Keynote Speakers
All keynote speakers will be presenting on their interpretation of the conference theme, Professions in the Community, on the basis of their individual expertise, experience and knowledge.
Lyn Allison
Formerly a teacher, Lyn Allison was elected to the Australian Federal Parliament in 1996 and again in 2001. In 2004 she became leader of the Australian Democrats.
She chaired the powerful Senate Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee for 7 years and presided over 10 major environment inquiries including those on greenhouse and water management which she initiated. She held the education, health and environment portfolios for her party for most of the last 12 years.
Since leaving the Senate, Lyn has become a patron of Marie Stopes International Australia and serves on the boards of Vision Australia, Orygen Youth Mental Health Research, the Mental Illness Fellowship of Victoria and Alzheimer’s Australia, Berry Street and Family Planning Victoria.
She is also President of Dying With Dignity Victoria, on the executive of the Rationalists Society and chair of the committee of management of her local nursing home. Lyn also provides advice to not for profit organisations on campaigning and lobbying parliament.
Commissioner John Pritchard, Police Integrity Commission
The Commissioner is appointed by the Governor under section 7 of the Police Integrity Commission Act for a term or terms not exceeding five years. In addition to exercising the PIC’s statutory functions and powers, the Commissioner is the Chief Executive Officer.
John Pritchard is the current Commissioner and was appointed for a five-year term in October 2006. Prior to his appointment as Commissioner, Mr Pritchard was the Deputy Commissioner with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). In this role he was also appointed an Assistant Commissioner under the ICAC Act. Mr Pritchard commenced at the ICAC as the Solicitor to the Commission/Executive Director, Legal.
Prior to commencing with the ICAC, Mr Pritchard was a barrister. He has also worked as a lawyer with the Sydney Office of the Commonwealth DPP and as a solicitor in private practice working mainly in the area of criminal law.
Mr Pritchard holds the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney. He was admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of NSW in 1987 and to the New South Wales Bar in 2000.
Professor Colin Thomson
Colin Thomson is a Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Wollongong and Chair of the Australian Health Ethics Committee (AHEC), a principal committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
He has taught and published widely in health law and ethics, both at the Australian National University and the University of Wollongong. He was a member of AHEC from 1997 to 2002 and, between 2002 and 2006, was the full-time consultant in health ethics to the National Health and Medical Research Council. He was closely involved in the development of both the 1999 and 2007 versions of what is now the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research.
Professor Gillian Cowlishaw
Gillian Cowlishaw studied anthropology at Sydney University in the 1970s and taught at Charles Sturt University, the ANU in the 1980s and the University of Sydney in the 1990s. Her major publications include:
- Black White or Brindle: race in rural Australia
Cambridge University Press, 1988; - Rednecks, Eggheads and Blackfellas
Michigan University Press with Allen & Unwin (1999); - Blackfellas, Whitefellas and the Hidden Injuries of Race
Blackwell (2004); - and The City’s Outback
UNSW Press 2009.
Her work has been focussed on the varied relationships between Indigenous and settler Australians. She holds an Australian Professorial Fellowship at UTS.
Dr Brian Steels
Brian is a Research Fellow at the Restorative Justice Research Unit at the Centre for Social and Community Research, Murdoch University and works to address community restorative approaches to the criminal justice process.
His work takes in his interests in restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence and offender rehabilitation at an individual, family and community level, especially among people often discarded and socially excluded.
Brian’s community interests include working among individuals and communities suffering from intergenerational trauma associated with cultural and personal loss, violence and abuse, critical and long term social exclusion, food insecurity and high rates of arrest and incarceration.
His recent research includes an examination of the experiences and feelings of being publicly declared guilty. The research examined the material, social and economical consequences on the self, upon connecting with the criminal justice system. The research also examined factors that are likely to prohibit or promote trauma and stress, and influences to successful rehabilitation. He is currently working on a study into the sexual assault of male prisoners.
Mr Stephen Keim SC
After dinner speaker at the Conference Dinner, Wednesday 10 June
Stephen Keim SC has been a legal practitioner for over three decades and a barrister for over two. He became a member of senior counsel in 2004.
Stephen practises law across a diverse range of subject areas which include administrative law; planning and environment; estates; and guardianship.
Stephen is book reviews editor for Hearsay, the journal of the Queensland Bar Association.
Stephen has published articles and reviews on a variety of topics in a variety of outlets including law journals; Justinian; Crikey.com; Online Opinion; and the Australian newspaper.
Stephen is a member of the Council of the Queensland University of Technology and a director of QPIX, a non-profit screen development association.
Stephen received some notoriety in 2007 as barrister for Dr. Mohamed Haneef who was accused of supporting terrorism but has been subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing.