Virginia Haussegger

Virginia Haussegger  is an award-winning journalist, gender equity advocate, and communication strategist. With 30 years of experience in media, Virginia has reported worldwide for primetime current affair programs on Channel 7, the 9 Network, and ABC TV. She currently works as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canberra and hosts a podcast about women and power called ‘BroadTalk’. In 2014 Virginia was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), and was named ACT Australian of the Year in 2019 for her unwavering advocacy for woman’s rights and gender equity, and to the media.

In 2017 Virginia became the founding inaugural Director and Chair of the ‘50/50 by 2030 Foundation’, as well as establishing and being the Chief Editor of a gender research news media platform, ‘BroadAgenda’ until 2021. She anchored the ABC’s flagship TV News in Canberra (2001-2016), and regularly writes commentary across Australian news media.

Virginia is the Guest Curator of the exhibition, Australian Women Changemakers at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD). Through this she gained an extensive knowledge of Australia’s most outstanding contemporary women changemakers, all with the common focus of shifting cultural, political and policy constructs.

Virginia is widely recognised as a leading communication and media strategist, regularly hosting a broad range of public forums, conferences, and panel discussions. She has also worked on the design and delivery of tailored presentation masterclasses across Commonwealth departments.  Virginia has served on numerous boards and committees such as UN Women Australia, The Rhodes Scholarship Australia at Large Selection Committee, Women in Media, Canberra; Media Advisory Committee; the Snowy Hydro SouthCare Trust, and Our Watch, to name a few.  She also served six years as a Director on the ACT Government’s Cultural Facilities Corporation, and in 2019 was was appointed an ANZSOG Fellow. Virginia can currently be seen as a patron of the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre.