Maddy Harradence

Branch Secretary, ANMF (Vic Branch)

Maddy is a registered nurse who studied in NSW and moved to Victoria in 2009 for nurse/midwife patient ratios. She completed her grad year at St Vincent’s public and worked in haematology, oncology, palliative care and ICU and then worked in the emergency department until 2017 (with a short stint at the Royal Children’s Hospital ED).

She was an ANMF Job Rep from 2012 and was awarded the Hannah Sellars Job Rep of the Year Award in 2015. From 2013–17 she was an ANMF (Vic Branch) Councillor before becoming an organiser in 2017.

Maddy was elected Assistant Secretary in 2021. Branch Council appointed her State Secretary from July 2025.

Ros Morgan

Environmental Health Officer, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (Vic Branch)

Ros Morgan is a registered nurse with a long background in ICU nursing. In this capacity, Ros introduced a range of environmental initiatives, eventually becoming the Sustainability Officer for a healthcare network in Victoria.

Ros works as the Environmental Health Officer with ANMF (Vic Branch) in both grassroots support and political advocacy.

Dr Madeleine Skellern

Director – National Health, Sustainability and Climate Unit, Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Madeleine Skellern is Director of the National Health, Sustainability and Climate Unit within the Interim Australian Centre for Disease Control, operating as part of the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. She is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney School of Public Health.

Professor Skellern led development of Australia’s first National Health and Climate Strategy, published in December 2023, and is currently leading implementation of the Strategy.

Osher Günsberg

Best-selling author, podcaster, TV host

Osher Günsberg is one of Australia’s most recognisable media personalities and has been a guest in Australian living rooms for over 25 years.

From his work on Channel [V] in the early 2000s to seven seasons on Australian Idol, Osher was the first (and at this stage still the only) Australian to host live network prime time TV in the USA when he fronted CBS’ Live to Dance.

Osher celebrated his 30th year in broadcasting with a Gold Logie Nomination for hosting both The Masked Singer and The Bachelors on Network 10.

In the audio space, Osher can be heard on his podcast Osher Günsberg: Better Than Yesterday, making it better every week since 2013.

In 2023, Osher returned to radio with his long-time collaborator Yumi Stynes to bring to life the world’s first 24/7 Music Trivia station on ARN.

Aside from his broadcast work, Osher Günsberg is a passionate advocate for positive conversations around mental health and climate action.

The release of his memoir, Back, After the Break, became an instant bestseller and was nominated for a 2019 Australian Book Industry Award for Best Biography Book of the Year. The book was accompanied by a live show of the same name which sold out a national tour.

Aside from his regular TV work, Osher recently moved into hosting and producing documentaries – with spectacular success. His first film (produced with Lune Media), Osher Günsberg: A Matter of Life and Death, was met with enormous acclaim and went on to win the coveted Golden Goddess for Best Documentary (one-off) at the 2022 Asian Academy Awards. His upcoming film, My journey into a world of pain, explores the treatment of chronic and persistent pain.

In the live space, Osher recently completed a second season at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, with the acclaimed satirical news show he created, NTNNNNN, where along with his talented cast they create an entirely new hour of comedy every night.

Off-air, Osher is a regular columnist for Men’s Health, and an in-demand keynote speaker. He currently serves on the board of We Ride Australia after having previously served on the board of SANE Australia, and is a proud ambassador for Movember.

Osher will be speaking about climate anxiety. If you are struggling and need assistance, help is available.

Nursing and Midwifery Health Program Victoria (NMHPV) assistance is free, confidential and independent and is provided by experienced nurses and midwives. Ph: 03 9415 7551

Nurse and Midwife Support 24/7 Ph: 1800 667 877

LifeLine: 13 11 14

The Climate Council’s Climate Anxiety Toolkit – Practical tools to help you stay calm, strong and engaged.

Catelyn Richards

Climate Change Officer, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation

Catelyn is the Climate Change Officer at ANMF Federal. Co-founder and previous President of Climate Action Nurses, Catelyn is a proud registered nurse, humanitarian and passionate advocate for regenerative ecology. Through her work volunteering with organisations such as the Oaktree Foundation, AusAid, the Australian College of Nursing and the Climate and Health Alliance, Catelyn fervently contributes to her life mission of spreading conscious kindness.

Catelyn was a 2022 Westpac Future Leaders scholar and has completed a Master of Leadership (Health and Human Services) through the University of Tasmania.

She has presented on early-career nurse leadership and environmental responsibility across a range of platforms including the Planetary Health Conference, New Zealand, Australian College of Nursing National Nursing Forum and the South Pacific Nurses Forum.

Jason Rijnbeek

Business Development Manager, Pharmacycle

Jason is an experienced environmental sustainability professional with a demonstrated history of working in the environmental services industry across a number of different sectors, including local and state governments, and big retail.

Tackling challenging waste and recycling issues through innovation and collaboration is what drives Jason.

