Tony McAvoy is a Wirdi man from the central Queensland area around Clermont and he is also a native titleholder in his grandmother’s country around Thargomindah in southwest Queensland. Tony is a barrister and Australia’s first Indigenous Senior Counsel. He is Co-Chair of the Indigenous Legal Issues Committee of the Law Council of Australia, and was recently Counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Youth Detention in the Northern Territory. Between 2011 and 2013, Tony was an Acting Part-Time Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court. In July 2022 he was elected as a director of the NSW/ACT Aboriginal Legal Service. He has developed a strong native title practice and has successfully appeared for claimants in several land claims. He has also acquired significant experience in the areas of environmental law, administrative law, human rights and discrimination law, coronial inquests and criminal law. He has supported the Foundation with advice on consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as relevant to the Foundation’s criminal justice investments.
