On today’s podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Mary Crooks - AO. Mary is the Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.  For those that might not know, the Victorian Women’s Trust was established in 1985 in support of advocacy work of three high impact areas: economic security, health and safety, and equal representation. Helping to create change in these areas is key to achieving true gender equality and an equal future for all. Mary designed and led ground-breaking community engagement initiatives, such as the Purple Sage Project and Our Watermark Australia, an exceptional example of a nationwide, community engagement project based around issues of water sustainability and the conversational model of ‘Kitchen Table Conversations’ as a key part of community engagement.   In June 2012, Mary was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia, for her distinguished services to public policy and advocacy for the advancement of women.  That same year, Mary authored A Switch In Time – Restoring Respect to Australian Politics which has been distributed widely across Australia. This year, all Australians will be asked to vote in a referendum to enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in our national constitution.   Today, we are speaking to Mary about her involvement in the Kitchen Table Conversation Model, and in particular, the ‘Together, Yes’ movement as part of the nationwide recruitment of conversation hosts.    Resources: Victorian Womens Trust https://www.vwt.org.au/ Together Yes https://togetheryes.com.au/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.