Master of Ceremonies

Stan Grant is a renowned journalist, author, moral philosopher, thinker, film maker and communicator. He has had a ground breaking four decade career as one of Australia’s most awarded journalists. A Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharrawal man, Stan has blazed a trail for First Nations journalists. In a career of firsts he was the first Indigenous Political Correspondent, the first Indigenous Foreign Correspondent, he was the first Indigenous person to present a prime time commercial television news and current affairs program. 

For a decade he was a senior correspondent for American news giant CNN based in Asia and the Middle East. He has reported from more than seventy countries and has lived in London, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Hong Kong, and Beijing. He has seen history turn covering the greatest stories of our age including the end of apartheid in South Africa, the death of Princess Diana, the troubles in Northern Ireland, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, conflict and unrest Pakistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Timor Leste, Gaza and the West Bank. He has interviewed world leaders and every Australian Prime Minister of the forty years. Stan reported up close the rise of China as a global power travelling to every corner of the country. He is one of the few journalists to have gained entry to the secretive repressive dictatorship of North Korea.

His list of awards include three time winner of Australia’s highest journalism honour the Walkley Award, four time winner of the prestigious Asia TV awards, an Australian TV Logie Award, twice winner of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts award (Australia’s academy awards), twice winner of the US Peabody Award, a recipient of the Columbia University DuPont award (the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), a GQ Magazine Man of the Year award, Hawaii International Film Festival Indigenous Trailblazer award. He was writer and producer of the acclaimed feature documentary “The Australian Dream” which told the story of the racial vilification of renowned Indigenous footballer Adam Goodes. The film was screened around the world and at last count has claimed more than twenty international film awards. He is a bestselling author of seven critically hailed and award-winning books covering world affairs, philosophy, theology, political science, Indigenous history. Stan is currently working on his first novel and a new nonfiction book looking at adapting the theories of quantum physics to international affairs and political identity.