Nova Peris OAM OLY, Co-Chair

Nova Peris OAM OLY is an Olympic Gold Medalist, a Commonwealth Champion and the first Aboriginal woman elected to Federal Parliament. With an astonishing sporting career representing Australia across the globe in two different sports, Peris was a key component of both the Australian Women's field hockey team and the Australian Track & Field team. In the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Peris became the first Aboriginal person and first Northern Territorian to win an Olympic Gold Medal playing for the Hockeyroos that defeated South Korea 3-1.

Transitioning her hockey career to sprinting, Peris competed in the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur winning two more gold medals in the 200m & 4x100 relay, making her the only person to win Olympic and Commonwealth Gold in different sports! Nova went on to make the Track and Field Team for the Sydney 2000 Olympics and was the first of 10,000 Olympic flame torchbearers at the iconic Uluru, where she ran barefoot with the flame. Nova competed in the individual 400m making the semi finals and the 4x400m relay that finished fourth in the final. Nova is the only person on the planet to make back-to-back Summer Olympic Games finals, consecutive Olympics in different sports!

Following a successful athletic career, Nova then became the first Aboriginal women to sit in the Federal Parliament as Senator for the Northern Territory. Nova has now started her own charity, the Nova Peris Foundation, and recently had her bronze statue unveiled in Federation Square, Melbourne.

Dr Meredith Doig OAM FAICD, Vice-Chair

Dr Meredith Doig OAM FAICD spent most of her career in the corporate world (Ford, Rio Tinto, ANZ), and then 15 years as a professional company director (Port of Melbourne, V/Line, Bakers Delight, University of Melbourne, Federation University and Federation TAFE). For five years she taught the Company Directors course at the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and for 15 years she was a Moderator with the Cranlana Program for Ethics and the Good Society.

In 2016 she stood as a candidate for the Senate for the Australian Sex Party on a ‘triple bottom line’ platform of evidence-based social reform, economic prudence and environmental rationality. She is currently president of the Rationalist Society of Australia, secretary of Dying With Dignity Victoria, and a director of the Jewellers Association.

Her Australian honour was for contributions to higher education, business and the community. Oh, and she’s been a motorcyclist for 50 years.

Nathan Hansford, Treasurer & Secretary, ACT Branch Convenor

Nathan is a management consultant with experience advising governments and corporates across Australia, Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, the Pacific and Europe.

The experience of having faciliated republic movement supporter groups in Asia prompted Nathan to reconnect with the Australian Republic Movement at a state and national level when he relocated back to Australia.

“We are a multi-cultural country, with tens of thousands of years of Indigenous heritage and custodianship, where equality and independence are core to our sense of us, yet we are still represented by a foreign monarch from a foreign land. I want nothing more than for my Korean-Australian daughters to be able to aspire to the highest representative position in Australia, our Head of State.”

“If you want to be involved in the ACT please find me on the Australian Republic Supporters Facebook Group and connect so we can work together to make an Australian Head of State a reality!”

Wendy Le Cornu, General Executive Member, Tasmanian Branch Convenor

Wendy Le Cornu was outraged by Whitlam’s dismissal in 1975 and disappointed by the failed referendum in 1999. She’s a proud Australian and would love to see Australia become a republic.

The legacy of our colonial past is both pride and shame, and Wendy hopes our nation can make peace with that and move forward as a united people. Being shackled to the monarchy impedes that process. Australians have been loyal servants, but it’s time for emancipation: time to do things ‘the Aussie way.’

Wendy has worked as a Japanese/English teacher, counsellor, office manager, sales assistant and waitress. She’s retired and lives with her husband in Tasmania. They have three grown up children and five grandchildren.

Marina Go, General Executive Member

Marina Go is an experienced Chair and Non-Executive Director on ASX listed companies, private companies and not-for-profit organisations, across a range of sectors including energy, infrastructure, technology, retail and sport. She is a member of UNSW’s Business Advisory Council and ANU’s Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership (CAAL) Advisory Board, and author of the business book, ‘Break Through: 20 Success Strategies for Female Leaders’. Marina has 30 years of leadership experience in the media industry and is a former Chair of The Walkley Foundation. Marina is a co-founder of Women’s Agenda and has been actively progressing equitable outcomes for women and culturally diverse Australians for more than three decades.

Michael Cooney, General Executive Member, National Youth Convenor

Michael has been a member of the Australian Republic Movement since he was 15 years old, as someone born after the referendum, he will bring a passionate young voice to engage the critical demographic of young people who missed the last debate for a republic.