Media Release

Gold Logie award winner Waleed Aly will complete a star-studded lineup when he delivers a landmark keynote address at the 2016 Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne later this month.

Aly will deliver the Joan Kirner Social Justice Oration - the first since the death of the former Premier in June 2015 - in Moonee Ponds, Melbourne, on Monday May 30, the first day of the two-day conference.

Joining Aly to deliver keynotes at this year's conference are Australian of the Year Lieutenant General David Morrison AO, entertainer Magda Szubanski, Port Adelaide Football Club director Holly Ransom, futurist Dr Jordan Nguyen, author and Australian Republican Movement chair Peter FitzSimons AM, Australian Reserve Bank board member Professor Ian Harper, Indigenous feminist and social commentator Celeste Liddle, and economics guru Dr Dennis Glover.

The speeches will be delivered over two days to an audience of around 1000 representatives of not-for-profit organisations and local councils, alongside state and federal bureaucrats, corporate responsibility practitioners and other community builders - the people and organisations at the pointy end of battles to create opportunities for equality, inclusion and fairness.

Held in the midst of one of the longest Australian election campaigns in history, the conference will seek to put people and the planet at the centre of the struggle for power and influence.

The conference has been convened by Melbourne-based social enterprise and certified B Corporation Our Community and leading welfare agency CatholicCare since its inception in 2003.

Co-convenor Denis Moriarty said, "Amidst the madness of an election campaign, we need to shift the narrative to focus more squarely on what truly matters to Australians. We're excited to be providing a platform to allow some of the wisest thinkers in Australia to set us on that path."

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