Tanya Hosch

Tanya Hosch is an Indigenous Australian social activist and business executive. She has held leadership roles in sport, the arts, social justice and public policy. She was joint campaign manager of the "Recognise" campaign run by Reconciliation Australia from 2012 to 2016. At her appointment as social inclusion manager to the Australian Football League (AFL) in June 2016, she became the first Indigenous person and the second woman appointed to an executive position in the AFL.

Early life and education

Hosch's birth mother, a white woman, was of Welsh origin, while her birth father is a Torres Strait Islander man. She was adopted by a white Australian woman and Aboriginal man after her parents' 16-year-old eldest child was killed in a car accident. The fact that she was adopted was never hidden from her, and her adoptive home was a loving, caring and stable one, although money was tight and her parents worked very hard.[1]

She experienced racism at school, which affected her confidence. She completed secondary school at Enfield High School, in Adelaide's northern suburbs.[1]

She did not expect to go to university, thinking that was for clever people, starting work at the Women's Information Switchboard[lower-alpha 1] instead. Being a feminist organisation, colleagues encouraged her to attend university, which she did and loved, studying social work part-time.[1]

Career

Hosch was led into advocacy for Indigenous Australians when she was working in the public sector and was placed at the Australian Human Rights Commission in Sydney soon after the publication of the Bringing Them Home report on Aboriginal children stolen from their families in 1997. Later that year she attended the Reconciliation Convention, where Pat Dodson delivered an address which proved a turning point for her.[1]

Hosch held advocacy and consulting high-level public sector roles, including at the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.[lower-alpha 2] She connected with Larissa Behrendt in Canberra, and became friends with Jason Glanville.[1] She was instrumental in the creation of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples,[3][4] and a foundation director of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre[5] and the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute.[3]

2012–2016: "Recognise" campaign

From 2012 Hosch was joint campaign director[6] (with Tim Gartrell[7]) of the "Recognise" campaign run by Reconciliation Australia.[1] The campaign followed the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution.[8] Hosch was also the public face of the campaign, after addressing the National Press Club in February 2013. In May 2013, her team toured Australia aiming to inform and involve people in the bid to get Indigenous people recognised in the Australian Constitution. This included public advocacy, building support and partnerships behind the scenes, and consulting Aboriginal people in remote areas. Beginning in Melbourne and finishing at Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory, the trail was inspired by the "Long Walk" from Melbourne to Canberra undertaken in 2004 by AFL footballer Michael Long.[1] On 13 February 2013, Hosch addressed the National Press Club. The title of her address, delivered with Jason Glanville, was "Recognition: Why It's Right".[9][10]

The campaign was highly successful, raising awareness of the issue from around 30% to 70%,[8] winding up in 2017.[11]

2016: AFL social inclusion manager

Hosch was named the general manager of inclusion and social policy at the AFL in June 2016, beating Nova Peris to the role. She became the second female executive at the AFL,[12] and the first Indigenous person in such a role.[13]

Her term started on 29 August 2016, and[3] as of April 2023 she remains social inclusion manager.[14]

Hosch advocated for the creation of a statue of Nicky Winmar (the first of an Indigenous player, erected at Perth Stadium in 2019[15]), and helped to bring about an apology by AFL for Adam Goodes, after they had handled his 2015 crowd abuse badly.[10]

Other roles

Hosch has served as chair of Price Waterhouse Coopers Indigenous Consulting, and served on the board of Bangarra Dance Theatre. She has been a director of the Indigenous Land Corporation, the Australian Leadership Centre, the Australian Centre for Social Innovation, the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute, and the Australian Red Cross Society.[4]

She was appointed to the Review Panel for the Act of Recognition in 2013 to provide a report to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. The final report of the panel was published in September 2014.[16]

Hosch was one of 16 members of the Referendum Council, which was appointed by the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and leader of the opposition Bill Shorten on 7 December 2015 "to talk to Australians about changing our Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples". The Council handed down its final report on 30 June 2017.[17]

As of April 2023 she is a member of Chief Executive Women and the NAB Indigenous Advisory Group, as well as a board member of Circus Oz.[4]

Recognition
  • 2013: Named in the South Australian Women's Honour Roll[18][4]

Personal life

Hosch has a daughter named Marley.[1]

Footnotes
  1. Women's Information Switchboard (WIS), later Women's Information Service, was then a mainly volunteer-run service opened in 1978 by SA premier Don Dunstan, then in the Institute Building on the corner of North Terrace and Kintore Avenue.[2]
  2. The predecessor of Reconciliation Australia.

References
  1. Murphy, Katharine (26 May 2013). "Tanya Hosch: adoption, dislocation and the fight for recognition". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  2. "Women's Movement page 6". SA Memory. State Library of South Australia. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  3. "Indigenous rights campaigner Tanya Hosch appointed as AFL diversity chief". The Guardian. 22 June 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  4. National Library of Australia news - 12 p91 National Library of Australia - 2001 "A strong contingent of Indigenous Australians, including Kerry Arabena of the Meriam people of the Torres Strait, Tanya Hosch, a director of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, and Indigenous barrister Louise Taylor, now a ..."
  5. "Hosch". AFR Women of Influence. Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  6. "Former ALP National Secretary Tim Gartrell to run Indigenous referendum campaign". The Australian. 17 April 2012. Archived from the original on 29 May 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  7. "Recognise campaign successful in raising awareness". Reconciliation Australia. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  8. "Recognition: Why It's Right" ABC News, 13 February 2013.
  9. Quigley, Genevieve; Naughton, Julia (12 November 2022). "Sunday Life Trailblazers: Meet the women reshaping Australia". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  10. Brennan, Bridget (11 August 2017). "Recognise campaign ends after making 'significant contribution'". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  11. Thompson, Matt (22 June 2016). "Indigenous leader Tanya Hosch named as new AFL diversity chief". AFL. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
  12. "Tanya Hosch". Australian of the Year. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  13. Ryan, Peter (17 April 2023). "AFL 2023: Racism rampant as league braces for impact of Voice to parliament referendum". The Age. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  14. "Historic Nicky Winmar statue to be unveiled at Optus Stadium". The West Australian. 6 July 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  15. Anderson, John; Hosch, Tanya; Eccles, Richard (1 September 2014). "Final report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act of Recognition Review Panel". Referendum Council. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia). Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  16. "The Council". Referendum Council. 2 January 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  17. South Australian Women’s Honour Roll
  18. The Australian Women’s Weekly Power List of Australia’s 50 most powerful women
  19. Turner, Brook (30 September 2021). "AFR Power List 2021: The top 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia are Grace Tame, Ash Barty, Chris Hemsworth, Emma McKeon, The Kid Laroi, Tanya Hosch, Bruna Papandrea, the Betoota Advocate, Stephen Page, Mary-Louise McLaws". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 18 April 2023.

Further reading
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