Women call for unified national plan for action on climate, June 2022

The Women’s Climate Congress was founded with the objective of bringing together the currently polarised voices in our public discourse to resolve current disputes and agree on national priorities and actions to address climate risks.

For our June Women's Climate Conversation online, we were very pleased to welcome former NSW Liberal Party leader Kerry Chikarovski and climate emergency strategist Cheryl Durrant to explore how women can lead multiparty, collaborative action on climate change that transcends the political 'climate wars' to create a national plan for action on climate change before it is too late.
Kerry and Cheryl were in conversation with WCC founding members Dr Janet Salisbury and Barbara Baikie.

Cheryl Durrant
Cheryl Durrant has over 30 year’s experience in the national security sector, including specialist army intelligence and defence capability and preparedness roles.

Cheryl led the Department’s Global Change and Energy Sustainability Initiative from 2013-2016 and established the position of the Australian Defence Force’s Climate and Security Advisor in 2016. She was the lead author for Defence’s submission to the Senate Inquiry on the implications of climate change for Australia’s national security.

Cheryl has also championed international, cross-government, academic and business collaborations focussed on creating a better understanding and preparedness for existential risks, and exploring the systemic connections between climate change and other security risks. As the Defence partner to Emergency Management Australia she supported the development of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework and the co-design of the Profiling Australia’s Vulnerability Report.

Cheryl has presented and participated at numerous national and international forums including the Planetary Security Conference and the inaugural international Climate Engineering Conference. Cheryl is currently a member of the Climate and Security Working Group – Asia Pacific and a Fellow of the Institute of Integrated Economic Research-Australia. She is a councillor with the Climate Council.

​Meet our guests
Kerry Chikarovski
Kerry Chikarovski is a former NSW Liberal Leader and first woman to lead a major political party in New South Wales. She is also the founder and Director of Chikarovski & Associates, a government relations, community engagement and stakeholder relations consultancy, which she founded in 2003, whose expertise spans a wide range of industries including financial, government, community, property and technology startups.

Kerry holds a number of non-executive board roles including, NSW Waratahs Rugby Union, Our Watch, Adopt Change and the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. She is the Chair of NSW Women’s rugby union, an ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, and a mentor with the Minerva Network, supporting professional sports women on and off the field.

Kerry can be seen and heard regularly as a media commentator across national television and radio channels including Sky News, ABC Weekend Breakfast, 2GB Radio, ABC The Drum, Ch 7 Sunrise and was part of the key panel for the Seven News NSW 2019 State Election Coverage.