The Walkley Directors are the members and directors of the company Walkley Foundation Limited, which is registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission.
Adele Ferguson is a Gold Walkley award winning journalist with the ABC. She is the author of the bestselling books Banking Bad and an unauthorised biography on Gina Rinehart. Adele started her career at The Advertiser in Adelaide and over her career has worked across various mastheads including BRW and The Australian. She is a nine-time Walkley Award winner and other awards include two Gold Quill awards, two Gold Kennedy Awards, a Logie and the Graham Perkin Journalist of the Year. In 2019 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to print and broadcast journalism. She has a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Adelaide University.
Bianca Hall is a journalist and editor with more than 20 years’ experience, reporting from the Press Gallery in Canberra, The Age’s newsroom in Melbourne, for community newspapers, and for papers in regional Victoria. She has worked as a deputy federal editor for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, WAtoday and The Canberra Times, as well as Immigration Correspondent and Sunday Political Correspondent (among other roles) for those mastheads. She strongly believes in the role journalism can play in representing and connecting our communities, shining a light to power, and in being a “first draft” of history.
Victoria Laurie is a former senior reporter and feature writer for The Australian newspaper. She worked in current affairs for ABC TV and radio and freelanced for The Bulletin, The Monthly, HQ, Australian Geographic and The Weekend Australian Magazine. Victoria is founder and national co-patron of Women in Media, a not-for-profit initiative to support women working in the sector. She is the author of natural history books The Kimberley: Australia's Last Great Wilderness and The Southwest: Australia's Biodiversity Hotspot (UWAP). She has been a three-time Walkley feature finalist.
Sally has won a total of four Walkley Awards, including the Outstanding Contribution to Journalism award at the 67th Walkley Awards (pictured left). She is a former ABC TV foreign correspondent, reporter with Four Corners, Lateline, Foreign Correspondent and the 7.30 Report, and was a senior contributor to The Australian, writing on terrorism and security matters.
Sally was Executive Producer of the ABC's nightly flagship current affair program, 7.30, from 2012 to 2015; and Executive Producer of Australia's premier investigative affairs program, Four Corners, from 2015 to 2022. She has authored two books, 'In the Shadow of Swords' and 'The Mother of Mohammed'.
Sally was Executive Producer of the ABC's nightly flagship current affair program, 7.30, from 2012 to 2015; and Executive Producer of Australia's premier investigative affairs program, Four Corners, from 2015 to 2022. She has authored two books, 'In the Shadow of Swords' and 'The Mother of Mohammed'.
Michael Slezak is the ABC’s national environment and science reporter, covering stories across all ABC platforms. A Walkley Award-winning journalist, he has a strong record of breaking stories at the intersection of environmental and governance issues, driving public debate and reform. Before joining the ABC, Michael was the environment reporter for Guardian Australia and the Australasian correspondent for New Scientist magazine. He also edited The Best Australian Science Writing (NewSouth Books) and has contributed to numerous other publications. Committed to fostering a strong journalism community, he is dedicated to supporting reporters in their vital role in Australian democracy.
Kasun Ubayasiri is a print and photojournalist who worked in Sri Lanka, and rural and regional Queensland before taking up a journalism teaching position at Griffith University, Queensland, where he is employed as Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Journalism and Communication. He continues to work on longform photodocumentary projects focusing on human rights and migration. He has a PhD from Queensland University of Technology and is the co-author of Journalism for Social Change in Asia: Reporting Human Rights. He is a strong believer in building united, ethical and robust journalistic collectives that can face the challenges of the future.