Australians All

Dr Ameer Ali

Dr Ali is an eminent figure in the Australian Muslim community.

He is Chairman of the Muslim Community Reference group, appointed by the Prime Minister. He is immediate past-President of the Australian Federation of Muslim Councils, and the executive council member of the World Muslim League.

With more than 40 years commitment to the Muslim community, Ameer is a passionate advocate of interfaith dialogue in Australia.

He is an associate editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, and is a substantial contributor to international journals and conferences.

Waleed Aly

Waleed Aly is a commercial lawyer and board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria, the peak representative body for Victorian Muslims.

Waleed is frequently sought for comment from media outlets across Australia on a broad range of issues relating to Islam and Australian Muslims. He has written regularly for mainstream newspapers including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. He has been commended at both the Walkley Awards and the Quill Awards for his commentary and shortlisted for the Alfred Deakin Essay Prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards.

Waleed is also a co-host of The Conversation Hour with Jon Faine on 774 ABC Melbourne, and a panellist on Salam Cafe, an award-winning community television show screened nationally. Last year, he was a White Ribbon Day Ambassador for the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

In 2005, Waleed was one of 90 young Australians chosen to attend the Australian Future Directions Forum to generate ideas for the next 20 years of Australia's future. He was also a youth leadership awardee and delegate to the Australian Davos Connection's Future Summit in 2005.

Peter Andren

Peter Andren, MP was the Federal Member of Parliament for Calare in central NSW from 1996, one of three Independent Members in the House of Representatives.

He previously spent thirty years in radio and television broadcasting and three years teaching. He was a graduate of Alexander Mackie Teachers College and Macquarie University.

After entering parliament Peter led the debate on parliamentary reforms including public accountability and MPs entitlements. He challenged the government’s policies on asylum seekers, especially during the Tampa crisis, as well as questioning Australia’s involvement in Iraq.

Peter used the forum of parliament to advocate matters of human and civil rights including Native Title, abolition of mandatory sentencing and protection of the freedom of speech.

He died on 3 November 2007 after being diagnosed earlier in the year with inoperable pancreatic cancer. He was 61.

Professor Larissa Behrendt

Professor Behrendt – an academic, writer and aboriginal affairs advocate - is a Eualeyai/Kamillaroi woman.

She serves as the Professor of Law and Director of Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney.

She is a Judicial Member of the Administrative Decisions Tribunal, Equal Opportunity Division and is the Alternative Chair of the Serious Offenders Review Board.

Larissa has published on property law, indigenous rights, dispute resolution and Aboriginal women’s issues. She is a Board Member of the Museum of Contemporary Art, a Director of the Sydney Writers festival and a Director of the famed Bangarra Dance Theatre.

John Bond

John Bond was the Secretary of the National Sorry Day Committee and its Journey of Healing from 1998 to 2006, which enlists local communities in initiatives to help the Aboriginal Stolen Generations overcome the trauma that many endure as a result of their removal in childhood.

Canberra based, John is a writer and editor by profession. Since 1968 he has worked with Initiatives of Change (formerly Moral Re-Armament) and spent 12 years in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

John works extensively with Indigenous Australians.

Gary Bouma

Professor Bouma is Professor of Sociology, UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Relations – Asia-Pacific at Monash University, and Chair of the Standing Committee on Ethics in Research involving humans.

Gary is also an Anglican Priest in the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, Deputy Chair of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (Australia), Board Member of the World Conference of Religion and Peace – Asia-Pacific and Deputy Chair of the team managing Melbourne’s bid to host the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions.

He has worked tirelessly in support of healthy inter-faith relations, mutual respect and the rights of minority religious groups.

Gary is the author of 20 books and over 100 chapters and referred articles.

Julian Burnside

Julian Burnside, QC is a barrister.

He acted for the Ok Tedi native people against BHP; for the Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute against Patrick Stevedores; for Liberty Victoria in the “Tampa” litigation; for the ABA in the “cash for comment” inquiry; and for Alan Bond in fraud trials.

Julian specialises in commercial litigation, but has acted pro bono in many human rights cases - in particular those concerning the treatment of refugees.

He is passionately involved in the arts, and has served on many arts and cultural organizations. He has written a children’s book, and is the author of Wordwatching, a book of essays about words and language. He was the architect of From Nothing to Zero, a collection of letters written by asylum seekers held in Australia’s detention camps, published by Lonely Planet.

Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow is President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

She is only the second woman ever to be elected to this prestigious organization, and in December 2004 was the first woman to be elected President of the world union body, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions – which represents 148 million workers across 150 countries.

Sharan follows a distinguished family history in trade union affairs. Her great, great grandfather took part in the 1891/92 shearers strike becoming one of the first organizers for the Australian Workers Union.

Professionally, Sharan began her career as a country teacher in New South Wales, and became President of the Australian Education Union in 1992.

She is currently President of the International Centre for Trade Union Rights and a member of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation.

Professor Hilary Charlesworth

Professor Charlesworth is Director of the Centre for International Governance and Justice at the ANU and is Professor of International Law and Human Rights at ANU’s Faculty of Law. She holds an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship for research on justice and democracy in post-conflict situations.

She has held visiting appointments at Washington and Lee School of Law, Harvard Law School, New York Global Law School and in 2005 was Wayne Morse Professor at the University of Oregon. In 2006 she was awarded the American Society of International Law’s Goler T Butcher Medal for her work in international human rights law.

She has been co-editor of the Australian Year Book of International Law since 1996, and has worked with various non-governmental human rights organizations on ways to implement standards of human rights.

Dr Ray Cleary

Dr Ray Cleary is the Chief Executive Officer at Anglicare Victoria.

A community leader with over 38 years experience within community service agencies Ray’s appointments include roles as Executive Director of Child Care Services for the Uniting Church and the Copelen Street Family Centre, Associate Director at the Mission of St James and St John and Executive Director with Anglican Homes for Elderly People.

In 1995 Ray joined Melbourne Citymission as its Chief Executive Officer, and took up his current appointment at Anglicare Victoria in December 2000.

He is currently Chair of the Social Responsibilities Committee Anglican Diocese of Melbourne and for a number of years chaired the Victorian Churches Gambling Task Force. In 2001 Ray chaired the Victorian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on Homelessness.

He is Chair of Anglicare Australia - the national network and peak body for Anglican welfare and justice.

Stella Cornelius AO

Dr Cornelius, AO, is Co-director of the Conflict Resolution Network, a specialist mediator and conflict analyst.

A life-time activist for Peace, Non-violent Conflict Resolution, Social Justice and Human Rights, from 1984 to 1986 she was director of the Australian Government's Secretariat for the United Nations International Year of Peace.

Stella Cornelius is a life member of the Australian Red Cross, founder of Media Peace Awards and the Australian campaign to establish Ministries and Departments of Peace worldwide.

Rev. Tim Costello

Rev. Tim Costello - Chief Executive of World Vision Australia since 2004 - has devoted his life to social justice, health and welfare issues.

Tim Costello has been an authoritative national voice of social conscience, and has led public policy debates on issues such as urban poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, gambling addiction, reconciliation and ending global poverty.

In 1984 he established a socially active Ministry at St Kilda Baptist Church and in 1995 became Minister at Collins Street Baptist Church where he established Urban Seed, a Christian not-for-profit outreach service for the urban poor. In 2005 Tim was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and in 2006 became Victorian Australian of the Year.

Tim is a skilled advocate for his causes. After the Asia Tsunami in 2004 he travelled immediately to the disaster area and his drive, presence and media profile added measurable weight to the World Vision Appeal, which ultimately raised $100 million.

Kate Durham

Kate Durham is an activist and artist.

Her professional life revolves around jewellery, painting and drawing. Her work is held in the National Gallery of Victoria, the National Gallery, Canberra, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum and private collections.

She formed “Spare Rooms for Refugees” in 2001, in response to the Federal Government’s treatment of refugees rescued by MV Tampa.

Her latest exhibition of photographs is a response to the “Pacific Solution” and the sinking of the SIEV X, in which 353 people, mostly women and children, drowned as they tried to reach the safety of Australia.

Emeritus Professor Sol Encel

Emeritus Professor Sol Encel was professor of Sociology at the University of NSW from 1966 to 1990. He was previously Reader in Political Science at the Australian National University.

Since 1991, he has been Honorary Research Associate at the Social Policy Research Centre, University of NSW.

He has published or edited over 20 books on a wide range of social and political issues. His current research interests are mainly related to the implications of an ageing population.

Hugh Evans

Hugh Evans, 23, is a role model for his generation. He is the inspiration behind and founder of the Oaktree Foundation –Australia’s first entirely youth-run and youth-driven aid and development agency.

