Who Are We?

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights Inc (ALHR) was established in 1993, and incorporated as an association in NSW in 1998 (ABN 76 329 114 323).

Australian Lawyers for Human Rights is an association of legal professionals active in practising and promoting awareness of international human rights standards in Australia.

ALHR has a national membership of Australian lawyers, barristers, judicial officers, legal academics and law students, with active National, State and Territory committees and national and specialist thematic committees.

ALHR seeks to utilise its extensive experience and expertise in the principles and practice of international law and human rights law in Australia in order to:

  • Promote and support lawyers practice of human rights law in Australia.
  • Promote Federal and State laws across Australia that comply with the principles of international human rights law.
  • Engage with the United Nations in relation to Australian human rights violations.
  • Engage internationally to promote human rights and the rule of law.

Through the provision of training, education, publications, CLE courses, conferences, seminars and mentoring, ALHR assists members to continue to develop their knowledge of human rights law and incorporate human rights principles into their areas of legal practice in Australia.


The Committee

Kerry Weste - President

Kerry was admitted as a solicitor and barrister in South Australia in 1998 and has been a member of the ALHR National Committee since 2014, including a two year term as ALHR Vice-President. She has practiced in South Australia, London and Sydney as a criminal defence solicitor and as a Senior Legal Officer for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and has 25 years experience as an advocate.

Kerry has worked for top tier private firms and currently works as a human rights consultant in the civil society and NGO sector. She has extensive experience working within the policy and law reform space, in domestic and international advocacy campaigns and engaging with UN Special Procedures mechanisms.

Kerry has a long held interest in Children's rights and juvenile justice and is a registered contributor with the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO). She was a recipient of the The Children's Interests Bureau Prize at Flinders University. Kerry Co-Chairs ALHR's Children's Rights Subcommittee and Co-Convenes the Human Rights for NSW Alliance. As president, Kerry Chairs ALHR's Executive Management Committee which oversees the organisations governance and strategic direction. She also Chairs the ALHR National Committee.

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Nicholas Stewart - Vice President

Nicholas is a partner at Dowson Turco Lawyers, a boutique and prominent LGBTIQA+ law firm in Macquarie Street, Sydney. He was formerly an intellectual property lawyer at an Australian top tier corporate firm, and Corporate Counsel at a large telecommunications company. Since leaving commercial law, Nicholas has focussed his work on criminal law. At Dowson Turco Lawyers. Nicholas heads up the indictable crime team and regularly appears in the Local and District Courts of NSW and the Children’s Court of NSW.

Nicholas also manages a human rights practice, and takes carriage of complex cases involving LGBTIQA+ discrimination, bullying and vilification, as well as hate crimes. In this regard, Nicholas led the campaign for two parliamentary inquiries, and the recently announced special commission of inquiry into NSW's dark history of gay and transgender murders.

Nicholas is Vice President of New Theatre Sydney, Chair of the Women's Advancement Subcommittee within the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Law Society of NSW, and a Friend of Distinction at University of Technology, Sydney. He is also a former director of Rainbow Families NSW and previously a long-standing pro bono lawyer at the Inner City Legal Centre. In 2009 Nicholas was awarded the Elizabeth Hastings Memorial Human Rights Award and the UTS:LAW Alumni Association Prize at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Nicholas is a longstanding co-chair of the ALHR LGBTIQA+ Rights Committee and prior to taking up the Vice Presidency in 2022 has also contributed to ALHR's governance and strategic direction as a member of the ALHR Executive Management Committee.

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Anna Kennett - Secretary

Anna was admitted to practice in 2006 and currently works for the South Australian government in Adelaide. She holds a number of academic qualifications including a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Laws specialising in international law and human rights. She has held a number of board positions in not for profit organisations including the Alliance for Gambling Reform and SHine SA. Anna has a passionate interest in social justice and grassroots advocacy which has seen her currently undertake work to form a new not for profit focussing on gambling rehabilitation and assistance services for women.

