Invited Speakers
Oliver Hunter
Disability advocate/comedian/consultant
Living with cerebral palsy and using a wheelchair, Oliver’s has a different view of the world around him (literally- he’s lower) Performing stand up comedy- although he’s never actually stood up- Oliver has been cracking jokes about disability for over 10 years. Entertaining crowds from all major cities in Australia to Dallas, Seattle and L.A in the United States. While not wearing his comedian hat. Oliver is a disability awareness consultant and advocate, keynote speaker and podcast host. Always aiming to breakdown barriers and improve the lives of all people living with a disability. In other words: “the guy you get when you can’t afford Dylan Alcott”.
Shea Calvin
Associate Lecturer of Marketing, Newcastle Business School
Shea Calvin is a proud Birpai and Worimi woman from so-called Australia, and an Associate Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Newcastle.
Shea’s journey into tourism research began with a deep curiosity and a drive to see the world, but it was while travelling that she fell in love with home. The further she ventured, the more she found herself speaking about home, and realising the ways it had been misrepresented through a constructed lens. For many, her home was reduced to a romanticised backdrop, and their ideas of Aboriginality narrowed by static, outdated stereotypes. These encounters sparked the central question that drives her work: What happens when we - as Indigenous peoples - tell our own stories of place?
Her recently submitted PhD, Hear Our Voices: An Indigenist Approach to Tourism, introduced a Stories-Led Research Framework that privileges storytelling, yarning, and creative methods as tools to amplify Indigenous voices and reshape how places, peoples and their stories are represented.
Her work examines how First Nations peoples reclaim agency over how their Country and cultures are shared with visitors – challenging the extractive logics and colonial gazes that underpin tourism branding.
Shea’s research engages deeply with questions of connection, sovereignty and representation, and recognises storytelling as not just a method, but a form of governance, relationality and place-making. Her work contributes to more inclusive, community-led futures in tourism, while empowering communities to embrace, tell, and protect their stories on their own terms.
Andrea Comastri
CEO and Co-founder, Hotel Etico Australia
Andrea is Co-founder and CEO of Hotel Etico, the first award-winning not for profit social enterprise hotel in Australia, employing and training young people with disability, challenging the wider community to see both the human and economic value of an inclusive society and partnering with the Australian tourism and hospitality industry to make it the most inclusive in the world.
A strong believer in the transformative power of social enterprises to create sustainable impact, Andrea is an expert changemaker with over 25 years’ experience in the not-for-profit sector.
He held executive, director and advisory roles in charities and philanthropy in areas including disability, youth unemployment, homelessness, domestic violence, addiction, aged care and education.
Andrea is an Honorary Industry Fellow at the UTS Business School, 2022 AMP Tomorrow Maker and 2024 Westpac Scholar Social Change Fellow.
Dan & Valerie Cockerell
Former Facilitator, Disney Institute; Former Vice President, Disney's Magic Kingdom
www.cauthe.org
CONTACT US
Leishman Associates
227 Collins Street, Hobart
Charitha@laevents.com.au
03 6234 7844
Acknowledgement of Country
Torrens University Australia acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work. Torrens University Australia respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present.
Diversity and inclusion commitment
CAUTHE strongly supports equity and inclusion for all. We embrace diversity and condemn any kind of discrimination, be it on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.