National violence prevention organisation Our Watch has committed to permanently having an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person as Co-Deputy Chair of its Board.

Our Watch Chair Moo Baulch has announced the incoming Co-Deputy Chairs are Vicky Welgraven AM and Dr Victor Sojo.

Ms Welgraven an Adnyamathanha woman from the northern Flinders Ranges of South Australia, is also a Board Director of Power Community Limited, the not-for-profit charity arm of the Port Adelaide Football Club, a Member of UN Women Australia and an Ambassador of the Hutt Street Centre in South Australia. She has also been inducted into the South Australian Women’s Honour Roll (2015) and represented the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2016) in New York.

Dr Sojo is Associate Professor in Leadership at the University of Melbourne, researching workplace sexual harassment, abuse in sport, diversity management and leadership development; Co-leader of the Gender Equity Priority Area at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute; Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and the Australian National University, and Member of the Research Reference Committee and Gender-wise Philanthropy Award Panel for Australians Investing in Women.

“These changes recognise the importance of having the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at the centre of tackling the underlying causes of violence against women,” Ms Baulch said.

“Additionally, with Professor Anastasia Powell’s tenure on our board and Dr Sojo’s appointment, we are ensuring that academic rigour continues to be central to the growing prevention evidence-base and our practice.”

Ms Welgraven said she was honored with the appointment.

“I am passionate about advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, to ensure their voices and interests are at the centre of all the work we do,” she said.

Dr Sojo said he was looking forward to lending his expertise in the areas of gender equity, organisational drivers of workplace sexual harassment and other forms of abuse, and leadership to ensure evidence remains at the heart of Our Watch’s work to prevent violence against women.

Ms Baulch has also announced the appointment of retired Deloitte Private partner Timothy Gullifer to the Our Watch Board.

Mr Gullifer is a former Board Member of the Luke Batty Foundation, a chartered accountant with 45 years’ professional experience in taxation and business advisory, and is currently Chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand.

He replaces Caroline Gurney who completed her term this month after providing exceptional, dedicated, and highly valued service to the Our Watch Board for more than eight years.

Please contact media@ourwatch.org.au or call 0448 844 930.

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1800RESPECT is the national domestic, family, and sexual violence counselling, information and support service. If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, chat online via www.1800RESPECT.org.au, or text 0458 737 732.

To access guides for reporting about violence against women and their children, visit media.ourwatch.org.au.

Our Watch is a national leader in Australia’s work to stop violence against women and their children before it starts. The organisation was created to drive nation-wide change in the practices, norms, and structures that lead to violence against women and children.