Sue-Anne Hunter became the inaugural National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People on 1 September 2025. The National Commissioner protects and promotes the rights, interests, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people by amplifying their voices, aspirations, and strengths. The Commissioner embeds the perspectives and priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in advice to government and collaborates with key stakeholders to enhance collective impact and drive systemic reform. 

Sue-Anne is a Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman known for her work. From May 2021 to 30 June 2025, she was Deputy Chair and Commissioner in Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission, Australia's first formal truth-telling inquiry into historic and ongoing systemic injustices perpetrated against First Peoples through colonisation, led by First Peoples. She has practical experience in establishing organisations under government legislation, including developing the framework and methodology for Yoorrook. 

Sue-Anne has previously served as National Sector Development Manager, SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.  

Sue-Anne is a member of the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice Advisory Board. She has extensive experience in the governance and the leadership of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations, and her expertise is regularly sought for government inquiries, parliamentary and ministerial advisory committees, academic research projects and media interviews.  

As a casework and policy expert, Ms Hunter has extensive experience engaging with children, young people and families. Her advocacy work has led to the successful negotiation of reforms and improved health services. Among her many accomplishments, Ms Hunter has helped shape policy and practice on Aboriginal guardianship laws in Victoria. This has included roles at the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency and developing a new model of child protection practices premised on Aboriginal organisations working in partnership with Aboriginal families.  

Sue-Anne is an Adjunct Professor of Global Engagement at Federation University and a PhD candidate at Monash University. With a Master of Social Work and a background in child and family services practice, Sue-Anne has over two decades’ clinical experience responding to developmental, transgenerational and community trauma. She has practiced as a qualified social worker and is a recognised leader in the First Nations child and family services sector. She is widely recognised for developing rights-based, transformative practice responses that empower Aboriginal people to heal from the continuing effects and processes of colonisation. 

Thelma Schwartz is the Executive Director Legal of the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service (QIFVLS), an Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisation providing legal and non-legal support services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of family violence and/or sexual assault. QIFVLS services 90+ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Queensland. Thelma identifies as of Torres Strait Islander heritage, alongside her German Samoan and Papua New Guinea heritage and has worked has a legal practitioner for over 25 years. 

Thelma has worked extensively with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Northern Territory and regional and remote Qld, representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult and youth defendants in both the criminal justice system as well as advocating for victims and survivors of family violence and sexual assault. In 2021, Thelma was appointed as a member of the Queensland Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce, which produced the Hear Her Voice Reports, which laid the foundations for transformational law and policy reforms supporting victim-survivors of family and sexual violence in Queensland. 

Thelma in 2024 has been appointed as a member of the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council and is the Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Advisory Panel to the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council and is the current co-chair of the Qld Justice Policy Partnership Cross Agency Working Group. Thelma is also an award winning lawyer: in 2023 she was the award winner for the QLS Excellence in Law Awards – Access to Justice Award and in 2024 she was the award winner for the QLS’ 2024 Dame Quentin Bryce Domestic Violence Prevention Advocate Award

Nooria Ahmadi is a passionate young advocate for social inclusion, with a strong focus on inclusivity, youth empowerment, and culturally safe practices in sectors. With lived experience as a refugee and a background in community leadership, Nooria has contributed to national forums, research projects, policy discussions and a number of submissions to government bills. She is committed to amplifying
underrepresented voices and driving meaningful change through storytelling, advocacy, and collaboration. Nooria completed professional placement with the QLD Office for Director of Public Prosecution. She also worked in the National Injury Insurance Scheme as the Corporate Governance and Policy Officer. She is currently a national youth Advisor, Executive Assistant in National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect and Legal Support Officer in the ODPP. 

Professor Sophie Havighurst is child clinical psychologist and Leader of Tuning in to Kids program. For over 25 years, in collaboration with co-creator Ann Harley and their team of researchers, trainers and students, they have developed parenting programs that support children’s emotional development, conducted research evaluating these, and helped to make these widely available to those who work with families. Sophie is the Chair of the Parenting and Family Research Alliance (PAFRA), a multidisciplinary research collaboration of experts from leading universities and research centres actively involved in conducting research, communication and advocacy pertaining to parenting, families and evidence-based parenting support. She is a Co-Convenor of the End Physical Punishment of Australian Children (EPPAC) advocacy group, made up of 160 members are working to change the laws that allow parents to use corporal punishment with children.

Linda is a lawyer and child rights advocate. Her working life  has focused on law reform and the rights of women and children. She is  former Director of the SSAT, Member of the AAT and member of the Legislative Council of the West Australian parliament. 

Her current board appointments include UWA International Public Policy Advisory Board and the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board (WA). 

In 1997 she received the Law Society of WA’s award for Outstanding Service to the Community. In 2010 she was named Woman Lawyer of the Year. She is a WA Ambassador for Children and Young People  and the Women’s Legal Service in WA.

Taylor is a lived experience educator who has been working with Intellectual Disability Rights Service (IDRS) for 6 years. She is a member of the education team facilitating rights education training to people with cognitive disability, and disability awareness training to frontline workers in the justice sector.

She is a member of the IDRS lived experience advisory board that provides advice on all aspects of IDRS work and operations. She has been a member of the IDRS Board since 2024.

Taylor also has advisory roles with Universities for a variety of research projects.

Taylor is an in-demand speaker regularly presenting at conferences, most recently the 2025 Reintegration Puzzle Conference in Mparntwe (Alice Springs).

Taylor is a proud Dharug woman.

Sally Robinson does research with children, young people and adults with disability about what helps them feel safe, well and happy at difficult times in their lives. Most of Sally’s research is co-produced with people with disability. She works collaboratively across disciplines, with government and in community organisations to address key social concerns such as safety and abuse, wellbeing, participation, and funding and organisation of community services. Sally is Professor of Disability and Community Inclusion at Flinders University.

Jane Sanders AM is the Principal Solicitor of the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre, a free legal service for homeless and disadvantaged young people aged 25 and under.

She is an accredited specialist in criminal law and children’s law, with over 30 years’ experience appearing and advocating for children and young adults.

Jane's role also includes legal education and law reform work. She is currently the Chair of the NSW Law Society Criminal Law Committee and is also a member of various other committees and networks. 

In 2008 Jane was awarded the NSW Law and Justice Foundation’s Justice Medal, for “outstanding individual achievement in improving access to justice, especially for socially and economically disadvantaged people”. In 2014 she received the Terry Keaney Memorial Award for “dedication to the profession, excellence as a criminal lawyer, commitment to clients and concerns for social justice”.

Bruce is a human rights lawyer who has worked in over 20 countries as an advisor for international human rights organisations. 

As Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland 2017-2023 Bruce helped secure legal change on the age of criminal responsibility, physical punishment, the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the prohibition of the imprisonment of children. 

Bruce was Chair of the European Network of Ombudspersons for Children 2019-2022 during the covid pandemic and the escalation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He was Professor in Practice at the University of Glasgow School of Law 2023-2024. 

He is Strategic Lead for Human Rights at Elevate Great, Vice Chair of the global Child and Youth Friendly Governance Project, Vice-President of Eurochild, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown is a Senior Lecturer in the Law Faculty at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. He is a kaupapa Māori researcher with whakapapa links to Te Aupōuri in the Far North of Aotearoa New Zealand. Luke's research focuses primarily on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, child protection and youth justice, including a current project on kaupapa Māori approaches to trauma-informed care within youth justice settings. His PhD focused on decolonising child protection law and policy, and prior to becoming an academic he worked for Oranga Tamariki, Aotearoa New Zealand's statutory child protection agency. He lives in Wellington with his wife Kelsey, his son Oscar, his daughter Ellie and his cat Achilles. 

David is the Chief Executive of the Diagrama Foundation (UK), a not-for-profit organisation that supports people at risk of social exclusion. Our parent organisation, Fundación Diagrama, was established by Francisco Legaz-Cervantes, the Chair of our Trustees, 30 years ago in Spain.  Our work with young people in Spain is world-renowned and has earned our position as advisors to the UN on youth justice matters. 

While studying for a teaching degree at the University of Córdoba, at the age of 18 David set up his own company dedicated to providing health and safety services to different communities. He joined Fundación Diagrama in Spain more than 24 years ago, working as a social educator in one of the first youth secure establishments run by Diagrama. In 2006 he was promoted to lead a €2 million after-care programme, which helped more than 400 children and young people in the justice system, establishing links with all the community agencies and organisations supporting young people to reintegrate into society.

In 2008 he moved from Spain with his family to set up Diagrama Foundation in the UK.  He was appointed Chief Executive in 2009 after being selected from more than 450 candidates. Diagrama UK now employs around 150 people and delivers a range of services supporting vulnerable people at risk of social exclusion, including adoption and fostering, training services, supported living for 16 to 24-year-olds, and residential provision for the elderly and for adults with learning disabilities. Diagrama also participates in European Projects to develop and share best practice.

