Carmen Lawrence

Chair of Independent Advisory Board

Carmen Lawrence is a leading Australian academic and former politician, serving at both state and federal levels over two decades from 1986-2007. She served as the Minister for Education and Aboriginal Affairs in Western Australia and was the first woman to become premier of an Australian state when she became the WA premier in 1990. She later entered federal politics as a member of the House of Representatives from 1994 to 2007, and served as Minister for Health and Human Services and Minister assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women. Dr Lawrence was Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Change in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia between 2010 and 2018, and is now Professor Emerita in the same school. Carmen was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her distinguished service to the people and Parliaments of Australia and WA, to conservation and to arts administration.