The Australian Press Council (APC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kaaren Koomen and Susan Nicholson as Public Members and Peter Kennedy (representing Country Press Australia) as an Industry Member.

Simon Hayes has been appointed as an Adjudication Panel Member.

Kaaren Koomen AM is an executive leader with more than 35 years’ experience in the communication and IT law and policy environments. She is the Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs at IBM Australia/New Zealand and was previously General Manager, Multimedia Regulation and Strategy, at Cable and Wireless Optus/Singtel Optus. During the 1990s, Kaaren was the Director of Internet Content Regulation at the Australian Broadcasting Authority (now ACMA).

Kaaren has extensive board-level experience. She is a Director on the Board of IBM Australia Limited, a Member of the Edith Cowan University and IBM Future Lab Governance Committee and a Member of the CSIRO National AI Centre Think Tank. She was Deputy Chair of the NSW Telecommunications Authority Advisory Board from 2017 – July 2023 and Chair of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka from 2014 - 2018. Kaaren has practiced as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW and has lectured in Law at Charles Sturt University.

Susan Nicholson is a senior executive with a strong focus on customer-centric and stakeholder management, demonstrated by her success in driving strategy and change initiatives across diverse sectors including high-growth technology environments. Currently serving as the General Manager of Digital Payments for Australia Post, Susan brings a wealth of experience to her role. Previously, she was Director of Product and Marketing at NYSE-listed payments processing and information management systems company WEX Inc.

Susan’s extensive strategic leadership experience includes direct reporting to subsidiary boards. She has also contributed to the advancement of gender parity, diversity, and inclusion as a Member of the Advisory Board of Women in Payments, a global organisation dedicated to supporting women in the payments and fintech industries. Susan has served on the Board of St Columba’s Primary School in Elwood, demonstrating her commitment to community and education.

Peter Kennedy is the Executive Director of Country Press Australia, the industry association representing more than 230 independent regional, rural, and local news publishers.

He is an experienced general manager and editor working in the media production industry and previously owned and operated his own boutique public relations firm. His media career spans more than four decades. Peter also serves as Executive Officer of the Victorian Country Press Association.

Simon Hayes is a strategy consultant with deep experience in advising multinational companies on investment decisions in the Asia Pacific region. He is the Managing Director of Global CFO Network, the membership group for the Chief Financial Officers of multinational companies operating in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Simon is a former technology journalist and also has a background in professional standards, having been a Member of the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal and the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal. He was also previously a Member of the NSW Bar Association's Professional Conduct Committee. As an independent non-executive Director, Simon sits on the Boards of Dara School in Adelaide, and the Royal Society for Asian Affairs in London. Both organisations are not-for-profits.

The APC is responsible for promoting freedom of speech through responsible and independent journalism and adherence to high journalistic and editorial standards. Members include many of Australia’s major newspapers, magazines, and online publishers.

For more information, please contact Dorothy Kennedy, APC Media Advisor, at dorothy.kennedy@presscouncil.org.au.

The Australian Press Council (APC) is very pleased to announce the appointment of Helen Dalley as an Independent Journalist Council Member and Bruce Dover as an Industry Adjudication Panel Member.

Helen Dalley is an experienced broadcast journalist. She is currently the creator and host of the podcast Build It. They’ll Come, a Governor of the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, Patron of Healthy Bones Australia (formerly Osteoporosis Australia) and Non-Executive Director on the Board of not-for-profit Aurora Education Foundation.

Helen worked as a reporter at the Nine Network for nearly 20 years before spending 11 years at Sky News Australia as a host, anchor and interviewer. She co-anchored the coverage of four consecutive Federal election campaigns and hosted several national television programs for the Sky News Business channel, including Sunday Business, Business Agenda and News Now with Helen Dalley. She has won a Walkley Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism and recently consulted to The Walkley Foundation over a number of years, providing integrity and fact-checking advice to the judges of The Walkley Awards.

Independent Journalist Council Members have an important leadership and governance role in the operations of the APC.

Bruce Dover is the Managing Director of DCI Media Group, a media consultancy with partners in Sydney, Hong Kong, and London. Bruce is a senior executive with experience spanning 40 years in television, digital media and interactive content development. He was previously the CEO of Australia Network, the Australian Government’s international broadcasting service, operated by the ABC.

Over the course of his extensive career, Bruce has worked as Managing Editor for both CNN International in Hong Kong and News Interactive in Sydney. He was Vice President (China) for News Corporation/STAR TV in Beijing for four years. He has also been a foreign correspondent in Asia, winning the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year award (1986).

Industry Adjudication Panel Members are independent of publishers and have an important role in determining whether published material, which has been the subject of a complaint, has breached the APC’s Standards of Practice.

“The APC is delighted to welcome Helen and Bruce. Their experience and perspectives are vital to the balance, relevance and integrity of Council’s processes and decisions,” said APC Chair Neville Stevens AO.

The APC is responsible for promoting freedom of speech through responsible and independent journalism and adherence to high journalistic and editorial standards. Members include most of Australia’s major newspapers, magazines, and online publishers.

For more information, please contact Dorothy Kennedy, APC Media Advisor, at dorothy.kennedy@presscouncil.org.au.