Madonna King
Journalist, Author, Commentator, Speaker & MC
Madonna King is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author of 16 books, whose keynotes bring the lives of teenagers, the art of leadership and the story behind the headlines vividly to life.
Quick Contact
Madonna King is an award-winning journalist, author and seasoned speaker across the nation’s conference stages. As a national voice in current affairs, she has covered dozens of elections and budgets, headed the top rating current affairs program on the ABC in Queensland, and won several national awards for her journalism. Madonna’s understanding of politics provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes look the decision-making process that influences all our lives.
The author of 15 books, including biographies of former federal treasurer Joe Hockey and Australian of the Year and inventor of the cervical cancer vaccine, Ian Frazer, Madonna is a regular TV and radio commentator. Her focus on the nation’s tweens and teens, having interviewed thousands of them for books like Being 14, Fathers and Daughters, Ten Ager and Screen Wise, allows fascinating insight into both the challenges they face and the opportunities they can grab. This is not only relevant to government and big corporations, but has proved valuable to school communities across Australia, who have worked with Madonna to educate students and parent groups.
Madonna is a sought-after facilitator, Master of Ceremonies and keynote speaker. Thinking on her feet in an interview with the prime minister, calming the anger of a talkback caller or interviewing leading CEOs are skills she has used to advantage in traveling around Australia moderating hypotheticals or facilitating conferences on topics as varied as leadership, education, politics, business, resources, the law, tourism and the environment.
Madonna has been deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph, chief-of-staff of The Australian and worked across newspapers, television, radio and online. A fellow of the prestigious World Press Institute, she launched a free afternoon daily, planned the coverage logistics for the Sydney 2000 Olympics for more than 40 newspapers and sat on the Walkley Advisory Board for journalism. She is the former head of the Queensland cyberbully taskforce, and with a diploma in company directorships she has also served on several non-for-profit boards, relating to children and currently is a convenor of the non-partisan Queensland Women In Politics program.
Topics
The Power of Storytelling
How to influence the people who you lead
For 30 years, Madonna has told stories from places the world over. She’s also written 16 books chronicling the highs and lows of other people’s lives — from biographies to parenting, and the people, events and trends that change our nation. They offer extraordinary insight into how stories are the means of changing other people’s lives. How can leaders use their own — both the challenges they’ve met and the opportunities they’ve grasped — to empower their teams? Whether you are the CEO or a team leader, you’ll be able to begin the moment this presentation ends.
Audience takeaways:
- Your experience is your gold mine — use it to forge the change you seek.
- Telling stories engages people. Your stories — from something you overheard to a challenge you met — can be the game changer for someone else.
- This power doesn’t need extra study or extra time in your diary. It’s sitting there, just needing to be awakened — and this is a step-by-step guide on where to start.
Ideal for:
CEOs, executives, team leaders
Authentic Leadership
What makes them and what breaks them
Over 30 years, Madonna has reported on seven Prime Ministers and held onstage interviews with dozens of leaders across politics, business, the arts and sport. She’s interviewed hundreds of school principals and government department heads, and hosted podcasts with international bankers. Add her 16 books, and she’s had a bird’s-eye view of what makes and breaks authentic, good leaders — from the biography of Joe Hockey (former treasurer and diplomat) to Professor Ian Frazer (co-developer of the cervical cancer vaccine). Go on a journey through the corridors of power to discover what sits at the heart of their success.
Audience takeaways:
- Being authentic matters — and how you show you are genuine is part of that
- Leadership is a relationship, so how do you empower more active followers?
- Story-telling — particularly around your own failures and successes — can be a game changer. What are the stories in your toolkit?
Ideal for:
Conferences & leadership teams
A Global Online Experiment We Didn’t Ask For
How to take back control of our children’s lives
Drawing on interviews with thousands of children — along with the teachers, researchers, scientists and medicos who study them — Madonna unpacks the unseen impact of screens on our children, from AI to computer games and algorithms. We, as parents, can take back control and change our children’s trajectory. Let her explain how.
Audience takeaways:
- Parents have the power to take back control of their children’s lives. Don’t leave it to government or your school.
- Role-modelling the behaviour we want has never been more important — and the evidence proves it.
- Practical tips on growing independent, resilient and kind kids, and protecting them from what lurks behind their screens — from building critical thinking to bringing back the family dinner.
