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Mick Gooda: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Commission – General

Mr Mick Gooda
Former Commissioner: 2010 - 2016

Mr Mick Gooda - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Mick Gooda resigned from the Australian Human Rights Commission effective 1 August 2016 to take up a position as Royal Commissioner for the Royal Commission into the Child Protection and Youth Detention Systems of the Northern Territory. 

Mick Gooda commenced his term as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner in early 2010.

As Social Justice Commissioner, he advocates for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia and seeks to promote respect and understanding of these rights among the broader Australian community.

Mick is particularly passionate about closing the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, a move he says is “non-negotiable”.

Mick has been involved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs throughout Australia for over 35 years and has always maintained and actively promotes the concept of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples being intimately involved in decisions that affect them. He is currently on the Referendum Council  on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

His focus has been on the empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Immediately prior to taking up the position of Social Justice Commissioner, Mick was the Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health for close to five and a half years. Here, he drove a research agenda which placed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ‘front and centre’ in the research agenda, working alongside world leading researchers.

Mick is a proud Gangulu person from Central Queensland and in his spare time, can usually be found in the Sunshine State.

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