Denise is the Secretary of the Pulp & Paper Workers District and elected President of the CFMEU Manufacturing Division. With over 25 years’ experience in the forestry industry, her technical discipline is in workplace health and safety and hazard management. Her breadth of experience incorporates policy and system development, fatality investigation and culture change as well as industrial relations and negotiating skills. She has been a key stakeholder in specialty industry safety projects with the Victorian Country Fire Authority, Victorian State Coroner and WorkSafe Victoria.

In more recent years her focus has been in representing workers in the pulp and paper sector. Her experience in the sector means she has a strong understanding about the needs of the industry and the required infrastructure for skills and training for workers.

Denise is a Director of First Super – the $3.5 billion industry superannuation fund for the timber; pulp and paper; furniture and joinery industries.