Speakers

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Abe Ropitini is a Māori and Aboriginal man of Ngāti Kahungunu and Ngāti Maniapoto iwi (Aotearoa) and Trawlwoolway (Northeastern Tasmania) descent. After growing up in Aotearoa, he has spent his adult life in Australia working across health, social services, policy, and research. He is the Executive Director of Population Health at the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), the peak representative body for Aboriginal health and wellbeing in Victoria.

Abe is a Senior Fellow in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health at the University of Melbourne and is a PhD candidate in medical anthropology at La Trobe University. His research is focused on correcting deficit discourses by focusing on how Aboriginal families maintain their oral histories through the recollection of treasured memories of happiness and belonging.

Kim Whiteley is an Aboriginal woman with traditional links to the Warramunga people of the Bogan River area and Wellington (Binjain country) in central-west NSW, Wiradjuri nation.

With more than 40 years’ leadership across Education, Health, Justice, and Aboriginal Land Rights — grounded in Policy, Cultural Safety, and improving outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples — Kim has built a respected national profile as a reform leader and advocate for culturally safe systems change. As CEO of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ageing and Aged Care Council (NATSIAACC), she works to ensure Elders can age with dignity, respect, and self-determination in community-led services.

Kahurangi descends from the nations of Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Māhaki and Ngāti Uenukukōpako. These nations are situated in Te Tai Rāwhiti (the East Coast of the North Island) and Rotorua (the Central Plateau of the North Island) in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Kahurangi is the son of two prominent health warriors, leaders and advocates, Mr Maaka Tauranga Tibble and Roberta Huinga Tibble, nee Cookson, who both worked tirelessly in the areas of disabilities, mental health, and addictions. Kahurangi's late father, Mr Maaka Tibble, was one of the founding members of what was formerly known as Ngāti Kaapo and is now known as Kaapo Māori o Aotearoa (Māori Blind Association), and was a staunch advocate for the rights of blind Māori and disabled Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand. He also created the word that we use here in Aotearoa New Zealand - instead of disability or disabled, to describe our community, we use the word “Whaikaha”, which does not translate to disability or disabled. It translates to” have strength”, “to have ability” and “to enable”.

Kahurangi proudly walks in his parents' footsteps to continue this legacy and leave a better space for his tamariki and mokopuna (children and grandchildren). Kahurangi has also worked in the disability, mental health and addictions sectors in Aotearoa. He continues to work and represent the needs of Tāngata Whaikaha in the Waitangi Tribunal.

Lastly, Kahurangi is an active member of his community and a speaker for and on behalf of his people when called upon. Kahurangi participates in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and currently holds the rank of blue belt. He is a husband to Dr Chloe Fergusson-Tibble and father to Jaxyn and Storm, so just your regular friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Aunty Sandra Barber, a proud member of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, traces her lineage back to her apical ancestor, Emma Curr. As part of the Stolen Generations, she has reconnected with her heritage through dance over the years. Discovering her roots in the early 1990s profoundly shaped the course of her life.

For the first seven years of her life, Sandra was a ward of the state due to past government policies. Currently, she serves as the Co-Chair of the Stolen Generations Advisory Committee for the Department of Justice, entering her fourth year in this important role.

Despite living with legal blindness for most of her life, Sandra has used her life experiences to enhance her ability to listen more closely to her intuition and to be more aware of her surroundings and their effects on her physical, emotional, and social well-being. During this journey, she discovered a deeper passion for teaching, which has always been a natural part of her story.

Her career began as a teacher’s aide in the early 1980s, and she returned to teaching in 2007-2008. Additionally, Sandra works alongside preschool educators and directors delivering Cultural Awareness programs.

Sandra also enjoys sewing and creating children’s clothes under her label, The Laughing Kookaburra.

Jaki was born and raised in Garamilla (Darwin) on the beautiful lands of Larrakia Nation. Jaki is a proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, with ancestral links to the Yadhaigana and Wuthathi Peoples of Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, traditional family ties with the Gurindji and Kungarakan Peoples of the Northern Territory and extended family ties across the Torres Straits and Warlpiri (Yuendumu NT).

