Appointment of Lived Experience Advisors
The Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner is pleased to announce the appointment of four Lived Experience Advisors to support the Office and advance key initiatives under the Office’s Strategic Plan 2025-2028.
The appointment of Lived Experience Advisors reflects the Commissioner’s commitment to embedding survivor leadership and lived experience at the centre of Australia’s response to modern slavery. The Advisors will play a vital role in ensuring the Commissioner’s work is grounded in the knowledge, insights and priorities of people directly affected by exploitation. Two of the Advisors, Matilda Constable-Webb and Moe Turaga, will engage publicly with the Office and its stakeholders, while two Advisors have decided to support the Office on a confidential basis. Together, the four Advisors bring lived expertise of human trafficking, forced labour and debt bondage, visa-related coercion and harm, forced marriage risk, sexual exploitation, family violence and high-control groups.
The Lived Experience Advisors were appointed by the Commissioner following an open Expression of Interest process that was co-designed and implemented with people with lived experience. The process invited applications from people with lived experience of all forms of modern slavery. To reduce barriers to participation, the Commissioner's Office welcomed applications in a variety of formats. The Office was pleased to receive 30 applications, demonstrating the growing strength of lived experience leadership and participation in Australia.
Commissioner Chris Evans said the appointments mark an important step in delivering on the Office’s Strategic Plan priority to transform systems to centre survivors and people with lived experience.
“Survivors deserve to shape the laws, policies and systems that affect them. These appointments reflect our commitment to survivor-centred systems change – moving beyond consultation, towards leadership, co-design and shared decision-making,” the Commissioner said.
"At its core, meaningful engagement is inclusive and facilitates opportunities for affected people to contribute both lived and professional experience in a safe, respectful and transformative way. Our Advisors will be supported through orientation, skills development, independent debriefing, flexible engagement arrangements, and remuneration.”
The Advisors will contribute to policy development, national advocacy, business engagement and best-practice approaches to engaging affected people, supporting the Commissioner’s statutory functions under legislation.
Newly appointed Lived Experience Advisor Matilda Constable-Webb said, “We cannot build effective anti-slavery systems at a distance from the people they are intended to serve. I am truly honoured to be appointed as a Lived Experience Advisor to the Office of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner and to support work that recognises survivor leadership as essential to meaningful reform. Embedding lived expertise into helping shape policy and practice creates stronger, safer, and more human responses, not only for recovery, but for prevention and long term systemic and social change.”
Lived Experience Advisor Moe Turaga emphasised, “As rights holders, people with lived experience must be recognised as experts in our own lives. To be appointed here means we’ve moved beyond consultations and are committed to genuine partnership with dignity and respect.”
Lived Experience Advisor Belle, whose name has been changed for confidentiality, highlighted the transformative power of speaking out. Speaking directly to other survivors, she said, “I was once hidden by fear, exploitation and manipulation, but speaking the truth turned that pain into power, which could be used as your voice too."
Public Lived Experience Advisors
Matilda Constable-Webb is a proud Wiradjuri woman, mother, author and nationally recognised survivor advocate who transforms her lived experience of modern slavery into systemic reform through state inquiries and survivor-led frameworks. Her approach centres on embedding lived experience into policy design to create practical pathways for inclusion, justice, and healing. Matilda has made contributions to state and federal anti-slavery reform, consulted with the Australian and NSW government sectors, supported in national strategic planning, and co-designed DEI initiatives.
Moe Turaga is a leading lived experience voice on forced labour, modern slavery, and human trafficking. He transforms his powerful personal story into systemic change, bringing authentic frontline insight to corporate, community, and government audiences across national and global stages. From parliamentary inquiries to boardrooms and church halls, Moe advocates against exploitation and for remediation of those affected. He engages directly with vulnerable workers across industries including horticulture, meat processing, construction, hospitality, and aged care, and maintains strong family and cultural connections across Pacific diaspora communities — giving him critical insight into the experiences of those most at risk in Australian operations and supply chains.