Virginia Balfour is trained in environmental policy, horticulture and permaculture and works as a freelance writer and journalist.

For many years Virginia worked as a television producer, and as a senior investigator for the Humane Society of the United States. She won awards for her documentaries on depleted uranium, and profiling wildlife campaigners and her investigation into the dog and cat fur trade in Europe led to a European ban on the trade in 2008.

She writes a regular newspaper column and her book Best Coast and Village walks of the Sunshine Coast is due to be published in 2010.