Jaki has over 30 years’ experience in government and non-government/international development

sectors, and has recently joined the Lowitja Institute (Australia’s only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health research institute) as the Executive Manager Research and Knowledge Translation. Prior to joining Lowitja, Jaki held several leadership roles across The Fred Hollows Foundation over the past thirteen years. Jaki’s roles in The Fred Hollows Foundation included eye health programming, strategic leadership, partnerships and advocacy across the Indigenous Australia Program, the Pacific, Timor Leste, Philippines and Indonesia. Most recently, as the Director Social Justice and Regional Engagement, Jaki led The Foundation’s positioning in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples having the right to sight, good health and self-determination, with a more specific focus on supporting implementation against the Uluru Statement from the Heart (Voice, Treaty, Truth), allyship accountability and health equity more broadly. Jaki also supported the Strategic Partnership with FHF New Zealand and continues to co-convene the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) Indigenous Peoples Special Interest Group.

In 2022 Jaki completed a Masters of Social Change Leadership through the Atlantic Fellowship for

Social Equity (AFSE) and is a Global Atlantic Fellow. Jaki’s social change project focuses on

Allyship Accountability from an Indigenous perspective and she pursues a deep understanding of what the non-negotiables are for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This work will continue in Jaki’s future roles and through the many Board Directorships that Jaki holds.

In 2023 Jaki was awarded the Australian Council for International Development’s (ACFID)

Outstanding Contribution to the Sector Award for championing health equity, supporting strategic

eye care relationships in Australia and across the Pacific, helping drive the agenda of the Allies for

Uluru Coalition and elevating the voices of First Nations people (in Australia and internationally).

Jaki has a personal and professional commitment to do whatever she can to improve the health and

wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander Peoples are leading decision making, and advocating for the right to sight, good health

and self-determination for Indigenous Peoples globally.

 Associate Professor Rait is a specialist Ophthalmologist and Vice President of the Australian Medical Association. He is the immediate past Chairman of the AMA Federal Council, having concurrently served as the President of AMA Victoria from 2018 to 2021, and been a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors since 2008. Julian has also enjoyed leadership positions within other medical organisations, including being President of the medical indemnity insurer MDA National for six years and serving as a Federal Councillor of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists for seven years. He was granted honorary life membership of the Australian Society of Ophthalmologists in 2022 and on Australia Day 2018 was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for "service to Ophthalmology and to the development of overseas aid." 

 Rebecca was raised in regional Tasmania and now lives on a small acreage with her young family. She is deeply committed to promoting equal opportunities for all Australians, regardless of their location, background, or circumstances.

Rebecca was first elected to the Tasmanian Parliament in 2010, representing the seat of Lyons. She served as Leader of the Tasmanian Labor Party from 2017 to 2024.

In 2025, she was elected to the Federal Parliament and appointed Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Indigenous Health, and Women.

Eva Jo Edwards has spent much of her adult life rediscovering and engaging again in the culture she lost as a child.

After being taken at 5 years old Eva Jo spent the rest of her childhood in State care, splintered from much of her family but emerging as a determined young woman who found work, reconnected with her family and has never stopped exploring her Aboriginal heritage. Eva Jo’s tenacity has seen her become a cultural educator who employs performance and public speaking as well as managerial, administrative and teaching skills in her diverse working life.

For the past 20 years Eva Jo, along with her cousin/uncle Kutcha Edwards, ran education workshops titled Banyip Kidjeka (brother/sister) which has led to Eva Jo receiving regular guest speaking roles in both the education and corporate sectors. She also offers Aboriginal cultural sessions at schools, libraries and festivals and most recently has been presenting Aboriginal Story Time as a cultural introduction for the very young.

A milestone in her life was February 13th 2008 when she travelled to Canberra for The Apology to the Stolen Generations where she had a seat in Parliament and met the Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd. A picture of Eva Jo with Mr Rudd appeared the next day on the front page of the Financial Review.