I've been with Legal Aid Queensland for almost 17 years now.
I joined Legal Aid Queensland about 2 years ago. I'm currently senior criminal lawyer in the Cairns office, but I did start at Legal Aid in 2018 as a graduate lawyer in our Maroochydore office.
I work in First Nations employment in our people culture and capability team.
So currently I'm a litigation support officer in the crime team in the Cairns office.
Yeah, my role is a community liaison and engagement officer. A lot of the work I do is in community engagement, stakeholder engagement, in particular Cape York in remote areas of the Torres Strait Islands.
Yeah, my mob's here, the beautiful Yarrabah, the Gunggandji people.
I am a Kalkadoon woman. I was born in Mount Isa, but I was raised in Brisbane.
My family's Goreng Goreng people from up in Bundaberg. I've always lived in Ipswich and Brisbane, Yuggera and Turrbal land.
I'm Kalkadoon which is out at Mount Isa but my grandfather is Dyirbal and that's up in the Ravenshoe area.
Legal Aid provides a lot of emphasis on cultural competency for all staff.
There's a first nations network. There's a lot of people that you can rely on for help.
I think it’s inclusive and getting First Nations voices around the table to help support service delivery. I think the organisation's on the right path to ensure that Aboriginal voices are at the centre of our affairs.
Legal Aid a has an Indigenous network for all first nations staff where we meet regularly.
We travel to Brisbane once a year for a conference to be able to get together and talk about the challenges of being First Nations in this space.
Probably one of the most rewarding things in my role in recruitment is seeing people get their first opportunity at LAQ and grow within an organisation to more senior levels.
I've always aspired to be a voice for those that feel voiceless in the system. So that's why working at Legal Aid was attractive to me because we do work with vulnerable clients.
The friends that I've made in my immediate work group and in the First Nations network and strengthening my connection to culture through learning about other people's experiences and where they come from.
Someone said you can't be what you can't see. And I just think it's important to be a role model and just to show younger people that they can have positions like lawyers, barristers, judges.