Leeanne Caton
CEO Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT)

Leeanne Caton is the Chief Executive Officer of Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT). A proud Kalkadoon/Waanyi woman raised on Larrakia Country, she is a veteran leader in Aboriginal affairs with over 40 years of experience across government and community-controlled sectors.

Her career is defined by her focus on the social determinants of health, with a firm belief that successful life outcomes begin with stable housing. She has over 10 years of experience as a CEO within Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs).

Leeanne previously served as the CEO of Yilli Housing, a Darwin-based provider of housing and infrastructure services for Indigenous people and became the Executive Director of Aboriginal Affairs in the NT Government. Her public service career spans the Commonwealth, Western Australian, and Northern Territory governments.

As CEO of AHNT, she is a central figure in the Partnership Agreement for Remote Housing and Homelands (2024–2034), advocating for self-determination and Aboriginal-led governance in the remote housing system.

Malarndirri McCarthy
Minister for Indigenous Australians | Senator for the NT

Malarndirri is a Yanyuwa woman from the Gulf country in the Northern Territory and a prominent figure in Australian Indigenous affairs, with a specific focus on Aboriginal housing in remote communities. Since July 2024, she has served as the Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Albanese Labor Government. 

She has driven significant investment into remote housing to reduce overcrowding and improve health outcomes, including a $4 billion investment for remote housing in the Northern Territory.

Senator McCarthy works in partnership with Aboriginal Housing Northern Territory (AHNT) and Land Councils to ensure housing solutions are community-led and sustainable. She has overseen the completion of hundreds of new homes in remote NT communities and critical repairs in homelands. Senator McCarthy emphasizes that “housing is central to closing the gap,” specifically targeting improvements in non-overcrowded housing to improve wellbeing.

She links housing projects to local employment, supporting initiatives where Aboriginal corporations and local employees build their own community homes.

Dan Kelly
Director ALRAR

Dan Kelly is a prominent solicitor and legal advocate in the Aboriginal housing sector, best known for his work with Australian Lawyers for Remote Aboriginal Rights (ALRAR). His career is marked by high-profile litigation aimed at securing safe and habitable housing as a fundamental human right for First Nations communities.

Since December 2015, he has served as a Director and Solicitor for ALRAR, providing legal and advisory services on public interest matters, including Aboriginal agreement-making and land rights. He has held significant roles across the sector, including General Counsel for the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations and Legal Practice Manager for the Central Land Council in Alice Springs. His work primarily centres on housing justice, native title, and corporate governance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

Dan helped develop the ALRAR app, a digital tool that allows remote tenants to directly report housing repairs, automating a process that previously faced significant administrative hurdles.

He is a frequent commentator on remote housing conditions, advocating for structural reform and compensation for affected tenants.

John B. Lawrence
Kings Counsel

John is a prominent Darwin-based barrister with over 30 years of experience in the Northern Territory, known for his vocal advocacy regarding justice, human rights, and the treatment of Aboriginal people. While his primary focus has been on the criminal justice system and legal aid, his work frequently intersects with the social factors affecting Aboriginal communities, including housing instability and its relationship to incarceration. 

John has highlighted the “dysfunctional” nature of the NT justice system, noting that it disproportionately affects Aboriginal people. His advocacy points to the failure of systems to provide adequate support, which correlates with poor outcomes in health, education, and housing.

Lawrence has been a vocal critic of the handling of Aboriginal legal services, and has strongly criticized government policies that fail to address the underlying drivers of crime in vulnerable communities, arguing they are more focused on politics than effective, evidence-based solutions.

Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA
Member for Mulka

Yingiya Mark Guyula MLA is a Yolŋu man of the Ḻiya-Dhalinmirr Djambarrpuyŋu clan and the Independent Member for Mulka in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. A former commercial pilot and university lecturer, he has become a prominent advocate for Aboriginal self-determination, with a specific focus on the housing crisis in remote homelands.

Guyula’s work in the housing sector is driven by the belief that “homelands are one of the best opportunities” for cultural preservation and economic independence.

He argues that homelands have been “starved of equal and fair funding” for decades. He has called for urgent investment to address deteriorating conditions and to provide new housing and infrastructure directly on ancestral lands. Guyula identifies overcrowding as a “crisis” that severely impacts health, education, and social cohesion. He advocates for the distribution of new housing across both hub towns and smaller homeland communities to alleviate this pressure.

To move away from “boom and bust” cycles, he supports the development of local Aboriginal building teams to ensure continuous, sustainable construction and local employment. He emphasizes that government-provided housing must be appropriate for the local climate, environment, and the specific cultural needs of the community being housed.

Julie-Ann Guivarra
Chief Executive Officer of the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA)

Julie-Ann is passionate about inclusion, collaboration, and making a positive impact. Her career has taken her to live and work in many parts of the world including India, Switzerland and Spain. 

Julie-Ann joined the NIAA in 2021. During her time she has led the coordination of Commonwealth policy development, program design and implementation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. A proud Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander woman, she is the first Indigenous woman to serve as an Australian Ambassador.

While her career has primarily focused on high-level diplomacy and strategic policy, her leadership at the NIAA directly encompasses the oversight and coordination of Commonwealth programs aimed at improving life outcomes for First Nations people, which includes the critical sector of Aboriginal housing.

As CEO of the NIAA, Guivarra leads the coordination of Commonwealth policy development and program implementation. This includes managing government priorities such as Closing the Gap targets, where housing is a foundational pillar for health and economic empowerment.

Her current mandate involves working closely with the Minister for Indigenous Australians to deliver the government’s economic empowerment agenda, which frequently addresses remote housing shortages and sustainable community infrastructure.

Tom Leeming
CEO Northern Territory Department of Housing

Tom Leeming is the Chief Executive Officer of the Northern Territory Department of Housing, Local Government and Community Development (DHLGCD), his background is deeply rooted in public policy, regional development, and Aboriginal Affairs.

Mr Leeming’s career has increasingly focused on improving outcomes for regional and remote communities, particularly in the Northern Territory. As CEO, he is responsible for the government’s efforts to improve housing stability and “empower the bush”. This involves coordinating safe, secure housing and resilient communities across remote Territory regions. His extensive 26-year public sector career includes advising African governments on economic and social policy for the British and European governments, and holding senior roles in the Western Australia Treasury and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (WA).