Virginia Haussegger AM is a passionate women’s advocate, and communication specialist with  unique expertise in leading powerful conversations. She is also an award-winning television journalist, writer and commentator, whose extensive media career spans 30 years.

Virginia has reported from around the globe, including Washington, New York and the Middle East, for leading current affair programs on Channel 9, the Seven Network and the ABC. She has anchored primetime national news programs and presented as state host in five capital cities, including 15 years as nightly anchor of the ABC’s flagship TV News in Canberra.

Virginia has been widely published across Australian media including The Canberra Times; the Sydney Morning Herald; The Age; The Guardian; Australian Foreign Affairs; HQ Magazine; The Museum. She is Deputy Chair of the media think-tank PIJI, the Public Interest Journalism Initiative.

A highly sought-after Speaker, Virginia hosts BroadTalk, a podcast about Women, Power and the Wayward World, in which prominent women speak intimately about the events that have shaped and influenced their leadership. 

In 2022 as Guest Curator of the exhibition Australian Women Changemakers, at the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD), Virginia was tasked with compiling an historic list of the nation’s leading changemakers.

As founding Director of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, at the University of Canberra, where she is an Adjunct Professor, Virginia launched a bold new gender equality research initiative in 2017, and created BroadAgenda, Australia’s first gender equity news platform to bridge academic research into mainstream media. 

In 2019 Virginia was named ACT Australian of The Year, in recognition of her community leadership and women’s rights advocacy. In 2014 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the media and gender equity. 

Widely recognised as a leading communication and media strategist, Virginia regularly hosts a broad range of public forums, conferences and panel discussions, covering diverse fields of knowledge spanning academic, public and private sectors. She has worked across Commonwealth departments on the design and delivery of bespoke communication and presentation masterclasses. Virginia is an ANZSOG Fellow and sessional Lecturer in the Public Policy Program (faculty of Business, Government & Law) at the University of Canberra.