ALHR

Nicholas is a senior 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, human rights law, defamation and employment law.

Nicholas’s human rights practice handles 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 an Adjunct Fellow 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 2023 Nicholas was awarded the NSW Law Society’s President’s Medal. That year he was also jointly awarded the ACON NSW President’s Award.

Nicholas is a longstanding co-chair of the ALHR LGBTIQA+ Rights Committee and serves as ALHR Vice President from 2022 - 2024. Nicholas has contributed to ALHR's international human rights advocacy across ALHR’s various thematic groups, as well as ALHR’s governance and strategic direction, as a member of the ALHR Executive Management Committee for more than 6 years.

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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 six year term as ALHR 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 26 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 and Human Rights Act for South Australia campaign. Within the ALHR Executive Management Committee Kerry oversees the organisations governance and strategic direction. She also C-Chairs the ALHR National Committee.

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Anna was admitted to practice in 2006 and currently works as an in house workplace relations practitioner in the energy sector 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 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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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.

In addition to her work on the ALHR Executive Management Committee, Tania is a Senior Co-Chair of ALHR's Women and Girls' Rights Committee.

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Madeleine Bridgett is a human rights, public law and commercial law barrister with a special interest in international law, coronial inquests, inquiries, and complex commercial and criminal matters. She is a strong advocate for human rights, equality and justice, and undertakes regular work in public and private international law.

Madeleine was initially called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2011 and is a scholar of The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn having been awarded the Peter Duffy Human Rights Scholarship and the Hardwick Scholarship. In 2010 she was awarded the Head of School Prize and in 2009 the Oxford Press Prize for best postgraduate law student in consecutive years. She was called to the NSW Bar and joined 6 St James Hall Chambers in September 2016.

After her admission to the Bar of England and Wales, Madeleine spent a year working for the Niger Delta Child Rights Watch Project in Nigeria, West Africa, for the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, where she fearlessly advocated for the rights of children whilst actively promoting the rule of law. She then travelled to Strasbourg and worked at the European Court of Human Rights as the Peter Duffy Human Rights scholar where she was responsible for preparing draft reports and decisions on cases brought before the Court regarding admissibility.

Madeleine recently served as Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. She is Co-Vice-Chair, Women Barristers Forum, a member of the NSW Bar Association Human Rights Committee, NSW Bar Association, a member of the Management Committee, at the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre, (HALC) and serves on the Australian Committee, International Coalition to End Transplant Abuse in China, ETAC.

Madeleine has been a member of the ALHR National Committee and Executive Management Committee over many years and is a former Senior Co-Chair of ALHR's Business and Human Rights Committee.

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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.

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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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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. Prior to being admitted, she completed an internship at a death penalty defence office in Mississippi.

In addition to serving on the ALHR Executive Management Committee Sophie is an ALHR NSW Co-Convneor.

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Claudia was admitted as a solicitor to the Supreme Court of NSW in September 2021 and admitted to the High Court of Australia in August 2022. Claudia graduated from the University of Wollongong with a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of International Studies (Distinction). She also holds a Graduate Certificate of Professional Legal Practice from the University of Technology Sydney. During her degree Claudia completed part of her studies internationally at the University of Granada in Spain. Claudia is currently working towards her Master of Laws specialising in Human Rights Law through the University of London.

Claudia is a solicitor at the Financial Rights Legal Centre, providing legal advice in the areas of insurance law and credit and debt. Claudia is also currently serving as the Vice-Chair of the NSW Young Lawyers Human Rights Subcommittee as well as lending her time to the NSW Law Society’s Ethics, Indigenous Issues and Human Rights Committees.

In addition to serving on the ALHR Executive Management Committee, Claudia is a Deputy Chair of the Human Rights Act(s) Committee.

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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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Harry holds a bachelor of Laws and Social Work (Honours) from UNSW Sydney. He was admitted to practice in 2019 and has worked in the public and private sector, specialising in disability discrimination law. Harry has advocated for human rights at a national and international level, including representing organisations at the United Nations in New York and Geneva. Harry has worked in the disability sector for over 15 years in a range of roles in Australia and the UK, including the Australian Centre for Disability Law, the Disability Law Service in England, and local disability organisations. Through his work at Western Sydney Community Legal Centre, Harry was part of establishing and running the Disability Legal Service and Multicultural Legal Service operating across Western Sydney.

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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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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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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 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 was admitted as a lawyer in Western Australia in 2017 and worked in commercial litigation until 2022 when she joined the public service working for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet followed by the Department of Finance. In her government roles, she worked in regulatory reform, including as part of the taskforce that completed the rapid review of Australia's regulatory framework for the registration of internationally qualified healthcare workers, which delivered its report to the National Cabinet in August 2022.

