I would like to begin by acknowledging
the traditional custodians on the land
in which we’ve gathered today the
turrible and jagira people’s I pay my
respect to their elders past present and
emerging a payment respect to the past
elders because they are the Warriors who
fought for us to be here today
I pay my respect to the present elders
but it is them who I look up to they’re
doing important work to continue our
culture pass on traditions and ensure
the survival of our way of life but I
pay my respects the emerging elders but
is them who are going to continue our
culture and pass on our traditions into
the future I would also like to
acknowledge the fact that on my father’s
side I’m a proud camel Orion barkindji
woman and on my mother’s side a proud
Bella dong allergic woman and it’s been
a privilege for me to be able to grow in
this country and to present here today
if I could get you all to close your
eyes I want you to imagine yourself as a
grade 12 high school student you’re two
months away from graduation and you get
called into the guidance counselor’s
office the door opens you walk in you
sit down and the guidance counselor
turns to you and says so what do you
want to do after high school and you
turn around as the eager grade 12
shooting you are and say I want to go to
university
and the guidance counselor turns to you
and says well University’s hard to get
into what else do you have in mind open
your eyes
that was me this time five years ago I
had peers who questioned me and my
Aboriginality and had people that didn’t
want the best for me but what was the
difference between me and some of those
other kids
I could go home to both my parents who
are first in their families to go to
university even though they had a grade
10 level of education they embedded the
importance of education to my siblings
and I and they knew that the key to our
success as a family was through
education so in 2010 as a grade 9 high
school student I walked into the aimed
doors in this very University QUT I
walked into a space that made me feel
incredibly uncomfortable a space that
challenged and pushed me but also a
space where everyone was supportive and
allowed me to be whoever I wanted to be
but most importantly they allowed me to
imagine what was possible instead of
telling me what was impossible so as a
14 15 year-old kid I knew where I wanted
to work I knew that if I could become
anything it would be to become another
support mechanism for an indigenous kid
just like me because if they had no one
at home or at school or even if they did
I could support them too I fought
incredibly hard to work for the company
I aim and after a few attempts and my
second year of university I came on
board to work for the Brisbane team and
I can tell you it’s been an incredible
journey ever since you’re all probably
wondering I guess what is this thing
she’s talking about called aim aim is a
bridge between University and high
school for disadvantaged kids and we’ve
been working with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander kids for the last 14
years it started off with 25 mentees and
25 university mentors at the University
of Sydney and since we’ve been able to
work with upwards of 15,000 kids across
18 universities over 40 regions and this
year alone we’ll be working with
up to 10,000 kids in Australia
not only that but we’ve been able to
share the model with South Africa Uganda
and next year we’ll be sharing it with
the United States of America at aim we
are well on our way to getting to our
achieving our vision of ending
indigenous educational and equality in
Australia currently indigenous kids are
graduating high school at 40 percent
compared to their non-indigenous peers
at 89% what’s so significant about the
aim program is that kids coming through
our program are graduating between 93
and 96 percent over the last few years
we’ve ultimately been able to close the
educational gap for indigenous students
coming through our program and not only
that but when it comes to you 12
transitions into positive pathways our
aim kids are on par with their
non-indigenous peers we are well on our
way to ending indigenous educational
inequality in Australia but there’s more
that we can do we’ve found a way to
accelerate young indigenous people into
executive leadership through a program
that we built just under three years ago
the co-ceo program the co-ceo program
our aim in Able’s one indigenous person
between 18 and 25 to shadow our CEO and
founder Jack Manning Bancroft for a year
now why indigenous people between 18 and
25 because as Willy Wonka believes I
believe that we are the music makers and
we are the dreamers of dreams and we’re
the movers and shakers of the world
forever it seems currently Australians
leadership does not reflect Australia’s
populations according to the asx200
there are 14 female CEOs leaving a
hundred and eighty-six males the average
age of male and female CEOs in the ASX
is 54 with the youngest male being 37
and the youngest female being 47 today
as I stand in front of you all
I represent three demographics of
people’s who have traditionally not been
listened to a young Aboriginal woman as
co-ceo I’ve had the opportunity to
oversee our founding site in Sydney to
travel across the country and overseas
as work as well as work across business
areas such as people and performance
partnering and communications I’ve
learnt about strategy and how to
implement it how to be a leader in an
organization and how to put what I
studied into practice this has enabled
me to see where I want to be and
continue my pursuit and to enter into
executive leadership the aim co-ceo
program is ugly most of the time time
and cost effective program to accelerate
indigenous leadership in Australia and
not only that but as adaptable enough to
work across all major industries imagine
a 24 year old economics graduate who has
the opportunity to shadow the CEO of a
top-floor Bank for a year and in that
year their learning is accelerated by 20
years and they become the CEO at 35
imagine an 18 year old kid from the
Northern Territory has a passion to
lower the incarceration rates of
indigenous peoples in custody shadows
the Minister for justice for a year and
at 19 is implementing a strategy to
lower the reoffending rates of
indigenous peoples and prisons imagine a
23 year old business graduate who
shadows the vice-chancellor or their
Chancellor of the University for a year
and in that year they’ve learnt enough
to become the vice-chancellor at 28 and
later the Chancellor at 35 imagine a 20
year old education student who shadows
the principal for a year and from that
years experience in doing so they become
the deputy principal at 28 and the
principal at 30 how about instead of
telling people that it’s impossible
let’s start imagining what is possible
we don’t have to imagine about this it
can happen we are on our way to ending
indigenous inequality in Australia and
we will see the end of indigenous
inequality in Australia in my lifetime
let’s do this together
let’s use our imagination to make this a
reality and let’s build an Australia
that we want to see
[Applause] [Music]