In its first year Oaktree raised over $100,000 to develop a community resource in the Valley of Kwa-Ngcolosi in South Africa. This centre now provides more than 1,000 people with educational opportunities, including a community library and computer access.

Hugh also established the Youth Ambassador program for World Vision, which enables young people to participate in the work of World Vision in the developing world. Hugh travelled to South Africa as World Vision’s first youth ambassador in 2003.

Hugh’s passion for helping others began when he was 12 years old, and became involved in World’s Vision’s 40-Hour famine. With his drive, Hugh’s school became the highest fund-raising school in Australia for the 40 hour Famine appeal.

Hugh was named Young Australian of the Year in 2004 and in 2005 was named as One of Twelve Outstanding Young People of the World by the Junior Chamber International.

Rt Hon Malcolm Fraser

Malcolm Fraser was Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He had previously served in various junior and senior Ministerial portfolios after entering the Federal Parliament in 1955.

As Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser welcomed refugees from Vietnam and elsewhere, led international condemnation of the apartheid regime in South Africa, moved to recognize aboriginal land rights, championed the cause of multi-culturalism (including the establishment of SBS Broadcasting) and developed significant strategic relationships with Asian and sub-continent nations.

He remains a prominent member of the InterAction Council. He was Chairman of CARE Australia from 1987 to 2001, President of CARE International from 1990 to 1995. In 2000 Malcolm Fraser was awarded the Australian Human Rights Medal.

He is a prolific writer, columnist and speaker on human rights issues.

Dr Paul Gardner

Dr Gardner is the immediate past Chairman of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission: the human rights arm of the organization, responsible for combating racism and antisemitism and building relationships with other ethnic and religious communities.

He was a member of the executive of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria from 2003 to 2006, responsible for this body’s anti-defamation portfolio, and a founding member of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim Association of Australia.

In 2005 Paul was appointed by the Chief Commissioner of Police to the newly established Victoria Police Multifaith Council, and serves on the planning committee of the Premier’s Multifaith Forum.

The son of German Jewish immigrants who fled Nazi Germany in 1937, Paul had a 36 year career in the faculty of education at Monash University. He was a visiting scholar at overseas universities on several occasions.

Rev. Professor James Haire

Canberra based, the Reverend Professor Haire, AM has been a long-standing servant of the Christian faith.

He is the Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, Professor of Theology of Charles Sturt University and Director of the Public and Contextual Theology Strategic Research Centre.

He was formerly Head of the School of Theology at Griffith University, Professor of New Testament Studies and Principal of Trinity College, Brisbane, and Dean and President of the Brisbane College of Theology.

In the 70’s and 80’s he served as a theologian in Indonesia and a Uniting Church Parish Minister in Darwin and later as President of the Uniting Church in Australia and President of the National Council of Churches in Australia.

He was involved in the first part of this decade in peace and reconciliation negotiations involving Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas, Indonesia.

Debra Hocking

Debra Hocking, a stolen generation survivor , is Indigenous Co-Chair of the National Sorry Day Committee.

She is Indigenous Chair of Achieving Reconciliation Tasmania, and has worked for many years on Aboriginal community health issues.

She has received the United Nations award for the year of the Culture of Peace and the Human Rights award for Humanitarian Activities in Tasmania.

Hon. Barry Jones

Hon. Barry Jones is a significant figure in contemporary Australian life.

He is a former teacher, lawyer, State and Federal politician, writer, broadcaster and academic. Millions of Australians would remember him as a radio and television quiz champion.

Barry is the only person to have been elected as Fellow of the four Australian Academies.

In 1998 he was Deputy Chair of the Constitutional Convention, and chaired the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission from 2001-2005. He is a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at Melbourne University and remains a much-read and loved author.

Professor Clive Kessler

Professor Kessler is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of New South Wales.

He was previously Professor at UNSW; Lecturer in Social Anthropology, London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London; and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University, New York.

Clive is the author of works based on continuing field research for the past 40 years on Islam, culture, society and politics in Malaysia and of notable contributions to the study of human diversity, multiculturalism, citizenship and democratic theory.

Rabbi Dr John Levi

Rabbi Dr John Levi, AM is the Deputy President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, and the Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Beth Israel in Melbourne.

He is a founder of the Council of Christians and Jews; an historian, and his fifth book “These are the Names” will be published by MUP at the end of 2006.

