One in Two: Juvenile Injustice

Senior Yindjibarndi woman Allery Sandy is an accomplished painter, educator, performer and community leader. She worked in early childhood education for over 25 years, first running playgroups for needy children, then as the Aboriginal Education worker at Roebourne Pre-School and later teaching Yindjibarndi through a LOTE program.

In 1996 she the WA Department of Education awarded her the Barry Halward Award for Outstanding Achievement.

Allery commenced painting in 2006, and her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented in private and public collections including the Art Gallery of Western Australia. In 2014 she was a finalist in the 29th Telstra Art Award. She is the Chairperson of the Yinjaa-Barni Art Centre, where she paints in Roebourne.

Along with two of her grandchildren, Allery performed in the premiere season of Big hART’s Hipbone Sticking Out in Canberra in July 2013, and also worked with Big hART as a voice-over actor in the NEOMAD interactive comic.

Allery has been a leader of the Pilbara Aboriginal Church ministry for several decades and is also on the board of directors of the Wirlu-Murra Yinjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation as an advocate and media spokesperson.

Allery was born in Roebourne and has two daughters, a son and several grandchildren, whom she provides support to when they come into contact with the juvenile justice system.

Peter McBain is the managing director of Brierty –a leader in Aboriginal engagement, which strives to achieve positive and sustainable outcomes in the employment of Aboriginal people and the engagement of Aboriginal-owned businesses as both suppliers and partners.

Brierty has committed to the Australian Employment Covenant and is a registered employer of the Outcare Second Chance program. Brierty’s leadership in this area has most recently been recognised by the WA Indigenous Development Award by the Civil Contractors Federation WA, and the 2014 Indigenous Employment Award.

Peter McBain commenced with Brierty in March 2011, and was appointed Managing Director in November 2011. He has 20 years experience and knowledge in the civil infrastructure construction and mining sectors from both a contractor’s and client’s perspective. Peter has been involved in projects at all levels in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria.

Foreign Correspondent journalist Sophie McNeill has twice been awarded Australian Young TV Journalist of the Year and in 2010 won a Walkley award for her story Questions from Oruzgan. McNeill was based in the Middle East for SBS’S Dateline, where she reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Gaza.

She has been published in the Age, the West Australian, the Independent and the Guardian and is the former host of Triple j’s news and current affairs program Hack.

Barbara has over 20 years experience working at all levels of government across three jurisdictions, including at the senior executive level. This includes areas such as juvenile justice, disabilities, child protection, organisational services, workforce planning, human resources, industrial relations, asset management and learning and development.

While with the Juvenile Justice Department in New South Wales, Barbara established the Young Offender Support Scheme (YOST) in Wagga Wagga, and managed a juvenilejJustice centre in the Riverina, leading major change reforms within the centre during that time. Barbara has also led change programs that achieved major structural and cultural change at local level, state level and national level, including heading up the Change unit of the Department Of Community Services (DoCS). She is also a talented workshop facilitator, trainer and coach, including executive coaching across many APS departments and private companies.

As an educator, Barbara lectured at Charles Sturt University for six years, and wrote and introduced a Juvenile Justice stream for the Bachelor of Social Sciences whilst there. Barbara has also co-authored and published two books, and is currently a PhD candidate at Monash University researching the long term impact of victims of sexual abuse who have appeared before the Royal commission into institutional response to sexual abuse.

Scott Rankin is a writer, director and the creative director of Big hART. He is currently making new work in the Pilbara WA, Tasmania, NSW, ACT, NT, SA, as well as international touring works.

Big hART is Scott’s passionate contribution to art and society. Now in its 21st year of designing and delivering multi-discipline, community-specific, long-term projects with complex, multi-layered dramaturgies, the company has won many awards – eight Coalition of Australian Heads of Government (COAG) Awards, a World Health Organization Award, the 2008 Myer Performing Arts Group Award, an AFI and many others.