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Just Announced!
Panel members just announced! Find out more about the speakers.
Overview
QPAC in partnership with Multicultural Australia is excited to be hosting Words That Bind – Creating Unity Through Our Many Languages, facilitated by Benjamin Law and featuring panel members Sachém, Tea Dietterich, The Hon Chief Justice Helen Bowskill, and Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann.
A multilingual Australia holds many benefits including richer cultural exchange and stronger ties with global partners and enhanced diplomatic and economic relationships. Join us for a panel conversation about the transformative potential of language to build bridges by connecting communities, fostering understanding, and promoting unity and cohesion while celebrating the richness of our cultural diversity.
This event will also feature Brisbane-based singer/songwriter and proud South Sea and Yuwi Burra descendant Waveney Yasso who will provide a special performance as part of the event, brought to you by Women of the World (WOW) Australia – a proud supporter of Changing the Conversation.
About Changing the Conversation
Bringing together thought leaders from academia, government, business, and the community to engage in robust discussions about multiculturalism in the Australian context, the Changing the Conversation series – presented by Multicultural Australia in partnership with QPAC – explores issues of who and where we are as a nation and what we need to do to create a society that better reflects and cares for all its people. Words That Bind: Creating Unity Through Our Many Languages is the thought-provoking finale of this series for 2024.
Meet the Panellists
Panel
Sachém
Growing up on an island population of 2,500 people, Sachém holds both ancestral ties to Noonuccal (North Stradbroke Island) and Black America. His story, experience and approach to music are ones that the world has not seen before – reflecting both front-line First Nation / African American perspectives within the Australian environment and a deep understanding of the hip-hop community and its culture.
Recent Elefant Traks signee, Sachém, has opened at prestigious Music Awards, AFL Indigenous Round 2022, RPAC theatre and QPAC with his recent theatre show The Bigger Picture, featuring a 22-piece orchestra. Sachém has worked with artists such as LaRussell (Live Nation), Tom Thum, Nerve and LaTheGoat (Def Jam).
He was also awarded the 2017 Oodgeroo Noonuccal Poetry Prize (Queensland Poetry Festival), the 2020 Brisbane City Council Best Original Song Award and was recently nominated for a 2022 and 2024 QMA Award.
Tea Dietterich
Tea Dietterich is the Founder and CEO of 2M Language Services, Australia’s leading language service and language technology provider specialising in safe and ethical Language AI.
She leads the conversation on safe and customised Language AI in Australia, with recent achievements including the AI Translator App for Emergency Management Victoria (EMV), designed to promote safety equity among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.
Tea serves as President of the Australasian Association of Language Companies (AALC), Chairman of the Board for the German Australian Business Alliance (iGABA) and is also Board and Council Member of University of Queensland BA Advisory Board, NAATI Regional Advisory Council and German Australian Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Tea is an Adjunct Associate Professor at University of Queensland’s School of Languages and Cultures and a NAATI-certified Interpreter and Translator.
Hon Chief Justice Helen Bowskill
Sworn in as Chief Justice of Queensland in March 2022, the Honourable Helen Bowskill has previously served as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland since July 2017, and as the Senior Judge Administrator of the Supreme Court of Queensland from August 2021.
She previously served as a Judge of the District Court of Queensland from November 2014, in that capacity also sitting as a Judge of the Children’s Court of Queensland and the Planning and Environment Court.
She was admitted as a solicitor in January 1998, and as a barrister in July 1998. As a barrister, she practised widely in public, administrative and commercial law areas, with a particular focus on native title law.
Her Honour is a member and current Chair of the Judicial Council on Diversity and Inclusion and is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann
Professor Ghil‘ad Zuckermann (DPhil Oxford; PhD Cambridge) is listed among Australia’s top 30 ‘living legends of research’ by The Australian (2024). He received the Rubinlicht Prize for his outstanding contribution to Yiddish scholarship in 2023. He is the Chair of the Jury for the Jeonju International Awards for Promoting Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Professor Zuckermann is the founder of Revivalistics, a new global, comparative, trans-disciplinary field of enquiry surrounding language reclamation, revitalisation and reinvigoration. In 2011 he launched, with the Barngarla Aboriginal communities of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, the reclamation of the Barngarla language.
He was elected fellow of the Academy of Oriental Scholars (Shanghai) in 2011 and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in 2014. He has been an elected board member of the Foundation for Endangered Languages (FEL).
Benjamin Law (Facilitator)
Benjamin Law writes books, TV screenplays, columns, essays and feature journalism. Every week, Benjamin co-hosts ABC RN’s weekly national pop culture show Stop Everything. He also co-hosts online startup and tech TV show That Startup Show, and you can catch him on TV shows like Q&A (ABC), The Drum (ABC), The Project (Ten) and Filthy Rich and Homeless (SBS).
From the Newsroom
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