In 2011, Fiona observed the extent to which schools are under-resourced in Fiji. Her solution to this problem was to establish The Fiji Book Drive to deliver resources to these schools. Fiona realised that improving literacy is key to affecting the most positive change in developing countries. All schooling is compulsorily done in English in Fiji. By profession, Fiona is an English teacher and has taught in deprived schools in East London and private schools in Melbourne. She wanted to have a positive impact on the world. When Fiona was on the island Kadavu, Fiji, in 2011, she had a light bulb moment and decided to send books and school resources to remote primary schools. Fiji Book Drive has established and has now provided 103 libraries and helped 33 kindergartens in remote Fijian islands with 190,000 books. Directly assisting at least 6000 families. Kadavu is the fourth biggest island in Fiji and Fiji Book Drive has helped nearly all the schools there multiple times. The books are selected according to the needs of the individual school. Schools are now reporting improvements in spoken English and reading. Fiona says; “We do this because education empowers students and communities.” One of the keys to education is having the right resources. Fiona believes there are more than enough educational resources in Australia and that these can be redirected to Fiji, where many schools are under-resourced. The mission is to improve educational outcomes and therefore life opportunities for students of Fiji through increased access to educational resources, predominantly focussed on literacy. To re-purpose books, computers, and educational resources, taking them out of the hands of those that do not need them and into the hands of those that do. To operate in the most sustainable manner possible: keeping resources from landfills and only sending the most durable goods. Fiji Book Drive is a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. Fiji Book Drive has Donor Gift Recipient (DGR) status in Australia and financial contributions are tax-deductible. www.fijibookdrive.org www.fijibookdrive.org/donate

Recruited to the VFL by the Fitzroy Football Club. He debuted in 1977 and played mostly at half-forward or in a forward pocket wearing the number 12 guernsey. He was noted for his explosive power, and kicked numerous World of Sport "Goals of the Week", typically on bursting runs down the flanks. His emphasis on strength training and muscular physique pre-empted what was to be more common in later decades. His most notable moment being kicking the winning goal during the final seconds in the 1986 Elimination Final against Essendon. He went on to play 210 games for 395 goals with the club until his retirement in 1989 - his final game being for the Reserves in their Premiership win over Geelong that year. During his career, he represented Victoria in the State of Origin on four occasions. Conlan kicked 10 goals in one game against Footscray in 1984. In March 2012 Conlan became the chief executive officer of AFL Queensland. Rising daily at 3.25 am Michael follows a low-intensity health and well-being Regime that finishes with a swim in the bay with his beloved Brighton Icebergers.   https://www.pantry.com.au/ https://www.afl.com.au/ https://www.fitzroyfc.com.au/  

Margaret Porritt founded FEATHERS in 1972, and since then, the brand has evolved to become one of Australia's most iconic and renowned fashion labels. Today, FEATHERS centers itself around being able to offer women of all ages and silhouettes endless sophistication, practicality, and style. Along with a talented and passionate team, Porritt remains at the helm of the company where she oversees the design of each individual garment, guaranteeing that the highest quality is obtained and ensuring that the brand is ever-evolving. With a succession of 14 stores and over fifty employees, FEATHERS is proving to be as strong as ever. Along the journey, Margaret has been awarded Telstra Business Women of the Year, Retailer of the Year & a host of other notable awards. www.feathers.com.au  