Anna is the national secretary of ALHR, a South Australian Convenor and a member of the ALHR Women and Girls Rights Subcommittee. As Secretary, Anna sits on ALHR the Executive Management Committee.

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Katherine Hinton - Treasurer

Katherine is a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years Finance experience who has a strong interest in human rights and social justice. Katherine is currently the Head of Corporate Services & People at St Kilda Mums, a not for profit that collects and rehomes preloved nursery goods to support Victorian families in need. Prior to that, she was the Finance Manager at SNAICC - National Voice for our Children which represents the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Katherine has been a highly valued member of the ALHR Executive for seven years and in her role as treasurer sits on the Executive Management Committee overseeing ALHR's governance and strategic direction.

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Valerie Heath - Executive Management Committee

Valerie is a barrister at the NSW Bar (called 1994) and an Australian legal practitioner (since 1990). She has a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws from UNSW, a Graduate Diploma (PLT) from UTS and a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney. She practices in insurance, administrative and commercial law, professional liability, professional and sports licensing and disciplinary matters and in general practice.

Valerie has advised and appeared in disability and racial discrimination claims and in judicial review proceedings against government and statutory authorities. She is a past Secretary and past Vice-President of NSW Women Lawyers and a past member of a NSW Bar Professional Conduct Committee.

Valerie has been a member of the NSW Bar Accessibility Panel since 2019. Valerie has a keen interest in the protection of civil and political rights of the individual and transparency and accountability of government. In particular, Valerie is interested in the human rights implications of data collection, data matching, surveillance and algorithmic decision-making and the need for strong, independent, investigative corruption watchdogs and other checks on the abuse of power.

At ALHR, Valerie is a member of the Executive Management Committee overseeing ALHR's strategic direction and governance as well as a Senior Chair of the Freedoms Committee.

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Dr Natalia Szablewska - Executive Management Committee

Natalia has 20 years’ experience spanning the public sector, governmental and non-governmental organisations and academia in five countries. She is currently Professor in Law and Society at The Open University (UK), with further academic affiliations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Cambodia and France, as well as she serves on the Modern Slavery Advisory Leaderships Group to the New Zealand Government. She has published widely and presented internationally for academic and non-academic audiences (over 100 outputs). She specialises in public international law with a particular focus on human rights, and her most recent projects examine the linkages between business and human rights, modern slavery and sustainable development.

In addition to serving on the ALHR Executive Management Committee, Natalia is a Senior Co-Chair of ALHR's Business and Human Rights Committee.

Georgia Burke - Executive Management Committee

Georgia has been involved with ALHR as either a student or practitioner since 2013. In 2015/2016 she spent twelve months as a Tasmanian Co-Convenor, before moving on to the LGBTI Subcommittee, which she has proudly chaired with Co-Chair Nicholas Stewart since 2018. Since then, she has worked to pursue post-marriage equality law reform affecting the LGBTI community.

By day, Georgia is a family lawyer with Holmes Donnelly & Co Solicitors in Sydney, having relocated from Tasmania in early 2020. Georgia was an Out for Australia 30 under 30 award recipient in 2019 in recognition of her contributions to the LGBTI community, and Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 Finalist in 2020 in the Family Law category. Georgia is also a member of the New South Wales Young Lawyers Family Law Committee.

In addition to sitting on ALHR's Executive Management Committee, Georgia is a Senior Co-Chair of ALHR's LGBTIQA+ Committee

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Dayne Kingsford - Human Rights Act(s) Co-Chair

Dayne is a Principal Solicitor at Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion (QAI), a specialist community legal service for Queenslanders living with disability. Dayne manages QAI’s Human Rights Advocacy Practice and assists people in the areas of disability discrimination, human rights, and guardianship and administration. Prior to this, Dayne worked and volunteered at a range of organisations, including community legal centres, not-for-profits, and in commercial practice. Dayne has a passion for protecting the rights of vulnerable community members. Dayne holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the Queensland University of Queensland and is completing a Master of Laws, with a particular focus on human rights and public law, from the University of Melbourne.

