Anthony Schembri

Chief Executive, Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) Anthony is Chief Executive of NSLHD and an Accredited Social Worker of the AASW. With 30+ years in public health, he’s held senior leadership roles, served on multiple medical and health research boards, and is an Adjunct and Industry Professor at leading Australian universities.

Cindy Smith

CEO, Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Cindy has led AASW since 2016. She is a qualified social worker with almost 20 years’ experience in positions including leadership in community health and out-of-home care, managing a counselling team, senior management of a Child, Youth and Family Directorate in community health, and Executive Director of a not-for-profit organisation. Cindy is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australasian College of Health Services Management and a member of Chief Executive Women. She is a Certified Health Executive, holds a Bachelor of Social Work, a Masters in Health Administration, and a Graduate Certificate in Health Service Management. Cindy served as an AASW Board Director from November 2011 to June 2016.

Deirdre Cheers

CEO, Barnardos Australia Deirdre is an experienced CEO and respected leader in the Australian and International context of child focused social care and protection, with an extensive career in professional social work, management and leadership, including 45 years of experience in child rights and advocacy.

Simone Czech

CEO, Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (ACWA) Simone is the CEO of ACWA, the NSW peak body representing non-government community organisations that deliver services to children, young people and their families experiencing vulnerability. She brings over 25 years’ experience working in the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

Tara Hunter

Director, Full Stop Australia Tara is the Director of Clinical and Client Services at Full Stop Australia providing leadership for all the helplines, sexual abuse and fee for service counselling services. She has a Master of Social Work, and as a member of the NSW Women’s Advisory Council represents Full Stop on various government and non-government advisory bodies .

Tori Cooke

Director, Pandora Projects Victoria (Tori) provides consultation and subject matter specialism in family violence programs and projects and is a skilled clinical supervisor and TAE40116 trained educator in private practice.  Tori is a social worker experienced in working with women experiencing family violence, suicide bereavement counselling, AOD counselling and working directly with men using violence and abuse. She has developed and implemented women’s healing programs and is well known in designing MBCP responses (individual, case management and groupwork programs) for men’s groups in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. In the last five years, Tori has worked on a range of initiatives in the men’s family violence space in Victoria as part of the Victorian Family Violence Royal Commission reforms working as the practice specialist at Relationships Aust Victoria and Head of Workforce Development at No to Violence in the last five years. Now based in Perth, Tori continues to support best practice responses, and the health and wellbeing of practitioners in private practice through Pandora Enterprise Projects. Tori contributed as a subject matter expert in the innovative Victorian Orange Door Hubs induction training and a subject matter contributor in the design of the MARAM Framework training in Victoria. She currently teaches part time at South Metro TAFE, lectures at the University of Western Australia and provides external supervision and mentoring to front line practitioners. 

Professor Jan Breckenridge

Head of the School of Social Sciences, UNSW Professor Jan Breckenridge is an internationally recognised interdisciplinary social sciences scholar in areas of gendered violence and her research and engagement activities are oriented towards maximum impact in innovative social policy development, best practice service provision and outcome measurement of effectiveness. Jan’s research delivers academic excellence by combining the goals of quality and impact enacted through extensive engagement activities to create a more just society and produce demonstrable social benefits. Jan currently manages a philanthropic grant as part of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s Next Chapter and Next Chapters Innovations programs. As part of this program, GVRN received funding to support and advance research into economic and financial abuse, building an evidence base for best practice responses by financial institutions and opportunities for knowledge exchange between community partners. Jan is a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant 2025 which aims to aims to address the ways in which the tax and transfer system in Australia can be used by perpetrators of intimate partner financial abuse. Jan is currently an invited member of the Social Services Advisory Board providing advice to the Department and the Honourable Katy Gallagher, Minister for Finance, Women and the Public Service and Government Services.

Carolyn Cousins

Director, Tuned In Consulting Carolyn Cousins from Tuned In Consulting (BSW, MSW, MEd(Adult), MSc(App. Neuroscience) has previously worked in and managed teams in the DFV sector, as well as provided specialist training for the Education Centre against Violence. She has been involved in the Staying Home Leaving Violence Program since its early days, facilitating specialist training and undertaking policy writing and updates. In 2019 Carolyn developed DFV training for the NSW Police Force, both for General Duties and DVLO Policing roles. She currently supervisees professionals in a range of DFV related roles and continues to provide specialist training, having hosted forums for Safer Pathways and other specialist DFV programs. Most recently, Carolyn has been involved in the roll out of the new DVSAT resources.