the traditional custodians on the land
in which we’ve gathered today the
turrible and jagira people’s I pay my
respect to their elders past present and
emerging a payment respect to the past
elders because they are the Warriors who
fought for us to be here today
I pay my respect to the present elders
but it is them who I look up to they’re
doing important work to continue our
culture pass on traditions and ensure
the survival of our way of life but I
pay my respects the emerging elders but
is them who are going to continue our
culture and pass on our traditions into
the future I would also like to
acknowledge the fact that on my father’s
side I’m a proud camel Orion barkindji
woman and on my mother’s side a proud
Bella dong allergic woman and it’s been
a privilege for me to be able to grow in
this country and to present here today
if I could get you all to close your
eyes I want you to imagine yourself as a
grade 12 high school student you’re two
months away from graduation and you get
called into the guidance counselor’s
office the door opens you walk in you
sit down and the guidance counselor
turns to you and says so what do you
want to do after high school and you
turn around as the eager grade 12
shooting you are and say I want to go to
university
and the guidance counselor turns to you
and says well University’s hard to get
into what else do you have in mind open
your eyes
that was me this time five years ago I
had peers who questioned me and my
Aboriginality and had people that didn’t
want the best for me but what was the
difference between me and some of those
other kids
I could go home to both my parents who
are first in their families to go to
university even though they had a grade
10 level of education they embedded the
importance of education to my siblings
and I and they knew that the key to our
success as a family was through
education so in 2010 as a grade 9 high
school student I walked into the aimed
doors in this very University QUT I
walked into a space that made me feel
incredibly uncomfortable a space that
challenged and pushed me but also a
space where everyone was supportive and
allowed me to be whoever I wanted to be
but most importantly they allowed me to
imagine what was possible instead of
telling me what was impossible so as a
14 15 year-old kid I knew where I wanted
to work I knew that if I could become
anything it would be to become another
support mechanism for an indigenous kid
just like me because if they had no one
at home or at school or even if they did
I could support them too I fought
incredibly hard to work for the company
I aim and after a few attempts and my
second year of university I came on
board to work for the Brisbane team and
I can tell you it’s been an incredible
journey ever since you’re all probably
wondering I guess what is this thing
she’s talking about called aim aim is a
bridge between University and high
school for disadvantaged kids and we’ve
been working with Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander kids for the last 14
years it started off with 25 mentees and
25 university mentors at the University
of Sydney and since we’ve been able to
work with upwards of 15,000 kids across
18 universities over 40 regions and this
year alone we’ll be working with
up to 10,000 kids in Australia
not only that but we’ve been able to
share the model with South Africa Uganda
and next year we’ll be sharing it with
the United States of America at aim we
are well on our way to getting to our
achieving our vision of ending
indigenous educational and equality in
Australia currently indigenous kids are
graduating high school at 40 percent
compared to their non-indigenous peers
at 89% what’s so significant about the
aim program is that kids coming through
our program are graduating between 93
and 96 percent over the last few years
we’ve ultimately been able to close the
educational gap for indigenous students
coming through our program and not only
that but when it comes to you 12
transitions into positive pathways our
aim kids are on par with their
non-indigenous peers we are well on our
way to ending indigenous educational
inequality in Australia but there’s more
that we can do we’ve found a way to
accelerate young indigenous people into
executive leadership through a program
that we built just under three years ago
the co-ceo program the co-ceo program
our aim in Able’s one indigenous person
between 18 and 25 to shadow our CEO and
founder Jack Manning Bancroft for a year
now why indigenous people between 18 and
25 because as Willy Wonka believes I
believe that we are the music makers and
we are the dreamers of dreams and we’re
the movers and shakers of the world
forever it seems currently Australians
leadership does not reflect Australia’s
populations according to the asx200
there are 14 female CEOs leaving a
hundred and eighty-six males the average
age of male and female CEOs in the ASX
is 54 with the youngest male being 37
and the youngest female being 47 today
as I stand in front of you all
I represent three demographics of
people’s who have traditionally not been
listened to a young Aboriginal woman as
co-ceo I’ve had the opportunity to
oversee our founding site in Sydney to
travel across the country and overseas
as work as well as work across business
areas such as people and performance
partnering and communications I’ve
learnt about strategy and how to
implement it how to be a leader in an
organization and how to put what I
studied into practice this has enabled
me to see where I want to be and
continue my pursuit and to enter into
executive leadership the aim co-ceo
program is ugly most of the time time
and cost effective program to accelerate
indigenous leadership in Australia and
not only that but as adaptable enough to
work across all major industries imagine
a 24 year old economics graduate who has
the opportunity to shadow the CEO of a
top-floor Bank for a year and in that
year their learning is accelerated by 20
years and they become the CEO at 35
imagine an 18 year old kid from the
Northern Territory has a passion to
lower the incarceration rates of
indigenous peoples in custody shadows
the Minister for justice for a year and
at 19 is implementing a strategy to
lower the reoffending rates of
indigenous peoples and prisons imagine a
23 year old business graduate who
shadows the vice-chancellor or their
Chancellor of the University for a year
and in that year they’ve learnt enough
to become the vice-chancellor at 28 and
later the Chancellor at 35 imagine a 20
year old education student who shadows
the principal for a year and from that
years experience in doing so they become
the deputy principal at 28 and the
principal at 30 how about instead of
telling people that it’s impossible
let’s start imagining what is possible
we don’t have to imagine about this it
can happen we are on our way to ending
indigenous inequality in Australia and
we will see the end of indigenous
inequality in Australia in my lifetime
let’s do this together
let’s use our imagination to make this a
reality and let’s build an Australia
that we want to see
[Applause] [Music]
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