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Kate Gauld - Human Rights Act(s) Co-Chair

Kate is a solicitor with a background in rule of law and international development. As a lawyer she has worked in a variety of roles, including with the Office of the Prosecutor at the ECCC in Cambodia, the NSW ODPP and Redfern Legal Centre. She was the Director of Programmes at Irish Rule of Law International, and previously worked at Oxfam Australia. She is the Chair of Jubilee Australia, an NGO promoting economic justice for communities in the Asia-Pacific region, and accountability for Australian corporations and government agencies operating there.

She has published across international development, international criminal law and human rights. She has taught criminal law and guest lectured in international criminal law.

Kate is soon to graduate with a Masters in international human rights law from the University of Oxford. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from UTS (first class honours), and a Bachelor of Arts (media and communications) from the University of Sydney.

Prior to Kate’s career in law, she worked at the ABC and The Big Issue.

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Natalie Wade - Disability Rights Senior Chair

Named by the Law Council of Australia as the 2016 Australian Young Lawyer of the Year and awarded Young Lawyer of the Year for South Australia and Australia in 2016 for her work on the South Australian Child Protection Systems Royal Commission and contribution to law reform for people with disabilities, Natalie has a well-respected legal background in international human rights law and law reform.

Natalie received a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor Commerce from the University of Adelaide and a Master of Laws (Legal Practice) from the Australian National University. As a leader in disability rights and reform, Natalie was the founding Chairperson of Australian Lawyer’s for Human Rights’ Disability Rights Subcommittee and has worked individual complaints to the Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Since 2015, Natalie has been member of the Every Women, Everywhere Campaign which advocates for an international treaty on violence against women and girls. In that role, Natalie assisted in drafting the Implementation and assessment memo for the campaign.

Natalie has dedicated much of her time to research relating to participation of individuals with communication disabilities in courts. Her research advocated for the implementation of judicial training on obtaining evidence from witnesses with communication disabilities. Following the introduction of the SA Disability Justice Plan, Natalie prepared a comparative analysis, published in the Alternative Law Journal, of the law reform in South Australian and Commonwealth jurisdictions to evaluate their effectiveness in upholding the international human rights of people with communication disabilities.

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Vacant - seeking EOIs - Disability Rights Senior Chair and Youth Chairs

If you are interested in applying for this role please send an EOI including CV and cover letter to president@alhr.org.au. ALHR encourages lawyers with a lived experience of disability to apply, however, all EOI's from all lawyers with relevant, appropriate expertise and a passion for disability Rights are welcomed

Valerie Heath - Freedoms Chair

Valerie is a barrister at the NSW Bar (called 1994) and an Australian legal practitioner (since 1990). She has a Bachelor of Jurisprudence and Bachelor of Laws from UNSW, a Graduate Diploma (PLT) from UTS and a Master of Laws from the University of Sydney. Valerie joined ALHR as a member in 2018 and has enjoyed working with the incomparable Tamsin Clarke and Nicholas Stewart and other tireless ALHR contributors on submissions and public presentations for ALHR since that time.

She practices in insurance, administrative and commercial law, professional liability, professional and sports licensing and disciplinary matters and in general practice. She has advised and appeared in disability and racial discrimination claims and in judicial review proceedings against government and statutory authorities. She is a past Secretary and past Vice-President of NSW Women Lawyers and a past member of a NSW Bar Professional Conduct Committee.

Valerie has been a member of the NSW Bar Accessibility Panel since 2019. Valerie has a keen interest in the protection of civil and political rights of the individual and transparency and accountability of government. In particular, Valerie is interested in the human rights implications of data collection, data matching, surveillance and algorithmic decision-making and the need for strong, independent, investigative corruption watchdogs and other checks on the abuse of power.

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Dr Tania Penovic - Women and Girls' Rights Co-Chair

Tania is a legal academic with expertise in access to justice, gender equality and the human rights of vulnerable groups. She is Associate Professor at Deakin Law School and a civil society member of Australia's Open Government Forum. Tania is an affiliated academic member of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, having served as Deputy Director and research group leader in gender and sexuality.

