Cassandra Wilkinson is an Australian author and the president and co-founder of

FBi Radio FBi (call sign: 2FBI) station is an independent, not-for-profit community radio in Sydney, Australia. FBi places a heavy emphasis on local emerging music: it has a policy that at least 50 per cent of its music content is to be Australian, of wh ...

.Cassandra Wilkinson - The Drum Opinion (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
/ref> She is married to former Australian politician

Paul McLeay Paul Edward McLeay (born 23 August 1972), a former Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Heathcote for the Labor Party between 2003 and 2011. In 2010, McLeay resigned ...

Writing career

Wilkinson is a columnist for the newspaper ''The Australian'' and the author of ''Don't Panic - Nearly Everything is Better Than You Think'', published by

Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Originally, it was the publishing arm of the International Socialists (today known as the Socialist Workers Party), until it changed hands and was replaced ...

in 2007. Her second book is ''The Kids Are Alright - 10 Good Reasons to Relax and Let Kids Be Kids''. She has made presentations at the

Sydney Writers' Festival The Sydney Writers' Festival is an annual literary festival held in Sydney, with the inaugural festival taking place in 1997. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The festival's interim artistic director since ...

and the

Festival of Dangerous Ideas The Festival of Dangerous Ideas (FODI) is Australia's original disruptive festival that encourages debate and critical thinking, co-founded in 2009 by The Ethics Centre (formerly known as the St James Ethics Centre) held in Sydney, Australia. ...

. She has written individual chapters on happiness economics in ''Happiness'' (Spinney Press, 2008) and on effective programs for the poor in ''Right Social Justice'' (Connor Court, 2012). Her most recent essay, "Why Australia Should Become a Superpower", was published in ''Really Dangerous Ideas'' (ed. Gary Johns, Connor Court 2013). She is a regular commentator for '' Sky News Agenda'', ''

The Bolt Report ''The Bolt Report'' is an Australian political discussion program hosted by conservative commentator Andrew Bolt, who focuses on conservative political and social comment in the form of opinion commentary, panel discussion and interviews. The pr ...

'' and ABC's '' The Drum''. She was featured in ''Best Australian Science Writing 2012'' (UNSW Press).

Career

Wilkinson currently works for Social Finance Pty Ltd, a start-up social impact bonds broker. She was a senior public servant and senior political adviser to the

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Treasurer and other Labor ministers. Wilkinson was a

freight Cargo consists of bulk goods conveyed by water, air, or land. In economics, freight is cargo that is transported at a freight rate for commercial gain. ''Cargo'' was originally a shipload but now covers all types of freight, including transp ...

expert, holding the position of Director, Rail and Freight Policy in the

New South Wales Ministry of Transport Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

. She was made redundant from this position in January 2009, following the New South Wales government decision to axe executive positions.Brian Robins
"First cuts are deep for Labor staff"
''Sydney Morning Herald'', 16 January 2009 She was a director in the Economics practice of

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

before returning to work for Premier Kristina Keneally until the defeat of the Labor government in March 2011. In addition to being a founder and president of FBi FM, she is a director of Music NSW and of the Human Capital Project, a charity that provides personal equity loans to poor students in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. She was previously vice president of the

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) is the peak body and the national representative organisation for community radio and television stations in Australia. The CBAA provide leadership, advocacy and support for members to ac ...

and a director of Sydney City Farm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Cassandra Writers from Sydney Australian essayists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people