Speaking

Helen brings more than twenty-five years of frontline journalism to every stage. Where many speakers rely on theory, she draws on a career spent reporting the stories that mattered — and on four years leading Victoria's Multicultural Commission, where she turned principle into policy. The result is a speaker who is as comfortable holding a boardroom as she is a televised debate.

Her style is conversational but rigorous. Audiences describe a rare combination of warmth and authority: the ease of a broadcaster who has spent decades live on air, paired with the depth of someone who has genuinely grappled with the issues she speaks to. Nothing is off-the-shelf — each engagement is shaped around the room, the brief and the outcome the host is reaching for.

Above all, Helen speaks with credibility. She has interviewed prime ministers and survivors, directed a documentary acquired by Netflix and SBS, and advised government and industry at the most senior levels. When she takes the stage, that lived experience is in every sentence.

Helen is at home across corporate, government, health and community settings — from intimate leadership offsites to national conferences and public forums. She has hosted gala events, facilitated expert panels, and delivered keynotes to audiences of thousands, here and overseas.

Her enduring themes reflect a career devoted to people: belonging and social cohesion, ethical leadership, the role of media in public life, and the lived realities of a modern, multicultural Australia. These are not abstract topics for Helen — they are the through-line of her work as a journalist, a Commissioner and a filmmaker.

Every talk is tailored. Whether the goal is to inspire a workforce, unpack a complex policy issue, or simply hold a room together as MC, Helen calibrates tone and content to land with the specific audience in front of her — and to leave them thinking long after the event ends.