This month we’re talking with Kelly O’Shaughnessy (she/her), Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Nine Entertainment Co., as part of our profile series with HR professionals leading significant diversity efforts.

Nine recently launched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy 2026-30 focused on building a safe, respectful and inclusive workplace. It forms part of the organisation’s cultural transformation efforts and came together based on a desktop review and consultation that Diversity Partners led.

Q: How is the DEI strategy linked to the broader cultural transformation efforts at Nine?

Kelly: ‘Our DEI strategy is a crucial part of how we bring our cultural transformation to life every day. The independent “Out in the Open” review by Intersection was a major turning point for our business, and I think it validated the direction we knew we needed to take. We had actually been building our internal DEI plans and initiatives for a number of years, but the report gave us the clear mandate to evolve that foundational work into structural accountability. It’s nice to be able to say that we are moving away from treating inclusion as a parallel HR stream, and instead it’s the lens for how we lead, build teams, and create content to make inclusion our standard business practice.’

Q: In your strategy, you say that inclusion and diversity is core to who you are at Nine. Can you say more about that?

Kelly: ‘At Nine, our whole business relies on connecting with people all across Australia. If our internal makeup does not reflect the wider community, we just can’t tell their stories authentically. This is a commercial reality, not just a nice to have. We know, for example, that 15% of Australians have switched brands due to inclusive advertising in the last six months alone.

 ‘At Nine, our whole business relies on connecting with people all across Australia. If our internal makeup does not reflect the wider community, we just can’t tell their stories authentically.’

‘Our CEO, Matt Stanton, puts it perfectly: “We bring people together through storytelling: it’s the heart of who we are and why we exist. Diversity is fundamental to this. Whether it be attracting diverse talent, showcasing diverse content or ensuring we mirror the audiences that watch, read and listen to us. Equally, we recognise that our long-term success depends on building a culture where people feel respected and can thrive.”‘

Q: How did you start out on this journey to develop the strategy?

Kelly: ‘As I mentioned, the official push came from a board mandate tied to the Culture Action Plan, but it was also just the right time to evolve our existing foundations. Diversity Partners helped us hold a mirror up to the business, dig into our baseline data, and really listen to our people through our internal Communities, while providing a lens of best practices and a yardstick against which to measure ourselves. What that did was move us from more reactive quick wins to a robust, five-year enterprise strategy.’

‘Diversity Partners helped us hold a mirror up to the business, dig into our baseline data, and really listen to our people through our internal Communities.’

Q: You have four priority areas in the strategy around capability, accountability, representation and integration. What’s one action under each of these areas that you think will have a particularly strong impact?

Kelly: The areas are:

• Capability: Integrating inclusive leadership into our core training, like the Leading@Nine program, so our managers can champion DEI in everyday moments.
• Accountability: Resetting our governance and leaning into external benchmarking. Securing Bronze tier in our AWEI certification this month was a brilliant example of this in action.
• Representation: Tracking diversity across our content creation, while launching targeted initiatives like our Gender Equity Mentoring Program to support early career talent.
• Integration: Embedding DEI directly into how we manage our people, including organisational change and workforce planning, so inclusion is part of the blueprint from day one rather than an afterthought.

Q: Can you tell us about your employee working groups, or Communities as they’re known internally? How involved are staff in them?

Kelly: ‘Our Communities are the absolute heartbeat of this work. They function in a volunteer capacity, led by highly dedicated Co-chairs who manage approved yearly plans and dedicated budgets. We have incredible involvement across the whole business: Publishing, Streaming and Broadcast, Digital & Tech, Sales, Marketplaces and Corporate.

‘They are strategic business partners driving real outcomes. A perfect example is our Pride Community, who championed our submission for the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) certification. We just achieved Bronze status and announced it last week during Pride Month. Our All Abilities Community also works closely with our Employee Experience teams to actively shape events like our Paralympians Up Close sessions.’