Kate Torney, who was the ABC‘s first female news director, has received an honorary doctorate from RMIT for her contribution to arts, media and culture in Australia. This goes with the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) she was also awarded in 2020 for services to the broadcast, media and cultural sectors.

Torney became the head of ABC News in 2009 leading the expansion of digital services and the launch of ABC News 24. She left in 2015 to head up the State Library of Victoria and its 90-million-dollar redevelopment project Torney is now Chair of The Wheeler Centre, Director at The Conversation and the CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation which supports the work of some of the world’s leading cancer experts, delivering break-through research and treatments.

On accepting her honorary doctorate she said:

“I had the privilege of working as a journalist for 25 years and for 25 years I was on a deadline, and every deadline was critical, and seemingly catastrophic if not met. It was exhilarating, extraordinary and sometimes exhausting.

My advice to my younger self, and to you, is to be brave enough to pause, to take a breath now and again. Very few things in life are genuinely urgent … embrace your daydreams.”