New leadership announced for MEAA Media
Michael Slezak, Bianca Hall and Kasun Ubayasiri.
The Media section of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has new leadership with the appointment of a new Federal President and Vice-Presidents.
ABC environment reporter Michael Slezak will immediately begin as the Federal President, while The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s environment and climate reporter Bianca Hall, and Kasun Ubayasiri, a senior lecturer and Program Director of Communication and Journalism at Griffith University and freelance documentary photographer, will serve as Federal Vice-Presidents.
MEAA Federal President Michael Balk said the appointments of Slezak, Hall and Ubayasiri had been approved by the MEAA Board following the resignations of Karen Percy, Erin Delahunty and Kate Ferguson.
They will also become directors of the Walkley Foundation.
“Mikey, Bianca and Kasun are all highly-respected leaders in their own workplaces who have now stepped up to be leaders of their union,” Balk said.
“They have shown a great commitment to their industry and to their union over a long period of time and are excellent appointments.”
The new leadership team paid tribute to their predecessors and pledged to work with all MEAA members to advance the interests of Australian journalists.
Slezak and Hall work at two of the biggest newsrooms in Australia - newsrooms they’ve led through significant campaigns and wins for members.
Ubayasiri’s role at the university puts him face-to-face with the industry’s future workers, while his freelance work puts him in touch with particularly vulnerable MEAA members outside traditional newsrooms.
They epitomise MEAA’s unity, diversity and future focus and are perfectly placed to help unite the industry – from traditional newsrooms to freelance work and everything in between – to fight for a better future for all MEAA’s media members.
“There are many big issues confronting our industry: the sustainability of media business models to continue delivering independent and quality journalism, tackling the financial and employment insecurity of freelancers, the roll out of Artificial Intelligence, maintaining trust with audiences through ethical journalism, and diversifying the workplace profile of our industry so it truly represents modern Australia,” they said.
“MEAA has a long and proud history of more than a century advocating for Australian journalists and media workers, including as custodian of the Walkley awards, and whenever there has been a challenge we have always overcome it.
“As directors of the Walkley Foundation, we will take very seriously its constitutional requirement to build a community of journalists and protect it from any undue corporate influence. Independent, ethical journalism will remain the foundation’s driving goal.
“Our invitation to representatives from the foundation to meet with us and our elected colleagues on MEAA’s National Media Section committee to discuss the future governance of the foundation remains open.”
Michael Slezak is the ABC’s national environment and science reporter, covering stories across all ABC platforms. A Walkley Award-winning journalist, he has a strong record of breaking stories at the intersection of environmental and governance issues, driving public debate and reform. A proud member of MEAA throughout his career, he is co-chair of the ABC’s House Committee and has led campaigns at the ABC to protect staff packages, win better pay and conditions, and stand up against outside political interference. Under his leadership, the ABC has doubled its union density and the national house committee structure has been reformed to better represent the diversity of journalists who work there. Before joining the ABC, Michael was the environment reporter for Guardian Australia and the Australasian correspondent for New Scientist magazine. He also edited The Best Australian Science Writing (NewSouth Books) and has contributed to numerous other publications.
Bianca Hall is a journalist and editor with more than 20 years’ experience, reporting from the Press Gallery in Canberra, The Age’s newsroom in Melbourne, for community newspapers, and for papers in regional Victoria. She has worked as a deputy federal editor for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times, WAtoday and The Canberra Times, as well as Immigration Correspondent and Sunday Political Correspondent (among other roles) for those mastheads. She strongly believes in the role journalism can play in representing and connecting our communities, shining a light to power, and in being a “first draft” of history. She has been a union member since the age of 14, and has helped lead campaigns for better pay and conditions with The Age's house committee and Nine Publishing's national house committee.
Kasun Ubayasiri is a print and photojournalist who worked in Sri Lanka, and rural and regional Queensland before taking up a journalism teaching position at Griffith University, Queensland, where he is employed as Senior Lecturer and Program Director of Journalism and Communication. He continues to work on longform photodocumentary projects focusing on human rights and migration. He has a PhD from Queensland University of Technology and is the co-author of Journalism for Social Change in Asia: Reporting Human Rights. He is a strong believer in building united, ethical and robust journalistic collectives that can face the challenges of the future.
