DonateModern Slavery, a global Challenge, Local Solutions
why you should join
This theme highlights the global nature of modern slavery and how it affects businesses locally. It emphasizes the need for a coordinated effort to combat modern slavery and the importance of businesses taking a leadership role in this effort.
Key Purpose:
- To educate and influence consumers; professionals in CSR, legal and HR positions; politicians; and other influential people in Western countries, i.e. the USA, to take a stand against Modern Slavery.
- To be a self-funding event with all profits going to support rescuing victims and providing study grants for survivors of modern slavery in USA and Australia.
event speakers
Tap on the photo to see the details
Melissa Monteiro
Melissa Monteiro is the Chief Executive Officer of the Community Migrant Resource Centre, Parramatta. Having a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work, Melissa has extensive experience of over 27 years within the community Sector.
Melissa Monteiro
Blake Loaney
Reach Manager of A21 in Australia, leading a team of dedicated staff and volunteers in A21's Reach strategy to educate and equip everyone to understand, identify, and reduce the risk of human trafficking.Â
Blake Loaney
Paul Mergard
CEO at Destiny Rescue. has a Graduate Diploma in International Development and spent many years in the developing world, working with people who lived in extreme poverty or had been sold into slavery.
Paul Mergard
Dr. Hannah Thinyane
Director of Supply Chain Technology Research & Development at Diginex, an impact technology company that creates accessible and intelligent products to democratize sustainability. She has over 18 years’ experience working within and with government, business, academia, and UN; developing tools to identify and address power imbalances and vulnerabilities.
Dr. Hannah Thinyane
Nicholas Bernhardt
CEO and co-founder of Australian ESG tech company Informed 365. Informed 365 is an ESG (Environment Social Governance) platform that provides data transparency and drives efficiency in collecting, analysing, and reporting through advanced technology and automation.
Nicholas Bernhardt
Alexander Coward
Alexander is a Director at Pillar Two, a specialist business and human rights advisory firm. He is leading expert on modern slavery, supply chain transparency and stakeholder engagement. Drawing on eight years’ experience working for the Australian Government to shape Australia’s national response to modern slavery.
Alexander Coward
Matt Friedman
Matt Friedman is an international human trafficking expert with more than 30 years’ experience. He is CEO of The Mekong Club, an organization of Hong Kong’s leading businesses which have joined forces to help end all forms of modern slavery.
Matt Friedman
Dr. Ian Oppermann
Dr. Ian Oppermann is the NSW Government’s Chief Data Scientist working within the Department of Customer Service. He is also an Industry Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He heads the NSW government’s AI Review Committee and Smart Places Advisory Council.
Ian Oppermann
Freya Dinshaw
Freya Dinshaw joined the Human Rights Law Centre as a Senior Lawyer in 2018, and has over a decade of experience specialising in business and human rights. Freya’s work focuses on exploring opportunities for deploying advocacy, strategic litigation and international mechanisms to challenge the treatment of marginalised communities by governments and companies.
Freya Dinshaw
Dr. Stephen Morse
CEO of Unchained Solutions Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based consultancy that equips Australian organisations to comply with the Australian Modern Slavery Act. Stephen has over 25 years’ experience in entrepreneurial leadership in the not-for-profit and private sectors, both in Australia and overseas.
Dr. Stephen Morse
Fiona McGaughey
An Associate Professor of international human rights law at the University of Western Australia (‘UWA’) where she teaches in the Master of International Law. She has published widely on a range of human rights topics including modern slavery.
Fiona McGaughey
Dr. Katherine Christ
Christ is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting in UniSA Business. She is an expert in accounting for modern slavery risk in business operations and supply chains and recently founded the South Australian Modern Slavery Research and Practitioner Network.Â
Dr. Katherine Christ
Samson Selladurai
Co-founded the "I'm Safe" app, a tech solution designed to prevent trafficking and abuse against women using live tracking and blockchain technology. He has a Master's in International Business from the University of South Australia and is also the director of Ruah Tech, a company specialising in Artificial Intelligence, VR, XR, and Web3 software projects
Samson Selladurai
Prof John McMillan
John has held the statutory positions of Commonwealth Ombudsman, Integrity Commissioner (Acting) for the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, Australian Information Commissioner, NSW Ombudsman (Acting), and member of the Australian Copyright Tribunal. John is an Emeritus Professor at the Australian National University, where he taught administrative and constitutional law from 1983-2003.
Prof John McMillan
Leanne Melnyk
Head of Impact & Partnerships at Quizrr, a Swedish-based company that empowers workers in global supply chains through digital training on their rights. She has a Juris Doctor with a specialization in Labour Law and spent close to a decade at the International Labor Organization Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour and the ILO/IFC Better Work Programme.
Leanne Melnyk
