7th Wesnet Technology
Safety Summit
15-17 SEPTEMBER 2026/MEEANJIN (Brisbane)
SPEAKERS
At Wesnet's 7th Technology Safety Summit, speakers will explore the complex and evolving interplays between technology and family/domestic and other forms of gendered violence.
We will keep adding to this page as speakers confirm. Check back regularly.
Keynote Speakers
Dr Yoel Roth
SVP, Head of Trust & Safety
Match Group (US)
Read Bio
Yoel Roth is a trust and safety practitioner and researcher. He is the Senior Vice President of Trust & Safety at Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and dozens of dating apps used by millions of people worldwide. He is also a Non-Resident Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where his research, teaching, and writing focus on trustworthy governance approaches for social media, AI, and other emerging technologies. Previously, Yoel was the Head of Trust & Safety at Twitter. For more than 7 years, he helped build and lead the teams responsible for Twitter’s content moderation, integrity, and election security efforts.Yoel received his PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. His research examined the technical, policy, business, and governance dynamics of app stores, social networking, and online dating.

Karen Bentley
CEO, Wesnet
Read Bio
Karen Bentley, is the CEO of WESNET, Australia’s national peak body for specialist women’s domestic and family violence services. Karen has worked across the Violence Against Women sector since 1997 as a senior executive in the Australian Public Service, as a consultant, in frontline services and at WESNET. Karen co-founded the Safety Net Australia project in 2012 which focuses on the intersection of technology and Violence Against Women. Karen has a BSc(Hons) from ANU and began her career in the Australian Public Service where she worked across several agencies including Deputy head of the Office for the Status of Women. She has also worked as a consultant to numerous non-government organisations and in leadership positions in the health sector. She is a board member of the Global Network of Women's Shelters and the Forcibly Displaced Persons Network. Until June 2025, she was a member of the National Plan Advisory Group. She is an Advisory Group member of RMIT’s Social Equity Research Centre (SERC) and a member of the Expert Group preparing changes to the UN Handbook on National Plans to incorporate Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence. In 2025, she led the delivery of the Fifth World Conference of Women’s Shelters. She is passionate about ensuring gender equality and ending all forms of gender-based violence.

Amie Carrington
CEO, Domestic Violence Action Centre
National Chair, Wesnet
Read Bio
Amie Carrington is a passionate and transformative leader dedicated to ending gender-based violence. Amie is the Chair of the Board for Wesnet Inc. (Women's Services Network) and the Chief Executive Officer of the Domestic Violence Action Centre Inc. Providing leadership of specialist domestic, family and sexual violence services in South East Queensland to increase safety and healing for victim survivors and reduce the impact of Domestic Violence in our communities. Amie's academic background includes a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Social Inquiry, complemented by certifications in governance, leadership, and coaching.
Speakers

Roya Azadi
Director of Partnerships and programs, YLAB
Read Bio
Roya Azadi is an awarded strategic design and innovation leader working across civic innovation and the future of public systems. Across her work with YLab, Paper Giant, World Vision, and multiple state governments, Roya has designed large-scale programs, strategies, and civic infrastructures that centre lived experience and equity.
Alongside her practice work, Roya is an emerging public thinker on the intersection of technology and social impact, exploring how new technologies can strengthen equity, expand civic voice, and build better feedback loops between institutions and the people they serve.

Sarah Biordi
Technology Safety Specialist,
Wesnet.
Read Bio
In her seven years as a Technology Safety Specialist at Wesnet. Sarah Biordi has worked with victim service providers, telecommunication providers, financial institutions, technology companies, app developers, law enforcement and policymakers to improve safety and privacy for victims of intimate partner abuse. She has delivered over 70 face-to-face and online training sessions to more than 7000 practitioners and other interested parties in Australia, covering issues related to technology-facilitated abuse, privacy, and victim safety. She has also served on national and international committees addressing issues related to privacy, technology, and safety.
Sarah led the ACCAN-funded Wesnet App Safety Centre project, which involved a partnership with Dr Jenna Condie, Dr Garth Neal from Western Sydney University, and Dr Robert Merkel. Together, they conducted an impartial review and assessment of several popular safety, security, and privacy apps. Additionally, she led the Commonwealth-funded Wesnet training component of the Cyber Safety Pasifika (CSP) project in collaboration with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) from 2020 to 2025. This presentation was part of the CSP Tier 2 Cybercrime Investigations course.
Sarah feels honoured to be in a position to support women and children suffering from family and domestic violence through Wesnet’s Safety Net Australia Project.

Audace Garnett
Director of the Safety Net Project,
The National Network to End Domestic Violence (US)
Read Bio
Audace Garnett is an advocate with more than 20 years of experience supporting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of abuse, including youth and survivors with disabilities. She has worked at local programs such as Barrier Free Living NY and Day One NY supporting youth, as well as at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in the Victim Services Unit. Today, she is the Director of the Safety Net Project at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, where she focuses on the intersection of technology and abuse. In her role, she provides national and international training and technical assistance, develops practical tools and resources, and partners with organizations and communities to strengthen responses to technology-facilitated abuse. Her work centers on enhancing safety, building capacity, and helping advocates navigate the rapidly evolving digital landscape with clarity and confidence.

Christine Gregory
Head of Innovation Lab,
Our Watch
Read Bio
Christine Gregory is the head of Our Watch’s National Violence Prevention Innovation lab. Christine is an experienced leader in strategy, innovation and partnership and has worked across Australia and the Asia-Pacific in the development, humanitarian and prevention sectors. She has worked on social justice programs for more than twenty years. Alongside her work at Our Watch, Christine is a published author.
Pnina Hagege
Head of Policy,
Teach Us Consent
Read Bio
Pnina is the Head of Policy at Teach Us Consent and currently leads the Fix Our Feeds campaign. She was an advisor to the Federal Communications Minister and for a member of Local Government, and is currently a member of the UN Australian Internet Governance Next Gen Taskforce. Pnina also worked in the youth media space for companies such as The Daily Aus and is passionate about preventing gender-based violence through technology solutions.

Annabelle Harrison
Technology Safety Specialist,
Wesnet
Read Bio
Annabelle Harrison is a Technology Safety Specialist for WESNET, providing training and technical advice on technology safety issues to front-line service providers, technology companies, academics and policy advisors. Annabelle has led work in developing resources with Meta and Tinder Australia to keep survivors safe on technology. Prior to joining WESNET, Annabelle worked as a Cyber Security Advisor in the Non-for-profit sector and as a Digital Success Manager for a private Information Security consultancy firm. Annabelle is passionate about strengthening an individual's sense of security and believes businesses and corporations are significantly influential during this process.

Catherine Plunkett
Director, Safety Net Australia,
Wesnet
Read Bio
Catherine is the Director of Safety Net Australia at Wesnet, leading a team that works at the intersection of technology-facilitated abuse and gender-based violence, providing training, knowledge resources and expert advice to service providers, government and technology companies.
She is a subject matter expert with more than thirty years of experience working with specialist domestic/family services, including state and national peak bodies.
Catherine has led the design and implementation of key sector-wide service models, practice frameworks and workforce development initiatives, as well as representing the sector in key strategic system reform processes.
As an advocate for structural reform, Catherine centres the experience of survivors, and uses intersectional feminist, human rights, and anti-oppressive frameworks to address and prevent gender-based violence.
In 2017, she was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to investigate how multi-agency responses to family violence can generate positive systemic change.

