2023 Sydney Peace Prize Award Ceremony + Lecture

Pat Anderson AO is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as a powerful advocate for the health of Australia’s First Peoples. She has extensive experience in Aboriginal health, including community development, policy formation and research ethics. She has served as co-chair of the Referendum Council and served as the Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), and the CRC for Aboriginal Health from 2003 to 2009. Ms Anderson is the inaugural Patron of WoSSCA, the Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia. She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2014 for distinguished service to the Indigenous community as a social justice advocate. Ms Anderson has also received a number of medal for her contributions, including the Human Rights Medal in 2016.  

Ms Anderson currently serves as Co-Chair of the Uluru Dialogue and in 2022 she was appointed by the government to the Referendum Working Group and Referendum Engagement Group. She is also the current Chairperson of the Remote Area Health Corporation, and the Chairperson of the Lowitja Institute. 

Professor Megan Davis is a Cobble Cobble woman, Pro Vice-Chancellor Society and Professor of Law at UNSW.  She is a renowned constitutional lawyer, and public law expert focusing on advocacy for First Nations people. Professor Davis is the Co-chair of the Uluru Dialogue and Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court. She is also the Balnaves Chair of Constitutional Law, a Professor of Law, and Director of the Indigenous Law Centre UNSW Law. She was a member of the Referendum Council, an expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011-2016) and is currently a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous peoples.  

In 2022 she was appointed by the government to the Referendum Working Group and Referendum Engagement Group. She is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Sciences. She is also an Australian Rugby League Commissioner. Most recently she was nominated for the NSW Australian of the year for her ongoing work.   

Noel Pearson comes from the Guugu Yimidhirr community of Hope Vale on south eastern Cape York Peninsula. Mr Pearson is a lawyer, Founder and Director of Strategy of the Cape York Partnership and Founder and Co-Chair of Good to Great Schools Australia.  He also co-founded the Cape York Land Council, and helped to establish Apunipima Health Council, Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation and Indigenous Enterprise Partnerships.  

Mr Pearson served as a member of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians and the Referendum Council. In 2022 he was appointed by the government to the Referendum Working Group and Referendum Engagement Group. 

Narelda Jacobs is a proud Whadjuk Noongar journalist and presenter hailing from Boorloo/Perth now living on Gadigal Country in Sydney. Narelda Jacobs has been a journalist at Network 10 since 2000, spending 19 years in the Perth newsroom before heading to Studio 10 in Sydney. Narelda began her career at as a reporter and became presenter of 10 News First Perth in 2008. In January 2020, Narelda joined the panel of Studio 10.  Narelda is a co-host of SBS’s Mardi Gras coverage and January 26 Sunrise Ceremony. She’s shared the stage with Prime Ministers, international leaders, humanitarian advocates and superstar artists. She’s passionate about promoting equality, diversity and inclusion and is on the board of the Walkley Foundation and Dame Changer. She’s a patron of Motor Neurone Disease Association WA and WA Aboriginal Leadership Institute and an ambassador of The Pinnacle Foundation.

Dan Sultan is a multifaceted, multi-award winning musician, writer, performer and artist. Along with many records spanning many different genres and styles, he’s also an accomplished author as well as trying his hand at acting. Winning a total of 6 ARIA Awards to date, including Best Male Artist, he also boasts an array of other accolades over a timespan of more than a decade that showcase his diverse and ever evolving career.