David is a member of Diagrama International’s innovation and improvement group and is a frequent participant at international conferences, including for the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (www.oijj.org) and European Council for Juvenile Justice (ECJJ) (www.ejjc.org). He is also a member of the European Society of Criminology (ESC) and the European Prison Education Association (EPEA). He has PhD in criminology with the University of Bedfordshire, UK.

Christian Whalen is a native of Fredericton and holds degrees from Carleton University (BA ’87); the University of New Brunswick (LLB ’89) and from l'Université de Strasbourg III (D.E.A. ’92). Following his call to the bar, Christian worked as a lawyer in private practice and as legal counsel to the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission before joining the Office of the Ombudsman in 2005. He served as Acting Child and Youth Advocate for New Brunswick from April 1, 2011 to August 1, 2013, during which he developed an International Summer Course on child rights, a child rights data monitoring framework and a child rights impact assessment process for New Brunswick. He served as Deputy Advocate from 2013 to 2023 and as founding chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Sections Council Committee on Children’s Law and initiated the development of their online Child rights toolkit. In 2014 he received the Children’s Rights Champion Award from the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children and in 2015 was awarded the John Tait Award for distinguished service as public sector counsel by the Canadian Bar Association. In April 2023 he returned to the Ombud’s Office as Deputy Ombud and General Counsel, responsible for the Access and Privacy Unit and whistleblower protection, before accepting a five-year appointment as Public Trustee for New Brunswick. Since September 2024 he also serves as an adjunct professor at the UNB law Faculty where he teaches Children’s rights and Access and Privacy Law and directs an observatory on the rights of the child.

Dr Paul Gray is a Wiradjuri man and Professor at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, UTS, where he leads the child protection research hub. He has a long involvement in the child protection sector, including as a psychologist, project and policy work, research, and advocacy, and has worked in government and Aboriginal peak organisations. Paul is committed to reimagining child protection systems and practice to end their disproportionate and harmful impact on Aboriginal children, families and communities.

Children’s Magistrate Paul Hayes was first appointed as a Magistrate of the Local Court of New South Wales in 2015 before being appointed as a Children’s Magistrate in 2019. Having practiced extensively in criminal law prior to his appointments, his Honour appeared in jurisdictions ranging from the Local Court to the Court of Criminal Appeal. Before being appointed to the bench, his Honour worked at Legal Aid New South Wales for 25 years, including 9 years as Deputy Director of the organisation’s Criminal Division. His Honour has also been a solicitor at a medium Sydney law firm and advised the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom. Magistrate Hayes was admitted to the legal profession in 1987.

Shelley has dedicated the past 16 years to systemic advocacy for the Out of Home Care sector based on her own lived experience. 

She currently sits within the National Advisory Group, advising The Attorney General in matters regarding child safety and institutional child sexual abuse both as an advocate and as a survivor.

Shelley is graduating with her bachelor's in social work from The Australian Catholic University later this year and uses this knowledge to undertake multiple research projects which focus on police reporting for Survivors and Victims of sexual assault and problems surrounding Out of Home Care in Australia.

She is passionate about de-stigmatising language, youth participation and advocating for vital policy changes. 

She is due to release her autobiography in the future to share her lived experiences. 

Janise Mitchell is the CEO of the Australian Childhood Foundation and Director of the Centre for Excellence in Therapeutic Care. She is also an Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Arts and Social Sciences with Southern Cross University.

Janise has more than 38 years’ experience in the field of child trauma. She completed a Master of Social Work (Research) in 2008 in therapeutic foster care having been instrumental in the implementation of therapeutic care for more than 21 years.  Janise is a founding Board member of the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse and Board member of the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare.

Janise is a strong children’s rights advocate and has extensive experience in the development of innovative therapeutic programs for traumatised children and young people. Janise has provided consultancy to many governments on the issue of therapeutic services for children and young people and regularly participates on state and national Advisory Groups seeking to address the needs of children and young people in the child protection, out of home care, secure care and youth justice sectors. Janise has a commitment to evidence informed practice and believes strongly in the participation of young people in the development of services, policies and programs that seek to support them.

Janise has presented nationally and internationally and has a range of publications including:

The Handbook of Trauma-Transformative Practice: Emerging Therapeutic Frameworks for Supporting Individuals, Families or Communities Impacted by Violence: Edited by Joe Tucci, Janise Mitchell, Stephen W Porges and Ed Tronick, 2024, London: Jessica Kinglsey Publishers.

