Media Panel: Shaping the Narrative of Agriculture and Energy Transition

​Wednesday 12/02/2025, 14:20-15:20, Main Room (Roma-Terrace), Level 1, Grand Chancellor Hotel, Brisbane

​As Australia moves towards decarbonisation, regional communities—many reliant on mining and traditional industries—face significant change. How can the media help bridge the gap between policy and public perception, ensuring a smoother transition for agriculture and energy sectors? What challenges will need to be overcome? Chaired by Dr. Monique Lewis, this panel brings together award-winning rural journalists Cathie Schnitzerling, Rhianna Patrick , Kallee Buchanan and Liz Wells alongside Professor John Rolfe, a leading expert in Regional Development and Resource Economics. Together, they will explore the media’s role in informing, engaging, and persuading diverse audiences, from policymakers to people on the ground.
The discussion will unpack how different regions—whether agricultural areas, mining towns, the Great Barrier Reef tourism industry, or areas with strong First Nations connections—experience the transition in unique ways. What narratives resonate most with regional communities? How can media help counter misinformation, highlight opportunities, and foster understanding in places where economic shifts create uncertainty? With Queensland at the heart of Australia’s energy and agricultural sectors, this session will examine the media’s power in shaping public discourse, influencing decision-makers, and ultimately helping communities navigate the path to a more sustainable future.

​CHAIR: DR. MONIQUE LEWIS

Dr. Monique Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication at Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, specialising in the intersection of media, health, and risk sociologies. Her research explores how news media frame health, medicine, and risk, with recent work focusing on COVID-19 communication, vaccine narratives, and government messaging. She co-edited “Communicating COVID-19: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and its forthcoming sequel, bringing together global insights on pandemic communication. Monique has presented her research internationally to scholars, health professionals, and policymakers. She is an active member of several academic associations and co-Vice Chair of the IAMCR Health Communication Working Group.

Panellists
​

CAthie ​SCHNITZERLING

​Born and raised in outback Queensland, Cathie was ABC TV Landline's first presenter in 1991, fronting and reporting on the program for four years. She returned as the executive producer in 2019 after four years as the regional editor for Queensland. Cathie was the first female director of news for the Ten Network in Brisbane and Sydney. She's worked as a reporter, presenter and producer on television and radio, including the Queensland Country Hour. She presents regularly on ABC Radio Brisbane. An award-winning writer and producer, Cathie was recognised for her leadership and mentoring skills with a Queensland Clarion award for her Contribution to Journalism in 2014. She has tertiary qualifications in leadership coaching and mentoring and has attended the Women’s Leadership Forum at Harvard Business School.

Rhianna Patrick ​

Rhianna Patrick is a freelance Torres Strait Islander journalist, broadcaster and audio content creator. She is currently a senior journalist with the National Indigenous Radio Service and has an extensive media career spanning more than 25 years. She’s an experienced podcaster, newsreader, researcher and producer and has worked in radio, television and new media platforms.  Rhianna has produced several podcast series, Black Nation and Blak Bias for Indigenous X and was commissioned by the State Library of Queensland to host, write and produce a podcast series on Eddie Koiki Mabo.  The latter podcast earned Gold at the 2022 Australian Podcast Awards.  Rhianna began her media career with Triple A Murri Country and the National Indigenous Media Association before joining the ranks of the ABC as news cadet.

Kallee Buchanan
Kallee has worked as a journalist, presenter and producer at the ABC since 2009. In 2017 she won the radio and digital categories at the Queensland Rural Media Awards, and was named the Rural Journalist of the Year. She went on to win both the Australian and the International Star Prize for Digital Media. She has since won multiple awards for her rural and emergency broadcasting, and in 2021 was the first Australian to receive the IFAJ-Alltech International Award for Leadership in Agricultural Journalism. She is currently the presenter of the Queensland Country Hour, Australia's longest running radio program.

Liz Wells ​

Liz Wells is an experienced agricultural journalist with a career spanning more than three decades. She began her journey at The Land newspaper in 1989, covering rural NSW before becoming Knight-Ridder’s Australian agricultural correspondent, reporting on grain, meat, fibre, and sugar industries. Her work has taken her across Australia and internationally, covering key market developments and industry events. Now based in Toowoomba, Liz is the editor of Grain Central. With a deep connection to agriculture, she brings a wealth of industry knowledge and storytelling expertise to her reporting.

John Rolfe

​Professor John Rolfe is a distinguished resource economist at Central Queensland University, specialising in regional development, environmental, and agricultural economics. With extensive practical and policy experience in agricultural and environmental issues in northern Australia, he has operated a cattle property in Central Queensland for several decades. Since 1989, Professor Rolfe has held numerous academic and management roles at the university, contributing significantly to research in non-market valuation and economic impact assessments in rural areas. Professor Rolfe is also a past President of AARES (2019) and a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.