Kevin Yow Yeh is a Wakka Wakka and South Sea Islander man, trained Social Worker and Lecturer at QUTs Carumba Institute.
He is also a director at the Institute for Collaborative Race Research and as a social worker, Kevin provides cultural supervision to several organisations across education and law. In his spare time, Kevin is a regular on Triple A Murri Country’s Let’s Talk program, and enjoys a laugh as a TV commentator on Network Ten’s Gogglebox series.
Mr Justin Mohamed was announced as Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for First Nations People by the Foreign Minister, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, The Hon Linda Burney MP, and Senator Patrick Dodson on 7 March 2023. Mr Mohamed commenced in the role on 3 April 2023 ensuring, for the first time, that Australia has dedicated First Nations representation in our international engagement.
Mr Mohamed brings a strong connection to community to the role, having worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, social justice and reconciliation over decades. He has been extensively involved in the First Nations community-controlled sector, as well as working in government and the corporate sector.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has established the Office for First Nations International Engagement. Led by the Ambassador for First Nations People, the Office is working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop and implement a First Nations approach to foreign policy, including trade and investment, and development.
The Australian Government has provided $13.6 million over four years from 2023-24 to continue and expand efforts to boost First Nations trade and investment and enhance collaboration across other fields between First Nations communities and partners across the Indo-Pacific. The Office will identify new areas of cooperation between First Nations communities and our international partners – including in intellectual property and exports, climate change, human rights, tourism and development.
On trade and investment, the Office will work closely with DFAT’s First Nations Trade Unit, Austrade and other government agencies to embed First Nations perspectives and interests across the Government’s trade and investment activities. This work will be supported by a pilot First Nations Trade and Investment Advisory Group which will be established in 2024. In addition, a First Nations Visitor Economy Partnership will be co-designed, which Austrade will lead.
Eddie Betts shares his personal story of growing up Aboriginal in Australia and the obstacles he faced in becoming a 350 AFL game player for the Carlton and Adelaide Football Club.
Sometimes funny, sometimes serious, Eddie will take the audience on a journey with him as he talks openly and candidly about the impact of racism and discrimination on his life, career and family.
Eddie’s story will inspire people – to reflect and challenge the way they think, see and feel about Racism, whilst sharing his wonderful insights into leadership and team success.
Eddie Betts is a 350-game AFL player. He currently works in the AFL media with Fox Footy, coaches part-time at Geelong Football Club, and is the Author of two children’s books (and a soon-to-be kids’ TV series) and an autobiography.
Simon is a long-term NT doctor who has turned to work with his community and facilitate two-way processes to enable Warumungu people to create the homes that suit their culture and climate. WIlya Janta is a very innovative housing organisation that is putting First Nations people in charge of how a home might be, engaging deep cultural knowledge of how to live in hot climates with contemporary construction methods and technologies to resolve the wicked problem of housing that belies all the health and social inequities that confront remote communities.
Linda Turner Nabanunga is a Warlmanpa Elder, born in Renner Springs and growing up with rations and hardships of station life in the NT in the 1960s. She recognised the importance of education in fighting for her people, and completed a Batchelor’s Degree of Indigenous Community Management and Development in 2003. Linda has had multiple high-level roles in Aboriginal organisations in the Barkly Region over the past three decades and now works in the field of domestic violence support and prevention. She is a founding member of Wilya Janta.
Emerald is a Clinical Psychologist at Te Toka Tumai Te Whatu Ora specialising in Adult Mental Health recovery. Emerald has a background in kaupapa Maori research and practice, previously working at Te Ropu Whariki Massey University as well as experience as a Personal Trainer and Powerlifting Coach. She continues to participate in the exercise sector as a Les Mills Fitness Instructor.
Emerald’s current research and practice interests span across hauora Maori, Maori mental health, lived experience, exercise and sport psychology, trauma informed care, cultural safety, wairuatanga, Indigenous healing and Indigenous data sovereignty. Emerald has been on the Nga Pou Mana board since 2019, advocating for tauira and kaimahi Maori working in mental health and allied professions. Drawing from her experience as a Personal Trainer, Emerald maintains the kaupapa of exercising hauora, advocating for the integration of physical activity across public and community services. She is passionate about delivering an excellent quality of clinical and cultural care to tangata whai i te ora and strengthening the workforce who deliver this at the grassroots.
Deb Edwards is a proud Yankunytjatjara woman, born, living, and working on Kaurna Land, South Australia.
Previously with a 38-year career as a public relations specialist in the music/entertainment industry, Deb leads the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation, for Lowitja Institute. She is the niece and appointed family representative of the late Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue AC CBE DSG, the namesake, and Co-Patron of Lowitja Institute.
The Institute is Australia’s only national community-controlled Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research. Dr O’Donoghue gifted her name to the Institute in 2010 and was the inaugural Chairperson of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, from which the Institute found its origins back in 1997.
The Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation was established on August 1st, 2022, in honour of the 90th birthday of Dr O’Donoghue. The Foundation acknowledges, recognises, and preserves the legacy of Dr O’Donoghue’s dedicated lifetime of work for the health, wellbeing, and education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The vision of the Lowitja O’Donoghue Foundation is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to create change through self-determination and pathways that provide equality, empowerment, voice, and action.
Deb has worked on many First Nations projects including contract public relations work for Reconciliation South Australia and Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute. She is a Board Director of Music SA and sits on the Department of Premier and Cabinet/Arts SA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Advisory Panel.
Vicki McKenna is a proud Yawuru and Bunaba woman from Broome in the Kimberley Region of Northwest Western Australia. As a devoted mother of five and grandmother to 18, Vicki’s commitment to her family and community is at the heart of her work.
Vicki has significant experience working in social and emotional wellbeing, cultural safety, suicide prevention, postvention support and care, and critical response work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Vicki is a trained Counsellor and Child Psychotherapist and currently the Head of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre where she utilises her invaluable lived experience which guides the development and implementation of crucial initiatives aimed at enhancing the Social and Emotional Wellbeing of First Nations peoples.
Specifically, Vicki is passionate about improving the shared understanding in the broader mental health sector of what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience expertise looks like, and how successful consultation with these voices can be achieved. Vicki mobilizes First Nations lived experience voices from local, state and National levels, amplifying their voices at higher level engagements with Government, National and International decision-makers, with the purpose of informing culturally safe, effective and respectful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led suicide prevention and mental health wellbeing.
Recognised as a cultural leader and First Nations advocate, Vicki is an expert in suicide prevention, serving her community in the Kimberley and beyond. Her dedication and innovative approaches were acknowledged when she received the ‘National Innovation’ and ‘Priority Populations’ Excellence in Suicide Prevention LiFE Awards from Suicide Prevention Australia.
Meet our 2024 Conference Panelists
Professor Tina Brodie (BSW (Hons) GradCertCouns, PhD) is an Aboriginal woman with connections to Yawarrawarrka and Yandruwandha (South Australia). Tina is currently the Pro Vice Chancellor: Aboriginal Leadership and Strategy at the University of South Australia, and has over 18 years of experience in Aboriginal health and wellbeing in research, education, clinical, project and leadership roles.
Matthew Trindall Gomeroi Murri with family connections to the Thungutti, Gandangarra and Bigambul people. Matthew is the Director Aboriginal Mental Health, Mental Health Branch at the NSW Ministry of Health.
Tanya is a proud Yaruwu (Broome) woman who has lived and worked most of her life on the lands of the Larrakia people in the Northern Territory and now on Kaurna land in South Australia. She has extensive experience on Committees, boards and Ministerial Council’s. She is currently the Co-Chair of the Aboriginal Cricket Advisory Committee for SACA and the SA representative on the Cricket Australia Indigenous Advisory Committee. She also previously served on the Rostrevor College Board and NT Softball Board where she was awarded life membership.
Tanya’s working knowledge includes an extensive background in Human Resource Management and Aboriginal Health Policy. Prior to becoming CEO of the Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia, Tanya was the Chief Aboriginal Health Officer in the Department for Health and Wellbeing (SA), leading the reform of Aboriginal Health strategy including state funding and investment. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tanya was also the Executive lead responsible for COVID-19 response and preparedness for Aboriginal Communities in South Australia by maintaining a two-way interaction with Communities and frontline services. Tanya believes that; To improve Aboriginal Health, requires equal parts of Cultural and Social determinant inputs.
Nicole Turner is a proud Kamilaroi woman, mother, and grandmother, IAHA’s Chairperson, and a has served as a Director on the IAHA Board for over eight years through a period of sustained growth. During this time, Nicole has shown national leadership across allied health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce development, education, and training.
Nicole has worked in the health sector for over 25 years and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing for over 20 years. This includes clinical roles as an Aboriginal Health Worker and enrolled nurse before becoming one of very few qualified Aboriginal Community Nutritionists in Australia, having completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Community Nutrition).
In recognition of her leadership and expertise, Nicole was appointed this year as the interim Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council of NSW, where she works with closely the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce, community-controlled sector, and governments in New South Wales, while maintaining strong relationships nationally.
An Adjunct Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of Canberra, Nicole’s work on topics such as food security have been published in research papers and national and international journals, and she supports culturally responsive research being conducted with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and organisations.
Nicole’s passion is nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle and she believes in the importance of opportunities to educate and give knowledge to our people about the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, prevention of chronic diseases, and education and training opportunities.
Nicole is committed to empowering other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to join the allied health workforce and encouraging young people to finish school and follow their dreams, including through her ongoing leadership role with IAHA and engagement with communities and young people across the Country.