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Tuesday Morning Plenary

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Pyrmont Theatre

Details

Chair: Craig Rodgers & Lynette Bullen


Speaker

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Mr Scott Wilson
Ceo - Aboriginal Drug And Alcohol Council South Australia
Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council South Australia

MC: James Rankin Oration

9:00 AM - 9:45 AM

Biography

Wilson is a well-respected Aboriginal leader and CEO of the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Council South Australia (ADAC) for over 30 years. He is also Adjunct Professor, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR), School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University. His other past leadership roles include being Deputy Chair of both the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee and the Alcohol Education Rehabilitation Foundation (FARE). Scott’s personal and professional experience in substance misuse has made him a valued member of nearly every major governmental and non-governmental committee in Australia for more than 30 years. He has received several awards including the Australian Centenary Medal and the Sister Alison Bush Award from the University of Sydney. Scott is also the Lead Convener of the South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network (SAACCON), and represents not only the specific needs of the SA Aboriginal community, but our NFP organisations at the National level, through the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation of Peaks (Coalition of Peaks), of which he is the Deputy Lead Convenor. The CoP is made up of 80 Peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Organisations from across Australia.
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Prof Brad Freeburn
Adjunct Professor
La Trobe University

James Rankin Oration - Reflections and a way forward

9:00 AM - 9:45 AM

Presentation Recording

Biography

Bradley Freeburn is a Bundjalung man, born on the mid North Coast of NSW. After training as an Aboriginal Health Worker, Bradley has worked most of his career in providing care for those with alcohol or drug problems. In the late 1990s during the heroin ‘epidemic’, Bradley set up the Drug and Alcohol Unit at the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern – the first such unit in an Aboriginal community controlled health service. This unit has offered opioid pharmacotherapy for more than 20 years. It is person-centred, low-threshold care, where someone can walk off the street, and likely get on the program the same day. Buprenorphine is provided on site, and people can receive counselling, support, advocacy and holistic health care. Bradley has played a leadership role through many national and state committees, including the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee (NIDAC), the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association, the Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Network (ADAN), Just Reinvest, NSW. Bradley is an adjunct Professor at La Trobe University, and has co-authored research articles and book chapters, and was an editor of the very popular Handbook for Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Work. Bradley has been inducted into the NIDAC Coralie Ober Honour Roll and has received the APSAD First Peoples Award. In all, Bradley has brought warmth, wisdom and humour to his 30+ years of working to reduce harms from alcohol and drugs among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
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Prof Tracey McIntosh
Professor of Indigenous Studies
University of Auckland

Indigenous Lifeworlds: Recognition, Resistance, Response to State Harm

9:45 AM - 10:30 AM

Abstract PDF

Presentation PDF

Presentation Recording

Biography

Tracey McIntosh, MNZM, is Ngāi Tūhoe and is Professor of Indigenous Studies in Te Wānanga o Waipapa at the University of Auckland. She is a Commissioner of Te Kāhui Tātari Ture: Criminal Cases Review Commission. Tracey is a prison abolitionist scholar.Her recent research focused on incarceration (particularly of Māori and Indigenous peoples) and issues pertaining to state care, state harm, community response to harm, poverty, inequality and social justice. She recognises the significance of working with those that have lived experience and expertise of processes of marginalisation and acknowledges them as experts of their own condition. She has a strong interest in the interface between research and policy.

Chair

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Lynette Bullen
Clinical Research Officer
La Trobe University

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Craig Rodgers
Senior Staff Specialist
St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney

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