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Join us on Wednesday, 11 March 2026 for ANU International Women’s Day event, aligned with this year’s theme, Balancing the Scales. This special evening panel will bring together women whose leadership spans community advocacy and public life to explore how we create more equitable systems and opportunities across Australia. 

Confirmed speakers include the Honourable Linda Burney and Dr Kim Jackson, Founder of the SKIP Foundation and Dr Mehreen Faruqi, Greens’ senator for New South Wales.

The Honourable Linda Burney a member of the Wiradjuri Nation, Linda Burney is a natural leader. Born in 1957, Linda was one of the first Aboriginal students to graduate from Mitchell College, now known as Charles Sturt University, with a teaching degree in 1978. After teaching for only two years, at the young age of 22, Linda asked to join John Lester, Lynette Riley and Trevor Cook in establishing the first Aboriginal Education Unit within the NSW State Department of Education. In this role Linda assisted in creating the first ever Aboriginal Education Policy in NSW which set the template and ongoing standards for Aboriginal education across Australia. Linda’s achievements are clearly demonstrated over three decades of continuous commitment championing Aboriginal rights in education, reconciliation and politics. Linda has contributed significantly to the development of Indigenous communities locally, regionally and nationally as an educator, championing reconciliation in Australia and as Member of the NSW Parliament.

Dr Mehreen Faruqi is the Greens’ senator for New South Wales. She is a civil and environmental engineer and life-long activist for social and environmental justice. In 2013, she joined NSW State Parliament, becoming the first Muslim woman to sit in an Australian parliament. In 2018, Mehreen became Australia’s first Muslim senator. She has been a passionate advocate against racism and misogyny.

Since emigrating from Pakistan in 1992 and completing her doctorate at the University of New South Wales, Mehreen has worked in leadership positions for local government, consulting firms and as an academic in Australia and internationally. This includes her roles as Manager of Environment and Services for Mosman Council, Manager of Natural Resources and Catchments for Port Macquarie-Hastings Council, Director of the Institute of Environmental Studies (UNSW) and an Associate Professor in Business and Sustainability (AGSM, UNSW).

Mehreen has delivered major projects including stormwater reuse and recycling infrastructure, integrated water cycle management, hydropower generation, cycleways and rainforest rehabilitation, as well as working for action on climate change and waste reduction. She has chaired a number of panels and committees on sustainability, water and waste management for industry, local, state and federal government.

Mehreen is a member of the National Tertiary Education Union.

She has been named one of the 100 most influential engineers in Australia and received the UNSW Faculty of Engineering Award for Leadership, and remains a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand. Throughout her career, Mehreen’s work has focused on developing solutions to social and environmental challenges.

Mehreen has been involved in feminist and anti-racist activism throughout her life. She introduced the first ever bill to decriminalise abortion in New South Wales and won the closure of pregnancy discrimination loopholes. Mehreen’s work for reproductive rights was recognised with the feminist Edna Ryan Grand Stirrer award in 2017 “for inciting others to challenge the status quo”. Her has highlighted the online harassment, bullying and toxicity experienced by women of colour in public life.

Since joining the federal senate in August 2018, Mehreen has been an outspoken advocate for public education, social housing and animal welfare. She continued her work calling out discrimination in , condemning the “legitimisation, normalisation and encouragement” of hate in politics and the media. She is the Australian Greens’ spokesperson for education and lifelong learning, housing, animal welfare, local government, gun control and industry.

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