Industry Expert Series
The Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience and Innovation Hub (TNQDRIH) has engaged with two leading industry experts Professor Roger Stone and Bob Shepherd to build a series of v...
First Keynote for Day Two of the CASE HDR Conference Dr Ann Lawless presents “Bridge Building for Social Scientists… https://t.co/G82tMOfC6K
10:20 AM Nov 25thSara Mohamed, PhD Candidate in Session Three - Perspectives from across the environment, presents “Rifts & Reconnec… https://t.co/vRXATQf6EX
04:39 PM Nov 24thPhD Candidate Nita Alexander in Session Three - Perspectives from across the environment, presents “(In)Action: Har… https://t.co/ec2rBGbBT6
04:06 PM Nov 24thMPhil Candidate Ellie Bock opening Session Three - Perspectives from across the environment by presenting “Biocultu… https://t.co/ehwtclWmTm
03:49 PM Nov 24thPhD Candidate Elizabeth Smyth finalizing Session Two - Beyond Language, Identity and Narratives by presenting “Writ… https://t.co/SvTg2K4hER
02:59 PM Nov 24thPhD Candidate Dom Orih finalizing Session One ‘Navigating Wellbeing’ theme by presenting “The feasibility of the Fa… https://t.co/D3VXkvujkn
01:09 PM Nov 24thPhD Candidate Rebekah Lisciandro kicks off Session One ‘Navigating Wellbeing’ by presenting “The Unbalanced Researc… https://t.co/kGANHi7kR9
11:49 AM Nov 24thToday!!! To register for this event, please use the link https://t.co/VAQqetiVTL All welcome #coralspawning #abctv… https://t.co/iSap7R1xp3
08:55 AM Nov 17thScan the QR to reserve your seat or use the link https://t.co/fub2HCWYKX https://t.co/zvYOOOla1Y
11:01 AM Nov 11thDr Musliharti presenting today in D3.063 - 1500h AEDT https://t.co/SgsY6x6TxT
02:00 PM Nov 10thFiona completed a doctoral thesis in 2020 looking at First Nations access to justice in the area of race discrimination - an issue with significant impacts across all First Nations communities. Recourse to domestic human rights legislation (race discrimination law) by First Nations peoples is rare, despite the high incidence of discrimination, and its outcomes quite likely to be unsatisfactory (cases are generally unwinnable). The thesis explored whether First Nations peoples want better access to race discrimination law, and in this context considered archival material revealing that Indigenous activists leading up to introduction of the Federal Racial Discrimination Act (1975) specifically called for legislative protection against racism. Other Indigenous activists in this period, however, preferred direct action to challenge both racial inequities and the denial of Indigenous-specific rights (to land, self-determination etc.). The thesis identified that improving access to race discrimination law was important to First Nations people but given the inherent limitations in the latter law (it is very unlikely to recognise Indigenous specific rights, for instance) other methods of attaining both racial and First Nations justice are also crucial. These include community-led collective protest, participation in political processes and policy reform, for instance.
Access to justice has been a focus of other work Fiona has done. Fiona coordinated, as Senior Researcher at the Cairns Institute, the Indigenous Legal Needs Project (ILNP). The ILNP was the first comprehensive exploration of the civil and family law needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nationally. Fiona has a long-standing relationship with JCU, having commenced research work there in 2011. She has been working since 2016 on a project funded by Mission Australia and focused on improving outcomes for children and young people in Cairns South. This project takes a place-based, data driven approach to resolving complex social issues through a framework known as collective impact.
Fiona has also worked as a Senior Research Fellow at Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, UTS, since 2018. At Jumbunna Fiona is coordinating a project that is re-thinking civil law access to justice from Indigenous perspectives in the areas of tenancy, consumer/credit and debt, social security, child protection and race discrimination. Other access to justice projects Fiona has completed as an academic and consultant include evaluations of a health justice partnership at Wuchopperen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service in Cairns and an evaluation of a social support worker initiative for NT Legal Aid. This initiative employs social workers to respond to underlying factors contributing to criminal justice and child protection related legal outcomes. Health justice partnerships respond to the links between health and justice outcomes through collaborative work by health and legal services. Fiona is currently evaluating an Indigenous focused health justice partnership in Inala, QLD, in collaboration with Indigenous researchers at QUT. In 2020 Fiona also travelled to 8 Indigenous communities in the Barkly Region, NT, for access to justice work. She was commissioned by legal services, with a colleague, by legal services to make recommendations for improvements to both criminal and non-criminal access to justice.
Justice Reinvestment (JR)
JR is a framework that uses community development approaches to reducing incarceration, with some focus in Australia on Indigenous incarceration and on recognising and strengthening Indigenous self-determination as response to the latter. Fiona was lead investigator on the NT and QLD pilots of JR and is currently working as JR data and research consultant with Just Reinvest NSW (JRNSW) in Moree and Mt Druitt, working to Indigenous data sovereignty and governance principles. JRNSW is a peak JR body, auspiced by the Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT. Fiona has since 2017 convened Justice Reinvestment Network Australia, a network bringing together communities implementing JR and their supporters, as well as academic and government advocates of JR.
Prior to working at JCU, Fiona taught legal studies at Tranby Aboriginal College in Sydney and worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission as a conciliator of race and human rights complaints. She has also worked at Community Legal Centres in the NT and NSW as a generalist solicitor and a family violence and Aboriginal outreach solicitor.
The Tropical North Queensland Drought Resilience and Innovation Hub (TNQDRIH) has engaged with two leading industry experts Professor Roger Stone and Bob Shepherd to build a series of v...
Young people are frequently relegated to a state of waiting; expected to passively absorb and learn an adult culture that actively damages the earth. Governments persist in relying on h...
The TNQ Drought Hub, Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise (SATSIE) program are pleased to partner with the Western Cape Chamber of Commerce, Aurukun Shire Counci...
James Cook University Associate Professor and The Cairns Institute Fellow Robyn Glade-Wright is passionate about climate change and seeks to communicate with the greater public about en...
The Oceania region has an incredible array of ecosystems and biocultural diversity along with many threats to those. Safeguarding and effectively managing such ecosystems and the liveli...
Tyá Dynevor is a proud Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander mixed-race woman; born on Dharawal Country, Campbelltown, Greater Western Sydney but had grown up between Darwin, Larrakia&nb...
Ellie Bock has been awarded a Masters degree after completing her Master of Philosophy (Society and Culture). Ellie’s primary advisor was Professor Allan Dale and her secondary advisor...
Allan Dale heads the TNQ Drought Hub team that sits within The Cairns Institute and delivers the Sustainable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Enterprise (SATSIE) program. The SATSIE&nbs...
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