Allison Halliday, a traditional owner of the Malanbarra Clan of the Yidinji Tribe, is a community member on the Cairns South Together Steering Committee.

While Allison has recently retired from her Community Liaison role at Djarragun College, she continues her tireless work in the community as a First Nation leader.
In 2019 Allison was presented with the Chair’s Award for the Wet Tropics Management Authority Cassowary Award.

Allison has been involved in the regional Rainforest Aboriginal movement since 1992 and was instrumental in the campaign to have the cultural values of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area recognised in the National Heritage list in 2012.

Allison’s strong commitment to youth, family, First Nation’s advancement, the environment and policy supports the collective impact focus of the CST Steering Committee.

Aquilar Luki is a community member of the Cairns South Together Steering Committee. He is a long-term resident of Cairns South having lived and worked in the community for over 35 years.

With a strong sense of family, Aquilar has six married children and 29 grandchildren with who he feels blessed to spend time. Aquilar feels that the definition of the traditional family has changed in the last twenty years with many families now consisting of single-parent families and grandparents taking on parenting roles.

Aquilar is now retired but his volunteer work in Cairns South continues, particularly in the Pacifica community. He sees opportunities for Pacific people to strive for a higher level of education which is a way to achieve self-reliance. Aquilar says he is living proof of the difference a university degree can make for people of low socio-economic backgrounds, and their families.

Through his involvement with the CST, he aims to work collaboratively with the committee to increase higher education opportunities. Aquilar knows that education inspires people to a better lifestyle and through these opportunities, Cairns South will change, over time, for the better.

In her day job, Cassy Bishop is the Regional Manager of The Benevolent Society, which operates both Cairns & Gordonvale Early Years Centres. It’s through this link that Cassy became a member of the Cairns South Together Steering Committee.

As an entrenched member of over 27 years in the Cairns South community, Cassy wants to help make a difference to the children growing up in the area, to ensure they have everything they need to live their best lives.

Cassy believes that families need to be happy, safe and supported and considers her role on the Steering Committee as an opportunity to partner to help meet community needs by influencing and supporting the change that’s needed.

Over the long term, Cassy would like to see Cairns South Together deliver at least one lasting project that instils long-term change for the children and families in Cairns South.

Dr Phil Flint is an accomplished leader and academic with a long history in the human services sector, both nationally and internationally. Phil’s doctoral thesis focused on the psychopathology of Indigenous adults with intellectual disabilities.  

Originally from South Australia, Phil has held various management roles within the government and the NGO sector starting in disability services in Australia and Canada.  During this time, Phil worked in the mental health, justice and child protection sectors with a particular focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the top end of Australia.  

Phil has been leading Mission Australia’s service delivery in North Queensland for almost 10 years. In his personal time, Phil volunteers in the community by being part of a number of advisory groups and boards.  

 Phil’s passionate advocacy resulted in Mission Australia’s commitment to becoming the “backbone” of Cairns South Together in 2020. He is excited to be part of a unique opportunity to enact systemic and sustainable community change alongside the community of Cairns South.

Hon Stanley Jones AO QC is a retired Supreme Court of Queensland Judge and was appointed the first Far North Queensland Judge in 1997. He was the first person to be appointed Chancellor at Central Queensland University. Honouring his social justice values, Stan became the founding Chairperson of the Rockhampton Aboriginal Legal Service in 1972. In 1989 he was honoured to become a Queen’s Counsel.

Stan has been a resident of Cairns South for over 24 years and even before his retirement in 2011, volunteered with the Cairns South Communities for Children Standing Committee.

His interest in early intervention stems from seeing the same young people in front of him for sentencing. He believes that with well-established foundational work, Cairns South Together presents a unique opportunity to progress projects linked to gaps identified in data, enlarging the focus of work previously undertaken in Cairns South.

Stan aims to continue to input into programs developed in his area of interest and hopes the community will engage with, and respond well to being part of Cairns South Together.

Linda Bailey represents the Chief Executive Officer of the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service (CHHHS) on the CST Steering Committee. Linda is the Acting Director of Integrated Medicine, Child and Youth Services at CHHHS and has a strong interest in improving health outcomes across the Cairns region.

Linda has been a Cairns resident for 20 years and has worked with Queensland Health in Tropical Public Health and with CHHHS. She is a qualified Occupational Therapist and holds a Master’s in Public Health, which focuses on the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised efforts of society.

This ethos aligns nicely with the Collective Impact focus of the CST and Linda welcomes the opportunity to be part of supporting the community, through the activities of the CST Steering Committee, to improve health and well-being outcomes across Cairns South.

Stan aims to continue to input into programs developed in his area of interest and hopes the community will engage with, and respond well to being part of Cairns South Together.

Tony is a proud Gunggandji man whose traditional country is Yarrabah and the Cairns area. He has close kinship connections through Cape York and Torres Strait and a strong connection to Mob.

Tony was born and raised in Cairns and believes that the strengths of Cairns South come from a strong sense of culture and community.

Tony is given a sense of purpose through his extensive expertise in the employment and training space. The Australian Training Works Group (ATW) is Tony’s 100% Indigenous-owned and operated employment services business. His gift is in shifting young people into employment and training and maintaining employment retention, enabling access to a better quality of life.
Caring for family and respecting our elders is important to Tony.

Tony is passionate about contributing to the community and he riles against injustice, disadvantage or people being oppressed and exploited. These values and experience led Tony to become a member of the Cairns South Together Steering Committee.

He believes a welcoming community is when people are happy and vibrant and when the community landscape is culturally grounded and diverse. Importantly, through his CST involvement, Tony would like to see a healthy community that has control of its destination and future.