The 2009 Animal Rights Conference will host New Zealand's most prominent animal rights campaigners who routinely speak out in defence of animals. They are inspiring, motivating and challenging. This conference is an opportunity to meet, listen to and join in discussions with these leaders in animal advocacy.

We are proud to host a special international guest:

Dr Martin Balluch, President, Verein Gegen Tierfabriken (Association Against Animal Factories), Vienna, Austria

Dr Balluch is president of Verein Gegen Tierfabriken (VGT) the association against Animal Factories, in Austria. Over the last ten years the VGT has achieved many successes for animals including a ban on battery hen farms in Austria, an end to battery eggs on sale in Austrian supermarkets, the closure of Austrian fur farms and much more. Dr Balluch will be speaking about animal rights campaigns in Austria, the successful campaign to ban battery cages and also state repression of animal protection groups in Austria.

^{Biography of Martin Balluch on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Balluch}

New Zealand speakers will represent a broad spectrum of animal advocacy groups drawing on years of experience. A selection of guest speakers include:

Hans Kriek, Campaign Director, SAFE

Hans Kriek is Campaign Director for SAFE, New Zealand’s largest animal rights’ organisation. Hans is one of New Zealand’s most experienced and high-profile campaigners after two decades working for the SPCA and SAFE.

Nicola Kriek, BA., BMus., Dip Teach. Education Officer, SAFE

Nichola has worked as a professional animal advocate in New Zealand for 15 years. She has coordinated and run a school outreach programme (visiting hundreds of schools, holiday programmes and community groups), managed children's clubs, created and edited the children's magazine 'Pawprint',
designed a national volunteer education outreach programme and more recently created SAFE's Animals & Us education programme.

Peter Sankoff, Lecturer and Author, University of Auckland

Peter Sankoff is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law, where he has taught courses in animal law since 2006 at both the graduate and undergraduate level, the first permanent courses of this type in New Zealand. In addition to his work on animal issues Peter is the author of two Canadian books and numerous articles on evidence law, and is the co-editor of the just-released Animal Law in Australasia, an academic book devoted entirely to the legal relationship between human and non-human animals in Australia and New Zealand.

Yolanda Soryl, Christchurch Vegetarian Centre

Yolanda is co-ordinator of New Zealand’s most active vegetarian community and National Coordinator of Vegetarian Families for the New Zealand Vegetarian Society. Yolanda is an educator, mother of 4 vegan children and a lifelong advocate for justice and fairness for all.

Nicky Hager, Author and Investigative Journalist

Nicky, author of The Hollow Men: a study in the politics of deception, writes about issues involving intelligence networks, environmental issues and politics. He has degrees in politics and philosophy and has been described as NZ's leading investigative journalist.

Mark Eden, Coordinator, NAVC (National Anti Vivisection Campaign)

Mark Eden is founder of NAVC and has dedicated his life to exposing animal cruelty.

Deidre Bourke, Chair, ARLAN (Animal Rights Legal Advocacy Network)

Deidre Bourke is the Chair of ARLAN and a PhD candidate at the University of Auckland. Her doctorate is jointly in law and sociology, and is designed as a case study in social movement theory and law reform, examining how the animal rights movement is engagin with the legal system. Deidre has degrees in law, biology and anthropology, and has been actively involved in the animal rights movement for over 20 years.

Marianne MacDonald, National Executive Committee, SAFE

Marianne has worked as both a paid and voluntary animal advocate on and off for 20 years, both in the UK and NZ. She was involved in a school eduction proramme for SAFE 9 years ago and returned to giving school talks as a volunteer more recently. She has a certificate in adult education and four years part-time experience in teaching adults.

Diane Smith, Former Regional Education Officer, Animal Aid

Diane started campaigning for animal rights in 1981. After local and regional campaigning in the UK, she joined the staff of Animal Aid in 2005 as Regional Education Officer. Her role was to run school speakers workshops across the UK and assist volunteer speakers in the Midlands.

Speakers from around NZ will continue to be announced on the website. Please sign up for updates on the conference website www.ar-conference.org.nz.