Program

Professor Fiona Arney
Co-Director, Australian Centre for Child Protection
University of South Australia
Adelaide, South Australia

Prof Fiona Arney is the Co-Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. She is dedicated to discovering alternative, evidence based approaches to the prevention of and response to child abuse and neglect, She has evaluated and supported more than 50 programs in child welfare and has a particular interest in working in remote, regional and urban settings with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Fiona has won numerous awards for community engagement, contributions to child health and for women in leadership. She has more than twenty five years’ research experience in the fields of parenting support, child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, and child protection research. Fiona has provided support to numerous child protection inquiries, led significant committees and has guided system reform efforts in a number of jurisdictions.

Moana is an indigenous Māori woman of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Ruanui and Ngāti Rangiwewehi tribal descent.  Eldest of 3 sisters, Mother of 2 boys (and many other family members she cares for). More than 30 year’s experience in social and community work including child protection, family violence prevention and Tribal research. Her working career and vision has been spent committed to strengthening family, child safety and wellbeing, reclaiming and application of indigenous frameworks and practices in social and community work, social justice, human rights and the development of Māori and indigenous people.  She is Poutaki Maori (Principal Advisor Māori), Office of the Chief Social Worker, Oranga Tamariki: Ministry for Children, Wellington.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz 
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz was appointed as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples by the Human Rights Council in 2014.

In the fulfilment of her mandate, she conducts fact-finding missions and reports on the human rights situation in specific countries, addresses cases of alleged violations of the rights of indigenous peoples through communications with Governments and others, promotes good practices to implement international standards concerning the rights of indigenous peoples and conducts thematic studies on topics of special importance to the promotion and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples.

She is an indigenous leader from the Kankana-ey Igorot people of the Cordillera Region in the Philippines. As an indigenous activist, she has worked for over three decades on building movement among indigenous peoples and as an advocate for women’s rights.

Ms. Tauli-Corpuz is the former Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2005-2010) has served as the chairperson-rapporteur of the Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations. As an indigenous leader, she was actively engaged in drafting and adoption of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007. She has founded and managed various NGOs involved in social awareness raising, climate change and the advancement of indigenous peoples’ and women’s rights and she is a member of United Nations Development Programme Civil Society Organizations Advisory Committee.

In her capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Ms. Tauli-Corpuz has provided expert testimony before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and policy advice to inter alia the World Bank and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

Dr Brian Babington, Chief Executive Officer, Families Australia
Dr Brian Babington has worked for over three decades for stronger communities, families and individuals in Australia and developing countries, particularly in Asia. Since 2005, he has been the CEO of Families Australia, a national, not-for-profit peak body that advises the Australian Parliament and Government on ways to improve the wellbeing of families and children who experience disadvantage and marginalisation. He plays leadership roles in national and international community development and rights bodies, including as Convenor of the National Coalition on Child Safety and Wellbeing, a Director of an international child-centred community development agency, Plan International Australia, and Deputy Chair of Communities@Work (ACT). He is also the founding editor of the Indonesian Orphanages Research Hub, a web-based resource that focuses attention on the wellbeing of children living in Indonesian orphanages.

Hannah McGlade

Dr Hannah McGlade is a Nyungar human rights lawyer and academic who has published widely on many aspects of Aboriginal human rights issues, especially those affecting the lives of Aboriginal women and children. Her Ph.D manuscript received the Stanner Award and she is the author of  Our Greatest Challenge, Aboriginal children and human rights. At present, Hannah is the Senior Indigenous Research Fellow at Curtin University and also a member of the Noongar Child Protection Council, the Aboriginal Family Law Service and the Djinda Family Services.
As the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from a Western Australian law school in 1995, Hannah has been active in law reform, advocacy and community development. In recognition of her outstanding work in the Noongar community, including in relation to the repatriation of the former Sister Kate’s Children Home lands, Hannah received the 2008 WA NAIDOC Outstanding Achievement Award.
In 2016 Hannah (who holds a Masters in International Human Rights Law) was appointed the Senior Indigenous Fellow at the United Nations Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, during which time she assisted with the work of the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and presented to the Human Right Council. She has advocated and appeared before a number of UN human rights bodies, including the UN Committee on the Elimination of Race Discrimination (2017) where she represented Aboriginal child rights and also as an advisor to the Australian Law Reform Commission 2017 Inquiry into Indigenous incarceration which has called for a national review into Aboriginal children and out-of-home care.

June Oscar AO
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

June Oscar AO is a proud Bunuba woman from the remote town of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia’s Kimberly region. She is a strong advocate for Indigenous Australian languages, social justice, women’s issues, and has worked tirelessly to reduce Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

June has held a raft of influential positions including Deputy Director of the Kimberley Land Council, chair of the Kimberley Language Resource Centre and the Kimberley Interpreting Service and Chief Investigator with WA’s Lililwan Project addressing FASD.

She was appointed to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1990) and was a winner of the 100 Women of Influence 2013 in the Social Enterprise and Not For Profit category. In 2015 June received the Menzies School of Health Research Medallion for her work with FASD.

