Electronic Frontiers Australia Elects Its First Female Leadership Team

Electronic Frontiers Australia Elects Its First Female Leadership Team

At internet user advocacy group Electronic Frontiers Australia’s latest annual general meeting over the weekend, Lyndsey Jackson was elected unopposed as the new chair of EFA and Katherine Phelps was elected as the new vice-chair. This is the first time that women have been so strongly represented at such a high level for the EFA, and the new team is ready to keep fighting.

The EFA was founded in 1994 to represent Australian Internet users concerned with digital freedoms and rights, and regularly comments on issues like the government’s planned national facial recognition database, calling it “a complete betrayal of a fundamental civil liberty of all Australians”. It’s generally staffed by privacy advocates, and the new chair is no different.

Before she joined EFA, Ms Jackson lead the #notmydebt campaign against the — still on-going — Centrelink robodebt scandal, which she said “shone a very bright light on the lack of transparency and oversight inherent in rolling out a poorly tested algorithm on a large population without understanding the consequences.”

In her candidate speech at EFA’s Annual General Meeting, she spoke of the needs of the not-for-profit sector as well as “the digital divide and knowledge gaps that happen regionally.” We look forward to seeing EFA continue their advocacy under Ms Jackson’s leadership.

Speaking about her recent election, Ms Jackson said, “It is an honour, and it marks a significant point in the history of EFA to be the first woman to be elected to this role. To be supported in this role by new vice-chair Katherine Phelps is particularly gratifying, as we are both passionate about encouraging and supporting women to take on leadership roles in civil society.” [EFA]


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