This panel will discuss First Nations women's health and maternity care as part of NAIDOC week. It is hosted by Jessica Goldstone-Smith, ACM Casual Midwifery Advisor.

Panelists
Melanie Briggs is an Aboriginal woman descendent from the Gumbangirr and Dharawal peoples. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Midwifery and Masters of Primary Maternity Care and is an Endorsed Medicare Provider Midwife - the first endorsed Aboriginal midwife in NSW. The mother of two beautiful children, she lives and works on the lands of the 13 Clans of the South Coast, New South Wales. Mel works at Waminda South Coast Women’s Health & Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation as the Birthing on Country Executive Manager, spearheading an innovative community-driven Birthing on Country project that incorporates plans to build the first ever Aboriginal-led birth centre in Australia. Melanie is committed to seeing Aboriginal women birthing on their homelands, claiming their sovereign birthing rights, practising traditional lore and continuing cultural connections to Country for their baby and families. She is driven by a desire to see Aboriginal women and families being valued, respected and validated for their knowledge of over 60,000 years of birthing bloodlines of the oldest living civilisation on earth.

Sonita Falkiner
Sonita is a proud Gunggari and Wakka Wakka woman from Queensland. She is an Aboriginal Clinical Midwifery Consultant with Growing Deadly Families (GDF) at the Office of Chief Midwife Officer (OCMwO). She is passionate about improving health outcomes and ensuring culturally safe, responsive, and appropriate care for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander women, babies, and their families. She is committed to advocating for and delivering enriched maternity care and support through pregnancy, birth, and the postnatal period.

Drawing on both her clinical expertise and cultural knowledge, Sonita contributes to the co-design and implementation of First Nations maternity models of care that strengthen health outcomes and empowers families and communities. Sonita acknowledges that is a great honour and privilege to be entrusted with the care of First Nations women and to work alongside their families and community during such a culturally significant life journey.

Professor Donna Hartz
Professor Donna Hartz has over 40 years of experience as a midwife, nurse, educator, lecturer, manager and researcher. She is the conjoint Chair of Midwifery at Western Sydney University and Western Sydney Local Health District, NSW, Australia. She is a descendant of the Kamilaroi people. Her main research foci include caseload midwifery care, Birthing on Country (BoC) models of care, First Nations breastfeeding education, midwifery education pathways, midwifery student clinical education models and smoking cessation in pregnancy. She currently co-leads the BoC DillyBag toolkit project with the BoC Best Start to Life - Centre for Research Excellence.