Tania’s qualifications include a Masters in International Human Rights Law (with Distinction) from the University of Oxford and PhD from Monash University and she has won awards for research impact, curriculum design and excellence in teaching. Tania has represented asylum seekers through her volunteer work at the Refugee Advice and Casework Service (Melbourne) and Citizens Advice Bureau (UK). She has designed and delivered units in Vietnam National University’s Master of Laws and provided human rights training to judges and government officials from Australia, Indonesia and Iraq.

Tania’s research has been cited by the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia and relied upon in submissions to international courts including the European Court of Human Rights. Tania has provided numerous submissions to state, federal and international inquiries into law reform and human rights which have been cited in federal and state parliaments and reports of the UN Human Rights Council are associated with legislative change.

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Dr Amira Aftab - Women and Girls' Rights Co-Chair

Amira Aftab is a Lecturer in the School of Law. She completed her PhD at Macquarie University Law School with a dissertation that explored gender, religion, and state institutions in the context of the Sharia debates in Australia, Canada, and Britain. Her research interests include gender in institutions, religion and the law, human rights (specifically women’s rights, and SOGI rights), discrimination law, and family law. Prior to joining WSU, Amira was a sessional lecturer at Macquarie University; in addition to working as a Research Fellow at the University of Sydney. Amira was also a lead researcher on the ‘Is Australia Sexist?’ project and documentary funded by SBS and Macquarie University in 2018. Amira's current research is focused on family law, with one project examining the current family dispute resolution framework and the need for greater cultural and religious sensitivity within the process. Her other projects explore the experiences of domestic and family violence in culturally and linguistically diverse, and faith-based communities.

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Dr Jane Alver - Women and Girls' and Rights Deputy Chair

Dr Jane Alver is a gender and civil society specialist. Prior to joining the Centre for Environmental Governance at the University of Canberra, Jane's experience included the Director of Effectiveness and Engagement at the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), and the Associate Research Program Manager (Gender) at the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

She brings legal and public sector experience including with the Attorney General's Department, and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. She has worked across the Pacific including in Kiribati, Tuvalu, Nauru, PNG, Fiji and FSM. She is admitted as a legal practitioner in Australia, England and Kiribati.

She holds degrees in politics, law and gender. She has published on Pacific feminist civil society, young women, building diverse alliances and breaking the gender binary in research for development, Her PhD research focused on Pacific feminist civil society alliance building.

Jane was listed in the 100 Women of Influence in 2018 and a Finalist in the ACT Woman of the Year Awards in 2021. She was added to the ACT Women's Honour Roll in 2022.

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Tracy Cole - Women and Girls' and Rights Deputy Chair


Dr Natalia Szablewska - Business and Human Rights Co-Chair

Natalia has 20 years’ experience spanning the public sector, governmental and non-governmental organisations and academia in five countries. She is currently Professor in Law and Society at The Open University (UK), with further academic affiliations in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Cambodia and France, as well as she serves on the Modern Slavery Advisory Leaderships Group to the New Zealand Government. She has published widely and presented internationally for academic and non-academic audiences (over 100 outputs). She specialises in public international law with a particular focus on human rights, and her most recent projects examine the linkages between business and human rights, modern slavery and sustainable development.

Natalia's professional experience includes working in a Human Rights NGO in Moscow (Russian Justice Initiative) litigating before the European Court of Human Rights, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (UK), the Welsh Assembly Government and the British House of Commons. She has worked for over 10 years in Cambodia, including in developing the first Master’s Programme in Human Rights in Cambodia (at Cambodian Mekong University), and since 2016 has been an Adjunct Professor with the Centre for the Study of Humanitarian Law, a Cambodian human rights academic centre, based at the Royal University of Law and Economics.

