Speaker Profiles

Linda Burney was elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003 as the Member for Canterbury. She is currently the Minister for Community Services and Minister for the State Plan in the Keneally Government. She is also the Coordinating Minister for the Department of Human Services: the umbrella agency for the portfolios of community services, housing, ageing, disability and home care, juvenile justice and Aboriginal Affairs. Linda is the first Aboriginal Australian to be elected to the NSW Parliament and a proud member of the Wiradjuri nation. Her commitment to Indigenous issues spans more than 30 years.

Linda is a passionate advocate for social justice. As Minister for Community Services, her primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children. She is leading the government's reform of child protection through the five year-plan Keep Them Safe.

Miriam Jorgensen is Research Director for the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy (NNI) at the University of Arizona and Research Director for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, Harvard University. During the past fifteen years, she has worked on issues of governance and economic development.

Miriam Jorgensen has studied and written about a variety of related public policy topics, including welfare reform, Native Constitutional reform, tribal policing and justice systems, Indian housing, tribal gaming and forestry enterprises.

Maureen Colley is the Training Director for the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC). Since joining ORIC Maureen has expanded the corporate governance training programs and developed materials appropriate to the governance needs of the target audience.

As part of its ongoing commitment to increase Indigenous corporate governance knowledge and skills, ORIC has developed training partnerships with the governments of New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria.

Maureen has completed a major review of all ORIC's training materials, including the Certificate IV in Business (Governance) and the Diploma in Business (Governance) to ensure that they meet industry standards and remain relevant to the needs of ORIC's corporations.

Before joining ORIC, Maureen worked for the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office from 2004 as a Director of Investigations. In 2007 Maureen took on the role as the National Manager of the Indigenous Unit, which was established in response to the Northern Territory Emergency Response measures.

Yananymul has worked with Laynhapuy Homelands Association for 22 years, She is also an elected Council member for East Arnhem Shire, and a member with the National Indigenous Steering Committee that worked towards establishing the newly formed National Congress of Australia's First Peoples. She is also a member in the East Arnhem Children's Committee, In 2009 she was recognized for her contributions to the NT community through the '2009 Tribute to Northern Territory Women' award.

Peter Achterstraat was appointed the Auditor-General of New South Wales on the 25 September 2006. Prior to this, he was the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue for New South Wales from July 1999.

Before joining the New South Wales Office of State Revenue, Peter spent 20 years in the Australian Tax Office where he had a variety of roles. He was appointed Deputy Commissioner of Taxation with the Australian Taxation Office in 1987.

He was awarded the Australian Finance Conference prize for Company Finance, and the PricewaterhouseCooper prize for Accounting. In 2006, Peter was inducted into the Australian National University College of Business and Economics' Hall of Fame.

Peter is also a Barrister of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and CPA Australia.

Peter is also a Fellow of Chartered Secretaries Australia.

Peter is currently the President of the Institute of Public Administration Australia (NSW Division).

Jimmy Little has been entertaining Australians since his very first recording in 1956. In the 1980's Jimmy began mentoring young Aboriginal students in Sydney and was honoured as the recipient of the National Aboriginal Day of Observance Committee's 'Aboriginal of the Year' award in 1989. In 1994, he was elevated to the prestigious Tamworth Country Roll of Renown.

Jimmy's experience of kidney failure and his subsequent treatment crystallised his thoughts about an organisation he had wanted to establish and in August 2006, Jimmy launched The Jimmy Little Foundation to help provide a healthier future for Indigenous Australians, particularly those in regional and remote areas of Australia. The Uncle Jimmy Thumbs up ! program was launched in 2009 to encourage children to choose healthier food options to help stem the advance of the chronic diseases that are decimating Australia's Indigenous population.

At 73 years of age, Jimmy has now received three honorary doctorates and several MO awards. He recently won the APRA Ted Albert lifetime achievement award.

Tom is Chairperson of NCACCH and descendent of Traditional Owners residing in the south of the Sunshine Coast. He provides strong links and communication with the Executive officer, leads consensus decision-making and board unity. Tom provides the passion for the organisation and its operations and serves as the public face and advocate of the organisation

Jenny is currently the Executive Director of the Ministerial Taskforce on Aboriginal Affairs Secretariat in the Department of Planning and Community Development. She is responsible for supporting the Taskforce in overseeing a whole of government strategy to better target government investment and achieve improved outcomes for Indigenous Victorians. She coordinates a Secretaries' Group on Aboriginal Affairs and the Ministerial Taskforce on Aboriginal Affairs, chaired by the Deputy Premier, Rob Hulls MP.

Previously, Jenny Samms was the Director in the Office of Commonwealth Games Coordination, Department for Victorian Communities.

Linda Mondy is a social worker of 35 years experience and holds a Master of Social Work (Newcastle). She is the Director of UnitingCare Burnside's preventative, child protection and out-of-home care services in the Northern region of New South Wales. Linda was granted a Churchill Fellowship in 1997, to study the award winning Newpin Program in the UK.

Anneliese is a Pitinjarran woman who has been involved with Newpin since in 2005 and stayed in the parenting program for two years.

As both a student and as an employee of Newpin, she has been able to work in all of the UnitingCare programs based in Mt Druitt. These programs are the Fathers and Mothers centres, the Hippy program, the Newpin Perinatal program and the Brighter Futures where she is now based 3 days per week as a Community Connector.

