Gina Williams is an Aboriginal singer and songwriter who is dedicated to the survival of the Noongar language via song and music. She writes emotive contemporary songs in the Noongar language that speak of love, loss and belonging, as well as Noongar land and culture.
Gina’s contribution to music, by combining her mission to teach the language and unify Aboriginal traditions and contemporary culture, is unique in its inclusiveness. Her welcome song,
Wanjoo, which promotes the ideas of inclusiveness and reconciliation, has been taught to more than 40,000 children through school workshops across Australia.
Gina has been the winner of WA Music Industry Aboriginal Act of the Year in 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. She also helped establish Noongar Radio, was the Australian representative
at the 2016 Festival of Pacific Arts in Guam, and has had her songs recorded onto wax cylinders for permanent storage in the National Archive. Gina is an Australian Council Peer and part of the British Council’s Accelerate Arts and Cultural Leadership program Alumni, as well as a Peer for the WA Department of Culture and the Arts.

Best known as the founder and CEO of the Fringe World Festival, Marcus Canning has been behind a range of successful arts and entertainment initiatives over the last 25 years. In 2002, Marcus was appointed the Director and CEO of Artrage, the not-for-profit arts organisation that launched The Bakery live music venue, Rooftop Movies and in 2011 the Fringe World Festival, which has grown to become the third largest in the world in terms of ticket sales.
Fringe World has changed the way Western Australians engage with the arts though showcasing a huge range of art and culture from local, national and international artists. An artist in his own right, Marcus created two of Perth’s most popular and critically recognised monumental public sculptures – Fremantle’s ‘Rainbow’ sea container sculpture and Ascalon at St George’s Cathedral in
collaboration with Christian De Vietri. Marcus is also heavily involved in the redevelopment of the long-empty heritage Rechabite Hall on William Street into a new multi-level arts and entertainment complex which is set to open in 2018.

Andrew Forrest AO is the 2017 Australian of the Year (WA).
In addition to being the founder, former CEO and Chairman of the world-leading Fortescue Metals Group, Andrew Forrest is widely considered one of Australia’s greatest philanthropists, business leaders and agents of change. Andrew founded Fortescue Metals Group in 2003, and has led the company to its July 2017 $16 billion market capitalisation as the fourth largest seaborne iron ore producer. Under his leadership, Fortescue has made significant investments in the Australian resources sector of more than $20 billion.
Through the Minderoo Foundation, established with his wife Nicola in 2001, Andrew devotes his energy to society’s most vulnerable citizens, with a focus on ending Australia’s Aboriginal disparity and drawing attention to and liberating 45.8 million people trapped in modern slavery around the world. Andrew has invested considerable resources in alleviating Aboriginal disadvantage using Fortescue Metals Group’s Vocational Training and Employment Centre. This equips Aboriginal communities for employment in the mining industry.
Andrew and Nicola are the first Australians to join The Giving Pledge, vowing to give away the overwhelming majority of their wealth. In addition to ending Aboriginal disparity and modern slavery, the Forrest’s actively champion arts and culture, as well as early childhood development, working in collaboration with the corporate sector, government and broader community. Andrew is on the Board of the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA), and he and Nicola are major donors to AGWA. The couple have donated millions of dollars to major artistic bodies, such as the Black Swan State Theatre Company and the West Australian Ballet, in a personal capacity and through the Minderoo Foundation.

Dr James Fitzpatrick is a pioneering consultant paediatrician, clinical researcher and health service innovator. He is undertaking ground-breaking research in the field of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). He plays an integral role in researching and preventing FASD, particularly in remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley and Pilbara. James was lead researcher on a community-based FASD prevention strategy in partnership with Aboriginal leaders in the Fitzroy Valley. The work has succeeded in reducing rates of drinking in pregnancy from 65% in 2010 to 15% in 2017. James is leading a national partnership to implement this model in New South Wales, the Northern Territory, and Queensland.
James was awarded the Young Australian of the Year in 2001 for his work in Aboriginal health, rural health workforce improvement and youth suicide prevention. He is the Head of the Telethon Kids Institute’s Alcohol and Pregnancy and FASD research program, a member of the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, and the Inaugural Chair of the Australian FASD Clinical Network.
He is also the founder of PATCHES Paediatrics, responsible for bringing together paediatricians, neuropsychologists, occupational therapists, speech pathologists and social workers as a ‘one stop shop’ for complex multidisciplinary assessment. The service provides a single, simple-to-understand diagnostic and treatment process in remote and metropolitan communities, including those in child protection and within the justice system. In addition, he founded True Blue Dreaming, a not-for-profit youth mentoring program which links inspiring mentors with disadvantaged young people.

Peter Lyndon-James is the founder and CEO of Shalom House, a rehabilitation centre which assists men in their efforts to transition from a drug-taking lifestyle. In and out of institutions and prisons since the age of nine, Peter faced a life of crime and drug addiction. But after a life-changing experience, Peter broke free from drugs and has been on a mission to save others who find themselves trapped by addiction ever since.
After working as a Prison Chaplain, Peter opened Shalom House in 2012. Peter’s intention was to mentor, teach and guide men who battle with any life-controlling issue. Today, Shalom House is an 85-bed (soon to be 121-bed) facility with over 35 paid staff including counsellors, chaplains, administrators and coordinators. There is also an army of volunteers helping to keep facility running. It does not receive government support or grants and Peter is a full-time volunteer as the CEO of Shalom House. Peter’s wife Amanda runs a landscaping business to support the family financially. Peter became a full-time volunteer to his cause, giving every waking hour to developing this program and helping to restore the lives of men and their families.

Dennis Cometti is one of the most respected sports broadcasters in Australia, with a career spanning almost 50 years. During a brief WAFL career, Dennis joined music radio station 6KY in Perth. In 1973, he moved to the ABC where he broadcast sports, specialising in cricket and football. Later that year he became part of the ABC’s Test cricket coverage and began broadcasting Australia-wide.
With the formation of the VFL/AFL in 1987 Dennis joined the 7 Network.
Until his retirement, Dennis was the only television broadcaster to have covered the entire duration of the AFL national competition. Dennis has called over 1,000 VFL/AFL television games, including 16 Grand Finals, as well as commentating swimming at the Olympics in Barcelona, Atlanta and Sydney.
Dennis is an Ambassador for the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research at the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre. He assumed the voluntary role in 2016 to assist with a fundraising campaign aimed at recruiting some of the world’s best credentialed doctors and researchers to WA.

Ryan Morich is a wheelchair basketballer who, in 2013, co-founded the Red Dust Heelers National Wheelchair Basketball League team, as well as the Wheeling and Healing Program. Ryan is currently serving as the Captain of the Red Dust Healers, and was also selected as Australia’s NAIDOC Sports Star of the Year in 2015. Ryan won a bronze medal at the 2013 U-23 World Championships in Adana, Turkey, as well as a Gold Medal as a member of Australia’s Junior Team in 2012.
Ryan was diagnosed with a rare bone cancer at the age of 12, and had his leg amputated below the knee. Despite this, Ryan, a determined young teen who was school sports captain and a competitive athlete, was on the court just two weeks later, continuing his sports in a wheelchair.
The Wheeling and Healing program incorporates wheelchair basketball to generate disability awareness while encouraging community healing and engagement. In 2016, Ryan worked with over 2,000 children and young people across Australia through the Wheeling and Healing program. The program provides a powerful and interactive two days of disability awareness, as well as community healing. The Heelers examine current barriers to the well-being and participation of people with disability within communities and provide tools and information to address these barriers wherever possible.