Jeff McMullen

An ABC foreign correspondent for almost two decades, a prize winning Four Corners documentary maker, the longest serving Sixty Minutes reporter, and now best-selling author, Jeff McMullen hardly needs a introduction to most Australians.

From his coverage of the Watergate scandal at the White House to an extraordinary encounter with a 'lost tribe' of Amazon Indians, the trek by huskie dog-sled across Antarctica, the ride by helicopter to the world's highest warzone in the Himalayas, and that chilling journey into darkness of the genocide in Rwanda, few living storytellers anywhere in the world have travelled as much or gone to as many amazing extremes in the pursuit of a great story.

Jeff McMullen's interest in solutions to environmental problems saw him chair a number of debates during Australia's last national election campaign. As a volunteer for the Australian Red Cross he campaigned for a global approach to the growing refugee crisis in areas of conflict.

For many years Jeff has worked on projects to help the disadvantaged. He is a patron of the Merry Makers group that introduces Downs Syndrome children to the joy of music and dance; supports Youth Insearch of Australia which arranges counselling and weekend camps for teenagers in trouble; and is an ambassador for the Mirabel Foundation which supports children left behind by parents who died of drug addiction.

In 2001 Jeff helped launch the Sane Australia Campaign seeking more government assistance for people with depression and other mental illnesses. In 2002 he became a director of Ian Thorpe's Fountain of Youth, a trust supporting research into childhood illnesses and now involved in bringing better medical care to remote aboriginal communities.