Zoe Daniel is a 3-time foreign correspondent, former ABC Australia US Bureau chief, Southeast Asia, and Africa correspondent. She is running for the seat of Goldstein as an Independent in the next federal election. In late 2019 I traveled to the Arctic, to the North Slope of Alaska, to put together a piece for Foreign Correspondent on a proposal for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. It was a complex piece, logistically challenging, but also a tricky story to tell, with different points of view from indigenous residents and lots of politics. But overall, it was a stark case study of the manipulation of people by big oil, people being forgotten by their governments, and the realities of global warming. Having previously only heard of melting sea ice, I saw the polar bears scrabbling for habitat, heard the stories of the people whose food sources are changing and dwindling, and walked across the plains where deep holes represent melted permafrost. It was both an exhilarating adventure, but also a depressing journey. Soon after, I stood amid the rubble in Northern California where very late season wildfires wiped out swathes of houses, farmland, and vineyards North of San Francisco. Power was off for hundreds of thousands of people. That was against the reminder of this when we almost lost our house on Christmas Day 2015. The scarring experience of covering Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, then the world’s largest-ever superstorm wiped out Tacloban City. Climate change has been everywhere in my reporting life. I have covered floods, typhoons, bushfires on 4 continents. Anyway, the Alaska trip was towards the end of my posting as US bureau chief and it crystallised my view that my time in journalism was coming to an end. It was time to cease being an observer. Politics was never really on my radar. I’m not party political and I couldn’t run for one of the majors. But I needed to make a bigger contribution. First, I wrote a book about Trump, not a negative tome, but an explanation of who his supporters are and why. The dangers of populism and misinformation and erosion of trust and integrity in leadership. Voices of Goldstein came to me, via Angela Pippos, I did not seek them out. Initially, I was very wary due to the toxic environment in Canberra and the loss of family time, but my kids are hugely climate aware. They have met Greta Thunberg and they believe the time is running out. I agree. My 14-year-old son makes a powerful argument when he says, you have a chance to do something for all of us Mum. That means redirecting our economy, training, innovating, being optimistic, using the opportunity. Not waiting. There’s a song from Hamilton, In the room where it happens. Often, you have to get into the room to create change. Frequently, I’ve been an observer in that room. If the Goldstein community will join me and allow me to represent them I will step up to the table. After all of my travels, I came back to Australia, to Goldstein, because this is where I want to be. I run most days along the bay. After all of my challenging reporting life, I am very mindful of the privilege of living here. But as I worry for our spectacular environment, our outsized prosperity, and the future of our kids, I realise that my vote means nothing. And I am a swinging voter. I vote for who I think can be the change, Liberal, Labor, doesn’t matter. Goldstein is full of brilliant people, leaders in their fields, successful individuals. I have huge respect for that. I don’t think our government does. Goldstein is taken for granted and it needs a voice.

A/Prof Margie Danchin is a consultant paediatrician within the Department of Paediatrics, University of Melbourne and Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI). She is Group Leader, Vaccine acceptance, Uptake and Policy, at MCRI, and is an immunisation expert with over ten years of experience in vaccine research and clinical work, both in Australia and in resource poor settings. She has expertise in vaccine clinical trials, vaccine safety, program evaluation, health system strengthening and implementation research in low resource settings, social science and vaccine policy. Her research program is focused on improving vaccine confidence, demand and uptake of licensed vaccines in different settings and populations. Margie is a working Mum with 4 wonderful children and manages to balance a wonderful family & professional life in partnership with her husband David who is a leading surgeon in his field. Margie has a wonderful Pod Cast called “Kids Health info” based on the hugely popular RCH info fact sheets. She also delivers a variety of face book and commentary pieces via the RCH. An inspiring person who is at the centre of Covid information and process during this pandemic.

A beacon of vibe and fun times sums up the love affair that Bayside has with the corner of Church St and St Andrews Street Brighton – better known as “The Pantry”. It might be one of the most enduring names in Brighton, but its owners – Daniel Vaughan, Guy Mainwaring, and Tim Purton-Smith have been creating memories for 30 years. Inspired by locals for locals, The Pantry is a one-stop destination of style and excitement. The Pantry Family provides the community with everything you can imagine – including – Coffee, Calamari, Burgers, Ice Cream, Pizza, Italian Bread, Fine Deli Meat, and Japanese. The well-polished hub anchoring Church St has been ever-evolving and not afraid to pivot and try new things. It is a wonderful business case study of listing to your customers and delivering a wonderful experience. This simple philosophy has kept it on-trend and synonymous with everything that is good and fun about living in Bayside. Rain or shine, the setup consistently attracts residents from Brighton and beyond.   https://www.pantry.com.au/ https://firetown.com.au/about