The Handbook of Therapeutic Care for Children: Evidence-Informed Approaches to Working with Traumatized Children and Adolescents in Foster, Kinship and Adoptive Care edited by Janise Mitchell, Joe Tucci and Ed Tronick, 2019, London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Carolyn Jones is the Principal Solicitor of the Harm Practice at Youth Law Australia, which is a national community legal centre providing free, child rights informed and trauma informed technology-based legal services to children and young people under 25 years. The Harm Practice is a specialist legal practice focused on children and young people experiencing or at risk of experiencing maltreatment and/or using concerning or harmful behaviours. Carolyn is a lawyer and social worker and has worked in the intersection of gender-based violence, family law and child protection for over 30 years. Carolyn received the Women Lawyers Association of NSW Community Lawyer of the Year award in 2015. 

Biljana Milosevic is a bi-cultural Social Worker and the Centre Director of Jannawi Family Centre in Sydney. Jannawi is a Dharug word meaning ‘with me, with you’. The unique child and family safety service works with people living with family violence and abuse, including sexual harm. It offers specialist counselling to adults and children, along with complex case management, parent education, risk assessment, child development interventions, home visiting, practical and court support. Biljana has 25 years of experience in the field of family violence.

Mary is a proud Cooma, Kamilaroi woman.

Mary has been the Manager of the Bourke Safe House 1999–2013 & DVSM Wilcannia Safe Houses 2013-2022.

Mary returned after a sabbatical working with Aboriginal Community Housing Industry Association (ACHIA) the Peak body for Community Housing Providers (CHP).

Mary returns to DVSM 2023 to current date, taking up the cross-services role ‘Community Culture Manager’.

For more than two and a half decades Mary has worked frontline in crisis support services and recently recognised making the Hall of Fame of the Women’s Refuge Movement for her work in prevention at the Wilcannia Women and Children.

She has a wealth of experience supporting Aboriginal women and children, families, and communities. Mary is considered a key stakeholder, for her Community and Rural Area needs pertaining to DFV.

Mary’s skill in listening and advocacy, have brought attention of GOVT leaders when speak at Peak level forums. Mary is a member of the DVNSW Peak body.

 Recent advocacies work: 

• Social housing threshold – low-income earners must choose Work or a Home
• Rural remote areas need housing for staff.

She is passionate about getting people to see themselves as “experts of their circumstances” they are the key to making a difference for themselves.

Mary’s concern for equipping the disengaged, disempowered (too hard basket) and disqualified has become her service delivery focus for quality-of-life presence. “I listen for gaps and try to fill them big or small”.

Mary’s work led to working with Sal Dennis and team to develop the “Follow my Lead” (lived experience) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jtjq-5eoacA resource, and whilst with ACHIA develop “My Steps My Pathways” “Your Steps Your Pathway” that speaks to the inner strength making someone the “expert of their Lives”.

Mary holds a Diploma of Community Services Coordination and has Certificates IV level in multiple other areas including Social Housing and Aboriginal Health, and a Diploma in Business.

Mary was the winner of the Bright Sparks MOB-ilse Award - sponsored by Ashurst and recipient of Elsie’s Award - Women’s Refuge Movement Hall of Fame.

Conor Pall is a nationally recognised advocate, author, and emerging social work professional whose journey from victim-survivor to systems reformer is reshaping the way Australia listens to and supports children and young people. As Deputy Chair of the Victim Survivors’ Advisory Council, Conor brings lived expertise to the forefront of policy and practice, driving survivor-led change with courage and conviction. Conor is also the author of The Shadow that Follows - a children’s book designed to support conversations about trauma, hope, and healing. His work is a powerful reminder that no child should ever be left to navigate the shadow of violence alone.

Rebekah Mannering is the Legal Practice Director of a family law firm in Brisbane.  She is also an Independent Children’s Lawyer and is passionate about ensuring that the voices of children and young people caught up in family law are heard.

Rebekah grew up in a small country town as the daughter of lawyers and started working in the family firm during school holidays. In 2013, Rebekah started her own firm and has enjoyed returning to her roots as a suburban lawyer, offering city experience with suburban convenience.

Rebekah has experience in family law cases including complex cases involving international aspects, high value property settlement matters, property settlement matters involving family businesses and farms, international parental abduction matters and Magellan matters.

Rebekah has survived a marriage breakdown and the blending of a family of five children who currently range in age between 32 and 16, so she has a keen understanding of the sometimes difficult and sensitive issues around separation and parenting. 

Rebekah is a keen runner and swimmer, which has helped her survive parenting teenagers.