Noel Pearson is the Director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership, a body that drives new directions in public policy on Indigenous issues working closely with the Queensland and Commonwealth governments. Noel has been involved in many key Indigenous issues including, as a member of the Indigenous Negotiating Team during the drafting of the Native Title Act in 1993.
In addition to his work with the Cape York Institute, Noel is also Executive Chairman of Cape York Partnerships, Chairman of Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy and Cape York Education Foundation.
Since 1999 Noel has campaigned for Welfare Reform in Indigenous communities. In 2008 the “Welfare Reform Project: driven by Cape York Institute and Cape York Partnerships”, was implemented in four pilot communities in Cape York.
Born June 1965 in Cooktown, Noel is the youngest son of Glen Pearson from the Bagaarrmugu clan on the upper reaches of the Jeannie River, East
Coast, Cape York Peninsula and Ivy Pearson (formerly Baird) from the Guggu Yalanji peoples on the upper reaches of the Bloomfield River, South East coast, Cape York Peninsula.
Pearson attended primary school at the Hope Vale Mission, Cape York, where he lived with his family throughout his early years. As a young boy he was sent to Brisbane to attend St Peters Lutheran College as a board student, where he attended until completing his matriculation.
Noel Pearson has been strongly involved in campaigning for the rights of Cape York Aboriginal people and played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Cape York Land Council in 1990.
Noel’s end goal is to enable Cape York’s Indigenous people to have the capacity to choose the life they have reason to value by reinstating the rights of Aboriginal people to take responsibility for their lives. Descriptions of these ideas can be found in Noel Pearson’s monograph “Our Right to Take Responsibility” as well as his recent papers.
Speaking On:
Keynote Presentation by Noel Pearson
Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit, School of Public Health
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Professor Lisa Rae Jackson Pulver is a Koori woman born and bred in Sydney. She holds the Inaugural Chair of Indigenous Health and is a Professor of Public Health. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at Neuroscience Research Australia and Director of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit.
She is a member of a number of committees and working groups, including the Scientific Resource Group on Equity and Health Analysis and Research, World Health Organization; the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Research Advisory Committee of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC); the Advisory Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics (AGATSIS), the Indigenous Technical Panel (ITP) and the Australian Health Survey Reference Group at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). She is Deputy Chairperson for AHMAC’s National Advisory Group Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Information and Data (NAGATSIHID). Lisa is a member of the permanent board for the Lowitja Institute.
Dr Jackson Pulver is the co-founder of the Shalom Gamarada Scholarship Program and has been responsible for enabling over 35 students to receive a residential scholarship on campus for the duration of their health related (mostly medical) degrees at UNSW.
Lisa received the 2011 UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity Individual Partnership Award. She was also awarded for her outstanding contribution to cancer epidemiology by the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council and the Ministry of Science and Medical Research (2005). She received a Defence Force Service Medal in 2011. She has been awarded a community honour in the form of a Henry Stricker Community Honour for her outstanding service and contribution rendered with her endeavours to make our society a better place in which to live (2006). Lisa is a registered Justice of the Peace (167428).
She is a consummate networker, effective communicator, a natural team leader and an energetic and dynamic team player. A combination of personal background, academic endeavour, professional experience and scholarly contributions to the broader health environment combine to provide a unique perspective and expertise in health.
Speaking On:
Overcoming barriers to a continued education
Andrew Bishop is the Director of the Youth Engagement Team in the Youth Attainment & Transitions (YAT) Branch in the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). Andrew is responsible for the YAT National Partnership in the ACT, Northern Territory and Western Australia, Youth Engagement Policy and the Youth Connections Program nationally.
Youth Connections – The Youth Connections Program helps young people who have left school, or who are thinking of leaving school, to continue with their education and ultimately gain a Year 12 (or equivalent) level education.
Service delivery is characterised by flexible and individualised case management to assist young people to remain engaged or re-engage with education and to improve their ability to make positive life choices.
Youth Connections providers also run outreach activities for young people in the community and work to strengthen services in their regions so young people are better supported.
Speaking On:
Youth Connections
Linc Yow Yeh is a proud Gooreng Gooreng, Kunja man from Queensland, born and raised in Jagara country, Brisbane. He has had extensive experience in the Indigenous VET Sector for some 19 years, starting his career in Cape York as a teacher delivering the Remote Area Teacher Education Program in the Aboriginal Community of Lockhart River, where he lived for 6 and a half years.
Linc then relocated to Victoria and has worked in VET at Kangan Institute since 1999. He currently manages the Indigenous Education Centre of Kangan, Victoria’s largest Indigenous VET Provider.
He is also a founding and integral member of the Northern Indigenous Employment Network group.
Speaking On:
Expectations & communication
Creating solutions to help ‘Close The Gap’ in educational outcomes & workforce sustainability
The third event in this highly successful series, the Indigenous Education,Transitions & Employment Conference will discuss current Government and Non-Government programs – emphasising the importance of the transition process from school into tertiary education or the workforce.
Getting your first job or going to university is the next step for many, but for Indigenous youths it can feel unattainable due to a lack in positive role models and being culturally misunderstood.
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