JourneyOnline
Social justice advocate and National Director of UnitingCare Australia Ms Lin Hatfield Dodds was tonight named the ACT’s winner in the Australian of the Year Awards by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope.
Ms Hatfield Dodds will now compete with other State and Territory winners for the title of Australian of the Year, which is announced in January.
Ms Hatfield Dodds is a psychologist with experience in drug rehabilitation, young people at risk, trauma and abuse. She is President of the Australian Council of Social Services. She also chairs the ACT Community Inclusion Board and is on the board of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.
Ms Hatfield Dodds’ expertise is nationally recognised and she is a sought-after public speaker and media commentator on social justice issues. She has given expert testimony to inquiries into poverty and disadvantage, community service delivery, taxation and income support, refugee policy and mental health. She champions the views and interests of those whose voices would otherwise not be heard and her contribution to public debates is energetic, well-informed, respectful and professional.
Joining Ms Hatfield Dodds as finalists for the ACT Australian of the Year Award were human rights champion Professor Hilary Charlesworth, AM, wellbeing activist Dr Clive Hamilton, and researcher, healer and teacher Professor David Ellwood.
UnitingCare Australia is one of Australia’s largest non-government providers of community services.
Photo : National Director of UnitingCare Australia Ms Lin Hatfield Dodds
