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Brian Burdekin AO

Brian Burdekin Patron

Professor Brian Burdekin, AO has left a lasting legacy to two of Australia’s most disadvantaged groups – homeless children and people with mental illness.  During his term as Federal Human Rights Commissioner, he presented two landmark reports: a National Inquiry into Youth Homelessness in 1989 and Human Rights and Mental Illness in 1983.

Our Homeless Children, the 1989 report on youth homelessness, shocked the Australian public by revealing the number of young people who were homeless and the appalling lifestyle they lived.  The Burdekin Association has restructured to reflect many of the recommendations of the report and Brian Burdekin has offered his full support. Unfortunately, though, many young people are still homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Below is a video of our Patron, introduced by our Chief Executive Officer, Justene Gordon. 

In March 2019 Prof Burdekin, AO was the keynote speaker for the Youth Homelessness Conference, the first of its kind in two decades. The title of his keynote ‘Youth Homelessness. It’s Been a Long Road’ offers a summary of the key developments in youth homelessness over the past 3 decades. You can read more about the conference here.

We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.

We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.

Aboriginal Flag
Torres Straight Island Flag

We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.

We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.