Simon Hawkins
Posted: August 8th, 2017
Simon is responsible for the overall management of the organisation on behalf of YMAC’s Board of Directors, and also acts as Company Secretary. Through the CEO role Simon ensures the policies and decisions of YMAC’s Board of Directors, and respective Regional Committees, are implemented. The Company Secretary is also responsible for making sure the organisation observes its governance responsibilities and that it meets its obligations under agreements entered into with other parties.
As well as promoting the interests of YMAC, its clients and members, the CEO negotiates funding for new and existing projects, and advocates for policy change in critical areas affecting the rights and interests of Traditional Owners.
Since commencing as CEO of YMAC in 2003 Simon has overseen many significant native title, and other negotiations, including the landmark Yamatji Nation on-Country Conditional Consent Determination and associated Yamatji Nation IILUA lodged with the NNTT in March 2020.
Simon is an inaugural Board member of the National Native Title Council (NNTC), an alliance of Native Title Representative Bodies and Native Title Service Providers from around Australia, and in May 2023 was appointed as a Member of the First Nations Clean Energy and Emissions Reduction Advisory Committee.
Simon holds a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Science and a Bachelor of Arts (Urban and Regional Studies), and is a current member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and is a Justice of the Peace.