Keynote speakers

Professor Victor Nossar MBBS FRACP FAFPHM

Program Leader - Child and Youth Health NT Dept of Health

Professor Nossar has been Program Leader - Child and Youth Health for the Dept of Health in Northern Territory since March 2010.
Before he took up this position Dr Nossar was Professor of Child Health and the Foundation Associate Dean establishing the new School of Medicine in Sydney at The University of Notre Dame Australia, as well as being on the Boards of The Spastic Centre, and the Association for the Wellbeing of Children in Healthcare in Australia.
As a Senior Paediatrician focusing on Community Paediatrics, Prof Nossar has had more than 20 years experience in implementing community-based services to enhance the health and development of children and young people, both in Australia and overseas.
Prof Nossar is also currently one of the leadership team developing & implementing the Australian Nurse-Family Partnership Program for the Australian Government’s Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. This is a sustained nurse home visiting for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander families across Australia, and part of the Australian Government’s $260 million commitment to closing the life expectancy gap and improving the health of Indigenous women and children, ensuring Indigenous children are healthy, happy and ready to learn.

Doctor Fiona Arney

Head of the Child Protection Research Program, Menzies School of Health Research

Dr Arney is the Head of the Child Protection Research Program at the Menzies School of Health Research. She has 15 years research experience in the fields of child and adolescent mental health, parenting, and child protection. This has included qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation expertise in programs for vulnerable children and their families, epidemiological studies of child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, and comparative studies of measures of parenting behaviour.
Until February 2010, she was the Deputy Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. She has also been a member of research teams at the Victorian Parenting Centre (now the Parenting Research Centre) and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Adelaide

Dr Arney promotes the use of research in the prevention of, and response, to child abuse and neglect. Her current focus is on research which evaluates innovative approaches to supporting self-efficacy and resilience in vulnerable families.

Doctor Howard Bath

NT Children Commissioner

Dr Howard Bath has been the NT Children's Commissioner since June 2008. In his current role he has a particular focus on the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and famillies, a majority of whom are Indigenous and living in town camps or very remote communities. In 2010 he was co-chair of an Inquiry into the child protection system in the NT which produced the Growing them Strong, Together report.

He has a long history as a practising Clinical Psychologist, agency director, trainer researcher in child and family services with a particular interested in services for children and young people with high needs in the child protection and juvenille justice systems.

Donna Ah Chee

Chief Executive Officer  NACCHO

Ms Ah Chee commenced as NACCHO's CEO in May 2011. As Ah Chee has served as the Deputy CEO of Central Australian Aboriginal Congress in Alice Springs for 11 years. She is a Banjalung woman from the far north coast of NSW and has lived in Alice Springs for over 20 years. Ms Ah Chee has been involved in the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) and at the national level, with NACCHO for many years. She has served on many Northern Territory and national bodies such as the National Indigenous Drug and Alcohol Committee (NIDAC) and the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD).

Doctor Richard Fletcher

Senior lecturer Family Action Centre Faculty of Health , University of Newcastle

Dr Richard Fletcher leads the Fathers and Families Research Program at the University of Newcastle. In the 1990’s he pioneered the study of men’s health and boy’s health and founded the community based group, ‘Father’s Against Rape’ to conduct workshops with teenage boys in schools. He developed the ‘Engaging Father’s’ project at the University of Newcastle and worked to have it implemented in communities nationally. As a lecturer in the University Family Action Centre, he designs and delivers courses and seminars to teachers, nurses, occupational therapists and medical students. In his PhD, he researched fathers’ attachment to infants and children. He is convenor of the National Fatherhood Research Network and a co-editor of the book, Boys in Schools