President
& Commissioners
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner
Mr
Tom Calma
Mr Calma is an Aboriginal elder from the Kungarakan tribal group and a member of the Iwaidja tribal group whose traditional lands are south west of Darwin and on the Coburg Peninsula in Northern Territory, respectively. He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector for over 30 years.
Mr Calma has broad experience in public administration, particularly in Indigenous education programs and in developing employment and training programs for Indigenous people from both a national policy and program perspective.
He served three terms as a Director of Aboriginal Hostels Ltd and as a Company Director for a private tourism and hospitality venture in the Northern Territory.
Until his appointment as Commissioner, on 12 July 2004 for five years, Mr Calma managed the Community Development and Education Branch at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) where he worked with remote Indigenous communities to implement community-based and driven empowerment and participation programs. In 2003, he was Senior Adviser Indigenous Affairs to the Minister of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.
From
1995-2002, he worked as a senior Australian diplomat in India and Vietnam
representing Australia’s interests in education and training. During
his time in India, he also oversaw the management of the Australian international
education offices in Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
He moved to Canberra in 1992 and undertook various assignments, including
Executive Director to the Secretary and Senior Executive of the Department
of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DEETYA).
In the early 1980s, Mr Calma and Indigenous colleagues established the Aboriginal Task Force (ATF) at the Darwin Community College (which later became the Darwin Institute of Technology ), which provided second chance education programs for Indigenous people. He became a senior lecturer and head of the ATF for six years.
Mr Calma has also been appointed as acting Race Discrimination Commissioner annually since July 2004.
Commissioner Calma is a White Ribbon Day Ambassador for 2005, 2006 and 2007. White Ribbon Day is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Commissioner Calma is also a national patron of Wakakirri National Story Festival.
Mr Calma, was awarded the prestigious number 1 position in the Indigenous category for the Bulletin magazine's Power 100 for 2007. The Power 100 selects the 100 most powerful people in Australia. It is judged by a group of 10 who select people they consider share one common trait - the ability and desire to drive change.
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