20+ years of cross-sector communications experience. Engagement Institute (formerly IAP2) accredited practitioner. National Emergency Medal recipient (Cyclones Yasi 2011 and Debbie 2017). TMR (Department of Transport and Main Roads) representative inside the GC2018 Commonwealth Games Communication Centre, on a team of communication and media representatives. Seven years as Principal Communication Advisor at TMR on a $400M+ annual infrastructure program.
Anna Cush started Evoke Advisory because the Australian communications market is missing something specific: a senior-led firm where the person who advises is the same person who has led the program, designed the playbook and held the line under pressure. Across government, corporate and not-for-profit sectors.
Her career covers 20+ years and $5B+ in infrastructure programs. Nearly a decade of that inside the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), including seven years as Principal Communication Advisor running a $400M+ annual infrastructure program. TMR also placed her inside the GC2018 Games Communication Centre as its representative on a team of communication and media representatives, where she ran media and communications for a $1 billion transport program and the movement of one million spectators. She holds the National Emergency Medal for emergency response during Cyclone Yasi and Cyclone Debbie.
Before TMR, she advised at Boeing and held national communications roles at Lifeline Australia, the Australian Department of Health and Queensland Rail. As Senior Consultant at Phillips Group, she led a team on a major City of Gold Coast water project. Her career started at DVL Smith in London.
Evoke Advisory was founded to bring senior counsel to organisations whose programs carry weight: infrastructure at scale, recovery under pressure, government strategy and international environmental and social impact assessment. Clarity in complexity is what clients come for, and what Evoke provides.
Anna Cush is Founder of Evoke Advisory, a senior-led strategic communications and PR advisory firm based on the Gold Coast, Queensland. Evoke works with corporate, government, infrastructure, major-event and not-for-profit organisations.
The core proof points are 20+ years in communications, nearly a decade inside Queensland Transport and Main Roads, GC2018 Games Communication Centre experience, National Emergency Medal-recognised emergency response work, and $5B+ in infrastructure programs advised.
Most consultants work in one or two of these. Anna has done all four, across corporate, government, not-for-profit and renewable energy sectors. Every line below has a named role and a specific project behind it.
Anna was the TMR (Department of Transport and Main Roads) representative in the main Games Communication Centre for GC2018 — part of a team of communication and media representatives — responsible for all transport media, transport government relations, transport crisis communications and issues management for a $1 billion transport program and the safe movement of more than one million spectators across the Gold Coast.
She built the 24/7 TMR press office from scratch. The processes, the procedures, the media holding lines, the spokesperson matrix, the crisis messaging and the media training. She launched the ‘Get Set for the Games’ media campaign, which gained international attention. And she sat on the TMR Senior Leadership Team throughout, providing media and government relations counsel at the highest level of public scrutiny.
No other boutique advisory founder in Australia has been on a Games Communication Centre government team during a major international sporting event.
2000–2010
Before TMR. Range across sectors.
A decade building breadth before depth. Started in London at DVL Smith, where agency work on corporate communications and media strategy set an international perspective early. Back in Australia, three years at Queensland Rail inside a major state transport enterprise, then federal government at the Australian Department of Health. National communications at Lifeline Australia, where NFP mission met government funding and corporate partnerships. Defence and aerospace at Boeing. Three years as Senior Consultant at Phillips Group, a founding partner of the Worldcom PR Group, leading a team on a major City of Gold Coast water project.
Six sectors, six operating environments. The foundation that made later work sharper.
2010–2019
Inside TMR. Depth at scale.
Nearly a decade inside the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads. Seven years as Principal Communication Advisor running a $400M+ annual infrastructure program, on the TMR Senior Leadership Team.
Inside that decade, two marquee engagements. The GC2018 Commonwealth Games: TMR representative in the Games Communication Centre, on a team of communication and media representatives. 1M+ spectators, $1 billion transport program, 24/7 press office built from scratch. Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 ($1.2 billion): communication and stakeholder lead through procurement and pre-construction.
Running through all of it: emergency response communications during Cyclone Yasi in 2011 and Cyclone Debbie in 2017, awarded the National Emergency Medal by the Governor-General.
2019–2026
Co-founder. Building the practice.
Co-founded the first boutique, female-owned communications and community engagement consultancy on the Gold Coast, with a strong infrastructure focus.
Seven years across South East Queensland infrastructure, large-scale renewable energy generation and community engagement in regional New South Wales, the world-first DeepGreen ESIA with International Seabed Authority briefings, concurrent 2022 flood recovery across three local government areas, senior counsel to the City of Gold Coast and Sandon Point Aged Care EIS for Anglicare.
2026–present
Evoke Advisory. Senior counsel, directly delivered.
Founded Evoke Advisory as a principal-led firm. Senior counsel, directly delivered, every engagement.
The person who pitches is the person who does the work.
During Cyclone Yasi (2011) and Cyclone Debbie (2017), Anna ran emergency response communications, coordinating critical public updates, managing media and reporting directly to the State Disaster Coordination Centre. Real consequences for public safety. No margin for error.
For that service, she was awarded the National Emergency Medal by the Governor-General of Australia.
The work did not end with the recognition. It continued across further recovery projects, often delivered concurrently:
The hardest communications problems sit where sectors overlap. A government infrastructure program that needs corporate discipline and community trust. A major sporting event where government coordination, crisis preparedness and live media operations all have to work at once. A disaster recovery effort spanning government agencies, Tier 1 contractors and affected communities under extreme time pressure.
Anna hasn’t watched these intersections from the outside. She has worked inside them: as a government employee, a corporate advisor, an NFP communications executive and a principal consultant. That experience is practical, operational and hard-won.
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