Kristy McKellar OAM

Kristy McKellar OAM’s leadership and passion in creating justice for all, particularly women and girls on a global scale, is driven by a rare intersection of compassion, courage and deep professional expertise within the justice and community services sectors. Over more than two decades, she has witnessed the “unbalanced scales” of justice firsthand and has championed bold, systematic change to ensure equality is not just an ideal, but an everyday reality.

Kristy has led and contributed to high-impact reform initiatives across justice, corrections and broader public sector systems, with a strong focus on leadership, accountability and gender equality. Her experience includes influencing and contributing to multiple Royal Commissions, introducing new legislation in Victoria to better protect victims, mandating training modules within Victoria Police, consulting to the Law Reform Commission, and disrupting deeply entrenched workplace cultures to improve safety, equality and integrity across complex and global organisations.

Her career spans extensive work within correctional services, the prison system, home-based care services and child protection. Kristy served as the youngest member of the Parole Board, influencing decision-making at the highest levels of the criminal justice system. Across decades of clinical and community-based work, she has worked alongside women whose voices are too often unheard, championing gender-responsive leadership that ensure policy and practice meet real life, not just theory.

Kristy has played an integral role in training and educating magistrates on the inconsistencies, gaps and systematic failures of the justice system. She continues to sit on task forces with judicial leaders to highlight the re-traumatisation women and girls experience when navigating systems that should be protecting them and allowing their voices to be heard. Her powerful advocacy is grounded in lived experience, inclusive leadership and a deep belief in fairness, earning her widespread respect and recognition, including the awarding of an Order of Australia Medal for her services to the justice system.

A strong advocate for women and girls with disabilities, Kristy consistently highlights the significant barriers this demographic faces when seeking justice. She advocates for those who have suffered abuse, violence, discrimination and crimes that disproportionately impact women and girls from a young age. Her own lived experience navigating the justice system has informed impactful findings within Royal Commissions, and strengthened her ability to influence policymakers to drive meaningful reform.

Over the past decade, Kristy has played a pivotal role in shaping and developing the globally recognised Champions of Change Coalition. The Coalition drives gender equality by uniting leaders to address systemic barriers through leadership, accountability, representation, safety, and care, rather than placing the burden of change on women. Kristy’s work focuses on embedding gender equality into the core operations and cultures of organisations, ensuring change is structural, measurable, and lasting.

Kristy has worked extensively with male-dominated organisations closely linked to the justice system, leading to significant workplace reforms for employees, customers and communities, including the introduction of paid family violence leave. Through advocacy, service reform and systems leadership, she has helped create safer pathways, fairer access, and stronger outcomes for women and girls.

Kristy’s leadership is not loud, but it is lasting. It is measured in changed systems, empowered communities and futures made more equal. Her message is clear: balancing the scales of justice requires daily leadership, accountability and unwavering commitment to ensuring women and girls are treated fairly in every system they encounter.