Impact, Include, Inspire
Speakers
Information on the plenary speakers already confirmed are provided below. Details of more speakers will be provided here once confirmed.
Opening Address
Hon. David Templeman MLA
WA Minister for Culture and the Arts; Sport and Recreation; International Education; Heritage
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Hon. David Templeman MLA
David was born in Northam, Western Australia and proudly calls himself a country boy at heart. After being educated there he trained to be a drama teacher and commenced his teaching career in Three Springs before moving to Mandurah in 1988. David has always had a deep interest in the local communities he has lived in and in 1994 was elected to the City of Mandurah Council and served the Council for seven years, the last four as Deputy mayor, before his election to the State Parliament in February 2001.
David was re-elected as Member for Mandurah in 2005, 2008, 2013, 2017 and 2021. He was Minister for Child Protection, Seniors and Volunteering, Youth and the Peel Region from 2006 to 2007 then as Environment Minister, Minister for Climate Change and the Peel Region from 2007 to 2008. In March 2017 David took on the ministerial portfolios of Local Government, Heritage, and Culture and the Arts. After the 2021 election, he was sworn in as Minister for Tourism, Culture and the Arts and Heritage. Following a Cabinet reshuffle in late 2021, he became Minister for Culture and the Arts; Sport and Recreation; International Education; and Heritage. He is the nation’s longest serving Culture and Arts Minister and the State’s inaugural International Education Minister.
David’s passions include the arts, the environment, education, youth and community development. He is particularly interested in looking at how we can create opportunities for those people in our community who, for whatever reason, find themselves marginalised or isolated. Linked to this is a desire to develop a strong sense of identity for Mandurah. This desire to develop community and create a more cohesive approach to community concerns was his main motivation to stand for Parliament.
David has been an active participant in the Mandurah Arts sectors for many years and still performs in his annual Christmas Charity Show at the Mandurah Performing Arts Centre, which raises money for a Performing Arts Fellowship. The Fellowship supports local young people from the Peel Region who are pursuing careers in the Arts.
David lives in Mandurah with his wife Donna and their four children.
Keynote Speaker
Rabia Siddique
QCVS BA LLB GAICD FAIM CSP
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Rabia Siddique
Rabia is an international humanitarian lawyer, retired British Army senior officer, former war crimes and terrorism prosecutor and hostage survivor.
She has undertaken humanitarian aid work in Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East, for which she was decorated by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
Having survived a hostage crisis in Iraq in 2005 Rabia sued the British Government for discrimination when both the military and government tried to cover up her involvement in the incident, which saw her leading hostage negotiations for the release of two British Special Forces illegally kidnapped and detained by Iraqi based terrorists. Rabia was held hostage for over eight hours and subjected to cruel and unusual treatment in front of her male colleagues. After their eventual rescue Rabia’s colleagues were recognised, psychologically supported and decorated for their efforts and bravery, however Rabia was gagged, ignored and ordered to never speak of the role she played on that fateful day where she almost lost her life.
As a result of her betrayal at the hands of her military superiors and the then Prime Minister of Great Britain Rabia was diagnosed with post traumatic stress (PTS) and after her recovery she held both the British Army and Government to account for their systematic discrimination of women and ethnic minorities. Her landmark case made international news and saw the floodgates open for many similar cases. It heralded profound changes in defence and public policy, attitudes and the support offered to female soldiers serving on the frontline, ethnic minorities and military personnel suffering with PTS.
Rabia’s best selling memoir “Equal Justice: My Journey as a Woman, a Soldier and a Muslim” was published by Pan MacMillan in 2013 and work is currently underway to adapt this to a movie.
Rabia is now a multi award winning storyteller, global inspirational speaker, leadership consultant, media commentator, non-executive director, philanthropist and human rights advocate. She is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), the highest accreditation bestowed upon speakers internationally, and in 2022 was chosen by the British Museum to feature in the ‘Feminine Power’ global exhibition, as one of only five strong female voices from around the world.
Human rights, peace and the sustainability of our planet is what drives Rabia. But her biggest challenge and joy is being a mother to her teenage triplet boys!
Plenary Speaker
Professor Mark Pegrum
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Professor Mark Pegrum
Mark Pegrum is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education at The University of Western Australia, where he is the Deputy Head of School (International), with responsibility for overseeing offshore programmes and international connections. In his courses, he specialises in digital technologies in education, with a particular focus on mobile learning. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and his teaching has been recognised through Faculty and University Excellence in Teaching Awards, as well as a 2010 national Australian Learning & Teaching Council (ALTC) Excellence in Teaching Award. His current research focuses on digital literacies and especially attentional literacy; mobile and emerging technologies, including extended reality (XR); and the forms digital learning takes in diverse contexts across the Global North and South.
His books include: Brave New Classrooms: Democratic Education and the Internet, co-edited with Joe Lockard, and published by Peter Lang in 2007; From Blogs to Bombs: The Future of Digital Technologies in Education, published by UWA Publishing in 2009; Digital Literacies, co-authored with Gavin Dudeney and Nicky Hockly, and published by Pearson in 2013; Mobile Learning: Languages, Literacies and Cultures, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2014; Mobile Lenses on Learning: Languages and Literacies on the Move, published by Springer in 2019; and Digital Literacies (2nd edition), co-authored with Nicky Hockly and Gavin Dudeney, and published by Routledge in 2022. He currently teaches in Perth and Singapore and has given presentations and run seminars on e-learning in some 30 countries.