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Lara Douvartzidis - Business and Human Rights Co-Chair

Lara Douvartzidis is a human rights and environmental lawyer at Johnson Winter & Slattery., having started at the firm in 2019. She completed a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Environmental Policy and Management at the University of Adelaide in 2016 and an Advanced Masters in European and International Human Rights Law from Leiden University in The Hague in 2017. In 2018 she served as the Associate (‘Tipstaff’) to the Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis of the Supreme Court of South Australia. In 2021 she was seconded to the Public Interest Advocacy Centre where she worked as a lawyer in the Strategic Litigation Unit, conducting complex human rights litigation and advocacy. Lara appeared in the Australasian Lawyers Rising Start List for 2021. She is passionate about strategic litigation trends, including the convergence of international human rights law with national and international environmental law, and emerging trends in climate change and ESG particularly as it relates to businesses. including due diligence reform. She has contributed to numerous articles, publications, podcasts and chapters in these areas and has presented to clients and NGOs globally.

Lara co-chairs the ALHR Business and Human Rights sub-committee with Dr Natalia Szablewska. Together they assist businesses and civil society in improving the implementation of human rights principles and meaningfully contribute to the development of modern slavery laws in Australia.

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Millie Jones - Business and Human Rights Youth Chair

Millie holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Bond University, where she graduated with a specialisation in international and comparative law in early 2021. Since that time, Millie has worked as a Law Graduate in a leading corporate M&A team in Brisbane, before serving as the Associate to a Queensland District Court Judge. Alongside this, Millie is currently engaged as a graduate research assistant at Bond University. Her personal research interests lie in the intersection between sports business and human rights, forming the focus of her Honours Thesis which received the 2021 Paul Trisley Award from the Australian New Zealand Sports Law Association.

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Johanna Byrne - Indigenous Rights Co-Chair

Johanna was admitted as a solicitor in 2017 in Western Australia and currently works at Rae & Partners Lawyers, Launceston in the commercial team. She was the National Indigenous Law Student of the Year in 2016.
Her interests in Human Rights originated prior to her studying law when she worked with vulnerable members of the community who were caught up within the criminal justice system. Johanna’s honours thesis was on section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 NSW. She is particularly interested in Indigenous rights and the rights of those people who suffer from mental health issues.

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Vacant - seeking EOIs - Indigenous Rights Co-Chair

If you are interested in applying for this role please send an EOI including CV and cover letter to president@alhr.org.au. This is a First Nations identified role, however, ALHR will consider applications from all lawyers with relevant, appropriate expertise in Indigenous Rights

Nicholas Stewart - LGBTI Rights Co-Chair

Nicholas is a partner at Dowson Turco Lawyers, a boutique and prominent LGBTIQA+ law firm in Macquarie Street, Sydney. He was formerly an intellectual property lawyer at an Australian top tier corporate firm, and Corporate Counsel at a large telecommunications company. Since leaving commercial law, Nicholas has focussed his work on criminal law. At Dowson Turco Lawyers. Nicholas heads up the indictable crime team and regularly appears in the Local and District Courts of NSW and the Children’s Court of NSW.

Nicholas also manages a human rights practice, and takes carriage of complex cases involving LGBTIQA+ discrimination, bullying and vilification, as well as hate crimes. In this regard, Nicholas led the campaign for two parliamentary inquiries, and the recently announced special commission of inquiry into NSW's dark history of gay and transgender murders.

Nicholas is Vice President of New Theatre Sydney, Chair of the Women's Advancement Subcommittee within the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the Law Society of NSW, and a Friend of Distinction at University of Technology, Sydney. He is also a former director of Rainbow Families NSW and previously a long-standing pro bono lawyer at the Inner City Legal Centre.

In 2009 Nicholas was awarded the Elizabeth Hastings Memorial Human Rights Award and the UTS:LAW Alumni Association Prize at the University of Technology, Sydney.

In addition to co-chairing the ALHR LGBTIQA+ Rights Committee, Nicholas is ALHR Vice President and prior to taking up that role has contributed to ALHR's governance and strategic direction as a member of the ALHR Executive Management Committee.

