Jill is a proud Gunditjmara woman from Western Victoria and is an accomplished strategic leader, championing the needs and self-determined outcomes of First Nations communities in Victoria.
Jill has spent more than 20 years advancing Aboriginal health and wellbeing through her work with VACCHO and has over 30 years of experience in leadership roles.
As a respected Aboriginal leader who has dedicated her life to advocating for Community, Jill has been inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll of Women (2009), awarded the Order of Australia (2013), and inducted into the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll (2015).
From 2017 to 2019, Jill served as Victoria’s first Treaty Advancement Commissioner and led the establishment of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
In recent years, Jill championed the establishment of the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Ageing & Aged Care Council (NATSIAACC), Ied the Cultural Review of the Adult Correction System for the Department of Justice in 2022 and was an influential figure in Victoria’s ‘Yes’ campaign in the 2023 Voice Referendum.
In 2023 Jill received an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, from the University of Melbourne.