Angela Bates is the Executive Producer of NITV Current Affairs.
She is a proud Paakintji, Malyangapa, Wanywalku, Wadigali, Te Whanau a Apanui and Whakatohea woman originally from Broken Hill NSW.
An award-winning journalist, Angela is passionate about Indigenous Affairs and has worked consistently in Indigenous broadcast media for the past 11 years.
She did her cadetship with CAAMA radio news in Alice Springs, before landing her dream job travelling the country filming and reporting on stories for SBS TV Living Black.
In late 2007, Angela was head hunted to set up the first ever nightly National Indigenous Television news.
Angela is now working on a number of projects with NITV Current Affairs and is looking forward to growing this area.
Deborah Mailman is an acclaimed stage, film and television actress originally from Mt Isa, Queensland, and an outstanding role model for young Indigenous women. Her people are Bidjera from South Central Queensland and also Ngati Porou, an iwi/clan on the East Coast of Aotearoa.
Deb received national acclaim in 1998 receiving the AFI and Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress for her performance in the feature film Radiance. She also won a Queensland Matilda Award for playing the same character on stage. The popularity of Deb’s work on the television series The Secret Life of Us was recognised with a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actress.
Her theatre credits are extensive and include productions with the Sydney Theatre Company Actors Company, in which she won a Helpmann Award for her performance in The Lost Echo, Belvoir St Theatre’s The Sapphires, Antigone, Small Poppies, As You Like It,Aliwa, The Bell Shakespeare’s production of King Lear, and productions with the Queensland Theatre Co, and La Boite Theatre.
Her film credits include The Monkey’s Mask, Dear Claudia, Rabbit Proof Fence, The Book of Revelation and most recently, Bran Nue Dae. She has also worked as a presenter on Playschool.
In 2003 Deb was named NAIDOC Person of the Year. Last year Deb turned to directing and writing in which her short film RALPH received best short film at the Inside Film Awards.
Despite her many successes Deb is always grounded in her people and her community and has said that “It’s important for our young people to receive an education that allows them to make informed choices. I am proud to be an Ambassador for Worawa Aboriginal College.”
Abigail Burchill is a Yorta Yorta/ Dja Dja Wurrung woman. Abbie grew up in Mooroopna where she attended Mooroopna High School. After finishing year 12, she studied arts/law at Melbourne University and graduated in 1995. She now works as a senior lawyer with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
Abbie was greatly affected by her experience at a country high school in the 1980s, where Aboriginal people weren’t pushed to succeed academically and where many of her cousins drifted out of school before year 12. This experience motivated her to become a member of Tarwirri, an association of Aboriginal lawyers and law students, which she saw as an opportunity to be involved in increasing the number of Aboriginal people practising law in Victoria.
Abbie’s experience has made her particularly interested in being involved with improving the school experience of Aboriginal students before they reach university. In 2008 she was involved in the development of the DVD “Chasing the Law” which was aimed specifically at Aboriginal high school students and gave the message that studying law was something that they could genuinely aspire to.
Abbie was the President of Tarwirri from 2007 – 2009. She is still a committee member of that organisation, and continues to be active in advocating for Aboriginal law students and Aboriginal lawyers.
Abbie juggles her work at the Commonwealth DPP and Tarwirri with her family responsibilities as Mum to three young children (Jojo 7, Tess 5, Bianca 18 months). Abbie lives in Melbourne with her children and husband Domenic.
Former AFL umpire Glenn James has the distinction of being the first and only Indigenous umpire to make the grade at VFL/AFL level. Glenn officiated in Carlton’s premiership win over Richmond in 1982 and Essendon’s victory over Hawthorn in 1984. He is one of the most respected umpires of all time. Glenn saw service in the Australian Army and is a Vietnam veteran. He has a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma of Technical Teaching and has been in the teaching service for 35 years. Glenn is an Elder on the Children’s Court Section of the Koorie Courts. Glenn will take an active role in youth leadership development. He said ” I look forward to pursuing my role as Worawa Ambassador in contributing to a healthy and happy life for Worawa students”.