Joining the Board

Joining the Board

I have now joined the Board of Australia’s CEO Challenge Ltd.

About CEO Challenge

Australia’s CEO Challenge is an innovative program of partnerships between the business sector and the community to respond to domestic violence.

Business organisations partner with domestic violence shelters. Training is also provided to the partner business about domestic and workplace violence.

Based on a successful US model started by Jim Hardeman adapted to Australian circumstances, the program encourages organisations to:

– establish partnerships with community organisations addressing domestic violence
– support harm prevention activities through tax deductible donations or in-kind resources
– promote awareness about domestic violence within their own organisation and within the community.

Leading the way…

Denis Gately, a partner of Minter Ellison, encourages Brisbane CEOs to take up the challenge against domestic violence.

“Our relationship with the CEO Challenge program has benefits for our business and its reputation. It allows us to make a direct and meaningful contribution to systemic change in the community, and it also gives our staff a chance to benefit in ways they otherwise might not have been able to.”

Things to Read, Watch & Listen

Australia’s Surrogacy System is Broken — Here’s What Needs to Change

Surrogacy in Australia is at a critical crossroads. Families are increasingly forced to look overseas to start or grow their families, surrogates often find themselves without clear legal protections, and children born through surrogacy face a tangled web of legal uncertainty.

Surrogacy Nightmare: Aussie Couple Referred for Criminal Charges After Overseas Baby Journey

Surrogacy can be a beautiful path to parenthood, but it also comes with intricate legal challenges, especially when undertaken overseas. In a recent and cautionary case from Queensland, Australia, a couple’s journey to parenthood through commercial surrogacy in North Cyprus ended not with joy alone, but with legal turmoil and potential criminal charges.

NSW Surrogacy FAIL: What Lawyers Got Wrong and How to Avoid It

Surrogacy journeys should be joyous and smooth pathways to parenthood, but unfortunately, legal missteps can turn them into complex, frustrating ordeals.

Family Law Section Law Council of Australia Award
Member of Queensland law society
Family law Practitioners Association
International Academy of Family Lawyers - IAFL
Mediator Standards Board