Penny Wong was born in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Her family moved to Australia in 1976, when she was eight years old, and settled in Adelaide.

She was first elected to the Senate in 2001 and has been re-elected four times - in 2007, 2013, 2016 and 2022. With the election of the Rudd Government in 2007, she was appointed Minister for Climate Change and Water. In this role she led major reforms to expand renewable energy and improve rural and urban water security, as leading Australia’s international climate negotiations.

Senator Wong was appointed Minister for Finance in 2010, helping deliver three Budgets in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. Since 2013, Senator Wong has been the Leader of Australian Labor in the Senate – and is the first woman to lead the Government in the Senate.

On the election of the Albanese Government in 2022, Senator Wong was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs, after holding the portfolio in opposition for the previous six years.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Wong is rebuilding Australia’s reputation as a trusted partner of choice for the countries of the region - and returning diplomacy to the centre of Australia’s international policy. With more coordinated statecraft, her focus is making Australia stronger and more influential in the world, and better able to contribute to the region’s stability and prosperity.

Courtney Saville is from Melbourne and has worked in international development for 12 years with a strong focus on Indonesia. Courtney first visited Indonesia as a student in 2008, taking part in the one year Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) program, and then again in 2015 as a Victorian Government Hamer scholarship recipient. In 2017, Courtney led the expansion of The Fred Hollows Foundation into Indonesia out of Lombok, and is currently Executive Director of The Island Foundation. 

The Island Foundation is a Singapore international charitable organisation and works in partnership with Yayasan Peduli Kepulauan Indonesia in the Riau Islands and beyond. Since joining in late 2019, Courtney's expertise in strategic planning, program design and organisational development has revitalised The Island Foundation and positioned its program and 20 employees for success. With a mission to transform education in Indonesia's small island and coastal communities and a strong commitment to grassroots service provision, The Island Foundation is providing direct learning interventions for 550 students, training 200 teachers, and engaging 3,000 members of the community under the organisation's flagship Learning for Sustainability program each year. 

Learning for Sustainability is an integrated systems strengthening model that involves stakeholders across the learning ecosystem. The Island Foundation works directly with primary school students, parents and communities, kindergarten and school teachers, and government departments to improve student learning experiences and outcomes. Across Indonesia, the majority of graduates leave school without the skills necessary for employment and empowered lives. In response, Learning for Sustainability is designed to support students to develop confidence, critical thinking, collaboration and creativity through a bespoke framework that prioritises locally relevant themes of culture, environment and livelihoods and is delivered through outdoor and experiential learning, project-based learning and content-based language learning methods. All childhood learning and teacher training materials delivered under Learning for Sustainability are designed by professional educators with input from The Island Foundation's learning facilitators and local partners - this way, the program is based in recognised pedagogy while celebrating the diverse values, experiences and languages of children who live in remote small island and coastal communities.

Courtney is proficient in Bahasa Indonesia and holds a MSc (Environmental Management and Sustainability), BA (Hons) and LLB.  

William is an agricultural systems, open innovation, AgTech strategy and policy practitioner. His quest is to unleash the potential for agriculture to be the leading force for good.

William co-founded Beanstalk, a pioneering innovation agency dedicated to the advancement of a sustainable, ethical and resilient global food system that feed our people nutritiously and regenerate our planet. Over the past decade, William has helped to establish regional projects to pave the way for emerging agricultural technologies into the region especially across Southeast Asia, South Asia and the Pacific. Prior to Beanstalk, William worked extensively across senior Government policy roles focused on agriculture development, resource management, climate policy, and Asia relations. 
 
In 2019, Will was selected as "40 under 40: Most Influential Asian-Australian", he was a past Committee Member on the Australia-India Youth Dialogue, and a delegate on the Australia-Vietnam Leadership Dialogue. 

Tessa Sullivan is an award-winning lawyer and Officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria, a qualified mediator and arbitrator certified by the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation and a casual academic and lecturer of law at the University of New England.