Ideal for:
Parent events & school communities
The Secret Power of Fathers
A father figure is a secret weapon
A good father or father figure is a secret weapon in children flourishing — and that’s the case whether they are teachers or company chiefs, tradies or marketing execs. At home, you’re a Dad. So how do you grow your child’s resilience and ambition, their academic success, and their ability to bounce back from setbacks? Let Madonna unlock your secret power.
Audience takeaways:
- A father’s ability to show his own vulnerabilities and own his mistakes can be the game changer for a struggling teenager.
- Fathers have the ability, more than anything else, to influence the romantic relationships their children seek.
- Teens won’t admit it, but they love their father’s ability to bring clarity to a problem (from friendship to Maths) and offer concrete advice without getting overly involved.
Ideal for:
Parent & community audiences
The Power of Storytelling
The key to changing children’s lives
Unlocking the potential of students is a game-changer. So how does a teacher use storytelling to do that — to change the behaviour and trajectory of those in front of them? And how might a school leader use that same power of storytelling to influence their staff? Story-telling has existed forever, but it really is the ally every leader needs. Let Madonna guide you in unlocking your own story — and hear the proof of it working.
Audience takeaways:
- Everyone’s life is a treasure trove of little and big stories that can be told to forge change.
- Telling stories engages and inspires people — and can draw on simple conversations you’ve overheard as well as the weighty challenges you’ve met. Both can be the plot that changes lives.
- This power doesn’t need a degree or extra time in your diary. It’s sitting there, just waiting to be used.
Ideal for:
Teachers & school leaders
Are You Life Ready?
School’s soon out — now what?
This 60–90 minute session is aimed at students in years 10, 11 and 12, challenging them to think beyond the school gates to who they want to be once their school hat is discarded for the last time. Often a young adult stumbles once the structure of school disappears. How do they keep flourishing as a young adult and a leader? How do they navigate the challenges and opportunities beyond school? This practical guide picks up when the final school bell rings.
Audience takeaways:
- Students leave with a checklist — from the basic recipes they should know to the key to advancing in the workplace.
- Developing their ‘team’ post-school is an important part of their success, personally and professionally — with tips on how to build that mentoring group.
- Graduation marks the start of adult life, and the need to polish a whole range of new skills — from teamwork and communication to the ability to listen and to network.
Ideal for:
Senior secondary students
Mothering
Intention versus reality
Every mother starts with the best intentions — and then real life, real teenagers and real pressures arrive. Drawing on interviews with thousands of mothers and daughters, Madonna explores the gap between the mother we mean to be and the one the day-to-day makes us — and how to close it with less guilt and more genuine connection.
Audience takeaways:
- Children are their own people, and we need to parent each child differently. That requires research, in the same way we would research a tricky work issue.
- Daughters will almost always push back against their mother at some point — but it doesn’t mean they won’t come back.
- Perfection isn’t possible, and we should stop trying to achieve it.
Ideal for:
Parent events & community audiences
Teachers Rock, OK!
The true value of teachers
Teachers change lives — and rarely hear it said out loud. Madonna makes the case for the outsized, often invisible influence teachers hold, and shows how storytelling and real connection turn a classroom into a place students carry with them long after the bell.
Audience takeaways:
- Many people — from company chiefs to Olympians, Governors-General to artists — attribute their successful career path to a single teacher. Who will be that person for the child who one day collects the Archibald Prize or wins the prime ministership?
- Just because a teacher’s role has been devalued doesn’t mean we can’t change that. Simple things can shift how they are valued in the eyes of parents and politicians. What are they?
- The nation needs more teachers, with big minds and big hearts. We all have a stake in that.
Ideal for:
Teachers & school leaders
Who is the Parent Here?
Delineation and delegation
Where does school’s job end and home’s begin? As the lines blur, Madonna unpacks who owns what in raising resilient kids — the delineation of roles and the art of delegation — so parents and educators stop tripping over each other and start pulling the same way.
Audience takeaways:
- School engagement rules with parents are crucial, and need to be clear and transparent.
- Teachers need the skills to communicate with parents respectfully — and to switch off when needed.
- Success in school policies, from uniform changes to the adoption of AI, comes down to schools and parents working together, not apart.
Ideal for:
Educators, school communities & parents
