2020 Line-up coming soon

PREVIOUS Speakers (2019)

Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie

Sir Edward Taihākurei Durie is Chair of the Māori Council and leading legal expert on the Treaty of Waitangi.

Laura O’Connell Rapira

Laura O’Connell Rapira (Te Ātiawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is the Director of ActionStation. She is a proud member of the rainbow community, passionate about unleashing the power of the crowd through digital and community organising, effective collaboration, values-based storytelling and creative campaigning.

David McKnight

Australian journalist and academic David McKnight has written books on diverse topics. In his most recent book, Populism Now, he explores the rise of right-wing populism, and argues it could be countered by a progressive populism addressing the genuine economic grievances of everyday people, without scapegoating immigrants or ethnic minorities.

Debbie Hager

Debbie Hager runs workshops and classes about domestic violence and mental illness/disability around the country. Her work is based on strong health promotion and personal values including gender equity, feminism, social justice and environmental and interpersonal interdependence.

Pania Newton 

Lawyer Pania Newton (Waikato, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Maniapoto) is one of the inspirational leaders of SOUL – the high-profile campaign to save ancestral land at Ihumātao in Auckland.

Justine Sachs

Along with Nadia Abu-Shanab, Justine Sachs successfully persuaded Lorde to boycott Israel, and subsequently raised thousands for mental health in Gaza.

Abigail Smith

Abigail Smith is Greenpeace’s Mobilisation Manager. An experienced campaigner, she hit headlines in 2015 as one of four arrested for scaling parliament buildings to hoist a banner protesting climate change. She’ll talk to us about Greenpeace’s Deep Sea Oil Campaign. 

Lyndy McIntyre

Among many achievements, unionist Lyndy McIntyre has been the driving force behind Wellington City Council becoming an accredited living-wage employer this year. (The first council in the country to do so.)

Dani Pickering

Dani Pickering is a media researcher interested in political economy of the media, political engagement, and gender. They will speak to us about the work of People Against Prisons Aotearoa (PAPA).

Peace Action Wellington

Peace Action Wellington works for peace and justice throughout the world, with a special focus on the New Zealand government’s involvement in international affairs. PAW stands for peace with justice and self-determination.

Music & Comedy

Grace Leung

Grace Leung, ecologist and long-time campaigner for social and environmental justice, stumbled into stand-up comedy in 2017 and rapidly gained accolades for her incisive jokes about climate change, gender equity, biodiversity loss, her own autoimmune diseases, and her #metoo story.

Ruth Mundy

By turns heart-breaking and eletrifying, Ruth Mundy is a musical poet who sings songs of love and protest. 

Anthonie Tonnon

Anthonie Tonnon is fascinated by how people interact with human-made environments. He comes to us fresh from his innovative and acclaimed Rail Land tour –  ‘a poetic and practical exploration of passenger rail, and a meditation on what it means to us in the modern era.’

Ingrid and the Ministers

Led by singer-songwriter Ingrid Saker, Ingrid and the Ministers is a new band taking Pōneke by storm!