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Georgia Burke - LGBTI Rights Co-Chair

Georgia has been involved with ALHR as either a student or practitioner since 2013. In 2015/2016 she spent twelve months as a Tasmanian Co-Convenor, before moving on to the LGBTI Subcommittee, which she has proudly chaired with Co-Chair Nicholas Stewart since 2018. Since then, she has worked to pursue post-marriage equality law reform affecting the LGBTI community.

By day, Georgia is a family lawyer with Holmes Donnelly & Co Solicitors in Sydney, having relocated from Tasmania in early 2020. Georgia was an Out for Australia 30 under 30 award recipient in 2019 in recognition of her contributions to the LGBTI community, and Lawyers Weekly 30 under 30 Finalist in 2020 in the Family Law category. Georgia is also a member of the New South Wales Young Lawyers Family Law Committee.

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Jessica Bayley - Refugee Rights Co-Chair

Jessica was admitted as a lawyer in Western Australia in 2010 and became a registered Migration Agent in 2015. She is the Specialist Migration Lawyer at Law Access, which coordinates pro bono referrals in Western Australia, as well as the Communication and Education Manager at The Humanitarian Group, which provides migration and legal assistance to the culturally and linguistically diverse community in Western Australia. She is currently a Master of Law candidate at The University of Melbourne with a focus on international human rights law.

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Caitlin Caldwell - Refugee Rights Co-Chair

Caitlin is a solicitor and registered migration agent from Sydney. She currently volunteers at the Toongabbie Legal Centre and runs pro bono migration cases for organisations supporting refugees and asylum seekers in New South Wales. Caitlin graduated from Macquarie University with a Bachelor of International Studies and Laws, and from the Australian National University with a Master of Legal Practice. She has interned at the UNHCR and the Refugee Advice and Casework Service and is interested in issues concerning international refugee and asylum seeker policy.

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Kerry Weste - Children's Rights Chair

Kerry is ALHR's current president and was admitted as a solicitor and barrister in South Australia in 1998 and has been a member of the ALHR National Committee since 2014, including a two year term as ALHR Vice-President. She has practiced in London and Sydney as a criminal defence solicitor and as a Senior Legal Officer for the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and has 20 years experience as an advocate. Kerry has a long held interest in Children's rights and juvenile justice and currently co-chairs ALHR's Children's Rights Subcommittee. She is a registered contributor with the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO) and was a recipient of the The Children's Interests Bureau Prize at Flinders University.

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Annika Reynolds - Environment and Human Rights Senior Co-Chair

Annika Reynolds is a Climate Policy Advisor at the international energy think tank Ember, and a Visiting Fellow at the ANU College of Law, pursuing research into rights of nature and environmental decision-making. They are an advisor to governments, not-for-profits and an inaugural Member of the ANU Fenner School Research Hub on Gender, Human Rights and Climate Changed convened by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change.

They founded GreenLaw in 2019, a youth led research institute empowering the next generation of lawyers to tackle the climate crisis. In 2021, Annika was named The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG Scholar by the Pinnacle Foundation for their leadership within the Queer community and, in 2022, they were awarded the ACT Young Environmentalist of the Year.

Annika graduated from the ANU with a double bachelors of Laws (1st Class Honours)/International Security Studies, minoring in Korean. They are a published researcher on public interest environmental litigation, the human right to a healthy environment and other environmental law topics.

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Melanie Montalban - Environment and Human Rights Senior Co-Chair

Melanie is a Senior Co-Chair of the Environment and Human Rights Subcommittee at Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR). Outside of ALHR, Melanie is the Managing Lawyer of the ACT Practice at the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO). Melanie is also a member of the Core Team at the Global Network for Human Rights and the Environment.

At EDO, Melanie leads the Healthy Environment & Justice program’s national human rights work, including advocating for legal recognition and best practice implementation of the human right to a healthy environment in Australia. She specialises in the intersection of human rights and environmental law, having worked as both a refugee and environmental lawyer in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. She is an expert in administrative, environmental, human rights, refugee, and international law.

