Who We Are

Meredith Edwards

Chair

Meredith Edwards (OAM) has been a member of SA Justice for Refugees since 2015. She has recently retired as a school principal with the department for education after over 40 years of service in Port Augusta, Leigh Creek , Murray Bridge, Taperoo High School (now Oceanview College) and Woodville High School. Before being appointed as the principal of Woodville High School from 2004-2020, she was a deputy principal at the same school. Prior to that she has been a coordinator of course writers for open access courses for Aboriginal and Anangu students, and coordinator of English and Literacy at a number of sites.

Meredith is committed to social justice and has been active in Aboriginal Education and the rights of refugees and asylum seekers. Since joining the Pilgrim Uniting Church in 2004, she has supported the ministers and congregation in their focus on support for the homeless, refugee rights to permanent residency, lobbying for an Aboriginal voice in parliament and interfaith collaboration. Much of this was reflected in her recognised work at Woodville High School.

Kirsty Magarey

Deputy Chair

After studying law and arts at the University of Adelaide, I moved to Sydney to work as an associate to Justice Elizabeth Evatt at the Australian Law Reform Commission, while also assisting Justice Evatt with her work on UN Treaty bodies. I then joined the Human Rights Branch of the Attorney-General’s Department. I also held a position as a research fellow at the University of New South Wales, curating the Australasian Legal Information Institute’s, human rights and Indigenous collections. For the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation I installed internet connections in remote indigenous communities and also organised the first internet based petition successfully lodged with the Australian Parliament (in support of Native Title). For 20 years I worked in the Law and Bills Digest Section of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library’s Research Branch. I was an author, editor and trainer for the Bills Digests – providing independent perspectives and research on legislation to assist parliamentarians in their decision-making. Throughout my life I have been an active member of various not-for-profits, including ANTaR, the Alternative Law Journal, Amnesty International, Oxfam, the Community Refugee Settlement Scheme, and the MS Society. I am passionate about refugees, disability issues (including aged care), human rights and the need for law reform.

Chris Keating

Treasurer

I have been a member of the Justice for Refugees Management Committee since November 2018, and actively engaged in refugee issues for almost twenty years. I was a founding member of the earlier Justice for Refugees South Australia, from its launch in February 2002 and rebranding in 2003 until it ceased operation in 2007. I joined as a member of J4RSA when it reformed in 2015. Apart from my involvement with refugee issues, I was Executive Officer of the Adelaide Catholic Justice and Peace Commission from 1996 to 2010, and have been actively engaged in a wide range of peace and justice issues.

Linley Joomjaroen

Minutes Secretary

Linley Joomjaroen has a wealth of compassionate and committed experience working with refugees, people seeking asylum and migrants in professional, voluntary, academic and personal capacities. She has recently rejoined Justice for Refugees SA.

Andrew Clarke

Management Committee Member

From 1998 to 2003, Andrew Clarke served as Director of Community Services at Bowden Wesley Mission. During this time, many Middle Eastern men released from Port Hedland Detention Centre arrived in Adelaide without access to Centrelink support, relying primarily on assistance from Vinnies and Bowden.
This experience deepened Andrew’s involvement in refugee issues. Andrew became an early member of Justice for Refugees and served on the South Australian Council of Churches Refugee Committee.
Andrew later headed a Uniting Church centre focused on refugee support, overseeing programs that included public engagement, administration of a fund covering 40% of airfares for family reunions, and assistance with legal cases related to family reunion. Andrew also supported the Uniting Church chaplaincy at the Baxter Detention Centre.
A long-standing member of a Circle of Friends for two decades, Andrew’s commitment to refugee advocacy has remained a central part of his life and work.

Meredith Evans

Management Committee Member

I have been a member of Justice for Refugee SA management committee since it was restarted in 2015. I bring skills in advocacy as well as grassroots work in accompanying people seeking refuge in Australia through my membership of Circle 111. I have been a committed member of the management committee through participating in door knock campaigns and street meetings for the last two Federal elections. I have an ongoing interest and passion in advocating for students who are on SHEV 5 year visas and completed year 12 to be eligible to access the federal governments’ HECS-HELP loan scheme. Presently, if students want to continue their education they must pay their fees upfront as they are classified as international students by the Government.

Mussa Nawroazi

Management Committee Member And Sanctuary Runners Organiser

My name is Mussa Nawroazi. I am a criminal defence lawyer practising in South Australia and come from a refugee background. I arrived in Australia in 2011, and as a direct result of the advocacy and work of organisations such as Justice for Refugees SA, I was given the opportunity to rebuild my life in safety and dignity. Through the stability and opportunities Australia provided, I was able to complete my education, pursue tertiary studies, and ultimately qualify and practise as a criminal defence lawyer.

My lived experience as a former refugee strongly informs my professional work and my commitment to representing vulnerable and marginalised individuals within the justice system. I am an active member of Justice for Refugees and am deeply committed to refugee advocacy, law reform, and cultural inclusion, particularly ensuring that people from refugee and migrant backgrounds have meaningful access to justice. In 2023, I was honoured to receive the South Australian Commendation Award for Leadership in Languages and Culture and recently nominated as a finalist in the 7 News Young Achievers Award in the Law category.

Claire O’Connor

Management Committee Member

Claire O’Connor SC practises at the bar in South Australia and works, as well as in the refugee space, in family, regulatory, inquest, and personal injury cases including for women and children who have been sexually and physically abused. She is a barrister who has a long history in human rights throughout her practice of the law. Claire was involved in the Refugee Advocacy Service in the early 2000s. As a legal aid lawyer, she ran cases in the Federal Court for detainees in Baxter who were not being treated for their mental health illnesses with many being transferred to a psychiatric hospital after litigation was commenced. Claire is a co-author of Protection Denied: Abuse Condoned, Women on Nauru at Risk. 

Claire continues to advocate for refugees and asylum seekers, being involved in the Manus Island class action and in many civil suits for detainees harmed by failures of the Commonwealth while they were in detention. She has also appeared in the ART preventing the return of persons who have completed criminal sentences to their countries of origin.

Elizabeth Petersen

Management Committee Member

Elizabeth Petersen is an active member of Pilgrim Church in Adelaide, a member of their Mission Development committee, and a contributor to the Sunday Night Tea programme.
Elizabeth’s background is in Education. She has 45 years’ experience in teaching, counselling and administration, and has worked nationally, in both regional and urban settings; in low and high socio-economic settings, and I have also worked overseas for ten years, in local schools in Hong Kong. Over the last twenty years, she has also used her counselling skills outside the school system, to offer support for people at risk through drug and alcohol abuse. While in Hong Kong, she connected with The Vine, an NGO based through the Anglican church in Wanchai and worked with asylum seekers who were attempting to manage the harsh working conditions there, while minus a working visa and, thus, open to exploitation. As an extension of this work, Elizabeth also had the opportunity to spend time with a number of local people in Mongolia, north of Ulaanbaatar, as part of a support group of counsellors drawn from a network within Hong Kong.
Currently Elizabeth is continuing teaching at Marden Senior School on a part time basis, as an English, and Medicine and Dentistry teacher. Many of her students are new to Australia and inspire her with their determination to succeed and their capacity to overcome so many obstacles.

Rachael Murray

Sanctuary Runners Organiser