Romlie Mokak
Romlie Mokak is Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association (AIDA), a Djugun man, whose family come from Broome, WA. Rom was born and raised in the Northern Territory and after some time traveling the world and living in NSW, is now a resident of Canberra.
He has significant experience working at community, State and Commonwealth levels in a range of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy and program areas. These include disability, ageing, population health, health financing and substance use. During his time in the Department of Health and Ageing, a major achievement was constructing a comprehensive framework to address petrol sniffing, including the development of the non-sniffable fuel, Opal.
He has been the CEO of AIDA since mid 2005, working with a great bunch of people at the AIDA Secretariat, under the leadership of the AIDA Board. He believes strengthening the connections between education and health will ensure a better future for our kids. Rom has a Bachelor of Social Science degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Special Education.
What a reconciled Australia looks like to me.
Reflecting on this question I return to fundamental questions of respect and rights. This is the basic stuff of humility and of humanity.
The questions we all need to ask ourselves become most prominent during the quietest part of the day. Moments when we are stripped back to basics, when accolades and armory are left at the door. Look to the mirror, the earth, the sky, or the sleeping child and ask what you can do to make this a better place. A place where you can know that your contribution really is for the better and most needy.
What does this future Australia look like…can you envision a nation in which all Australians have challenged their own thinking, have opened their minds and hearts, so that this country is ready to embrace Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge and leadership and the rewards that can bring.
Can you envision a time:
- when a black doctor leads the peak medical body on an agenda about better health for all people, because black Australia has ceased to die prematurely;
- when a black secretary heads up the federal education department and buries the need for specific measures for black kids because they are no longer required;
- when a black vice chancellor heads a university recognised internationally for producing a first rate research which has application and meaning, mines the talent pool that is black Australia and graduates outstanding black bankers, dentists, lawyers, administrators, actors and writers in vast numbers;
- when a black man chairs the water and land think tank and others marvel at how saturated and brimming with good ideas the tank has become;
- when a young black leader heads the Australian Indigenous Peoples Parliament - a new national agency charged with constructing an agenda to achieve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing;
And might you envision a time when a black prime minister leads a government dotted with talented black leaders, in a parliament where being black doesn't render you a circus attraction, an exception to the rule, one of those who made it out of the trenches.
Dismiss me as an idealist or a blind optimist... but I reckon that our thousands of generations of Indigenous ingenuity, our tenacity and talent, will prevail and we will be the ones that will shape the future of this country and this planet for the enjoyment of all of our brothers and sisters - black and white.
My joy will be to see more than one of the above achieved within my lifetime.
Romlie Mokak
