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Executive Committee

Fixed Members

 

Lanni Hamblin, Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)

Trevor Carroll, Australian Federation of Disability

Conor Costello, CBM Australia

Emily Forrest, National Disability Services

Samantha French, People with Disabilities Australia

  

 

 
 

Elected Members 

 

Australian Aid & Development Agency Members

 

Vacant, Good Return

Eva Lee, The Leprosy Mission Australia

Louise Coventry, Motivation Australia

Cashelle Dunn, World Vision Australia

Organisational Representatives

 

Ben Clare, Exemplar International

Fleur Smith, Nossal Institute

Fixed members

Conor Costello, CBM Australia

Conor Costello

Conor is Head of Policy and Advocacy at CBM Australia. She has worked in international development for more than 15 years, focused on advocacy and campaigning on a broad range of issues at international, national and local levels in many countries. More recently, Conor worked on women’s rights and gender equity for an Australian state government, establishing a framework to guide government policy, investment and engagement in women’s leadership and representation. Outside of paid work, Conor supports the pursuit of equity and sustainability as a volunteer. She is currently President at Environment Victoria.

Emily Forrest, National Disability Services

Emily is Director of Policy and Advocacy for National Disability Services. She has worked in government relations and public policy for more than 15 years, through roles in the private sector, the public service and the not-for-profit sector – working in government relations, policy and strategic advice. She has worked in government and opposition, on two federal election campaigns, in a patient advocacy organisation and for a global manufacturing company. She is passionate about the role of government in everyday life and the importance of social inclusion, equality and workplace participation. 

Lanni Hamblin

Lanni Hamblin, Australian Council for International Development (ACFID)

Lanni is a policy and advocacy advisor for the Australian Council of International Development, the peak body for Australian non-government organisations involved in international development and humanitarian action.

Lanni has worked in social policy for the Federal Government and undertaken policy-based and international development internships domestically and internationally. Lanni has a strong interest in human rights and development and the intersection of the two in upholding and protecting the rights of marginalised persons and communities.

Lanni has academic qualifications in international relations and is currently completing a Juris Doctor at the Australian National University.

Samantha French, People with Disabilities

Samantha French is a Senior Policy Officer for People with Disability Australia. She has been an active member in the disability field for over 25 years, working in the government and NGO sectors on disability policy, education, consultancy, and more.

As a person with a disability, Samantha is an active member of a number of DPO representative networks across Australia and the Pacific region, including Women with Disability Australia (WWDA), and as a Board Member of the Pacific Disability Forum.  Sam was directly involved in the development of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as a civil society representative.

Samantha has been involved with the ADDC since its inception and has represented People with Disability Australia as a DPO member on the ADDC Executive since 2011.

Trevor Carroll, Australian Federation of Disability Organisations

Trevor is passionate about protecting and enhancing the human rights of people with disabilities having had first-hand personal experience of disability discrimination in Australia on many occasions.

Trevor is CEO of Disability Justice Advocacy, providing advocacy support to people who have ongoing support needs as a result of disability.

He is also Director and Information Officer & Chairperson (Asia Pacific Region) of Disabled People’s International.

He has been an active member of the Executive Committee of the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) having previously held the roles of President, Vice President, Treasurer and Chair of the Board.

He was a recipient of a Harvard Scholarship in 2012, was nominated for Australian of the Year in 2016, and has won numerous awards for his work.

Elected Members

Australian Aid & Development Agency Members

Image of Cashelle Dunn

Cashelle Dunn, World Vision Australia

Cashelle is Disability Advisor at World Vision Australia where she provides support on the implementation of quality accessible and inclusive programming and achieving positive disability inclusion outcomes across Asia and the Pacific.

She has previously worked as a disability and gender rights advocate in social enterprise, government, and NGOs, focusing both on international development and the national sphere.  Her passion for this work is founded on her lived experience as a woman with disability.

Her career began at Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) in Policy and Advocacy, where she has represented the rights of women and girls with disability on international forums, including the UN Conference of State Parties (COSP) to the Convention of the Rights of People with disabilities (CRPD). She has also worked as a disability and gender advisor with Indigenous-to-Indigenous (i2i) Global, focusing on inclusive project and policy design in their work in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific.

Cashelle holds a Bachelor of Arts (Human Rights) and Graduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law.

