President and Commissioners - Annual Report 2011-2012: Australian Human Rights Commission

President and Commissioners

The Hon. Catherine Branson, QC President and Human Rights Commissioner

The Hon. Catherine Branson was appointed President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 7 August 2008 and commenced her five year term on 14 October 2008. On 12 July 2009 she additionally became the Human Rights Commissioner.

At the time of her appointment as President of the Commission, she was a judge of the Federal Court of Australia, a position she had held since 1994. The Federal Court is a superior court with wide original and appellate jurisdiction including jurisdiction to hear and determine complaints alleging unlawful discrimination under Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws and in other areas of human rights law including refugee law.

At the time of her appointment to the Federal Court, Ms Branson was a member of the Board of Examiners of the Supreme Court of South Australia, a council member of the University of South Australia and a Trustee of the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust. She had earlier been Deputy Chair of the Adelaide Medical Centre for Women and Children and a member of the National Women's Advisory Council.

Ms Branson is a past President of the Australian Institute for Judicial Administration, a former member of the Board of Management of IDLO (a governmental organisation based in Rome enjoying observer status at the United Nations), a member of the International Association of Judges, a member of the International Association of Refugee Law Judges and convenor of the latter association's Human Rights Nexus Working Party.

Prior to her appointment as a judge, she practiced as a barrister at the Adelaide Bar in South Australia, principally in the areas of administrative law, including discrimination law, and commercial law. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1992. Between 1984-89, she was Crown Solicitor of South Australia and the CEO of the South Australian Attorney-General's Department. Ms Branson holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Adelaide.

Mr Mick Gooda Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner

Mick Gooda is a descendent of the Gangulu people of central Queensland. He is a senior executive with 25 years experience and a record of attaining high-level goals and leading multi-million dollar service programs and organisational reform.

Immediately prior to taking up the position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick was the Chief Executive Officer of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health (CRCAH) for close to five and a half years. Here, he drove a research agenda that placed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people ‘front and centre' in the research agenda, working alongside world leading researchers. His work at the CRCAH empowered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to lead the research agenda in areas including: chronic disease management; skin infections; and promoting cultural change in hospitals to make them more appropriate to the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Mick has extensive knowledge of the diversity of circumstance and cultural nuances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout Australia. He has been actively involved in advocacy in Indigenous affairs throughout Australia and has delivered strategic and sustainable results in remote, rural and urban environments. Mick has played a leadership role in a range of areas including: Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and Senior Consultant to the Aboriginal Legal Service (WA).

He is highly experienced in policy and program development in the public and community sectors. Mick is also currently a Board Member of the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health Queensland, and is the Australian representative on the International Indigenous Council which focuses on healing and addictions. He also has an interest in the Lateral Violence Program in Canada and has been working closely with the First Nation people of Canada on the relevance of this program to Australia.

Graeme Innes AM Disability Discrimination Commissioner

Graeme Innes has been Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner since December 2005. During that time he has also served as Australia's Human Rights Commissioner for three and a half years and as Race Discrimination Commissioner for two years.

Graeme is a Lawyer, Mediator and Company Director. He has been a Human Rights Practitioner for 30 years in NSW, WA and nationally.

During his term as Commissioner, Graeme has significantly contributed to the success of a number of initiatives. These have included the Same Sex: Same Entitlements inquiry, which resulted in removal of discrimination across federal law; the drafting of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and its ratification by Australia; the development of the National Disability Strategy and the Disability (Access to Premises – buildings) Standards 2010; as well as establishment of the Lifetime Housing Foundation. Graeme has also been an active high profile advocate for the implementation of cinema captioning and audio descriptions and, as Human Rights Commissioner, undertook three annual inspections of Australia's Immigration Detention facilities.

Graeme has been a Member of the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal; the NSW Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal; and the Social Security Appeals Tribunal. He has also been a Hearing Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Graeme was Chair of the Disability Advisory Council of Australia, and the first Chair of Australia's national blindness agency, Vision Australia.

In 1995 Graeme was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). In 2003, he was a finalist for Australian of the Year.

Graeme is married with an adult son and a daughter in primary school. He enjoys cricket (as a spectator) and sailing (as a participant), and relaxes by drinking fine Australian white wine.

