Our Patron
Brian Burdekin, AO
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.
Burdekin 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.
In March 2019 Prof Brian 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.
Below is a video of our Patron, introduced by our Chief Executive Officer, Justene Gordon.
children and young people are in
Out-of-Home care in NSW.
(AIHW 2020-2021)
of children who left Burdekin’s care returned to their families.
of children and young people returning to school. A life changing outcome.
Stronger, better, and more capable – together.
