Monica Attard

Monica Attard was one of the ABC’s most senior journalists, after a 28-year career with the national broadcaster. She served the corporation overseas and presented some of its most high profile current affairs programs.

In 1990 she was posted to Moscow as Soviet Communism was collapsing. She witnessed and reported on the coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the collapse of Soviet communism and the rise of Boris Yeltsin’s cowboy capitalism. During her posting to the region, she covered countless ethnic wars within the borders of the old Soviet Union, including the first Chechen war.

Monica was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to journalism in 1990. In 1991 she scooped the pool with 3 Walkley Awards for her work in Russia, including the Gold Walkley for excellence in journalism.

On her return to Australia in 1994, Monica hosted ABC Radio’s PM for four years and then The World Today.

In 2001 she created the award-winning radio current affairs show Sunday Profile which quickly established itself as a natural meeting place for newsmakers. The show was heard on two ABC Radio networks – ABC Local Radio nationally and ABC Radio National.

Monica was awarded two Walkley Awards for Best Broadcast Interviewing for her work on Sunday Profile, bringing her total Walkley count to five.

In 2006 she was appointed host of Media Watch on ABC TV and she returned for a second season in 2007.

She has a law degree and is the creator and former Managing Editor of The Global Mail.

Monica worked with CNN International before moving into academia. After serving three years as head of journalism at the prestigious UTS School of Communication, she was appointed co director of the UTS Centre for Media Transition.

Monica Attard talks about:

• Media and the Digital Age – As host of ABC TV’s Media Watch for several years, media and media reforms are topics close to Monica’s heart. As founder of an internet media start-up, a social media aficionado and social media trainer, she understans the capacity of digital media to disrupt mainstream media and the power of social media to generate social change.
• Women – Monica is frequently called upon to speak about gender issues, particularly in light of political events in Australia in 2012-13. Issues include salary inequality, mentoring of young women, the causes of ongoing gender inequality and how change might come about.
• Russia – A long-time Russia correspondent for the ABC and author of a best-selling book on Russia, Monica speaks about contemporary political and social and economic events as well as broader geo-political Russian issues.