Speakers Profile - Kate Jenkins AO











Travels From:
Melbourne

Fee Range: E


Kate Jenkins AO is a leader, lawyer, adviser and advocate who has led cultural reform and advanced diversity, inclusion and performance in Australian workplaces, sport, the arts, parliament and education.

Kate is Chair of the Australian Sports Commission, the agency responsible for supporting and investing in Australian sport, from grass roots to elite. She is also Chair of the Creative Workplaces Council, which is responsible for promoting fair, safe and respectful workplaces in the arts sector.

Kate recently completed her 7 year term as the Australian Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Highlights of Kate's term leading the landmark Respect@Work: National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces Report (2020), with the Federal Government committing to implementing all 55 recommendations of the report in full. She also conducted Time for Respect: the fifth national sexual harassment survey and chaired the Respect@Work Council leading regulators, employers, worker representatives and civil society to implement changes in sexual harassment laws and practices.

Kate was an Ambassador for the FIFA2023 Women's World Cup, and the T20 Cricket Women's World Cup. Kate has worked with a range of sporting codes to improve inclusion, including golf, cricket, Australian Rules Football, and netball, and conducted the Independent Review of Gymnastics in Australia in 2021 (Change the Routine).

Kate also led the Commission's collaborative projects on cultural reform with the Australian Defence Force, Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force. Other significant projects include: Change the Course: national survey sexual harassment and sexual assault at Australian universities (2017), and Set the Standard: Independent Review of Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021).

Prior to joining the Commission, Kate spent three years as the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, 20 years as employment lawyer and lead equal opportunity partner with Herbert Smith Freehills and many years serving on the boards of Berry Street Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Play by the Rules and Carlton Football Club.

Kate was born and raised on an orchard in Victoria and is mother and stepmother to 5 young people.


Topics include:

- Respect@Work: Safe, respectful, diverse and inclusive workplaces

- Gender Equality in Australia - where we are, where we've been, where we're going.

- Inclusion and Equality in Sport

Photo credit: Kristoffer Paulsen