A prominent First Nations leader from the Goulburn Valley region has joined the board of Victoria’s education and training regulator.
Victorian Education Minister Natalie Hutchins announced that former First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria co-chair Aunty Geraldine Atkinson was among five new Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority board appointees.
Belinda Tynan, Mark Cameron, Neil Pharaoh and Tri Nguyen are the other four.
A Bangerang/Wiradjuri woman, Aunty Geraldine’s first role in education was as an Aboriginal teacher’s aide in 1976.
She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Education from Deakin University in 2013 and her Masters of Education in 2019.
Aunty Geraldine has been president of the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Incorporated since 1999 and was co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria from 2019 to 2023.
In 2020, her leadership in Aboriginal education was recognised with the awarding of a Deakin University honorary doctorate.
Dr Tynan is an experienced senior executive across schools, vocational and higher education, while Mr Cameron has extensive experience promoting trade qualifications and apprenticeships as an accredited trainer and as an employer.
Mr Pharaoh is a current board director of Sustainability Victoria and a member of its risk, audit and finance committee.
The first Vietnamese law graduate of the University of South Australia, Mr Nguyen co-established the Indigenous Education Foundation program.
Five serving board members ‒ Tony Nippard, Judy Rose PSM, Julie Caldecott, Fran Reddan and Penny Hutchinson ‒ have been returned.
Former members, Stephen Elder and Jim Williamson, have departed the VRQA board.
“All board members are highly regarded members of the community and have been carefully selected to represent people from all walks of life because making Victoria the education state only happens when we have diverse representation,” Ms Hutchins said.