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Your Speakers

Karinda Burns

Karinda Burns is a First Nations law academic at The University of Western Australia. Born and raised on Noongar Boodja, Karinda is a Wajarri Yamaji and Yued Noongar woman. Her career has focused on Indigenous tertiary education and legal education, and her employment has provided opportunities to work in Western Australia and Victoria, predominantly within Indigenous corporations and higher education sectors. Currently teaching into the Juris Doctor and the Law and Society Major in the UWA Law School, Karinda holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Education from Deakin University. Her research interests focus on Indigenous jurisprudence and the Australian legal curriculum and she has commenced her doctorate in this field.

Karinda also co-leads the Indigenisation of the JD Project, a joint initiative of the Law School and the School of Indigenous Studies, which incorporates Indigenous cultures, knowledges and perspectives throughout the Juris Doctor degree. Karinda is a proud mother of two children, whom she shares with her husband who is a Barkindji man from New South Wales. They are both fortunate to come from large extended families.

Her inspiration comes from her family and her community, and she is motivated towards contributing to equality for First Nations peoples in Australia.

Juanita Schaffa de Mauri

After experiencing an unexpected turn of events that saw Juanita incarcerated, she has managed to create a new career path in Community Services. Coming from an “ideal” family dynamic and growing up in a supportive and loving environment, prison and a criminal record were not something Juanita, her family or friends ever anticipated. Originally from Sydney, Juanita moved to Perth in January 2023 searching for a fresh start and has since collaborated with UWA’s Criminology lecturers, sharing her life experience with students.

Juanita hopes to one day travel to Norway and visit Halden Prison to learn more about how to introduce to Australia what is considered by many the most effective rehabilitation system in the world.

Juanita is a mother to three children. Two of them are neuro-divergent. The challenge of re-establishing relationships with them post-incarceration has been a driver for Juanita to succeed in her new endeavours.

Juanita lives in North Perth with her partner and a small menagerie of pets.

Your Speakers

Megan Krakouer

Megan Krakouer is a Menang Woman of the Noongar Nation. Megan is an activist, social justice advocate and arbitrator for the voiceless, and law reformer. Megan is a Director of the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, Director (Wagyl Kaip) of the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council and holds a Bachelor of Laws from Deakin University. Megan was the recipient of the Dr Yunupingu Award for Human Rights at the National Indigenous Human Rights Awards in 2018. Megan is Perth’s Citizen of the Year 2023 and a Finalist for the 2023 National NAIDOC Person Award.

In 2019, Megan travelled to Germany to bring home and repatriate to their homelands 42 ancestors, of which six were brought back to Noongar homeland.

Megan also regularly chairs national suicide prevention conferences, and national forums on the historical and contemporary sins of this nation that have drenched so many to this day. Megan does this to change narratives, to leave no one out of sight, and to not allow the nation absolution until they atone. Atonement will come with equality, defined by the elimination of disparities and the long overdue providence of parities.

Megan, thirteenth child of thirteen siblings, praises her late stalwarts, Dad and Mum, for who she is today.

As an Australian of the Year Awardwinner Craig understands the power of a conversation. He is the Founder of Short Back & Sidewalks, a social impact movement providing free haircuts and conversations with some of Australia’s most vulnerable people. Having started in a car park in Perth in 2015, Short Back & Sidewalks now operates across the continent and continues to positively impact people’s lives by providing a consistent, judgement-free service which helps to break the stigma often attached to those in need.

Having lost a family member who experienced homelessness, Craig set out to find a way to help some of the most at-risk people in our society. Craig’s story about positively impacting communities through the simple act of giving a free haircut and having a chat is inspiring the next generation of giving across the country and beyond. He believes collaboration is key to any success, but first we must connect with each other on a human level.