Tessa was born and raised in Thailand, educated in Singapore and finished her tertiary education in Australia, France, Italy and the United States of America. She speaks four languages and is a married mother-of-three.

Tessa worked as a journalist with the Bangkok International Film Festival, the Government of Thailand and Network Ten. She is currently studying her second Masters at Harvard University under the David Nason Scholarship by the American Australian Association. Tessa has also completed a Monash University law scholarship in Prato, Italy. Tessa also has a Bachelor of Arts, a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Laws (Juris Doctorate) from Monash University.

Tessa was awarded the Marjorie Glasson Award for Community Service and the Rubridge Award for Excellence with her study thesis into Japanese Noh theatre. Tessa also won the Silver medal at the Parisian 9th International Chamber of Commerce Mediation Competition, and in 2020, Tessa was awarded the 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians for recognition of her work in Government and for breaking the bamboo and glass ceiling in being the first Thai national ever elected into Australian Government and in creating legislative changes to workplace protection laws.

Through her work as an Executive Committee Board member for Blind Sports and Recreation; her role as International Studies Student Liaison Officer for the North American Australian Lawyers Alliance and 
as President of the Thai Australian Chamber, Tessa hopes to use her background in law, education and business to elevate, promote and support the Thai community Australia-wide. 

Racheline Tantular graduated as Valedictorian with a Bachelor of Philosophy and First Class Honours in Asian Studies and Music from the University of Western Australia. As a Fogarty and New Colombo Plan Scholar, her Honours thesis analysed Singaporean multicultural policies and incorporated primary research during an exchange semester at the National University of Singapore. 

Racheline serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the ASEAN-Australia Strategic Youth Partnership (AASYP). Since 2019, she spearheaded AASYP’s growth, conceptualised and directed the Indo-Pacific Future Leaders Programme, and executed three ASEAN-Australia Young Leaders Forums across the region. 

Racheline founded her public policy consulting business after working at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. She is a Policy Advisor at Reset.Tech Australia and Project Manager at Lydekker, seeking to advance global policy cooperation to navigate technological evolution and combat digital threats to democracy in Australia, Southeast Asia, and beyond. 

Over the last five years, Racheline has played clarinet in the Western Australian Wind Symphony and competed as a cheerleader and ballroom dancer. She speaks Indonesian, Mandarin, and Japanese.

Ling Ang is a multimedia artist based in Melbourne. Her work is rooted in a documentary language exploring contemporary issues with a strong narrative format. In 2009, she started the RMIT Cultural Visions Scholarship to help students that were interested in creating projects pushing for cultural awareness.

Having worked as an international academic in Sri Lanka, the UK, and Australia and a consultant for top-tier companies internationally, Dr Ruwangi Fernando is now a changemaker for Women of colour in STEM and advocating for an intersectional approach to diversity and inclusion in the Australian STEM sector.

In his current re-elected government role at Melbourne City Council, Philip is the lead for the Treasury portfolio that manages the financials, governance, and risks including the current annual budget of $838 million and wholly owned subsidiaries Citywide and Queen Victoria Market.

Two-time winner, in 2019 of the Australian Financial Review and Qantas and in 2015 of the Australian Financial Review and Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards, Sophie Galaise is renowned for her extensive experience working with orchestras, not only at the executive level, but also as a professional musician and musicologist.

Daizy is passionate about young people shaping the future, social entrepreneurship and representation. She hosts a podcast called The Daizy Project which explores living a purpose life through meaningful conversations with bold entrepreneurs, leaders and change-makers.

Ly Tran is a Professor in the School of Education, Deakin University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Ly has conducted ground-breaking research on reciprocal student mobilities between Australia and Asia and provided policy advice and commentary on international education.

Leah Jing McIntosh is the founding editor of Liminal. Since 2017, Leah has published art, writing and interviews by and for Asian-Australian artists. She has founded national literary prizes for minoritized writers, and co-edited Collisions (Pantera Press), a critically-acclaimed collection of fiction by First Nations writers and Writers of Colour.