THE BOARD ROOM

Vision Statement

Link-Up (QLD) Aboriginal Corporation exists to enhance the life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by reuniting those over the age of eighteen years who have experienced enforced separation from their families and communities through adoption, fostering, removal and institutionalisation.

We will provide our service in a sensitive, confidential and culturally appropriate manner and use all available resources to assist those looking to find their family of origin.

The Governing Committee

The Governing Committee is elected by the members of LINK-UP (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation to be responsible for, and to undertake, the Executive management of the Corporation on behalf of the membership. This includes entering into contractual agreements with Departments and Agencies of the Commonwealth and/or Queensland Governments.
The Governing Committee shall manage and control the affairs of LINK-UP (Qld) in accordance with its Constitution and with the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.

A commitment to the values of the organisation has behavioural implications for both staff and members of the Governing Committee, to serve the interests of the organisation with clarity of intent and with transparency and openness in all transactions.

Calendar of Board meetings for 2012

3rd April 2012 at Mount Isa
20th July 2012 at Brisbane
21st September 2012 at Cairns or Townsville
16th November 2012 at Brisbane (Annual General Meeting)

The 2010 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

This meeting was held in the Link Up (Qld) Head Office in Brisbane on Monday 6th December 2010.
One of the outcomes was the appointment of Helen Akee to the Link Up (Qld) Board.

Sam Watson - Chairman
Lloyd Kyle - Director
Kym Kilroy - Director
Willie Prince - Director
Dr. Norm Sheehan - Director
Bernie Singleton - Directorand
Helen Akee

Click here to download the 2010 AGM Minutes.

The 2009 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The AGM for 2009 was held at the Brisbane Link-Up office in Peel Street West End on 22nd October 2009.
A quorum was sanctioned and new Board Directors, Dr Norm Sheehan and Willie Prince were formalised onto the Board. Bernie Singleton was elected to the Board in May 2010.
The new Board as of 22nd October 2009 is made up of:
Sam Watson - Chairman
Lloyd Kyle - Director
Kym Kilroy - Director
Willie Prince - Director
Dr. Norm Sheehan - Director and
Bernie Singleton - Director

Click this link to download the 2009 AGM Minutes

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - 28TH NOVEMBER 2008

Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation's AGM commenced at 10.05am on the new premises at 54-56 Peel Street West End and was video-telephone linked to the SEWB offices in Nambour, Rockhampton and Cairns. The new Board of Directors was elected and announced as follows:
Lloyd Kyle (1yr), Cindy Sinclair (2yrs), Pamela Croft (2yrs), Allan Lui (2yrs) and Sam Watson (1yr).
Click these links to view the Returning Officer's Report and the Minutes of the meeting.

The following Board Members have resigned their positions in 2008/09:
Dion Tatow, Cindy Sinclair, Pamela Croft and Allan Lui.

SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS - 16TH NOVEMBER 2007

The new Constitution (the "Rule Book" as required under the Corporations Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2006) received unanimous approval with amendments by the members and has now been sanctioned by the Registrar (ORATSIC).
Click on the following link to view this document. The Rule Book

