Jane McAdam named a NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year Finalist

Kaldor Centre Director Jane McAdam is one of four powerful female role models announced as finalists for the 2017 NSW Premier's Award for Woman of the Year.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian will choose the winner, who will be announced on March 8 at a Sydney breakfast celebrating International Women’s Day and the outstanding contributions made by women across the state.

The other finalists are cochlear implant surgeon Catherine Birman, cardiothoracic and heart lung transplant surgeon Emily Granger, and Fran Boyle, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Sydney and Director of the Patricia Ritchie Centre for Cancer Care and Research at the Mater Hospital North Sydney.

Professor McAdam, one of the world’s leading scholars in international refugee law, is at the forefront of devising legal and policy solutions for people displaced by the impacts of disasters and climate change, and is currently advising the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) about its own strategic engagement on this issue. Her work ranges from strategising on international refugee policy developments with senior United Nations officials in Geneva, through to interviewing communities whose homes are threatened by environmental degradation or sea-level rise, such as in Tuvalu, Kiribati and Bangladesh. Professor McAdam’s approach is driven by a deep sense of social justice, equity and the rule of law.  

Her nomination for the Premier’s Award for Woman of the Year comes at a time when this work is critically important. There are more than 65 million people worldwide currently displaced from their homes – the highest number since the Second World War. It is a complex challenge, and we need innovative and rigorous thinking to promote lasting solutions to displacement. The actions we take today will determine the future well-being of the world, Australia and NSW.

The NSW Government says it holds the awards as part of its commitment to building an equitable, inclusive and safe society where all women are valued and respected, can contribute meaningfully, and can enjoy the rights, freedoms and protections to which everyone in NSW is entitled. 

The other award categories are Aboriginal Woman of the Year, chosen by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Sarah Mitchell; and, chosen by popular vote, Community Hero; Business Woman of the Year, Young Woman of the Year and Regional Woman of the Year.

Full profiles of the finalists are available here.

Read Professor McAdam’s article ‘Defending the Refugee Convention’.