James Tomkins, competing in his sixth Olympic Games, was Australia's flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. As an Oarsome Foursome veteran, triple Olympic gold medallist, and winner of seven world championships (and the only rower to win world titles in every sweep-oared event), he deserves to be regarded as Australia's greatest living rower. A gifted all-round sportsman, he learned to row at Carey Grammar School, Melbourne, under the coaching of Noel Donaldson, who would later become his mentor at the Olympic level. He was a member of the Australian eight which won the world championship in 1986 but finished fifth in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He later rowed with Mike McKay, Nick Green, and Andrew Cooper, as the Oarsome Foursome, to win the coxless fours gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. With Drew Ginn replacing Andrew Cooper in the boat, the Foursome won a second gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. After the Foursome broke up, Tomkins and Drew Ginn rowed as a pair, winning the 1999 world title. When an injury caused Ginn to withdraw, Tomkins paired at short notice with the eights emergency Matthew Long at the 2000 Games - and incredibly they won bronze. In 2002 Tomkins and Ginn agreed to team up again and try for the Athens 2004 Games. Their victory in that event made Tomkins the most decorated Australian rower of all time. https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/james-tomkins/

Chain Reaction was founded in 2007 by Berrick Wilson after his daughter Milla was rushed to hospital with a brain hemorrhage when she was 2 days old. Over the weeks that Berrick and his wife Caroline spent at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the Monash Medical Centre, they benefitted from quality care and attention from all the medical staff. What was obvious from the experience was that even in Australia’s major capital cities, more can be done to help our sick children. After Milla recovered fully, the experience drove Berrick to do something that would allow people in a similar position to himself to assist the sick and hospitalised children. As a result, Chain Reaction was founded.   https://www.chain-reaction.org.au/

Fiona Austin grew up in a mid-century house in Sydney designed by architect Ted Scully. Her early exposure to all things mid-century was engendered by her parents who had a strong appreciation of contemporary design which, as she recalls, even extended to her father building a mid-century modern dolls house for her, as a child. During her design studies at Swinburne College of Technology in Melbourne, Fiona was fortunate to have been taught by a lecturer named Maurice Cantlon who was not only a talented artist but who also had a strong interest in art history and architecture, in particular, Australian architecture. He spent dedicated time with his first-year students showing them around Melbourne and teaching them about architectural styles and architects that shaped Melbourne, including Robin Boyd and Walter Burley Griffin. After graduating, Fiona worked on staff for three years at Home Beautiful Magazine and then went on to edit The Period Home Renovator magazine, whilst studying restoration and conservation at RMIT. While her children were small, Fiona freelanced for three years, writing about design for the then “Home” section of the “Age” newspaper and Home Beautiful Magazine. In 2001, Fiona and her husband, Craig, and their two sons, purchased a mid-century house in Beaumaris. Over time, Fiona became distressed at seeing many mid-century houses being demolished and replaced with faux provincial-style houses and other generic volume builds. Fiona started photographing Mid Century houses and interviewing the owners, then started the BoMo -Beaumaris Modern Facebook page in an effort to link up possible purchasers of mid-century houses with houses for sale in Beaumaris. Fiona has recently co-authored and produced ‘Beaumaris Modern’, a book about Beaumaris mid-century houses. Check out: Beaumaris Modern at local book shops; www.ricketspointbeaumaris.com.au www.thecnr.com.au    

After reading a series of books on the history of Champagne, Kyla fell in love with the story of Napoleon Bonaparte and his friendship with Jean Remy Moet. She fell in love with Champagne itself. Kyla wrote a letter to a French Gentleman who had written her favorite book about Champagne, he wrote back inviting her to visit France and learn about Champagne. She quit her finance career, left her long-term partner, gave away her dog, and bought a one-way ticket to Paris. This is where her incredible journey began! Hear about a charmed life of delicious Champagne, grand soirees, Saudi Arabian Princes, and luxury travel. Kyla has built an amazing life and business around her passion for Champagne. She is known as the “Champagne Dame”. It seems only fitting that the glamorous Champagne Dame of Bayside would fit right into the Biggest reality TV franchise in the world - “Real House Wives of Melbourne” – hear first hand the interesting tales of Series 4.