism awards, including the Gold Walkley in 2002 for her exposé of the Canterbury Bulldogs’ salary cap breach. When corrupt NSW politician Eddie Obeid was sentenced in 2016 to a maximum of five years in jail after tireless work by McClymont, she cried. “The long struggle to expose his corrupt activities took its toll on me,” she says. “But in the end, the truth prevailed and justice was done.”
Arguably the best athlete in Australia, Ellyse Perry is not only the youngest-ever cricketer, male or female, to have represented Australia at international and Test levels, but she is also one of the few Australians to have represented her country in two different sports: cricket and soccer.
When asked about her greatest achievement, Perry says, “Having the opportunity to play sport for a living at an incredible time of change and progress for women.”On that topic, Perry has also released a book series that encourages girls to get active and pursue their goals. She says it’s an exciting time for women’s sports, as “young girls can now turn on the TV and see women competing and doing what we love”.
More recently, she’s designed a line of cricket gear called Staple, aimed at making a game she’s passionate about more accessible. “I love playing sports and being a part of a team,” she says. “Every year gets a little bigger and a little more exciting than the last!”
Nine years ago, Amanda McKenzie co-founded the Climate Council. Her goal? To fundamentally change the public conversation about climate change in Australia. “What started off as a conversation between myself and a few colleagues has transformed into an organisation of 55 staff and a community of half a million people pushing for change,” she says.
Under McKenzie’s leadership, the organisation has published 130 reports across climate science, informed policy at all levels of government, and worked with 170 local governments to make their communities more sustainable.
“My mission is to help build the demand and political will to make the huge changes required to tackle climate change, phase out fossil fuels, build a renewable-powered nation and support communities facing extreme weather,” she says.
McKenzie also has this message for Australia’s executives: “Do you want to be remembered as the leader who got it right or the one who didn’t do enough?”
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2 年What an amazing group of role models. Thank you for starting the rest of us on the right track.