Background
Tankard Reist was born in Mildura, Victoria.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
Melinda Reist
Edit ProfileEducation
She completed secondary schooling at Mildura High School and studied journalism at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology before taking up a cadetship at the Sunraysia Daily where she worked from 1983 to 1987. As a recipient of a Rotary Foundation Scholarship, she studied journalism at the California State University, Long Beach in 1987 and 1988.
Career
Tankard Reist describes herself as "an advocate for women and girls" and "pro-life feminist". Her website also states that "She is well known for her work on the objectification of women and sexualisation of girls and working to address violence against women." On her return to Australia, Tankard Reist was a freelance contributor to newspapers and to American Broadcasting Company radio. From 1991 to 1993 she lived in South East Asia and was engaged in voluntary aid work including caring for infants with disabilities relinquished for adoption.
On her return to Australia she took up a position as an advisor to independent Senator Brian Harradine from 1993 to 2005.
Tankard Reist was on the founding committee of Karinya House for Mothers and Babies, a supported accommodation and outreach service to women pregnant without support, and Erin House, transitional housing for women post-birth. She was involved with independent women's think tank Women's Forum Australia from 2005 to 2009.
She has also worked as a consultant to Non-governmental organizations whose focus is on addressing global poverty, including World Vision Australia from 2005-2008, engaged in the development of WVA’s Don’t Trade Lives campaign. In 2009 she co-founded Collective Shout for a World Free of Sexploitation, a grassroots campaigning movement which targets advertisers, corporations and marketers which objectify women and sexualise girls to sell products and services.
Executive management Tankard Reist is the founding director of Women's Forum Australia which describes itself as being " an independent women's think tank that undertakes research, education and public policy development about social, economic, health and cultural issues affecting women.".
Membership
She is also a member of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia.