June has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of Notre Dame, Broome, Western Australia, and is currently writing her PhD. June is a co-founder of the Yiramalay Wesley Studio School and is a Community member of the Fitzroy Valley Futures Governing Committee.

In February 2017, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from Edith Cowan University.

June began her five-year term as Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner on April 3, 2017.

Senator Rachel Siewert

Rachel is the Australian Greens spokesperson on family and community services, mental health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander issues and ageing. She is Greens Whip and Chair of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee. Rachel’s position as Chair of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee has enabled her to bring light to landmark issues such as; aged care, suicide prevention, petrol sniffing, hearing health, income inequality, forced adoptions and out of home care.
Senator Rachel Siewert has been in Parliament for over 13 years, making her the most experienced MP of the Australian Greens.

Cathy Taylor
Chief Executive – Department for Child Protection

Cathy was appointed as Chief Executive to lead the new Department for Child Protection (DCP) in South Australia in October 2016.
Cathy joined the department from Queensland where she was Deputy Director-General, Child Family and Community Services, Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services from 2013 to 2016.
This role saw her lead the development and implementation of strategic policy and program initiatives including the response to the Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry 2013 and the Bryce Taskforce on Responses to Domestic and Family Violence 2015.
Cathy brings more than 15 years’ experience as a senior public servant in Queensland working in and across strategic policy, legislative reform, planning and service delivery roles in the areas of child protection, youth justice, disability services and domestic violence.
Cathy has undergraduate qualifications in law and postgraduate qualifications in law and public administration including an Executive Masters of Public Administration (EMPA), ANZSOG.
She has previously been a Director of ANROWS – Australia’s National Research Organisation on Women’s Safety and is currently Chair, National Forum for Protecting Australia’s Children.
In 2018 Cathy was appointed to the ANZSOG Alumni Advisory Council.

Richard Weston
CEO, Healing Foundation

Richard Weston is a descendant of the Meriam people of the Torres Strait. He has worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs for more than 20 years, 14 of these in Indigenous controlled health services in Far West New South Wales and Queensland.

As CEO of the Healing Foundation since September 2010 Richard has overseen the strategic development of the organisation, which has supported more than 175 culturally strong, community led Indigenous healing projects around Australia; assisting more than 45,000 community members and 7000 Stolen Generations survivors along their healing journey.

During his 13 years at Maari Ma Health in Far West NSW including nine years as CEO (2000-2009), Richard led the delivery of high quality health care and improved health outcomes for adults and children alike in a remote region known for the poor health status of its population. During this time Maari Ma won five NSW health awards and a national health award.

Richard is a member of the National Health Leadership Forum and the Close the Gap Working Group. He is also an advisory committee member for the National Empowerment Project and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project.

Dr Natasha Reid is a Clinical Psychologist and Research Fellow at the University of Queensland Child Health Research Centre. Natasha’s research is focused on a range of aspects associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) including, prevention, assessment, diagnosis and intervention. Natasha is one of a handful of people who have completed FASD assessment and diagnostic training in Canada, which is the diagnostic system that our Australian Guide to the Diagnosis of FASD is based on. Natasha completed her PhD and worked at the first publicly provided FASD diagnostic service in Australia. Natasha and other staff at UQ have now established the first clinic in Queensland providing assessments for adolescents with FASD. Natasha is passionate about increasing accessibility of services for all neurodevelopmental disorders including FASD, across a range of settings, including youth justice and child protection.

Dr Marjad Page would like to acknowledge and thank his First Nation’s tribes, the Kalkadoon, Waanyi and Ganggalidda people for helping make him who he is and pay respects to the Elders, past, present and future. He would also like to acknowledge all the other First Nation tribes, and non-Indigenous people who have shaped his thoughts and attitudes; and pay respects to those Elders past, present and future. Marjad is known as Machumpa the Kangaroo from his Kalkadoon tribe, and also Milmaja the King Barramundi and Wooloongu the shark as his skin from the Ganggalidda tribe. Marjad is also a proud Christian, which he takes strength from to continue his passion to help people. Marjad is a Rural Generalist Fellow of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (FACRRM). He is a Specialist GP with accredited advanced skills in Anaesthetics, Obstetrics, and extended skills in Palliative Care, Child Heath, Dermatology and recently an Associate Fellowship in Medical Administration. He also have a special interest in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Marjad’s vision is to develop, lead and inspire those wishing to work in rural and remote settings so as to address the disparity of health status especially in regard to neurodevelopmental difficulties, including FASD.

Briony has been teaching and leading in various SA Preschools and Children’s Centres over the past 20 years. Her experience in facilitating opportunities for children to connect with the land and the natural environment has influenced the vision and values of each centre she has led, with children having opportunities to explore and learn in environments inside, outside and beyond. In her role as a Claire Warden Associate trainer she has worked with sites and teams to develop their understanding of pedagogy, documentation of learning, and using the natural world as a tool for learning, where children build connections with the world around them, learning with and through nature.

In collaboration with Adelaide Sightseeing, we are pleased to offer a dedicated half day cultural tour just for delegates attending the Conference.

Date: Monday 2nd September 2019
Time: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Pax: Limited 20 pax only
Cost: 95.00 per person (inc GST)