Gather your colleagues and guests to hear how, at a time when the media’s role as guardian of public interest is increasingly doubted, Joanne’s work turned hardened community attitudes, mobilised a Government and focussed a nation’s attention on justice.

On 26 June 2013 Prime Minister, Julia Gillard wrote to the Newcastle Herald’s Joanne McCarthy to thank her for work exposing child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

“I am sending you this letter in the very final moments of my last evening as Prime Minister… Thanks, in very large measure to your persistence and courage, the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry and the Federal Royal Commission will bring truth and healing to the victims of horrendous abuse and betrayal. … in your remarkable struggle to tell the story about this shameful chapter in our nation’s history, you are not alone. Thousands of Australians share your passion for justice – I’m one of them.”

People providing checks and balances critical to a modern democracy operate in a pressurised and politicised environment; but still, with determination, their work can change the world. Knowing that, and simply knowing right from wrong, has driven Joanne; CEDA is pleased as part of our Women in Leadership series to introduce you this agent of change, doing difficult incredibly work well.