Image of Eva Lee

Eva Lee, The Leprosy Mission Australia

Eva is an International Programs Officer for The Leprosy Mission Australia, where a significant amount of their work is focused on ending discrimination against people with disabilities, including those caused by neglected tropical diseases, in particular leprosy.

Eva has experience working within the disability and development sectors across various roles, starting as a speech pathologist in Australia and with governments and NGOs in Africa and Asia. This has involved working together with people with disabilities in marginalized communities to enhance inclusion.  She has worked with disability NGOs and health services in the private sector and also brings management experience from implementing a program testing infants for hearing ability in the NSW Health Department. 

Eva holds a dual Masters of Public Health and Health Management and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Speech Pathology).  She is currently completing her Master of Disaster, Design and Development where she has a special interest in the inclusion of people with disabilities in disaster planning and recovery.

Vacant, Good Return

Louise Coventry

Louise Coventry, Motivation Australia

Louise is CEO of Motivation Australia and is a passionate advocate for social justice and inclusion for all.

She has worked variously in senior roles in state and local government in Victoria and in the community-based sector where she has accumulated significant expertise in social policy analysis, research and management.

Louise holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Science. Her PhD – which is nearing finalisation – explores how learning processes can support the effective governance of NGOs in Cambodia.

For the past ten years, she has lived and worked in Southeast Asia contributing to peace and development through the provision of executive support to local and international NGOs.

Organisational Members

Fleur Smith, Nossal Institute

Fleur Smith is a Senior Technical Advisor in the Disability Inclusion for Health and Development Unit at the Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne. Fleur is also a practicing paediatric occupational therapist and an Honorary Fellow of Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. She has a particular interest in working to ensure children with disabilities or developmental delays and their families are able to achieve the best possible outcomes in life.

Fleur has extensive experience of working on disability inclusive development in Asia and the Pacific. This ranges from community based early intervention programs in the Pacific, to evaluating investments in prosthetics and orthotics in Southeast Asia, and the development of the World Health Organization’s Disability Inclusive Health Toolkit. Fleur is currently leading an applied research project to understand the systems and practices for the identification of childhood disability and early intervention in Fiji.

Ben Clare, Exemplar International

Ben’s current role is Disability Inclusion Advisor for Exemplar International, an Australian-based international development consultancy. He is passionate about making the world more inclusive of people with disabilities.

Ben, who is blind, has volunteered for over 10 years across the Pacific through the Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID) program. His volunteer assignments have focused on improving teacher capacity in inclusive education and information technology, working with Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs) and disability service providers in many countries including PNG, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and Kiribati.

Ben has also worked with key international NGO’s including UNICEF and CBM, as well as with local and regional government on inclusive education policy development and implementation.

He has held positions in South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment, the International Council for Education of People with Vision Impairment and Blind Citizens Australia. He is currently working closely with the World Blind Union.

Individual Members

Alexandra Gartrell

Alexandra Gartrell brings two decades of experience as an applied qualitative researcher in disability inclusive development, particularly in the areas of employment and livelihoods, disaster risk reduction, sexual and reproductive health and rights. She conducted her PhD on the lived experience of disability in rural Cambodia, and has worked as an academic, consultant and in a research capacity at Oxfam and the Australian Red Cross. In her previous role, Alexandra led World Vision Australia to become an intentionally inclusive organisation where people with disabilities, particularly women and girls are able to particulate in and benefit from development programs just like anyone else.

Currently, Alex is Disability Advisor on the DFAT funded Justice Services for Stability and Development, an access to law and justice services program in PNG.

Christina Parasyn

Christina is the Technical Assistance Director for the Disability Rights Fund and the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund. She is responsible for leading the implementation of DRF/DRAF’s Technical Assistance Strategy.

She brings over 20 years experience in international development and disability rights. In her work she has partnered with organisations of people with disabilities, governments, donors, local, regional and international NGOs, faith-based organisations, service providers, and the United Nations to advance the rights of persons with disabilities in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Christina played a key role in developing and implementing the Australian Government’s first disability strategy for the aid program, ‘Development for All’, that set the agenda for Australia’s investments and leadership in disability inclusive development globally.

She has worked extensively within the Pacific, as well as in South and South East Asian countries. She has also provided technical advice and capacity development in disability inclusion throughout Asia, Africa, the Pacific and Middle East regions.

Christina has a Master’s degree in Social Science (International Development) and a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy). She enjoys being active in the outdoors with family and friends including bushwalking, cycling, yoga, and swimming, and has recently taken up lawn bowling and golf.