The Commission recognises we are visitors to the country we travel across and work in and that many of our Local Commissioners are Traditional Owners and Elders of their communities. The Commission acknowledges and pays our respects to the Traditional Owners, Elders and Teachers of these lands; to those of the past whose unseen hands guide the actions and decisions of the Commissioners today; to those of the present working for their communities setting the example for the next generation and to those of the future, the Elders not yet born who will inherit the legacy of our efforts.
Tammy Williams was appointed as Commissioner of the FRC on 2 September 2019. Since her appointment she has been working hard to apply her own work culture and extensive business acumen to Commission operations. Commissioner Williams leads by using an adaptive and authentic leadership style drawn equally from both her professional and lived experiences as an Aboriginal woman.
Tammy Williams is a Murri woman from the Guwa people near Winton and the Wangan and Jagalingou peoples of central Queensland. She was awarded a law degree from the Queensland University of Technology in 2001, after which she was admitted as a Barrister to the Supreme Court of Queensland and High Court of Australia in 2002. She is a highly experienced professional who has worked successfully within and outside government. She has a great understanding of the Commission and welfare reform communities, having acted as the Director-General for the Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships in the past, and as such, a member of the FR Board.
Commissioner David Robert Glasgow is a proud North Queenslander, having lived all but two or three years of his life in the north. Born in Cairns, he completed his schooling there, apart from time spent boarding in Charters Towers. He then studied law in Cairns with McDonnell Harris & Co, today simply known as McDonnells Law. After admission as a solicitor, Commissioner Glasgow joined the long-established and prestigious firm of Roberts Leu and North and soon became a partner. He stayed with the firm for 27 years, becoming a senior partner and gained wide experience in virtually all areas of the law. In 1998 he was appointed a Magistrate and served in Brisbane and the south-east for the next year. From there a placement in Cairns followed which included a year spent undertaking circuit work in the Cape York Peninsula region and on Thursday Island, where he became familiar with Indigenous communities and aware of their problems and social dysfunction. A transfer to Townsville in the position of Coordinating Magistrate followed. In that role he took a special interest in developing the Murri Court and was instrumental in preparing the functions and procedures of the Murri Court throughout Queensland. His work in the Childrens and Drug Courts in North Queensland further exposed him to the particular problems of Indigenous peoples, many quite young, who appeared before those courts in much greater numbers than those who came from the wider community.
Commissioner Glasgow’s experiences led the Bligh State Government to seek his guidance as they went about implementing the Family Responsibilities Commission model of welfare and social reform in the Cape. The model enshrined in the FRC Act provided for the establishment of the FRC in Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge and the appointment of a retired Magistrate or a person of like background to be the Commissioner. Mr Glasgow was appointed to the position on 25 April 2008. The Commissioner was, with his Commissioner colleagues, reappointed for a further term of three years from January 1 2015.
Commissioner Glasgow has since then gained the respect of both the Queensland and Australian Governments who have sought to retain his services during the years in which the life of the trial has been extended. That it can work effectively is demonstrated by the fact that under his leadership and especially the leadership of Local Commissioners, the Commission is recognised as a true partner in reforming life behaviours in Indigenous communities.
On 26 January 2015 Commissioner Glasgow was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