Monash University bestowed him the title Doctor of Laws (Hons) in 2006. John was also one of the founders of Melbourne’s progressive Jewish King David School, which now numbers 850 students.

Hon. Ian Macphee

Hon. Ian Macphee is a noted political figure in Australia.

As a Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs in the Fraser Government, Ian Macphee worked tirelessly on the implementation of a humane refugee policy that gained full co-operation from Australia’s neighbours, and that complied with International Law.

He was instrumental in creation of practical policies such as telephone interpreter and court translation services – all aimed at helping migrants and refugees settle and integrate in Australian society.

Ian held other senior Ministerial portfolios, was a former Director of the Victorian Chamber of Manufacturers and a lawyer who practised in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Professor Robert Manne

Professor Manne is Professor of Politics at La Trobe University. Over three decades, he has contributed to debate in Australia through his books, essays, and newspaper articles on culture, politics and international relations.

Robert has published fifteen books, including The Petrov Affair, which won the Washington Intelligence Study Center Prize in 1987; The Culture of Forgetting: Helen Demidenko and the Holocaust; and In Denial: The Stolen Generations and the Right.. His most recent publications are Whitewash (ed.), The Howard Years (ed.), Sending them home: refugees and the new politics of indifference, Left Right Left, and Do Not Disturb: Is the Media Failing Australia?

Between 1990 and 1997 Robert Manne was the editor of Quadrant. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences in 1999, and in 2001 was a joint winner of the first Alfred Deakin Prize. In 1998/9 he served on the Australian Citizenship Council and is presently Chair of the editorial board of The Monthly magazine.

Shujat Mantoo

Shujat is a prominent Indian lawyer. He is a long standing and active member of the Islamic community currently serving as an Executive Committee Member of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.

He served as an advocate at the Jammu and Kashmir High Court and the Supreme Court of India, a barrister and solicitor at the Victorian Supreme Court and the High Court of Australia.

Shujat has successfully chaired committees on Family Law reform, and lobbied for reforms to immigration law to increase the probationary period for the grant of permanent residency for spouse-sponsored applicants.

Professor Tim McCormack

Professor McCormack is the foundation Australian Red Cross Professor of International Humanitarian Law at the University of Melbourne, and foundation Director of the Asia- Pacific Centre for Military Law –a collaborative training and research venture between the Law School and the ADF legal service.

His research expertise includes international criminal and humanitarian law, arms control and disarmament and the use of force.

He acted as amicus curiae on international law issues to the judges in the international criminal trial of Slobodan Miloševi.

Tim is a member of the Australian Foreign Minister’s National Consultative Committee on International Security Issues, and on Bio-Security Issues. He is a prolific author and editor in Australia and overseas.

Voula Messimeri-Kianidis

Voula, Chair of the Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia (FECCA) has been involved in community services for more than 20 years, with focus on multicultural affairs and women’s issues.

As Executive Director of the Australian Greek Welfare Society (AGWS) she manages an agency with a diverse range of programs including aged & disabilities, childcare, training, counselling, community and cross-cultural education.

Previous positions have included family counselling in country Victoria, coordination of a service that focused on occupational health and safety, equal opportunities for girls in secondary education and genetic counselling.

Voula has a strong commitment to social justice and considers multiculturalism as a cornerstone for a successful and harmonious Australian society.

Currently, she also serves as the Deputy Chair of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria and is a member on the RMIT University Council.

Graeme Mundine

Graeme Mundine is Executive Secretary, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Council (NATSIEC). He is a member of the NSW Catholic Education Commission, World Youth Day Aboriginal Committee, Caritas Australia’s Indigenous reference group, World Council of Churches reference groups on Racism and Indigenous Peoples.

Prior to this he was the education and advocacy officer of NATSIEC.

Graeme previously headed the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC). NATSICC works closely with Indigenous Catholic groups and advises the Australian Catholic Bishops on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. He was co-author of the Catholic Church’s response to the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, “Bringing them home”. He was on the Board of trustees of Nungalinya Theological College Darwin.

Graeme has a worked as a youth and social worker and has had teaching positions in Secondary schools in Sydney in the area of Maths and Religion.

Bishop Pat Power

Bishop Power, Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn for 20 years, has been a long and strong advocate for the East Timorese and Palestinian people, for Aboriginal people and for the rights of the unborn, the old and dying.

