ALA 48th Annual National Conference 2008

Keynote Speakers

Senator the Hon. Ursula Stephens

Senator for NSW

The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and Parliamentary Secretary for the Voluntary Sector, Senator Stephens was born in Wicklow, Ireland and came to Australia in 1961. She has worked as a primary, secondary and TAFE teacher. She studied for a Masters Degree in Adult Education but converted this to a PhD in Public Administration.

She has served on several NSW Government advisory bodies including the NSW Women's Advisory Council, the Rural Assistance Authority and the NSW Board of Vocational Education and Training, and in 1996 was appointed to co-chair the NSW Rural Communities Consultative Council. She has been a member of several NSW and National Policy Committees, and was a member of the NSW Administrative Committee from 1987 until June 2006. She served as the President of the NSW Branch of the ALP from 2001 and did not re-contest that position at the June 2006 conference. She have been a member of the National Executive Committee since 1997 and represent NSW on the ALP's National Labor Women's Network Executive.

Her current positions mean working to ensure that Australia's prosperity does not continue to leave so many people behind. All Australians should be able to participate in the social and economic life of the nation.

Hon Tom Stephens BA JP MLA

Member for Central Kimberley-Pilbara

Parliamentary career spans some 26 years, in both the upper and lower houses of the State Parliament of Western Australia. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly for his current seat of Central Kimberley-Pilbara, an electorate of approximately 600,000 sq km, on 26 February 2005. This electorate includes the towns of Port Hedland, Tom Price, Marble Bar, Paraburdoo, Pannawonica, Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. As well as these towns Tom has electorate responsibility for 40 - 50 Aboriginal Communities, both remote and town based. This is an advocacy role he takes very seriously.

Tom was a Cabinet Minister in both the Lawrence and Gallop State Labor Government and since 7th April 2005 Tom has worked as the Chair of the Education Health Standing Committee in the Legislative Assembly. The role of this Committee is to review and report to the Assembly on the outcomes & administration and annual reports of the Departments of Health and Education, as well as investigate the adequacy of legislation within this jurisdiction.

Tom's extensive experience in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions has led to his focus especially on the importance of obtaining appropriate literacy and numeracy skills for the Indigenous peoples of regional remote WA.

Martha McCoy

Executive Director of Everyday Democracy

Martha McCoy has made important contributions to the fields of deliberative democracy, community problem solving, and racial justice. McCoy joined the organization (then known as the Study Circles Resource Center) in 1991, and became its director in 1995. Under her leadership, Everyday Democracy has become respected as a national organization that helps local communities build their own capacity to involve all kinds of people in talking and working together to solve public problems.

The organization partners with local, regional and national innovators to explore ways to connect public dialogue to community change and governance, and to place racial inclusion at the forefront of practices to strengthen democracy. Building on the real-life challenges and successes of communities, Everyday Democracy creates flexible tools and processes that are widely used and adapted in the United States and beyond.

In 2004, McCoy was named president of The Paul J. Aicher Foundation, renamed from the Topsfield Foundation to honor its late founder. She writes and speaks frequently on the subjects that animate and drive her work -- civic engagement, racial justice, and the power of people working together democratically to create communities that work for everyone.

MONSIGNOR DAVID CAPPO AO

Monsignor Cappo is a Catholic Priest and is currently the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Adelaide and as such is the deputy to the Archbishop of Adelaide. He was appointed Commissioner for Social Inclusion in May 2006 by Premier Mike Rann and has been Chair of the Social Inclusion Board since March 2002. Monsignor Cappo is a member of the Economic Development Board and is a qualified social worker. He has made a major contribution to national debates in social policy development and has been directly involved in national strategic planning and implementation of social programs. Monsignor Cappo has held positions such as National Director of the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission, in Canberra. This Commission is an influential national body commenting on social policy and engaging in public debate. He has also been the Chairman of Centacare Australia, the national peak body of the Catholic social welfare agencies.

Prominent Panel Members on the two panels include:

Larry Davies

Larry’s introduction to the employment and training sector was in the early 1980’s in the State Public Service. He had seven years as the Director of Industrial Training in charge of all apprentices and trainees in WA. He ended his public service career as General Manager, Employment with the Department of Training. After leaving the public service he operated as a consultant in the training area and also purchased three training colleges.

One of his consulting jobs led to his current position as CEO of Directions. Larry’s passions include school to work transition issues for young people, Indigenous training and employment, skill development and managing an effective balance between public and private provision of training and education.

The issues faced by regional and remote communities is also a strong interest. He is currently the Chair of the National Board of the of the Australian Council of Private Education and Training (ACPET) and chair of ACPET WA’s State Committee. Outside work he is passionate about cricket and still plays masters cricket and took a team to Barbados in 06 to play in the World Vintage Carnival. This year the team travels to the UK. He is currently President of the Subiaco-Floreat Cricket Club

Percy Knight, CEO Wiradjuri Condobolin Corporation Ltd: Wiradjuri Condobolin Culture & Heritage Company

A member of the Wiradjuri people, Percy has a long and distinguished career in various areas pertaining to Indigenous socio-economic and community issues focusing mainly on the ACT and areas in NSW.


Patricia Levitzke-Gray

Senior Community Officer Patricia Levitzke-Gray has worked at the WA Deaf Society for 15 years. Patricia has a professional role in the deafness sector, holds tertiary level qualifications in education, human services and interpreting, and is the Secretary of the Western Australian Association of the Deaf.

Patricia is from a well known Deaf family, and her two Deaf children are the fifth generation of Deaf people in her family. She is proud of her unique Deaf heritage and also values her hearing family members, including her late father.

Colin Penter

The Principal of Matrix Consulting Group and Social Focus, Colin has, for the last 15 years, has worked as a consultant in areas of social policy, social research, social justice and human and community services for government and non-government agencies.

His consultancy work covers a great many social justice and social policy issues and recent projects have been in areas of Indigenous policy and services, youth services, crime prevention and community safety, education, family services, child protection and children's services, seniors, disability, CALD, seniors and domestic and family violence.

Jill Millroy

Jill Millroy is Associate Dean of Research in the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of West Australia.