David Gonzalez
NTEU UniMelb Branch President
NTEU Victorian Secretary (candidate)
David Gonzalez is a union leader, communications strategist and higher education worker living and working in Melbourne.
David currently serves as Branch President of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Melbourne, where he has helped lead some of the largest workplace campaigns in the Australian university sector in recent years.
Starting as a workplace delegate in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, David has spent the last seven years organising alongside university staff to improve wages, job security and working conditions. During that time, the University of Melbourne branch has grown to become the largest NTEU branch in the country, with hundreds of new members joining through sustained workplace organising and campaigning.
David has played a leading role in enterprise bargaining campaigns that have delivered major gains for university workers, including stronger pathways to secure employment, sector-leading paid parental leave, gender affirmation leave, protections against wage theft and significant salary increases. He currently chairs the University of Melbourne bargaining team in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement focused on workloads, reduced working hours and workplace rights in the age of artificial intelligence.
Beyond bargaining, David has become known for a plainspoken and accessible approach to communication that helps workers understand how decisions made inside universities affect their working lives. His writing and campaign work focus on making complex institutional issues understandable, actionable and grounded in collective power.
Before working in higher education, David worked across the union and non-profit sectors, including as an apprentice union organiser and communications professional. His experience spans campaigning, media strategy, leadership development and member organising.
In 2024, David was elected chair of the NTEU Victorian Division. He is currently standing for Division Secretary as part of the “When Branches Lead, Workers Win” team, advocating for a stronger, more democratic and more organised union movement across Victoria’s universities and TAFEs.
Outside of union work, David has a longstanding interest in developing the skills of performing arts workers through his Jewel Box Performances project.
Brenna Dempsey
NTEU Monash University Branch Secretary
NTEU Victorian Asst. Secretary (candidate)
Brenna Dempsey is a lifelong unionist, organiser, and elected workplace representative with a strong track record of building member-led campaigns and developing branch power. Raised in a union family, she brings a deep belief that every worker deserves dignity, respect, and a genuine voice at work.
Brenna began organising at 17 as a member of the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, working with co-workers in a non-union workplace to campaign around pay, breaks, and safety. She later went on to serve on RAFFWU’s National Committee and as National Vice President, including leading work addressing sexism, harassment, and discrimination in the workplace.
At Monash University, Brenna has served as Branch Secretary, Branch Committee member, National Councillor, delegate, and Health and Safety Representative. She has worked directly with members to resolve workplace issues, strengthen delegate structures, improve branch communications, and grow the organising capacity of the branch.
Alongside her union leadership, Brenna has built experience across governance, community advocacy, and student representation. She has served on the Community Engagement Advisory Committee at Glen Eira City Council, the Committee of Management of the Glen Eira Adult Learning Centre, and as a Consumer Advisor at Monash Health. At Swinburne Student Union, she served as Women’s Representative and received the Swinburne Emerging Leader Award.
Brenna has completed extensive organising and leadership training through programs including Union Winter, the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, Candidate School, Raise Our Voice Australia, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Young Advocates program, and the Future Directors Institute. She also holds a Graduate Certificate in Industrial Relations and is a Certified Community Director through the Institute of Community Directors Australia.
Before moving into union leadership, Brenna worked at Melbourne Polytechnic TAFE supporting students through enrolment, advice, and complex university systems, including during the challenges of COVID.
Throughout her work, Brenna has been a strong advocate for women workers, equity, and democratic participation in unions. She is committed to building stronger branches, developing delegates, and growing a more active, member-led union across Victoria.
Leilani Fatupaito
NTEU Swinburne Branch Secretary
NTEU VIC Division President (candidate)
Leilani is an Associate Lecturer at Swinburne Law School. Before moving into her academic role, she spent a decade at Swinburne as an ongoing professional staff member, progressing from frontline student-facing roles into university governance and compliance.
In her community, Leilani has worked as an advocate in both Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, supporting people through disputes, mediation, and appeals. That work continues. It sits alongside her involvement with the Australian Pasifika Educators Network and her recent service on the Australian Human Rights Commission's Racism@Uni Advisory Committee. Leilani is committed to ensuring higher education is a sector where all workers belong, particularly those who face structural and systemic barriers in our workplaces.
As Swinburne Branch Secretary, National Councillor, and Victorian Division Vice-President, Leilani has worked across branch and division level on governance reform, including the NTEU's campaign on the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into university governance. She has served on Swinburne's enterprise bargaining negotiation team and Joint Consultative Committee. Both roles reinforced the same lesson: member power at the table starts with organised, supported members behind it.
She is committed to the organising strategy, and knows it only works when members trust their union will show up for them; individually and collectively.
"Every member deserves a workplace where they feel safe and supported, and can speak up when something is wrong. That matters most for those who are marginalised or have never had a union in their corner before."
Leah Kaufmann
NTEU ACU Branch Vice-President
NTEU VIC Division Vice-Pres (candidate)
Dr Leah Kaufmann is an Associate Professor at the Australian Catholic University where she has worked for the past 16 years. Leah has also held casual, fixed term, and ongoing academic and professional appointments at the University of Melbourne, Swinburne, La Trobe, and Online Universities Australia. More than two decades working in Higher Education in Australia means Leah has effectively responded to sector-wide challenges including decreased government support and funding, increased managerialism, inadequate and opportunistic management of the COVID crisis, and more recently adaptation to AI.
Leah was elected to the role of ACU National Tertiary Education Union Branch President in 2018 and served in this position for 6 years. In 2024 Leah transitioned to the role of Vice-President (Academic) to focus on the issues affecting academic staff including workloads, promotions, inequality of teaching-focussed pathways, and casualisation of the workforce. Her leadership is evident in the delivery of new and improved rights enshrined in Enterprise Agreements delivered through industrial action; the defeat of unjustified and ill-conceived job cuts; and the delivery of hundreds of casual and fixed term conversions to ongoing roles. She has also been elected by ACU staff to bring accountability and champion the voice of academics is heard in the highest-level governance forums of the university.
Leah has always been a staunch advocate for diversity and equality in Higher Education, for decent working conditions, and for accountability of senior leaders. She has contributed to local and national debates in forums including in the media. She has consistently supported and collaborated with fellow branch presidents and branches in their industrial work and actions to engage and empower higher education staff in their pursuit of the safe and healthy workplaces they deserve.