Dr Kelvin Kong, Indigenous Affairs co-chair of the Australia 2020 Summit, has today withdrawn his participation in the Summit due to family health concerns.
I want to extend my best wishes to Dr Kong and his family and thank him for his valuable contribution up to this point.
I would like to announce that Jackie Huggins AM will be the new co-chair of the Indigenous Affairs panel at the Australia 2020 summit.
Dr Huggins is a first class individual who will bring a wealth of experience to this role. She is a former co-chair of Reconciliation Australia and a recipient of the Australia Medal (AM) in 2001.
A woman of the Bidjara/Birri-Gubba Juru peoples, Dr Huggins is currently Deputy Director of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit at the University of Queensland.
A historian and published author, Dr Huggins is a director of the Telstra Foundation and a member of the Indigenous Reference Group at the Centre of Domestic and Family Violence Research in Central Queensland.
Dr Huggins' rigorous approach to her work and her contribution to policy development in this area will be a valuable addition to the Australia 2020 Summit, and I look forward to working with her in this capacity.