Tracy is currently located in New York City where she is completing her Masters of Public Administration specializing in international development at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. During her time in New York, she has worked for International Crisis Group, a leading, independent international non-government organization working to prevent wars and shape policies that will build a more peaceful world.

Tracy has published articles in the fields of conflict resolution, human rights and privacy, consumer law and practice, and commercial law principles. Tracy's current research focuses are in displaced migration, economic empowerment, international development, and immigration policy.

Tracy has been a member of the Women and Girls' Rights Subcommittee of ALHR since January 2021 and has contributed to its submissions to the Australian government and the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights during that time.

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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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If you are interested in being a Senior Co-Chair of ALHR's Business and Human Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

If you are interested in being a Deputy/Youth Chair of ALHR's Business and Human Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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Grace specialises in areas of Criminal, Refugee and Human Rights Law. She is a proud descendent of the Indigenous community of Gin Gin, Queensland, Australia. She is passionate about the intersecting issues relevant to our young First Nations population and has a track record of defending Indigenous and youth client’s rights in both criminal and international law.

A finalist in the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Award 2018 in the Not-for-Profit Lawyer of the year category Grace has been a Criminal Defence Lawyer with Victoria Legal since 2019, recently acting as Senior Youth Crime Advocate. She is currently seconded into the Indictable crime team and has accepted a Senior role within Summary Crime to commence in February 2025.

Grace has previously worked as an Associate to the Chief Justice of the ACT Supreme Court, Registered Migration Agent with Refugee Legal, Gender Clinic Caseworker in the Human Rights Law Program of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and a Contract Project Officer for Djirra (formerly Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention and Legal Service Victoria). She has a host of international experience having worked as a Legal Advocate Field Officer with NGO Advocates Abroad in Athens and the Island of Chios, a Human Rights Intern with the Permanent Mission of Australia to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva as well as a Media and Communications Officer for UN Women and UNAIDS in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

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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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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 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 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.

Contact

If you are interested in being a Deputy/Youth Chair of ALHR's LGBTI Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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 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.

Contact

If you are interested in Chairing of ALHR's Refugee Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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.

Contact

If you are interested in Co-Chairing of ALHR's Refugee Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

If you are interested in Co-Chairing of ALHR's Refugee Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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 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.

Contact

If you are interested in being a Deputy/Youth Chair of ALHR's Environment and Human Rights Committee please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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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 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.

Contact

If you are interested in being an ALHR ACT Co-Convenor please send your EOI and Cover letter to president@alhr.org.au Att: Kerry Weste Vice President

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Honouring the late Sophie Trevitt

ALHR pays tribute to our ACT Convenor and Children's Rights expert the late Sophie Trevitt who passed away on 27 July 2023, but leaves behind a truly remarkable legacy.

Sophie was our much loved ACT Convenor and led our work as the petitioner on our successful campaign to have the ACT Human Rights Act amended to create accessible remedies. Thanks to Sophie, everyone in the ACT will be able to make a complaint to the ACT Human Rights Commission if they feel their rights under the Act have been breached.

However, Children’s rights in the youth justice system are what kept Sophie up at night and what she dedicated so much of her incredible legal acumen toward, particularly ALHR’s advocacy to raise the age of criminal responsibility, and to end the use of ‘spit hoods’. In her day jobs Sophie worked at Canberra Community Law and was the Executive Officer at Change The Record, where she spearheaded the national campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

Sophie was a true champion of human rights. Our thoughts and love remain with her family, her partner Tom Swann, her many friends, and her colleagues at Canberra Community Law and Change The Record.

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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 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. Prior to being admitted, she completed an internship at a death penalty defence office in Mississippi.

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Grace is a solicitor at Redfern Legal Centre, where she works in the police accountability and generalist teams, assisting clients with complex legal issues and advocating for criminal justice and law enforcement reform. Before joining Redfern Legal Centre, Grace practised at LGBTQ+ law firm Dowson Turco Lawyers in the crime and litigation teams, handling cases in both summary and indictable crime, as well as anti-discrimination, defamation and professional reputation matters.

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Andrew is a Pro Bono & Community lawyer at national law firm, Hall & Wilcox. Andrew practices across Australia to assist clients seek access to justice by taking on a variety of civil law matters, with a focus on human rights. He recently spent twelve months travelling across the Northern Territory working to provide front-line legal assistance to remote Aboriginal communities with the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency as well as building a Northern Territory pro bono practice for Hall & Wilcox.

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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 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

Contact

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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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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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.

Contact

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

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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