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ANTaR's Indigenous Reference Group

ANTaR has a close and unique working relationship with, and receives strong support from, Indigenous leaders and prominent individuals. Below are members of ANTaR's Indigenous Reference Group, who are the main sources of Indigenous advice and direction for ANTaR's national activities.
Patrick Dodson
Patrick is a member of the Yawuru peoples of the Southern Kimberly region of Western Australia. He is currently Founding Chair of The Lingiari Foundation. He was the Founding Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, a former Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and former Catholic Priest. He is one of Australia's most respected Aboriginal leaders.
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Professor Mick Dodson
Mick is a member of the Yawuru peoples of the Southern Kimberly region of Western Australia. He is currently Professor of Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University and Chair of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and Chair of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Program. Mick was a former HREOC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Director of the Northern Land Council, amongst many other significant positions within the national Indigenous community.
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Professor Lowitja O'Donoghue AC CBE
Lowitja is a member of the Yunkunytjatjara peoples of Central Australia. She is currently a Visiting Professor at Flinders University. She was the inaugural Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and Co-patron of the Journey of Healing. She has received many awards and honours including Australian of the Year in 1984.
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Dr Bill Jonas
Dr Bill Jonas is a Worimi man from the Karuah River area of New South Wales. He was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) from 1999 to 2004. Previous to this, Dr Jonas was Director of the National Museum of Australia, and from 1991 until 1996, he was Principal of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in Canberra. Bill has also held numerous other academic and government positions, and has received many awards, including the Order of Australia (AM) in 1993.
Social Justice then Native Title
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Professor Marcia Langton
Marcia is currently Professor of Indigenous Studies at Melbourne University. Marcia has many years experience working as an anthropologist in Indigenous affairs with land councils, the Queensland government, commissions and universities. Marcia was joint winner of the inaugural Neville Bonner Award for Indigenous Teacher of the Year in 2002. Marcia's work in anthropology and Aboriginal rights advocacy was recognised in 1993 when she was made a member of the Order of Australia.
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Aden Ridgeway
Aden Ridgeway was born in Macksville in northern NSW and is from the Gumbayngirr people of that area. Until recently he was a Democrats Senator for NSW and the only Indigenous member of Federal Parliament. Aden is also Chairman of the Board of Bangarra Dance Company and a board member of the Tikkun Australia Foundation, the Lumbu Indigenous Community Foundation and a trustee of the Charlie Perkins Children's Trust. Aden served on the Sydney ATSIC Regional Council for its first two terms and was Executive Director of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council for five years until 1990. He was also a member of the National Indigenous Working Group (NIWG) and the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
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Linda Burney, MHR
Linda is is a member of the Wiradjuri Nation. She is currently the ALP Member for Canterbury, NSW and Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Training. Linda was the Director General of the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs from 2000-2003, wrote policy for the Aboriginal Education Unit of the NSW Department of Education and Training, and was a teacher at Lethbridge Park Public School. Linda has been a member of the National Social Justice Task Force of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, member of the Executive of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, and is a member of the Board of Trustees at the University of Western Sydney.
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Professor Larissa Behrendt
Larissa is Professor of Law and Indigenous Studies and Director of the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney and Director of Ngiya, the National Institute of Indigenous Law, Policy and Practice. She currently sits on the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, the Serious Offenders Review Council, the AIATSIS Council, the UTS Council, the NSW Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee. Larissa is the author of Aboriginal Dispute Resolution, Achieving Social Justice and most recently the novel Home, which won the 2002 David Unaipon award.
Larissa talks with George Negus about self-determination - ABC
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David Ross
David is currently the Director of the Central Land Council, based in Alice Springs. David has a long history of service to the Aboriginal people of Central Australia and to the Central Land Council (CLC). Born and raised in Alice Springs, he commenced work at the CLC in 1979 and appointed Director in 1989. David was also previously an ATSIC Commissioner and Director of the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC).
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Peter Yu
Peter is a Yawuru man from Broome, Western Australia who for the past 30 years has worked at a state, national and international level on behalf of Indigenous communities. Peter was the Executive Director of the Kimberley Land Council for ten years and member of the National Indigenous Working Group (NIWG) that negotiated with the Keating Government an agreement in relation to native title. He is currently chairman of the West Australian Aboriginal Housing and Infrastructure Council.
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Olga Havnen
Olga is of Western Arrernte descent and grew up in Tennant Creek in central Australia. Olga currently is the Senior Policy Officer of the NT Government's Indigenous Policy Unit. Olga's previous positions have included Indigenous Programs Director with the Fred Hollows Foundation, and Executive Officer with the National Indigenous Working Group (NIWG). She has also worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Central Land Council. She is a Board Member of the Diplomacy Training Program (UNSW).
Online Opinion: Abolishing ATSIC won't help Australia catch up on indigenous affairs
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Lester-Irabinna Rigney
Letser-Irabinna is an Aboriginal academic from the Narungga, Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri Nations of South Australia. Lester has worked in the Yunggorendi First Nations Centre for Higher Education and Research at Finders University since 1993. He is a Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Studies and Education.
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