Derek Oram Sandy

Derek Oram Sandy is the eldest son of Marissa Sandy and Derek Oram. He was born in his mothers country of the Yerongpan clan, descending from the Yerongpan and Miguntyun clans from Brisbane and the Mununjali clan from Beaudessert. On his fathers side he carries the bloodlines of Gangulu, Burrigubba, Wakka Wakka, Butchulla and Durumbul. Derek along with his four younger siblings grew up in South East Brisbane. Derek spent majority of his adolescence moving between the suburbs of Ipswich and Logan. Growing up in his mothers country subconsciously created a strong connection to the land and his ancestors of the Brisbane region.

In 2016 the Yerongpan Aboriginal Dancers company was established. Derek combined the things he loved; family, dance, singing and art and created a maintainable lifestyle. It didn’t take long for the word to spread.

Derek now spends every day of his life boosting Indigenous Australian’s spirit through identity and educating non-indigenous Australians about the First Australians history at Early Learning Centres, Primary Schools, High Schools, Universities, Libraries and private organisations. Derek aims to keep the ancient culture of his ancestors alive and continue to pass down the knowledge through song and dance.

Giridharan Sivaraman

Giridharan Sivaraman commenced as Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner in March 2024. Prior to becoming Commissioner, he was Principal Lawyer with Maurice Blackburn where he led the firm’s Queensland Employment Law department. He also held the position of Chair of Multicultural Australia from 2021-2024 and was a member of the Queensland Multicultural Advisory Council from 2019-2024, where he was an advocate for the rights of victims of racial vilification.

Commissioner Sivaraman was born in India and migrated to Australia as a child. His anti-discrimination legal and advocacy work is based on his strong passion for human rights, as well as his moral conviction to speak truth to power and fight for the rights of the marginalised, oppressed, and vilified.

The Race Discrimination Commissioner is a statutory position within the Australian Human Rights Commission. Under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (Cth) (RDA), this position is responsible for promoting equality between people of different backgrounds, conducting research and educational programs to combat racial discrimination, and protecting people from unfair treatment or vilification on the basis of their race, colour, descent, visa status, or national or ethnic origin.

Conference Session: 

Wednesday 4 June 9:00-10:30am

Hugh de Kretser

Hugh de Kretser commenced his five-year term as President of the Australian Human Rights  Commission on 30 July 2024.

For more than two decades, Hugh has played a critical role advancing human rights in Australia. Before joining the Commission, he was the CEO of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the first formal truth-telling process into historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations people in Victoria. He previously worked as the Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre and the Executive Officer of the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres.

Hugh has also served as a Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and a Director of the Sentencing Advisory Council. He has held a range of not-for-profit board, governance and advisory positions. He worked as a community lawyer in Melbourne’s outer western suburbs and started his legal career advising companies on employment and anti-discrimination law.

Joan Wilson-Jones

Joan Wilson Jones is a consultant, presenter, trainer and coach who specialises in building capability in teams through connected leadership and the establishment of collaborative team environments.

Her expertise includes leadership, change management, workplace feedback, conflict management, cultural interactions, creating supportive team cultures, resilience, wellbeing and motivation, health and work life balance. Joan holds a Master of Education (Adult and Workplace Education) and a BA in Cultural Studies and has over four decades of diverse experience to draw on, including managing successful teams in the community services sector.

Joan has worked with both public and private sector organisations, and has extensive experience working with a range of Community Legal Centres across Queensland.

Conference Session: 

Fostering positive and productive CLC workplaces: Exploring practical approaches

Wednesday 4 June  1:30-3:00pm

Dr John Sing

As a Company Director and Adjunct Associate Professor, John has a number of years of experience in both industry and academia. The combination of the technical accounting/auditing domain together with his education and business management qualifications integrate extremely well in bringing relevancy to his current role. Prior to establishing his own consulting and professional development training company, John had worked for over 6 years as Chief Financial Officer within the Queensland Public Sector where he was responsible for leading and implementing the Government’s financial and economic reform agenda. This included overseeing the organizations transition from cash based to accrual accounting, financial reporting in accordance with international accounting standards, management reporting to the CEO and governing board of directors, risk and project management (strategic and operational) and commercializing the water and wastewater business units.

John has conducted numerous management, leadership, risk, financial and project management related courses for both private and public sector organizations in Australia, North America Europe and Asia Pacific. He was recruited to industry after having been a full-time academic where he has researched and taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels in the domains of financial accounting, auditing, project and risk management. He is currently involved in the development and delivery of specialized governance for directors, project management, finance, financial accounting and risk management programs in a number of national and international destinations. He is also currently delivering post graduate award courses in finance and project management

Katherine Hayes

Katherine is the CEO of the Youth Advocacy Centre, a community legal centre that provides legal and social support for young people in Queensland.

Katherine joined YAC in 2022 with over 20 years of corporate law experience with a desire to make positive change in the community.

As youth justice issues have begun to dominate political debates, Katherine has become a vocal advocate for the rights of children whose voices are often left out of the story.

Click here for more information

Monica Taylor

Monica is a climate and disaster justice expert based at Queensland University of Technology. She was involved in the creation of this guide through her former work delivering the climate and disaster resilience capacity building project with CLCQ in 2023/4.

Monica also serves as Board Chair of Psychology for a Safe Climate Inc. and is a Director of Lawyers for Climate Justice Australia Ltd.

Conference Session:

CLCQ Climate Risk Governance Guide

Thursday 4 June 3:30pm – 4:30pm

Rhetta Chappell

Rhetta Chappell is the Data Science and Partnerships Lead at Griffith University’s Relational Insights Data Lab (RIDL). In this role she leads a growing team of high-performing data analysts and provides strategic direction on complex, mission and data-driven projects for industry, government, and academic partners. Her role as a speaker at the Royal Statistical Society Conference in Scotland and the IEEE eScience conference in Japan highlights her standing in the field. Rhetta developed a mirco-credential on data communication which has been delivered to over 3,500 bank employees and has a special interest in quantifying and measuring impact. Rhetta’s work is not just about data analysis; it’s about creating sustainable, impactful solutions aligned with global initiatives like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Rhetta’s strengths are in strategic relationship building, stakeholder engagement, the design and implementation of robust statistical analyses, data storytelling, engaging information design, and the building of actionable and innovative data solutions. After completing a degree in Anthropology in Canada, Rhetta has gone on to complete post graduate qualifications in statistics, data science and machine learning and recently completed her MBA at Griffith University in Queensland. Rhetta is passionate about making data matter, and to do this she uses co-design methods and focuses on aligning data insights and narratives to business goals and objectives, ensuring value and transparency. Rhetta also hosts a podcast about using data to support thriving communities called, Show Me the Data.

Rose Mackay

Rose Mackay is the Director of LawRight’s Pro Bono Connect program.

Rose has been at LawRight for over 7 years, after more than 10 years in top-tier national firms in property and taxation. Rose looks after assessing and triaging applications, providing advice, and managing referrals to the private profession. She believes in the importance of developing and maintaining strong relationships with firms and barristers, to help the private profession meet their pro bono goals and to ensure that the best legal assistance is provided to vulnerable individuals and not-for-profits in Queensland.

Rose is also a member of the Queensland Law Society’s Access to Justice and Pro Bono Law Committee.

Conference Session: 

Fostering positive and productive CLC workplaces: Exploring practical approaches

Wednesday 4 June  1:30-3:00pm

Skye Forster

Skye is the Data Transformation Specialist at Federation of Community Legal Centres Victoria and has two decades of experience managing projects, people and stakeholders in a broad range of industries including legal, finance, sales, retail and hospitality.

She has overseen change management and innovation projects at Community Legal Centres and been instrumental in improving infrastructure and business processes. Skye is passionate about streamlining data collection and using clever analysis and insights to design better services for those the sector help.

Her current role has seen her support 32 (and counting) CLCs in Victoria to implement or improve modern case management systems, build a thriving CLC Data Community of Practice and become an ‘accidental’ CLC outcomes measurement innovator and catalyst.

Conference session:

Wednesday 5 June 1:30 – 3:00pm

Embedding Outcome Measurement in CLC Practice – getting started and levelling up

Stephen Grace

Stephen is the Director of LawRight’s Community & Health Justice Partnerships | Homelessness Law and Multicultural Law program.

He has over ten years’ experience in multidisciplinary, embedded community legal services. Prior to starting his current role, Steve spent a combined 6 years as the manager of LawRight’s Homelessness Law and Justice Connect’s Homeless Law programs. While working in Cairns, Steve was a casual academic with James Cook University. He believes passionately in the holistic benefits of integrated, client-centred health and legal services, and is a co-Chair of the With You National Legal Assistance Sector Trauma-Informed Community of Practice.

Stephen was nominated for the 2024 Queensland Law Society Excellence in Law Awards in the Access to Justice category.

Conference Session: 

Fostering positive and productive CLC workplaces: Exploring practical approaches

Wednesday 4 June  1:30-3:00pm