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Eleanor Sondergeld - Environment and Human Rights Senior Co-Chair


- Environment and Human Rights Youth Chairs


Dr Katherine Fallah - Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Senior Co-Chair

Dr Katherine Fallah is a barrister and legal scholar. At the Sydney bar, she maintains a mixed practice with a focus on human rights, discrimination, international law, inquests and appellate crime. As a legal scholar she specialises in public international law and criminal law. Her research is principally concerned with the global regulation and administration of violence, and she has particular expertise in the law relating to mercenaries and private military contractors. She is currently a sessional lecturer at the Australian National University, where she teaches international humanitarian law and international criminal law.

Katherine holds a PhD in international law from the University of Sydney, and before her call to the bar was a member of Faculty at Sydney Law School and UTS. She has held visiting fellowships and doctoral research positions at Harvard Law School, the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa, the Paris Foundation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, and the European University Institute, Florence. Her earlier professional appointments include Prosecution Officer at the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Research Associate to the Judges of the Federal Court of Australia.

Katherine is the recipient of several international prizes including the Prix Jean-Pictet for International Humanitarian Law and the Audre Rapoport Prize for Scholarship on Gender for Human Rights, and in 2019 she was the Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow with the ARC Laureate Program in International Law at Melbourne Law School.

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Anika Baset - Economic, Social & Cultural Rights Senior Co-Chair

Anika Baset is a lawyer specialising in public law and human rights. She is passionate about the realisation of economic, social and cultural rights and access to justice for marginalised communities. At present, her work is focused on the rights of people with disability and mental illness, including issues affecting vulnerable people under State guardianship and those facing compulsory treatment in detention. She has previously worked on economic and social rights issues as a legal aid lawyer, on children's rights in the United Kingdom, at a war crimes trial in Cambodia and on environmental rights and conflict resolution in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Anika is also General Manager of Right Now, a media organisation dedicated to reporting on human rights issues in Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Laws from Monash University, where she graduated with the Sir John Monash medal for her commitment to social justice, and a Master of Laws from the University of Melbourne.

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Vacant seeking EOIs - ACT Convenor


Vale Sophie Trevitt - ACT Convenor

Sophie Trevitt is a Canberra based community lawyer who is Executive Officer at Change the Record, Australia’s only national Aboriginal led justice coalition of Aboriginal peak bodies and non-Indigenous allies. Sophie works every day to end the incarceration of, and family violence against, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Previously Sophie has been a lawyer at Canberra Community Law and prior to that worked in the Northern Territory with incarcerated children or children at risk of incarceration. She has worked in a wide range of areas in civil law including housing and homelessness, Centrelink, police accountability, discrimination and employment law. Sophie is a strong advocate for reforming the youth justice system to embrace restorative and therapeutic practices rather than the exist punitive model. As a progressive jurisdiction, and one with a Human Rights Act, Sophie sees the ACT as an important site of potential law reform. 

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Stephanie Lee - NSW Convenor

Stephanie is a Senior Solicitor at the Immigration Advice and Rights Centre (IARC), where she leads the Visas and Citizenship practice. Stephanie has represented asylum seekers in detention in Australia, Malaysia, and Nauru. She is an admitted Solicitor and Barrister in the Republic of Nauru, where she coordinated the judicial review practice for asylum seeker appeals to the Supreme Court of Nauru. Prior to joining IARC, Stephanie worked in law reform and policy at the Law Society of NSW and was the Special Advisor to the President of LAWASIA.

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Sophie Leaver - NSW Convenor

Sophie is a Senior Lawyer at the Australian Human Rights Commission, where she conducts inquiries into human rights breaches in immigration detention. She previously worked as a solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, in the police accountability and administrative law team. Prior to this, Sophie worked in civil litigation, with a focus on intentional torts and historical child sex abuse matters. Sophie has also had various legal roles overseas including at the AIRE centre, providing casework and advice in relation to human rights matters in Europe, and at a death penalty defence office in Mississippi.

