Tom Calma | |
|---|---|
 Calma in 2008 | |
| 6th Chancellor of the University of Canberra | |
| In office 1 January 2014 – 31 December 2023 | |
| Preceded by | John Mackay |
| Succeeded by | Lisa Paul |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1953 (age 70–71) Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Profession |
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Thomas Edwin Calma (born 1953), is an Aboriginal Australian human rights and social justice campaigner, and 2023 senior Australian of the Year. He was the sixth chancellor of the University of Canberra (2014-2023), after two years as deputy chancellor. Calma was the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of chancellor of any Australian university.
Calma has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector focusing on rural and remote Australia, health, mental health and suicide prevention, education, justice reinvestment, research, reconciliation and economic development. Calma's 2005 Social Justice Report – focusing on Indigenous health equality – was the catalyst for the Close the Gap campaign.
Calma served as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from 2004 to 2010 and as Race Discrimination Commissioner from 2004 until 2009 at the Australian Human Rights Commission.
In 2012 he was awarded an Order of Australia, Officer of the General Division, in recognition of his work as an inspirational advocate for human rights and social justice and distinguished service to the Indigenous community, and in 2013 was named Australian of the Year for the ACT.
On 30 October 2019, Calma was announced as a co-chair on the Senior Advisory Group of the "Indigenous voice to government", convened by Ken Wyatt.