STAR VICTORIA - Key Persons
Briony has carved out a career in community services, most recently working with people with disabilities. She is passionate about ensuring people with disabilities are able to access the care and support they need to live their lives in the way they want to live them. Having been a support worker she's seen the discrimination people with disabilities experience every day, and shares STAR's vision of an inclusive society that respects all abilities.
Carolyn is a retired educator with a lifelong passion for inclusive education and a strong belief that that with the right supports families can stay together.
Denise has three decades experience in the for-purpose sector, specialising in effective campaigns, progressive policy and strategic planning. She began her campaign career with Greenpeace in the early ‘90s, and has campaigned for a better world for people and our environment in Australia and internationally ever since.
Gillian joined the Committee in early 2022. She has had a lifelong association with STAR, as the daughter of STAR founder Ethel Temby, and the sister of the man who started it all, Rowan.
James has a teenage son who uses communication aids. This led James to also become a Committee member of the Anne McDonald Centre and helps build a support network for people who use communication aids and their families.
As a person with a physical disability, James campaigns for more accessible transport and buildings. James joined the STAR Committee in 2022.
Jane is a Yorta Yorta woman and a well known Victorian self advocate for people with intellectual disabilities. She uses her lived experience of institutionalised education and abuse to campaign for her rights and the rights of others with disability.
Janice and her husband John are living their lives in the community. Janice campaigns for more accessible transport, especially trains and trams.
John and his wife Janice live in Melbourne and help people in the community who like themselves live with intellectual disability. They enjoy cycling together in the parks close to home.
Karen worked for STAR as the policy officer for six months in 2020-2021, returning as a member and joining the Committee as Treasurer at the 2022 AGM.
Sienna (they/them) is a student currently studying media at RMIT University. They have always been passionate about disability rights and are excited to be working in a sector where meaningful change can be made. Sienna also works in a secondary school as an integration aide and has witnessed first-hand the benefits of integrated education. Sienna is also autistic.