Mayor Bruce Simpson – Mayor, Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council

Bruce is  a strong Wakka Wakka and Wangan leader. Born and raised in the Aboriginal Community of Cherbourg, Southeast Queensland, he is currently the Mayor of Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council.

He has extensive knowledge, expertise and experience in management and leadership, including a Post-Graduate, Diploma in Health Promotion. He has researched the health practice within Cherbourg to build a collaborative practice which looks at a strengths-based service provision to deliver quality cultural appropriate services. He has been approached to begin my Masters and PhD in Leadership.

He is a strong small business educator, with lived experience of owning a consultancy. His Advanced Diploma in Business and Management and lived experience provided the foundational forte of how to work through complex systems to ensure ‘roadblocks’ are just a stepping stone to shared outcomes.

His strengths are First Nations Community Engagement and how the ‘foreign’ way of doing business with our people and communities brings collaborative innovative change and understanding of differences, and that we need each other, to create a liveable and harmonic society.

Tommy Hicks – Head of Culture and Community, Indigenous Energy Australia

A Badimia and Narungga man, Tommy's focus is on empowering Aboriginal communities in the clean energy transition. He cultivates relationships based on trust and respect between mob, industry and government, ensuring projects align with cultural values and support Closing the Gap. Tommy’s approach emphasises co-design and reciprocity, delivering generational benefits that prioritise outcomes over assets. His work strengthens cultural integrity and enables community-determined outcomes - whatever they may be. With a vision for real change, Tommy is playing his role in helping communities thrive by ensuring culture isn't the price we pay to capture opportunity in infrastructure.