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Keynote Speakers

Marcia Ella-Duncan is an Aboriginal woman, descended from the Yuin nation on the far south coast of New South Wales, who has worked extensively in Indigenous affairs within New South Wales. Ms Ella Duncan has extensive experience in service delivery and policy in juvenile justice and child protection in New South Wales. She has been involved in managing issues such as the 2004 Redfern Riot and has been a strong advocate of interventions in the Sydney Aboriginal community to combat violence and sexual violence against Aboriginal women and children. She has been the Sydney Regional Council Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, the Chair of the NSW Aboriginal Child Sexual Assault Taskforce (2005-2006) and in 2008 was a member of the Board of Review of the Australian Government's Northern Territory Emergency Response to child sexual abuse in Aboriginal communities.

 

Jenny Gray OBE trained as a social worker in New Zealand and has worked in child welfare settings there and in the UK. She joined the British Government in 1990 and has held a number of roles, including working on the development of methodologies to inspect children's services and developing policies and related materials to support their national implementation. Her current responsibility is to provide professional advice on the safeguarding children policy within the Department for Children, Schools and Families. She is involved in policy development and implementation in a variety of areas of child abuse and neglect, including child death reviews. Jenny is also an ISPCAN councillor and takes a keen interest in sharing learning within an international context, in particular on developing effective child protection systems.

 

Gary B. Melton is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life (IFNL) at Clemson University, South Carolina. He was the principal architect of the U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect's neighborhoodbased strategy for child protection. Much of his work in recent years has been on the application of international human rights law to issues pertaining to children and families, the development of legal architecture to support participation by and protection of youth, and the strengthening of extended-family and community responsibility for the well-being of children and families. He has authored over 300 publications, and he has received three distinguished contribution awards from the American Psychological Association for public service and international advances. Over his career Prof. Melton has visited almost 50 countries and territories, typically to give lectures, conduct research, and/or assist in the development of interdisciplinary centres.

 

Bro. James is the Founding Director of Nanban, a centre for street and working children in Madurai, India which he established in March 1990. It is based on the four cornerstones of prevention, protection, promotion and rehabilitation and the three principles of participation, resilience and listening. Amongst many of his accomplishments he was also a member of the Madurai District Juvenile Justice Board during 1994-1997. Bro. James has received many awards and much international recognition for the community work he has done in promoting resilience and working with children and young people and with families, communities and governments to prevent exploitation and abuse.

 

Kim Oates is a paediatrician who trained in Sydney, London and Boston. He is the former CEO of the Children's Hospital at Westmead, where, amongst other roles he was head of the Child Protection Unit (1987-1990). He is a Past President of ISPCAN and is currently ISPCAN Treasurer. He was the inaugural chair of the New South Wales Child Death Review Team and the founding Chair of the Federal Government�s National Council on the Prevention of Child Abuse. Throughout 1993 he was Director of the Kempe National Centre for the Prevention of Child Abuse in the USA. In 2000 he received the Kempe award from the USA for "outstanding contributions to the community on behalf of children", the first time this has been awarded outside the USA. He has received a range of national and international awards for his advocacy for children. He has written 13 books and has over 300 publications. He is currently Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Sydney and Director of Undergraduate Quality and Safety Education for the Clinical Excellence Commission. Kim is married to Robyn and they have nine grandchildren.

 

Julie McCrossin talks to people for a living. She presented the radio show Life Matters on ABC Radio National for 5 years until 2005, initially with Geraldine Doogue and then as solo presenter, covering countless health, welfare and educational topics with a frequent rural focus. Julie was also a team leader on the media quiz show "Good News Week" for 5 years on Network Ten and ABC TV. Julie began working for the ABC in 1983 and she's presented many Radio National programs including �Background Briefing� and "Arts National", as well as stints on ABC Rural Radio and 702ABC Sydney. Currently Julie presents a travel program called Up and Away for Qantas in-flight entertainment on Radio Q, writes for the new ABC magazine Life Etc and facilitates conferences and training seminars nationally. For over 20 years Julie has hosted hundreds of public events.

Julie has university qualifications in the arts, education and law and she is an Ambassador for NAPCAN (The National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) and the Fred Hollows Foundation.