Meet the staff
Brian Babington
Brian Babington has been the Chief Executive Officer of Families Australia since 2005. He serves, or has served, on a range of community, professional and advisory bodies, including: the National Framework for Protecting Australia's Children Implementation Working Group (2009-current); Parentline ACT (President 2004-2009); the Alliance for Forgotten Australians’ Advisory Committee (2007-current); the Australian Families and Children Council (2007-09); the Australian Council for Children and Parenting (Deputy Chair, 2005-07); the Australian Government Carer Payment (Child) Review Taskforce (2007-08); and the ACT Counselling and Psychotherapy Association (President, 2003-04).
He is the facilitator of the Coalition of Organisations Committed to the Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children (2007-current), a grouping of major national community sector organisations and academics, which is working with Governments to implement the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020 . He chaired the 2007 National Family Wellbeing Symposium, the 2006 National Child Protection Conference, and co-chaired the 2009 Victorian Kinship Carers’ Conference.
As a 2008-09 Sir Winston Churchill Fellow, Brian examined child protection systems in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the US. He is a counsellor and an author (Come Riprendersi Dalle Mazzate, Sperling & Kupfer, Milan, 2008, and Bouncing Back, Finch Publishing, Sydney, 2004). He is an Ambassador for White Ribbon Day, a campaign which raises awareness about violence toward women.
In his earlier career, as an Australian diplomat, he ran Australia’s overseas development assistance program in Burma and represented Australia at four UN General Assemblies on humanitarian, community development and environmental issues. He holds BA (Hons.) and MA degrees and a Graduate Diploma in Community Counselling.
Eris Harrison AE
Eris joined Families Australia in January 2007 as a Policy and Projects Manager. Eris most recently worked at the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs as a Section Manager. She has worked in areas including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s issues, child care, child protection, out-of-home care and Forgotten Australians. She is an Accredited Editor.
Stella Conroy
Stella has a long history of employment in the human services, primarily in organisations that support families with young children. In recent years Stella’s focus has been in management and leadership of organisations that specialised in improving access to services for Indigenous, sole parent and culturally diverse families. She has served on various management committees and is studying for a Master in Human Services.
Jennifer Horsfield
Jennifer has been the Office Manager and Manager of National Families Week since February 2003. Jennifer has had a long career in office work, being employed by organisations throughout Australia and overseas. She enjoys being part of the team at Families Australia and working to promote the interests of families.
Cassandra Inkley
Cassandra has been a Bookkeeper for over 10 years and has mostly worked within the Not For Profit sector. Cassandra started out working for a CPA who taught her a great deal about accounting, bookkeeping and financial management. Then while having her two beautiful children she worked from home and developed her own successful bookkeeping business. Currently Cassandra works part time for Families Australia which enables her to work during school hours and be available for her children after school.