Leeanne Caton

Leeanne is a Kalkadoon / Waanyi Woman, born in Queensland and raised in the Northern Territory. She has worked in the Aboriginal Affairs arena for over 35 years, across every social indicator area. She has held executive positions in the NT/WA and Commonwealth Governments and is an experienced ACCO Chief Executive Officer.

Leeanne has a strong commitment to Aboriginal Economic Development and Governance and, has been Ministerially appointed to a number of Boards, including Aboriginal Hostels Ltd, Aboriginal Benefits Account Advisory Committee (Chair) and Desert Knowledge Australia.

She Chaired the Aboriginal Housing NT Board for several years and was a Director on the Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT, APONT. She has also completed the Australian Institute of Company Directors Course and in 2018 completed a refresher course in line with the outcomes of the Royal Commission in the Banking Sector".

She is a Telstra Business Woman Award recipient and in 2020 was awarded the "Top End NAIDOC Life time Achievement Award".

What does NAIDOC mean to you?

The theme for NAIDOC 50 years ago was "Self Determination". In many ways, we are still striving for this. We need to remember where we have come from and, acknowledge the struggles of our Elders and what they went through to get us to where we are today. 

As the theme suggests, we need to keep the Fire Burning and be proud of who we are. We have future generations to think of in order to keep our Culture strong.