Elizabeth Broderick Sex Discrimination Commissioner

Elizabeth Broderick was appointed for a five year term as Sex Discrimination Commissioner in September 2007. She was also the Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination from September 2007 until July 2011.

During her term, she has been committed to improving gender equality through her advocacy in preventing violence against women and sexual harassment, improving lifetime economic security for women, balancing paid work and unpaid caring responsibilities, promoting women's representation in leadership and strengthening gender equality laws, monitoring and agencies.

Elizabeth has been a key advocate for Australia's national paid parental leave scheme, and domestic violence reform. She has championed the changes to the ASX Corporate Governance Principles to increase the number of women at decision making level. She has worked with the Australian Government to strengthen gender equality laws and agencies.

Elizabeth represents Australia in the United Nations every year and has facilitated the attendance of marginalized Australian women as key advocates to address issues such as alcohol abuse and domestic violence.

In April 2011, the Government appointed Elizabeth, as Australia's Sex Discrimination Commissioner, to lead the Commission's Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Australian Defence Force. She handed down her Report for Phase One of the Review on 3 November 2011.

Elizabeth is a member of the World Bank's Advisory Council on Gender and Development, a member of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Advisory Board, the Vic Health Advisory Board and the ANU Centre for Public and International Law.

Prior to her appointment, Elizabeth was a partner and board member at Blake Dawson. She developed the firm's business case for flexibility in the workplace. Her efforts contributed to creating a workplace where more than 20 percent of the law firm's workforce now uses flexible work arrangements.

Elizabeth is married and has two young children.

Susan Ryan Age Discrimination Commissioner

Susan Ryan was appointed as Australia's first Age Discrimination Commissioner on 30 July 2011 for a five year term.

Up until her appointment as Commissioner, she had been Women's Ambassador for ActionAid Australia and chaired the Australian Human Rights Group since 2008. She had also chaired the Australian Human Rights Act Campaign Inc. since 2005.

Immediately prior to commencing as Commissioner, Susan was also the Independent Chair of the IAG and NRMA Superannuation Plan and had been President of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees from 2000 to 2007, member of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors from 2001 to 2007, member of the ASX Corporate Governance Council from 2003 to 2007 and CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia from 1993 to 1997.

Susan has also held a number of positions at the University of New South Wales. She was Pro-chancellor and Council member from 1998, Chair of the UNSW Risk Committee from 2002 and Chair of the Advisory Council FASS UNSW since 2010.

From 1975 to 1988, Susan was Senator for the ACT, becoming the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in a federal Labor Government. She served in senior portfolios in the Hawke Government as Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women and Special Minister of State. As Education Minister, Susan saw school retention rates double and universities and TAFEs grow significantly without the charging of tuition fees. She also pioneered extensive anti-discrimination and equal opportunity legislation, including the landmark Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Affirmative Action Act 1986.

In 1990, Susan was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia for her contribution to Parliament.

She published her autobiography, Catching the Waves, in 1999 and has been a frequent media commentator on her areas of expertise.

Helen Szoke Race Discrimination Commissioner

Helen Szoke was appointed as Australia's full time Race Discrimination Commissioner on 5th September 2011 for a five year term.

Up until her appointment, Helen Szoke was the Commissioner with the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and worked with the Commission from 2004 until August 2011. During this period she managed the expansion of the Commission's functions under the Charter of Human Rights Act and the modernisation of the Equal Opportunity Act in that state.

She is currently Co-Chair of Play by the Rules, a Board Member of Multicultural Arts Victoria and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Centre for International Mental Health, School of Population Health University of Melbourne.

Helen has previously held positions relating to management, community development, organizational development and regulation in the education and health sectors.

She has held various other Statutory and Directors positions including the Adult Migrant Education Services, National Health and Medical Research Licensing Committee, Consumers Health Forum, the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Key Centre for Women's Health, Women's Health Victoria and various community agencies. She also served one term as a local city councillor.

Helen is a Patron of New Beginnings which is an NGO set up to deal with peaceful conflict resolution with a focus on people of African Descent.

She is also Patron of the Australian Arabic Women's Foundation Inc, which aims to empower, encourage and support women from Arabic backgrounds to become independent.

In 2011, Helen was awarded the Law Institute of Victoria Paul Baker Award for contribution to Human Rights.