Busara Circle Onboard Facilitator HB5
Australian Indigenous leader Michelle Deshong has just accepted the role as ‘busara’ for HB5. Michelle is a representative at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and is lead facilitator for Oxfam’s national program Straight Talk, which teaches Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women about the political system and how they can use political engagement to create change in their communities. She was previously the Director of the Australian Indigenous Leadership programme, and was the 2015 National NAIDOC Scholar of the Year.
Michelle is currently completing her PhD in Enabling Participation of Aboriginal Women in Public and Political Life at James Cook University, and in 2015 was a recipient of the Fulbright Indigenous Professional Scholarship, where she undertook research in the USA and Canada to develop strategies for nation building, leadership and gender equality.