Industry speakers
Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM FRSA FACLM (Hon) FAAL TEP
President of the Australian Human Rights Commission
Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher commenced a seven-year term as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission on 30 July 2017.
Prior to joining the Commission, Rosalind was President of the Australian Law Reform Commission (2009–2017) and Commissioner (2006–2009), where she led a number of significant law reform inquiries.
She has lectured and published extensively, principally in the fields of equity, trusts, property, inheritance, legal history and increasingly in public policy.
In 2011 she was recognised as one of the 40 ‘inspirational alumni’ of UNSW, where she gained her PhD. In 2014 Croucher was acknowledged for her contributions to public policy as one of Australia’s ‘100 Women of Influence’ in the Australian Financial Review and Westpac awards; and for her ‘outstanding contribution to the legal profession’ was awarded the Australian Women Lawyer’s award. In 2015 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘significant service to the law as an academic, to legal reform and education, to professional development, and to the arts’; and in 2016 Macquarie University conferred on her the title of Emeritus Professor.
Dennis Eggington
Chief Executive Officer – Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA)
Dennis Eggington is a Nyoongar from the south-west region of Western Australia and has been the CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA since 1996.
This organisation was established in 1973 and is one of the largest community based and controlled legal organisations in Australia.
A tireless human rights campaigner, Dennis’ efforts have been recognised with numerous awards, including National NAIDOC Person of the Year and the John Curtin Medal. The Aboriginal Legal Service was also awarded a national human rights award under his leadership.
With a Master of Human Rights Education, Dennis has taught in WA, NSW and the Northern Territory, lectured at Curtin University, and is credited with establishing the WA Aboriginal Media Association in the late 1980’s.
Dennis Eggington is a proud father and grandfather and is widely respected throughout the country for his unwavering commitment to speaking out and striving for justice for our First Nations Peoples.
Alice Barter
Managing Lawyer of the Civil Law and Human Rights Unit – Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA)
Alice Barter is the Managing Lawyer of the Civil Law and Human Rights Unit at the ALSWA. Alice is based in the Perth head office but conducts outreach across the state, mainly in the Pilbara. Alice volunteered at ALSWA as a law student before commencing articles at the WA DPP. She then worked in the ALSWA South Hedland office and SCALES Community Legal Centre before returning to ALSWA’s Perth office in 2013. In 2018-2019 Alice spent a year as Counsel Assisting at the Perth Coroner’s Court. She holds an LLB (Honours), BA (Australian Indigenous Studies) and MCrim (thesis on Aboriginal Driving Issues in the Pilbara).
Chloe Wood
Solicitor of the Civil Law and Human Rights Unit – Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia (ALSWA)
Chloe Wood is a Solicitor and International Human Rights Legal Officer in the Civil and Human Rights Unit of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA. Chloe is also one of the co-convenors for the Western Australia for a Human Rights Act Campaign and recently completed her Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne with a focus on human rights law.
Sophie McNeill
Australian Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Sophie McNeill is the Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch, based in Western Australia. She was formerly an investigative reporter with ABC TV’s Four Corners program where she produced programs on the Hong Kong protest movement and the mass arbitrary detention of Xinjiang’s Muslims by the Chinese government. Sophie was also a foreign correspondent for the ABC and SBS in the Middle East, working across the region in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Egypt and Turkey, as well as Israel/Palestine. Sophie has twice been awarded Australian Young TV Journalist of the Year and in 2010 won a Walkley Award for her investigation into the killing of five children in Afghanistan by Australian Special Forces soldiers. She was also nominated for a Walkley in 2015 for her coverage of the Syrian refugee crisis. In 2016 she won two more Walkleys for her coverage of Yemen and besieged towns in Syria. Previously, she worked as a reporter for ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and SBS’s Dateline programs and she is a former host of triple j’s news and current affairs program Hack. She is the author of “We Can’t Say We Didn’t Know: Dispatches from an Age of Impunity.”