About.

The Australian Democracy Network is creating a healthy Australian democracy that puts people and the planet first. We bring people and organisations together to campaign for the changes that make our democracy more fair, open, participatory, and accountable.

Our Staff.

Saffron Zomer.

Executive Director

Saffron is a lawyer, campaigner and political strategist with more than a decade of experience leading law reform campaigns. Prior to the Australian Democracy Network, Saffron was Government Relations Manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation. She spent several years living and working in the US, where she held a range of campaign and government relations roles.

In 2017, Saffron co-founded and led the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance which secured critical changes to 2017 Electoral Act amendments to protect the rights of civil society organisations to engage in advocacy.

Prema Menon.

General Manager

Prema has worked in project and operations management for 15 years across private, government, non-profit, grassroots and community sectors.

Prema believes in collaboratively building capability and systems to help others fulfil their potential. They have witnessed first-hand the cost of restrictions on political pluralism, participation, and civil liberties. This experience strongly motivates Prema's desire to contribute to a healthy democracy.

Ray Yoshida.

Democracy Campaigner

Ray is an experienced organiser, campaigner and change maker with a decade of experience in Australian social movements. Previously he was the co-director of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Australia’s largest youth advocacy organisation.

More recently he played a leading role in the Hands Off Our Charities alliance where he successfully coordinated a campaign to stop draconian attempts to silence Australian charities.

Isabella Morand.

Engagement Coordinator (on parental leave)

Isabella has a background as an organiser, campaigner, and activist educator in Australia's climate movement and broader social justice spaces.

She's dedicated to developing leadership in others, so that together we can build powerful movements to make our communities stronger, hold decision makers accountable, and protect our beautiful planet.

Bethany Koch.

Fundraising & Development Coordinator

Beth Koch has a background as an Organiser and Campaigner on global poverty, environment and democracy.

Moving from leading our campaign to get big money out of politics, she now supports our donor community to have strategic impact in working for a fair democracy, and develops new campaign opportunities for ADN to explore.

Beth and her young family call the Macedon Ranges home.

Hassan Nasir Mirbahar.

Campaign Manager & Strategist

Hassan Nasir Mirbahar is a democratic governance advocate. He has worked with civil society, parliamentarians and governments on parliamentary, human rights and electoral reforms in Pakistan, Liberia, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Libya.

Recently, he worked with the United Nations Development Program in Fiji, where he supported parliamentary development in fourteen Pacific Island Nations.

Hassan assisted Pakistan’s multi-party Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms in undertaking reforms for more inclusive and credible elections in Pakistan.

Anastasia Radievska.

Protest Rights Campaigner

Anastasia has worked as a campaigner on a number of social issues, including creating a fairer welfare state, enabling a fair and fast energy transition and promoting citizen participation in democracy.

As a founding member of Legal Observers NSW, she helped lead the campaign against NSW's 2022 anti-protest laws and worked with grassroots communities to widen the space for democratic expression.

Having experienced the importance of community involvement in political action in her native Ukraine, she is passionate about ensuring communities are empowered to have a say in the issues that matter to them.

Nina Atkinson.

Digital Campaigns & Communications Lead

Nina has twelve years experience building social movements and community campaigns in the climate advocacy space.

Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Nina has worked as an organiser, campaigner and communicator, and helped design several winning campaigns.

Nina cares deeply about building the kind of democracy that cares for people and the planet, and brings a strong belief in the potential of people power to create big change.

Our Board.

Elizabeth Jennings.

Commencing work in banking, Elizabeth moved into the government and not-for-profit sectors to support her commitment to community organisations and social justice. She was Chief Financial Officer at Victoria Legal Aid, Head of Strategic Finance at World Vision Australia and the Director of Corporate and Community Services at the Shire of Yarra Ranges.

Elizabeth has served on a number of boards and currently is a board member of the Donkey Wheel Foundation, the Port Phillip Community Group and the Australian Democracy Network. She holds degrees in Commerce and Arts, a Master of Assessment and Evaluation from the University of Melbourne, and a Master of Business from Swinburne University. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Brendan Sydes.

Brendan is an environmental lawyer with a background in not-for-profit management, policy advocacy and law reform. He was principal lawyer and CEO at Environmental Justice Australia from 2005 to 2020. Brendan has worked as a Biodiversity Policy Adviser to the Australian Conservation Foundation and currently combines work as a legal and policy consultant with board roles with a range of not-for-profit organisations. He is a Senior Honorary Fellow of the University of Melbourne Law School where he teaches environmental law.

Throughout his career, Brendan has undertaken paid and unpaid work and served on boards and committee in a range of organisations dedicated to social justice and community driven landscape restoration, including Darebin Community Legal Centre, the Tenants Union, Marrickville Community Legal Centre, and the Federation of Victorian Community Legal Centres, Connecting Country and the Victorian Biolinks Alliance.

Brendan brings a many years of experience in not-for-profit governance and management to the Australian Democracy Network, combined with a strong commitment to ADN’s vision of healthy Australian democracy that puts people and planet first.

Tim Watts.

Tim is an executive in the K-12 education technology sector with experience spanning start-ups, private equity backed ventures and major non-profit organisations with $1+ billion annual revenue.

He started his career in journalism with the print magazine Business Review Weekly and has served on the boards of Environment Victoria and the carsharing service Flexicar.

A graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, he holds degrees in economics and political science from the University of Melbourne and Boston's Northeastern University.

Upeka Kumarasinghe.

Upeka is a fundraising professional and has worked for not-for-profits for over 15 years. She has helped raise funds for the Arts in Victoria at Melbourne Theatre Company, Arts Centre Melbourne and Melbourne Festival. She has worked in bequests at Australian Conservation Foundation and has established a donation program at Remember The Wild.

She brings many years of experience working in different disciplines of philanthropy in the not-for-profit sector. A graduate of Monash University, she holds degrees in Immunology, Pharmacology and Public Health.

Dr Alice Hill.

A development economist and for-purpose board member and chair, Dr Alice Hill uses her strategic and technical skills to help organisations improve their governance
and effectiveness.

Alice is founding member and current board member of the Mannifera philanthropic collective and served as the collective’s co-chair from 2022 to 2024. She is a board member of the global Harvard Alumni Association and was President of the HAA from 2019 to 2020. She also serves as a board member of Library for All. She has
served as an elected member of the Liberal Party of Victoria State Assembly from 2020 to the present and as elected member of the Party’s Administrative Committee
from 2021 to 22. In addition, she has also served as chair of the Children’s
Protection Society and the Melbourne Writers Festival and as president of the
Harvard Club of Victoria.

She has worked for the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation in Africa, Latin America, and India. Alice has also been a consultant at McKinsey & Co, Frontier Economics, and London Economics and a policy advisor for the
Government of Canada in the areas of energy policy and indigenous affairs.

Gautam Raju.

Gautam has over 14 years experience leading a number of public campaigns and advocacy strategies across Europe, Kenya, India, and the US on youth policy, health, democracy and digital rights. Most recently at Purpose, Gautam led the United Nations Secretary General campaigning response to combat misinformation on COVID-19 which has reached over 1 billion people.

At Oxfam International, as Head of Digital Campaigns he headed the digital worldwide influencing strategy – an ambitious agenda to build the digital campaigning capacity of Oxfam and partners.

Before joining Oxfam, Gautam co-founded OurSay.org – an independent organization started by a team of young people passionate about harnessing the power of social media to revitalize critical participation in democracy. He has also worked on public policy and external relations for Teach For Australia and in the Australian public service.