Board of Directors

	Sam Watson - Chairman Sam’s people are from the Birigubba tribe, in Bowen Basin country and like himself have been strong fighters against racism. In 1990 Penguin Books published Sam’s first novel - The Kadaitcha Sung - to broad critical acclaim. The novel was the runner up in the 1991 Victorian Premier’s literary award and in the same year Sam was honoured by the Fellowship of Australian Writers as the Indigenous Writer of the Year. In 1991 Sam returned to work at the Brisbane Aboriginal Legal Service and became an executive member of state and national legal aid bodies and was directly involved in implementing the findings of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. He has also stood for State and Federal elections on Aboriginal rights issues. In 1995 he stepped down from community work to write and produce his first film which was subsequently sold to SBS and the ABC. The film was an artistic exploration of a Death in Custody titled Black Man Down. It was one of the ground-breaking indigenous short films featured in the Sand to Celluloid collection. The film has been screened to audiences across the globe and is still being featured at various film festivals. Sam has also written two plays, "Black Man Down" (2007) and "Ooodgeroo" (2009). In 1999 Sam accepted a casual posting at the University of Queensland and has since become Deputy Director. He teaches two courses in Black Australian Literature and is currently finalising his second novel and is writing his next film. Sam is a proud parent and a proud grandparent.
	Willie Prince - Director Willie, a Wakka Wakka and Kalkadoon man, is a member of the Stolen Generations and was removed from his family, community and culture for seventeen years because of his physical disability. He is passionate about advocating for the needs of people with a disability and focusing on building recognition of people’s abilities. Willie has showcased his own abilities in his professional, community and sporting life. He previously excelled in athletics at a national level, winning medals for shot-put and discus. He has been involved in a range of committees such as NAIDOC and convening the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Disability Network. Willie works as an Administrative Officer at the Kuril Dhagun Public Programs in the State Library of Queensland.
	Kym Kilroy - Director Kym's people are from the Butchella clan from the Hervey Bay region. Born in the area, Kym was removed when she was only two years old and sent to St Vincent's Orphanage in the Brisbane suburb of Nudgee. There she remained as a 'ward of the State' until she turned 18 years old. Kym is classified as a member of both the Stolen Generations and the Forgotten Australians.. Kym is currently studying for her Masters of Philosophy in Public Health at the University of Queensland and looking forward to the commencement of her PhD in March 2010 with her studies revolving around the Stolen Generations. Kym is an active volunteer throughout the community and with the NAIDOC and Dreaming Festivals. Kym is also the big sister of Broncos Rugby League legend, "Smokin' Joe Kilroy".
	Lloyd Kyle - Director Presently the CEO of the KASH Aboriginal Corporation which operates as a community-based residential rehabilitation service located in Mount Isa. The Program’s client catchment area is approximately 206,000 sq. klms, or roughly the size of the state of Victoria. The KASH Program is unique as children form part of the healing process for their parents. The children become ‘role models’ to their parents (i.e.; “Mum & Dad, we like it here – we get to go to school every day, we don’t feel hungry, and you’re not fighting anymore like you used to when you got drunk”). I ‘cut my teeth’ as a Field Officer with the Aboriginal Legal Service in Townsville in the early ‘90s where I and others implemented a range of Programs within Townsville Correctional Centre as part of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommendations. I was also a founding member of the Gurindal Cell Visitors Program which saw over 3000 cell visitations a year to the Townsville Police Watch-house. Aboriginal Deaths in custody were reduced to nil over the corresponding five years of the Program. I have been with KASH for ten years now and reckon that the problem of prolonged alcohol & substance abuse devastating Aboriginal Australians has gotten gradually worse over the corresponding time period. I have worked continuously within Aboriginal community-based Organizations since 1986, and wouldn’t stray from the Social Services Sector or from an NGO standpoint for ‘quids’. The KASH Organization therefore continues to perform a ‘delicate balancing act’ – the juxtaposition between stringently enforced Corporate Governance regulations mandated by Governments as opposed to the delivery of effective culturally-appropriate Programs to its clients. I am presently a Director of Link-Up (Qld) and am totally committed to its objectives and the Corporations desire to be truly regionalized as representing the entire State of Queensland in ‘Bringing our people home”.
	Dr Norm Sheehan - Director UPDATE: “On leave from his duties as a board member to work as a paid consultant for Link-Up QLD on developing, training and evaluating an Aboriginal Cultural Strengths training program for Social & Emotional Wellbeing workers” It is expected that he will be back as an active board member in April 2012” A Wiradjuri man born in Mudgee NSW and brought up in the Catholic education system. Norm has taught in Aboriginal communities, TAFE and higher education in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland since 1979. He has completed an Australian Research Council Discovery project that investigated Indigenous Knowledge Research methodologies in human rights education and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Social and Emotional Well Being with the School of Psychiatry at the University of Queensland. In 2009 he was awarded the SEQ NAIDOC award for his teaching and scholarship. He is currently Associate Professor at the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Design Anthropology (CIKADA) in the Faculty of Design at Swinburne University of Technology.Indigenous Knowledge is a relational understanding of the world that describes the meaning and import of cultural, social and environmental connections through design artifacts and design based communication processes. Embedded in this relational understanding is an ethics of care through which research is designed as a positive contribution to these fundamental interconnections.
	Bernie Singleton - Director Mr Bernie Singleton is passionate about the health and well being of his people. For over six years, Mr Bernie Singleton has been the chairman for Apunipima Cape York Health Council. He has also been a Board Member of the Queensland Aboriginal Islander Health Council (QAIHC) for more than two years, representing Cape York and the Torres Strait region. His engagement with Far North QLD communities and his understanding of their history, politics and culture, brings a wealth of experience to Link-Up (Qld). Mr Singleton grew up in Yarrabah and now resides in Weipa, Cape York with his wife Verna and is the father to Cleveland, Jason, Roydon, Louise, Bernie and Anna (deceased).
	Helen Akee - Director

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Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation is regulated through the standards as stated by the Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations (ORAC) in accordance with The Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006.

Below are links to downloadable documents associated with the Board of Directors nomination, selection and governance.

Board Election Rules and Procedures
Link-Up Nominations - Terms of Reference
Nomination of Director
Link-Up Consent to act a Director
Link-Up Consent to act as a Secretary

Documents for Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation

The principle activity of Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation is:

The reuniting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the age of 18 who have been separated from their families and communities through adoption, fostering, removal or institutionalisation.

Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation was incorporated on the 7th July 1988 by the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations (now named the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations, ORIC). The Registrar's office supports and regulates the corporations that are incorporated under the CATSI Act. It does this in a variety of ways: by advising them on how to incorporate, by training directors, members and key staff in good corporate governance, by making sure they comply with the law and by intervening when needed. All documentation for Link-Up (Qld) can be accessed here.

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Policies and Procedures

The Policies and Procedures 2009 draft is a template from Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), made available to the Governing Committee, Management and Staff of LINK-UP (QLD) as part of QAIHC's program of assistance for the smooth and efficient set-up of an Aboriginal community controlled service in Brisbane and surrounding area.

Link-Up Service Agreement

The Link-Up Service Provider Agreement between Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation (LUQ) and the Service Provider (SP), dated 2007

Linkup Hosting Agreement

The Link-Up Hosting Agreement between Link-Up (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation (LUQ) and The Hosting Organisation (Host Organisation), dated 2007

If you have any comments or advice you would like to share with us
please send us an email to contact@qld.link-up.org.au

Last updated Wednesday, 25-Jan-2012