His Ministry as a Bishop has been focused on ecumenical and inter-faith relations. He was the first Catholic co-chair of the national Anglican-Catholic dialogue.

Much of his grass roots work has been directed through Catholic Social Services, Australia and through local community organizations in Canberra.

Ian Renard

Ian Renard is Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and a prominent member of a number of public company Boards.

He is a Trustee of the R.E.Ross Trust. He has formerly served as President of the Library Board of Victoria, Chair of the Melbourne Theatre Company, a member of the Board of the Royal Children’s Hospital and a Trustee of the Queens Fund.

He was former Partner and Managing Partner in the Melbourne law firm Arthur Robinson and Hedderwicks following a distinguished academic record.

Dr Mike Richards

Dr Richards is a political and public policy operative.

He is a former academic political scientist, journalist and author, and has held senior advisor and chief of staff roles to former Victorian Premier John Cain, and Federal Opposition Leaders Simon Crean and Mark Latham.

Mike is currently CEO of a specialist medical college.

David Rosalky

David is visiting fellow at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University.

He had a long career in public service having served at Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services, as well as other Commonwealth and ACT Departments.

He is a Board Director of the ACT Land and Development Agency.

Ali Roude

Ali Roude is a leader of the New South Wales Muslim community.

He is the Principal of Rissalah Primary College and has served the Muslim faith for more than two decades as President of the New South Wales Islamic Council. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1988 for services to the Muslim Community.

Ali has been a member of the Police Ethnic Advisory Committee and the Olympic Multi-cultural Advisory Committee. He has also served as an executive of the World Council on Religion and Peace.

Nada Roude

Nada Roude has a 20 year commitment to community development and education programs with Arabic and Muslim communities in Australia.

Nada founded a number of women’s organisations such as the Arabic Women’s Federation, the Muslim Women’s Association and a number of youth groups.

She has worked in the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission for 13 years providing advice to the Premier and Government on issues relating to settlement of ethnic communities.

Professor Kim Rubenstein

Professor Kim Rubenstein - Professor and Director of the Centre for International and Public Law, at the Australian National University – is an internationally renowned scholar.

She specializes in nationality law, citizenship and public law. Over the past 11 years she has analyzed the complexities surrounding the legal status of the citizen. She is the author of Australian Citizenship Law in Context (2002) amongst her other publications.

In 2002-2003 she was based at Georgetown University Law Centre as a Fulbright Senior Scholar.

Kim has also appeared three times in the High Court of Australia on citizenship matters. Her research interests also include the field of women and constitutional law and women’s education.

Professor Abdullah Saeed

Professor Saeed is the Sultan of Oman Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies, and the Director of the Centre for the study of Contemporary Islam at the University of Melbourne.

He has taught Arabic and Islamic studies at undergraduate and postgraduate levels for 14 years.

He is a strong advocate of reform of Islamic thought. His expert advice is regularly sought by both government and non-government agencies and institutions on complex Islamic issues.

Professor Amin Saikal

Professor Saikal is a specialist in the politics, history, political economy and international relations of the Middle East and Central Asia.

He is currently Professor of Political Science and Director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic studies at the ANU.

He has been a Visiting Fellow at Princeton and Cambridge Universities, and a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in International Relations. He is a member of the National Consultative Committee on International Security Issues, and a Director, Peace Scholarship Board, IDP Education Australia (International Enterprises) Pty Ltd.

Amin is a prolific editor, author and commentator on the Middle East, central Asia and Russia.

Eva Sallis

Eva Sallis, an Australian writer, is co-founder of Australians Against Racism – an organization that seeks to raise awareness of human rights and social justice through the media, arts and education.

Her writings have won several literary awards. In recent years she also devised or coordinated a number of social justice projects, including a prime time TV commercial on refugees, a billboard project countering mainstream attitudes to Muslim people, and two nationwide young people’s writing projects from which two remarkable and influential anthologies were published.

Eva is a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide. She studied Arabic intensively for seven years and has traveled many times to Yemen and Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East.

Lt Gen (Ret) John Sanderson

Lt Gen (Ret) Sanderson – a former Governor of Western Australia – has a life-long commitment to our nation’s military.

For most of his 40 year military career he was engaged at the strategic level of military planning. He was Chief of Army for 1995 to 1998. He commanded the UN Peacekeeping Force during the period of UN transition Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). During his military career he commanded at all levels, including operational service in Borneo, Vietnam and Cambodia.