Glendra (Galiindurra) Stubbs is an Aboriginal woman of the Wiradjuri people. She is CEO of Link-Up (NSW) Aboriginal Corporation, an Aboriginal community controlled organisation which assists the Stolen Generations and their descendants to find their way home - whether they were fostered, adopted or raised in institutions.

In recent years Link-Up has extended its range of services to respond to the diverse and inter-related needs of its clients. This has included expanding the Family Reunification service; establishing a counselling service; establishing and expanding Family Link services for Aboriginal children in foster care; starting Link-Up's own Aboriginal foster care service; and commencing a support service for Aboriginal young people on police bail.

This has allowed Link-Up to start addressing the inter-generational effects of forced separation from family and community. The organisation has actively sought funding and built partnerships to enable this to happen.

Sivaram (Ram) Vemuri received his doctorate in 1979 in Regional Economics from University of Birmingham (England). Since then he worked full time in various academic institutions including Indian Institute of Technology (Bombay), Yarmouk University (Jordan), and University of Papua New Guinea (Port Moresby). His work over the past 30 years has involved applying economic expertise to issues of community concerns.

He is currently Associate Professor of Economics at Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory of Australia. He has over 22 years of experience working on several research and consultancy projects related to Indigenous economic development. Interactions with Indigenous people and other fellow research scholars have provided him with opportunities to refine his understanding and analysis of applying Indigenous knowledge towards simultaneously achieving Indigenous economic betterment and sustainable development.

Lenore Dembski, Paperbark Woman, is a Kungarakan woman from Darwin and has extensive experience in the public, private and community sectors.

In the past Lenore was the Director Aboriginal Development Unit in the Northern Territory Government from 1990 until 1997, where she was involved with employment, training and economic and community development programs.

Lenore has been involved in her own small business since 1997 designing and retailing clothing and textiles, assisting with project management activities and mentoring Aboriginal people wanting to get into small business.

Some of the board positions Lenore has held include President of North Australian Legal Aid Service, Member of the Board of the NT Employment and Training Authority and member of the ATSI Arts Board of the Australia Council.

Lenore is currently employed by the Department of Education and Training in Darwin as the Manager CDEP Transition Programme.

Noelene McCormick began her career in the education field, firstly as a teacher then as a school principal, before moving into administration and management roles. Noelene is currently employed by the Department of Education and Training in the Northern Territory as the Director Audit and Ethical Standards. She is committed to equity and social justice issues and sees knowledge as a tool to empower and combat marginalisation.

Janet Hunt is a Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University where she is conducting research on the social benefits of Aboriginal involvement in natural resource management in NSW, and the work of International NGOs with Indigenous communities in Australia.

She previously managed the Indigenous Community Governance Project, an ARC Linkage Project with Reconciliation Australia. She has lectured in International and Community Development at RMIT and Deakin Universities and served on a number of Ministerial Advisory Committees. Her previous career was in international development.

As Queensland State Manager of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Catherine O'Sullivan's focus is on relationships, place-based strategies and connecting strategic approaches to address Queensland's many education and employment challenges. Catherine is a former Assistant Director General for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Executive Director of Schools, Principal and teacher. She has won many awards and received a range of accolades acknowledging her achievements in support of education and rural communities, including a Churchill Fellowship and Telstra Business Woman of the Year.

Jodie Clarkson is a proud mother and the Aboriginal Pathways & Partnerships Coordinator at the Alice Springs Desert Park within the Northern Territory's Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport.

Jodie is currently facilitating the development of the Desert Park's new cultural centre, an intra-cultural and inter-cultural social learning space that will connect people with people. Jodie is working in partnership with central Arrernte apmereke-artweye (people who belong and speak for the area), other local elders, private, public sector and individual partners to develop a series of cultural activities and events that will compliment and support other activities already happening at the Park and in the local community.

Brian is a respected Elder in the Stolen Generations Alliance. He has lifetime of experience and commitment to working to assist Stolen Generations survivors and is himself a product of the Stolen Generations born at Bagot detention centre in Darwin .

He has been involved in working on these issues since the age of 15 when his Elders instructed him to leave his community in Central Australia and go to find the children who had been taken from them. They asked him to tell the children they were missed and should come home. Now, over 50 years later, Brian is still committed to working to raise Stolen Generations issues and support those affected by these issues.

Brian was also a founding member and chairman of Secretariat National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Inc (SNAICC) and a foundation member and chairmen of South Australian Aboriginal Housing Board. He was a South Australian Zone Commissioner of ATSIC.

Brian was on the Indigenous Advisory Council for the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families (which produced the Bringing Them Home Report) and is also a member on the BTH Advisory Board for the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health.

He was the Indigenous Co-Chair of the National Sorry Day Committee from 2004-2006 and was a founding member and Chairperson of the Stolen Generations Alliance and has been a member of the Executive since its inception.

Ian Trust is Executive Chair of Wunan, a not-for-profit organisation he was involved in establishing 12 years ago. He is also a director of Indigenous Business Australia, Indigenous Land Corporation, Council member of Kimberley Group Training, Deputy Chair of Kimberley College of TAFE, member of the WA Aboriginal Education and Training Council and East Kimberley representative of Kimberley Futures, the social development arm of the Kimberley Land Council.

Ara Cresswell is Projects and Partnerships Director for Reconciliation Australia (RA). She joined RA in November 2008 having spent close to 5 years heading up the ACT Council of Social Service. She has spent over 25 years in the not-for-profit sector in peak and service delivery agencies working towards the eradication of poverty, the end of inequality, and the creation of a nation that is good for all of us.