MEDIA RELEASE: Yoorrook Justice Commission Appoints Hugh de Kretser as New CEO

The Yoorrook Justice Commission has today announced the appointment of Hugh de Kretser as CEO, effective from 4 July 2022.

Yoorrook Chair Professor Eleanor Bourke said Mr de Kretser was chosen after an extensive and competitive selection process.

“Hugh is an outstanding choice. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Commission, especially in relation to his legal and social change expertise,” she said.

Mr de Kretser has been the Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Centre since 2013, having initially joined as a board member when the Centre was established in 2006. He currently serves as a Director of the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council and a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Melbourne Law School.

Mr de Kretser has previously served as Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and a board member of the National Association of Community Legal Centres. He played a key role in founding knowmore – the national service that provided legal help for people navigating the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

“The Commissioners and I are looking forward to working with Hugh. Together we will ensure Yoorrook delivers its historic mandate,” Professor Bourke said.

Commenting on the appointment, Mr de Kretser said he was excited to be joining the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

“Yoorrook is critical to shaping the future of Victoria. The stories of Victoria’s First Peoples must be told. This history and these truths must become everyone’s history and everyone’s truths if we are to create a shared understanding and achieve real change,” he said.

“I look forward to working with Yoorrook Commissioners and staff to continue to build this historic truth telling process.”

ENDS

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