He is a former civil engineer, a graduate of the Royal Military College, the Australian Staff College, the Joint Services Staff College, and the United States Army War College.

He recently accepted an appointment as the Special Adviser on Indigenous Affairs to the Western Australian Government, with the role of building alliances and leadership to enhance participation of Aboriginal people in the social and economic development of the State.

Commissioner Yasser Soliman

Yasser was a previous President and Treasurer of the Victorian branch of the Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth

In April 2005, he retired from the Islamic Council of Victoria Executive after 5 years as President. He had previously served as Secretary and vice President of the Council.

In August 2005, he was appointed as a commissioner on the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC), and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV).

Yasser is an active member of the Council for Multicultural Australia (CMA) and an Australian Citizenship Ambassador (2003 – 2006).

He was invited by the Prime Minister to attend the PM Summit with the Muslim Community leaders in August 2005 and as a result sits on the Government’s Muslim Reference Group.

Brett Solomon

Brett Solomon is the Executive Director of GetUp!. He has worked in Australia and internationally on a range of social justice and human rights issues.

Prior to working at GetUp! Brett was the Campaign Coordinator for Amnesty International Australia. At Amnesty, his focus was the refugee campaign, which called on the government to put an end to mandatory detention, temporary protection visas and the so-called Pacific Solution.

Brett honed his social justice career at Oxfam Australia, where he founded the International Youth Parliament, an international network of young social justice activists tacking issues such as poverty, conflict and globalisation.

Brett joined GetUp because it has a capacity to effect positive social change in Australia. In using cutting edge technologies to enable immediate and member-driven campaigning, Brett believes that GetUp will make a significant difference to the outcomes of particular political, economic and social challenges facing the country.

Dr Adrienne Stone

Dr Adrienne Stone is a prominent constitutional lawyer at the Australian National University, and from 2007 will be Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne.

She has written extensively about constitutional law and constitutional rights and taught at universities in Australia, Canada and the United States. She has a special interest in freedom of speech including the question of how to regulate racial and religious vilification. Her recent publications include Protecting Rights without a Bill of Rights (2006) and Protecting Human Rights (2003) (both edited with Professors Tom Campbell and Jeffrey Goldsworthy).

Rabbi Uri Themal OAM

Rabbi Uri Themal, OAM has been the Executive Director of Multicultural Affairs, Queensland, within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

He is a child survivor of the Holocaust. He has worked as a Rabbi in Berlin, Leeds (UK) and Perth (WA) before joining the Commonwealth Public Service in the then Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs where he was involved in developing the policy of multiculturalism.

Other career highlights include the position of Director of Equal Employment Opportunity for migrants in the Commonwealth Public Service Board and a three year statutory appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Ethnic Affairs Commission in New South Wales.

He also has a wide community record including the creation of the Community Refugee Settlement Scheme and the development of ethnic and multicultural broadcasting for which he received the medal of the order of Australia (OAM) in 1986. He is currently the Rabbi of Temple Shalom, Gold Coast and the Chair of the Council of progressive Rabbis of Australia and New Zealand.

Malcolm Thomas

Malcolm Thomas, a deeply involved and active advocate for multi-faith dialogue, is President of the Islamic Council of Victoria.

He participated in the Muslim leaders Summit, and sits on the Muslim Reference Group.

In Victoria he is a member of the Police Multi-Faith Advisory Committee, and Working Party.

Associate Professor Samina Yasmeen

Samina Yasmeen is the Director, Centre for Muslim States and Societies, University of Western Australia.

As Associate Professor, she teaches courses on Islam and international politics.

Samina has published extensively on the position of Pakistani and Middle-Eastern women, the role of Muslims in Australia and Indo-Pakistan relations.

She is a member of the National Consultative Committee on International Security Issues, a member of the International Humanitarian Law Committee of the Red Cross and Vice-President to the Australian Institute for International Affairs (WA Branch). Samina is a sought-after public commentator.

Professor Jerzy Zubrzycki

Professor Zubrzycki – widely described as a father of multiculturalism in Australia – was the inaugural Professor of Sociology at the Australian National University.

Almost 40 years ago he introduced the concept of cultural pluralism as a basic guideline for Government policy in the settlement of post-war immigrants.

In the 70’s and 80’s he served on, and chaired a succession of Advisory Councils and Committees of Inquiry for both ALP and Coalition Governments.