Board of Directors

Professor Megan Davis

Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous and Professor of Law at UNSW. She is Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court and was recently appointed the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law. She was a member of the Referendum Council and the Experts Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Peoples in the Constitution; was an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011-2016); and is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous peoples.

Professor Davis is also a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission and, like any good Queenslander, she supports the North Queensland Cowboys and the Queensland Maroons.

Photo by Andrzej Liguz

Kim Rubenstein

Professor Kim Rubenstein is the Co-Director, Academic of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, in the Faculty of Business, Government and Law at the University of Canberra. From 2006 – 2015 she served as Director of the Centre for International and Public Law at ANU, and was a founding Convenor of the ANU Gender Institute. She has completed two ARC Research Council grants, as Chief Investigator and is the recipient of numerous awards, including a listing in the Financial Review’s ‘100 Women of Influence’ for her work in public policy, and awarded the inaugural Edna Ryan award for ‘leading feminist changes in the public sphere.’ Kim is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Social Sciences and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. She regularly appears in mainstream media, in both print and broadcast, with her extensive commentary on citizenship keenly sought and widely reported.

Dr Richard Denniss

An economist by training, Richard has worked for the past 20 years in a variety of policy and political roles. In recent years he has been at the forefront of the national policy debates surrounding climate change policy and the Australian mining boom. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University.

Prior to taking up his current position Richard was the Strategy Adviser to the Leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, was Chief of Staff to the then Leader of the Australian Democrats, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja, and held teaching and research jobs at Australian universities.

He has been appointed to a number of government advisory bodies, including the current review of Australia's retirement income system. He is known for his ability to translate economics issues into everyday language. Richard has published extensively in academic journals, has a fortnightly column in The Canberra Times and Australian Financial Review and was the co-author of the best selling Affluenza (with Dr Clive Hamilton) and An Introduction to Australian Public Policy: Theory and Practice (with Dr Sarah Maddison).

Kate Fischer-Doherty

Secretary

Kate is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Clinics at Melbourne Law School at the University of Melbourne. She holds a BA and LLB(Hons) and LLM from the University of Melbourne. Prior to joining MLS, Kate worked as a lawyer in the community legal sector for 10 years, focusing on legal education and assistance for disadvantaged and marginalized communities.

Kate lives in Melbourne with her partner and 4 children.