TANIA NUGENT
Bio
Tania Nugent is a prominent television presenter, journalist, a champion for the arts and music, an environmentalist, and an advocate for social justice, equity, equality and the empowerment of women and youth in Papua New Guinea.
Tania has worked in media and communications across PNG, Australia and globally for more than 30 years, including over 18 years with ABC Australia.
Her work and her face has been screened in over 45 countries and 22 million homes around the world.
Tania's entry into the media profession came in 1987, as Founding Producer and Host of Papua New Guinea's first locally developed and produced television program, Kids Kona, for EMTV. The program continues to be made and broadcast daily today.
She was the first person of colour and first woman to be appointed as Presenter on the ABC’s Behind the News current affairs program (1994-2000), which recently celebrated 50 years of broadcast and is one of Australia’s longest running TV programs.
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From 2001 to 2012 she was a Presenter and Producer on the ABC's International service, Australia Network, hosting Nexus and English Bites. She co-founded the Pacific Pulse program, which ran for four years and saw her travelling the Pacific region extensively, including returning to Papua New Guinea.
Increasingly, Tania has focused on capacity building projects and media for development within the Pacific region. She has been engaged to develop and manage media capacity building projects for NBC PNG, Television Bilong Vanuatu and PACMAS (Pacific Media Assistance Scheme) with the aim of lifting skills and technical standards.
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In 2012, Tania was involved in establishing the Namatan Short Film Festival with the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu and served for four years as the festival's international judge.
Tania is also an Events Curator/Producer, specialising in culture and tourism, creative arts and live events. In 2012 and 2013 she joined the Woodford Folk Festival team as Program Head for First Nations, responsible for curating and co-ordinating a six-day program of live music, theatre, dance, speakers, workshops and art gallery at Australia's biggest annual gathering of artists and musicians, attended by more than 100,000 patrons.
Her years of festival experience and her partnership with Artistic Director Airileke Ingram in their company Makoda Productions in 2015, led to what Tania regards as one of her most challenging and rewarding roles, Producer for the groundbreaking PNG 2015 Pacific Games Opening Ceremony.
In 2016, Tania formed her PNG company Tulait PNG Ltd as a vehicle for her to take on a diverse range of projects in her home country which can utilise her broad range of skills, extensive knowledge and experience. It allows her to engage in areas that she has a personal passion for.
In 2017, Tania returned to the small screen in Papua New Guinea, with the TV series, Point of View with Tania Nugent on EMTV's 30th anniversary, delivering 65 x one-hour episodes as the programs Producer, Researcher, Writer and Host.
As a Marketing and Communications Specialist, Tania was engaged in 2018 by the Enga Provincial Government, (the last PNG province in to be contacted by the outside world), to develop and promote the regions rare, authentic, intact traditional cultures and pristine environment as a tourism asset.
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Tania is Creative Designer and Content Supplier for the Enga Cultural Show website, and has continued to be engaged by the Enga Provincial Government for various tourism, culture, marketing and communications projects in the province.
Since August 2020, she has been serving the World Health Organisation (WHO), as a Risk Communications Consultant with the Covid-19 PNG National Control Centre. She is also currently engaged as lead consultant on a youth & education-based project with Digicel PNG Foundation.
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Tania is a sought after public speaker, panel discussion facilitator and event MC, both in Australia and Papua New Guinea. She is proud to be an ambassador for the Kokoda Track Foundation charity.
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Tania's passion is to be part of bringing positive change to Papua New Guinea and her greatest satisfaction is seeing those around her reach their full potential.
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Tania has worked in media and communications across PNG, Australia and globally for more than 30 years, including over 18 years with ABC Australia.
She has been screened in over 45 countries and 22 million homes around the world.
Tania's entry into the media profession came in 1987, as Founding Producer and Host of Papua New Guinea's first locally developed and produced television program, Kids Kona, for EMTV. The program continues to be made and broadcast daily today and is PNG's longest running TV program.
​Tania moved to Australia, for the opportunity to gain more professional skills and further her career. She worked as a Producer and Reporter for Channel 7 in Townsville, before landing the job of a lifetime with the ABC in 1994.
She became the first person of colour and first woman to be appointed as Presenter on the ABC’s Behind the News current affairs program (1994-2000), which recently celebrated 50 years of broadcast and is one of Australia’s longest running TV programs.
​Still with the ABC, Tania went international as Presenter and Producer on the Australia Network, hosting educational programs such as Nexus and English Bites, which helped people around the world to improve their English language skills.
In 2018, Tania co-founded the Pacific Pulse TV, which aired for four years across the Asia-Pacific region and saw her travelling the Pacific extensively.
The program explored the development challenges of the region, discovered the people and projects that were creating positive change and celebrated the achievements and cultures of Pacific people. It was while working on this program that she began to turn her thoughts and future goals to her homeland, Papua New Guinea.
From 2010, Tania began to focus on capacity building projects and the use of media for development within the Pacific region, particularly Papua New Guinea.
She has been engaged to develop and manage media capacity building projects for NBC PNG, Television Bilong Vanuatu and PACMAS (Pacific Media Assistance Scheme) with the aim of lifting skills and technical standards. This involved designing and delivering bespoke training for senior newsroom journalists and TV production teams and workshops in script-writing for youth.​
​In 2012, Tania was involved in establishing the Namatan Short Film Festival with the Australian High Commission in Vanuatu and served for four years as the festival's international judge. The festival's aim was to provide a platform to address national and community issues and to teach young people film-making skills.
Tania is also an Events Curator/Producer, specialising in culture and tourism, creative arts and live events. In 2012 and 2013 she joined the Woodford Folk Festival team as Program Head for First Nations.
This involved curating and co-ordinating a six-day program of live music, theatre, dance, speakers, workshops and art gallery at Australia's biggest annual gathering of artists and musicians, attended by more than 100,000 patrons.
Her festival experience and her partnership with Artistic Director Airileke Ingram in their company Makoda Productions in 2015, led to what Tania regards as one of her most challenging and rewarding roles, Producer for the groundbreaking PNG 2015 Pacific Games Opening Ceremony.
In 2017, Tania returned to the small screen in Papua New Guinea, with the TV series, Point of View with Tania Nugent on EMTV's 30th anniversary, delivering 65 x one-hour episodes as the programs Producer, Researcher, Writer and Host.
As a Marketing and Communications Specialist, Tania was engaged from 2018 by the Enga Provincial Government, (the last PNG province in to be contacted by the outside world), to develop and promote the regions rare, authentic, intact traditional cultures and pristine environment as a tourism asset.
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This included the development of the www.engashow.com website with e-commerce platform for online ticketing as well as developing new tourism products and providing assessments and recommendations for industry operators to improve their services and access markets. In 2021, she lead the re-branding of Enga Tourism, including new logo and website www.experienceenga.com.
In 2020 & 2021 she served the World Health Organisation (WHO), as a Risk Communications Consultant with the Covid-19 PNG National Control Centre and was also engaged by DFAT to develop communications materials for the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccines provided to PNG by Australia.
She was the lead consultant for the establishment of a youth & education-based TV channel with Digicel PNG Foundation called Be-Lit which was launched in late 2021. This included the development of the YouthTok & Grounded TV programs and training young newcomers to TV production produce and present television content. She also hosted the BeLit Health Q&A program which put the spotlight on critical health issues in PNG.
Tania is a sought after public speaker, panel discussion facilitator and event MC, both in Australia and Papua New Guinea. She is proud to be an ambassador for the Kokoda Track Foundation charity and an advocate for early-childhood learning and literacy though her support for Buk bilong Pikinini Libraries charity.