The Team

Rana Ebrahimi is a national leader and advocate dedicated to advancing the rights, inclusion, and wellbeing of multicultural children and young people. As National Manager of MYAN, she brings expertise in social inclusion, humanitarian ethics, and systems change, influencing policy and practice across Australia and the Asia-Pacific. She serves as Chair of Refugee Education Australia, Chair of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging for Rotary District 9800, and on the international board of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network, and advises several national organisations and government bodies. A trailblazer in humanitarian leadership, Rana was the first Iranian woman to serve as National Head of Office for UNHCR in Iran. Her contributions have been recognised through the 2023 Multicultural Award of Excellence and Rotary's Royce Abbey Champion of Change Award.

Karen Andrews is an experienced board director, mechanical engineer, and former Federal Minister with a career spanning engineering, industrial relations, national security, and public policy. She began her career in the petrochemical and electricity sectors before moving into senior industrial relations and workforce roles across health, hospital, and ambulance services, supporting major organisational and clinical workforce reforms. Karen served in the Australian Parliament for over a decade, including as Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Industry, Science and Technology - with responsibility for national security agencies, cyber and counterterrorism reforms, border operations during COVID-19, and strengthening sovereign capability through the Modern Manufacturing Strategy. She now holds board and advisory roles and consults in governance, recruitment, and organisational strategy, bringing deep experience in public administration, regulatory systems, and risk management.

Iain Walker is Executive Director of The newDemocracy Foundation, a role he has held since 2011. newDemocracy is a non-partisan, non-issue aligned research foundation exploring ways to do democracy better. Its focus is on ways to give everyday citizens a substantive role in our parliaments, akin to the jury system in our courts - designing, operating and overseeing Citizens' Assemblies and Citizens' Juries for councils and governments in Australia and internationally. newDemocracy's projects include work for state Premiers on both sides of politics, the Irish Parliament, the OECD and the UN Democracy Fund, as well as over 30 large-scale projects in Australia.

Charlotte Mortlock has spent her career at the intersection of democracy and accountability - as a political reporter and news anchor for Sky News, an advisor inside the Liberal Party, and a movement builder who brought women into political life across Australia through Hilma's Network. Convinced that meaningful change required building something new, Charlotte left the Liberal Party and Hilma's Network in 2026 to found Something Better Australia, a campaign to create Australia's next major political party. She is a staunch believer in the fourth estate, participatory democracy, and the idea that political structures should reflect the people they serve. Her 12 years as a broadcast journalist across New York, Sydney and rural Australia sharpened the instincts she now brings to political innovation: how to cut through, who holds power, and what it takes to shift it.

Chelsea is an experienced policy, advocacy and government relations specialist focused on the policy levers and institutional arrangements that perpetuate systemic inequity in Australia. She has expertise in planetary health, food systems and preventive health policy, having worked in not-for-profit and academic institutions including the Climate and Health Alliance, The George Institute for Global Health and the Climate Action Network Australia. Chelsea is currently completing her PhD at the Australian National University, focusing on Commonwealth Treasury and governance of the wellbeing economy in Australia. Her previous research has focused on planetary health policy, wellbeing economies, food ethics and sustainable and nutritious food systems. She is passionate about fostering an Australia that prioritises intergenerational health and equity in a stable Earth system.

Jason is a Wiradjuri start-up founder with extensive governance expertise and experience across community, corporate, government and philanthropic sectors. He advises leaders on strategy, leadership, governance and systems transformation across commercial, for-purpose, and creative industries. Jason is a Co-founder and Director of Native Foodways, was the inaugural Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social Equity program and the creator and inaugural CEO of the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence. He was part of the start-up team that built Reconciliation Australia and served on its Board for five years, and part of the collaboration that built the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. He is currently a member of the Boards of The GO Foundation and ACON and, until recently, was Chair of PwC Indigenous Consulting and the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute. Jason is an Industry Professor at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at UTS and a member of the Indigenous Advisory Group at the Art Gallery of NSW.