Top journalist Zonta's guest speaker

Highly respected Pacific islands journalist Barbara Dreaver is the keynote speaker at this year's Zonta International Women's Day breakfast.
Zonta Ashburton breakfast organiser Freda Bierema said the club was thrilled to have the acclaimed broadcaster as guest speaker at their 29th annual event.
“Barbara has spent 30 years bringing the news from the Pacific Islands to New Zealanders and her work has exposed major crime, as well as raising awareness of climate change and other important issues.
“She was most recently in Vanuatu after the devastating quake there.
Dreaver was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2024 New Year’s honours for investigative journalism and services to the Pacific people.
"We look forward to hearing about the stories which have made a mark on her heart.”
Dreaver, of Kiribati, Cook Islands and Kiwi heritage, has specialised in stories from the Pacific across print, radio and television, and has been Television New Zealand’s Pacific correspondent for 23 years.
Her work has uncovered major fraud, drug smuggling, corruption and human trafficking, leading to multiple arrests and changed laws and policies both in New Zealand and around the Pacific.
She has also won multiple awards including Reporter of the Year at the 2022 New Zealand television awards.
In 2020 Dreaver created a two-year training programme to support new Pacific journalists, and in 2022 she was appointed as a member of the Establishment Board for the Aotearoa NZ Public Media body.
Mrs Bierema said Barbara’s work aligned with Zonta’s goals of building a better world for women and girls.
“Zonta's national project supports Foster Hope, an organisation for the benefit of girls in foster care, and the club also offers a three-year programme to girls at Ashburton College and Mt Hutt College to develop their potential.
"This annual Women’s Day Breakfast is important and our wonderful guest speakers help inspire women of all ages.”
The Zonta Ashburton Women’s Day Breakfast will be at the Hotel Ashburton on Saturday 8 March.
Tickets cost $45 and are available from Zonta members or via the club’s website and social media pages.