Dr Gemma Saravanos

Epidemiologist, Registered Nurse & Lecturer, School of Nursing, University of Sydney

Gemma is an epidemiologist and registered nurse leading public health research and education. She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of health professionals while driving the development of evidence-based, people-centred, culturally safe and sustainable health systems.

Gemma is based at the Susan Wakil School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sydney, and works across the Camperdown (Patyegarang) and Westmead (Baludarri) campuses. She also contributes to regional projects in Southeast Asia focused on strengthening immunisation programs.

Gemma partners with diverse, multidisciplinary teams to better understand and address the impact of preventable infections. She uses mixed methods research and a primary health care approach to support the design, delivery and evaluation of surveillance, education, immunisation and infection prevention and control initiatives.

Here’s a link to one of Gemma’s articles relevant to today’s presentation: Infection prevention and control programme priorities for sustainable health and environmental systems | BMC Global and Public Health | Full Text

Janet Connor

Nursing Laboratory Manager, Holmesglen Institute – Moorabbin Campus

Janet is a former nurse who for the last seven years has been the Nursing Laboratory Manager at the Moorabbin Campus at Holmesglen Institute.

She has a passion for sustainability and is particularly interested in sustainability in healthcare and healthcare education.

Janet has introduced many sustainability processes to the Nursing Labs and worked on raising awareness of sustainability in health care amongst staff and students.

Catherine O’Shea

Program Manager, Healthcare Carbon Lab’s LCA Inventory, University of Melbourne

Catherine O’Shea is Program Manager of the Healthcare Carbon Lab. She has worked within the field of healthcare sustainability for 20 years with RMIT, Western Health and Ambulance Victoria. Prior to this, Catherine worked as a registered nurse across a variety of healthcare settings. She has extensive experience in delivering programs that improve social and environmental performance within the healthcare environment and maintains a strong passion for collaboration in research and policy development

Kylie Feely

RN and Equipment Nurse Specialist, Sunshine ICU, Western Health Intensive Care Service

Kylie Feely completed her bachelor degree in 2000 then her critical care graduate certificate in 2004. In 2008, Kylie became a valued employee with Western Health.

In 2021, Kylie was appointed the equipment nurse specialist for Sunshine ICU. She is the lead of the Sunshine ICU Sustainability team, implementing multiple changes aimed at reducing waste, the carbon footprint and money.

Kylie led the roll out of sustainable linen in Sunshine ICU, which has consequently been rolled out across Australia through Linen Services Australia.

Kylie is the Melbourne Academic Centre for Health Services Research fellow for 2024/2025. Her project is to significantly reduce the amount of unopened expired products that are wasted to landfill each year through a quasi-experimental interrupted time series research project.

You can read more about Kylie’s work in this article published in Australian Critical Care.

Marie Mutton

Immunisation Nurse, Shire of Yarra Ranges, Wodonga Council

Marie started her nursing training at St Vincent’s Hospital in 1980, then completed midwifery at the Mercy Maternity (now Mercy Hospital for Women). About 13 years later, a friend at Wodonga Council’s health department suggested Marie complete the training to become an immunisation nurse, saying that “you could then come up and do some shifts for me”. The rest is history.

Marie joined Yarra Ranges Council in 2003, the year that the government decided that every school child in Victoria would be offered the Meningococcal C vaccine, so there was plenty of work around. Marie has been working for both councils ever since, as well as pursuing a career as a midwife at Eastern Health until the beginning of 2020, when she retired from hospital work. She is still immunising.

Antoinette Pitt

Enrolled Nurse, Australian Red Cross Lifeblood – Ringwood

Antoinette is a dedicated nurse and advocate. Antoinette’s nursing career has taken her to Traralgon, Bairnsdale and Phillip Island, giving her an understanding of the diverse communities and health challenges across these regions.

As an ANMF (Vic Branch) Job Rep, Antoinette has fought for fair wages, better working conditions, and stronger protections for healthcare workers.

Vanessa Harker

Perioperative Clinical Nurse Specialist, Mercy Hospital for Women

Vanessa is a perioperative clinical nurse specialist at Mercy Hospital for Women. In 2024, she completed a short secondment as a Sustainability Officer with Mercy Health, where she gained insight into the growing challenges and opportunities in healthcare sustainability. This experience has strengthened her commitment to empowering nurses to lead sustainable change through practical, impactful initiatives.

Melissa Markos

Research Coordinator, Registered Nurse, Alfred Hospital

Melissa Markos is a registered nurse with an interest in research to improve treatment options. She is active member on healthcare environmental sustainability committees, and advocates for improving the environmental impacts of clinical research.

Renae McBrien

Sustainability consultant, Queensland Children’s Hospital

Renae McBrien is a radiographer and the sustainability consultant for Children’s Health Queensland.

Renae is passionate about building sustainability into our healthcare system by advocating for high value care with low carbon care, by removing over 1 million pieces of plastic from procurement, establishing 42 recycling streams, a Medical Market Day and a sustainable asset management.

Renae’s work has featured on the ABC’s War on Waste and has won the National Healthcare Policy Award, Qld Clinical Excellence and multiple WasteSmart Awards.