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Vacant - NT Convenor

ALHR is currently seeking EOI's for Northern Territory Convenors. If you are interested in applying for this role please send an EOI including CV and cover letter to president@alhr.org.au

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Anna Kennett - SA Convenor

Anna was admitted to practice in 2006 and currently works for the South Australian government in Adelaide. She holds a number of academic qualifications including a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Laws specialising in international law and human rights. She has held a number of board positions in not for profit organisations including the Alliance for Gambling Reform and SHine SA. Anna has a passionate interest in social justice and grassroots advocacy which has seen her currently undertake work to form a new not for profit focussing on gambling rehabilitation and assistance services for women.

In addition to being an ALHR SA Convenor, Anna is the national secretary of ALHR and a member of the ALHR Women and Girls Rights Subcommittee

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Vacant seeking EOIs - Vic Convenor

If you are interested in applying for this role please send an EOI including CV and cover letter to president@alhr.org.au

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Ella Furlong - QLD Convenor

Ella Furlong is a lawyer with Clayton Utz in its Commercial Litigation team and holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours), with an academic specialisation in public international law, and a Bachelor International Relations from Bond University. Ella's past experience includes working both in-house and in boutique private practice, and interning at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to work on the prosecution of General Ratko Mladic, one of the largest international criminal trials in modern history. She has also previously volunteered for Amnesty International Australia, knowmore Legal Service and Women's Legal Service Queensland. Ella is particularly interested in the access to justice for victims of sexual and gender-based violence, and its intersection with international criminal law.

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Johanna Byrne - Tas Convenor

Johanna was admitted as a solicitor in 2017 in Western Australia and currently works at Rae & Partners Lawyers, Launceston in the commercial team. She was the National Indigenous Law Student of the Year in 2016.
Her interests in Human Rights originated prior to her studying law when she worked with vulnerable members of the community who were caught up within the criminal justice system. Johanna’s honours thesis was on section 32 of the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Act 1990 NSW. She is particularly interested in Indigenous rights and the rights of those people who suffer from mental health issues.

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Dr Jackie Mapulanga - WA Convenor

Dr Jackie Mapulanga has more than 20 years’ experience as a lawyer and has been working in academia since 2008. She has worked at Queensland University of Technology, Southern Cross University and currently, Curtin University. Her research interests include Human Rights Law, particularly, economic, social and cultural rights, Public International Law and Family Law. She currently also teaches Consumer and Competition Law, and Health Safety and Environmental Law. Jackie has also taught and developed the unit contents for Human Rights Law and Law Society and Justice.

Jackie has published widely in the area of human rights law and she organised and convened the first Curtin Law School Human Rights Symposium in 2019. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of the Australasian Law Academics Association.

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Zubayr Abrahams - WA Convenor

Zubayr Abrahams holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and History from the University of Cape Town and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Murdoch University and is currently undertaking a Masters of Laws at the University of Western Australia. Zubayr is a disputes lawyer in the Projects, Infrastructure and Construction Group at MinterEllison and has volunteered with community legal centres including the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in the Northern Territory. Zubayr has an interest in public law, international human rights law, international environmental law, global governance, socio-legal studies and legal and regulatory theory. He was awarded a Geneva International Human Rights Scholarship in 2014 and a Commonwealth New Colombo Plan Scholarship in 2015.

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Melissa Robinson - WA Convenor

Melissa Robinson currently works at Consumer Credit Legal Services WA and entering her final year as a Juris Doctor at Deakin University. In 2023 she was invited to join the inaugural Deakin Academic Excellence Program. In 2022, she worked at Street Law Centre WA, a community legal centre that provides free legal services to people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Melissa holds a Master of Human Rights from Curtin University Centre for Human Rights Education and is a member of the WA for a Human Rights Act campaign. She has a diverse range of professional experience in advocacy, government, and not-for-profit organisations in Australia and overseas. She is passionate about helping to protect the rights of marginalised and disempowered people in the community. Melissa is excited about the opportunity to contribute to the work of the ALHR by supporting lawyers to grow their awareness of human rights and promote human rights international law in Australia.

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