Luke Twyford
Principal Commissioner.
Gender pronouns: he/him.
Luke joined the QFCC as Chief Executive and Principal Commissioner in January 2022. Luke is an accomplished senior executive, with rich experience in the child and family sector.
Luke’s career spans more than 20 years across Commonwealth, New South Wales and Northern Territory governments in the areas of reform, research and evidence, integrity, audit, governance and complaints management.
Prior to joining the QFCC, Luke worked for nine years with the Northern Territory Government, leading critical reform of the child protection system and its legal frameworks. This included legislating a charter of rights for children in care and leading reform in family support and out-of-home care programs to empower children and families and reduce abuse, neglect and youth crime. He was also responsible for monitoring the performance of the Child Safety Department and delivering projects to improve the systems designed to keep children in care safe.
Luke holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honors from the University of Wollongong. He has extensive experience providing evidence to courts, inquiries and commissions. He led the whole-of-government responses to two royal commissions, with his evidence on system reform and child voices provided to Royal Commission on the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory the most frequently quoted material in the final report.
Luke is a special advisor to QUT’s Australian Child Maltreatment Study, a pioneering research program into the scale and impact of child abuse and neglect in Australia. He was Chairperson of the Child and Youth Development Research Partnership, an initiative of leading research institute the Menzies School of Health Research, which aims to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.
Luke’s parents fostered a number of children throughout his childhood, with his own lived experience and those of his foster brothers and sisters profoundly shaping the perspective he brings to his work and his passion in advocating for the rights and wellbeing of children and young people.
Natalie Lewis
Commissioner.
Gender pronouns: she/her.
Natalie Lewis is a descendant of the Gamilaraay Nation and was appointed the Commissioner of the QFCC in May 2020. Natalie works to bring the rights of children to life and drive changes that improve the safety, wellbeing and interests of children and young people.
Natalie’s career spans more than 25 years across youth justice, child and family services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, providing direct service, program and policy development, and organisational leadership both in Australia and the United States.
Previously, Natalie was the Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP) and held appointments on the Queensland First Children and Families Board and the Joint Ministerial Council for Closing the Gap. She also served for more than 8 years on the National Executive of SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, and co-chairs Family Matters: Strong communities, Strong culture, Stronger children, the national campaign to eliminate the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in statutory child protection systems. In these roles, Natalie’s leadership has led to significant reform in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child protection and family services sectors.
Natalie is an adjunct research fellow at Griffith University, a member of the Australian Child Rights Task Force and a member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Group for the successor plan to the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009-2020.
Natalie remains fiercely committed to progressing a transformational reform agenda to ensure the rights of children are upheld in Queensland and nationally.
Jaime Blackburn
Executive Director - Government Relations and Corporate Services.
Gender pronouns: she/her.
Jaime is a senior executive and qualified accountant with extensive experience in both the public and private sector, having spent a significant period of her career delivering professional services within a ‘Big 4’ environment in Queensland and in the UK.
Jaime previously worked for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and held roles in corporate governance, risk management and internal audit services. Jaime has also acted as a risk management advisor to other government Audit and Risk Management Committees.
Jaime leads the teams that delivers on the QFCC’s legislated child death prevention functions. This includes maintaining Queensland’s child death register and identifying patterns and trends, with a focus on external causes of death which are avoidable and represent the greatest opportunity to prevent future deaths.
Jaime also led the design and implementation of the Child Death Review Board and now oversees the CDRB Secretariat activities. The Secretariat supports the Board to undertake systemic reviews relating to the child protection system following relevant child deaths.
Penny Creamer
Executive Director - First Nations and Child Rights Advocacy.
Gender pronouns: she/her.
Penny Creamer is the Executive Director - First Nations and Child Rights Advocacy has been with the QFCC since June 2018.
Penny brings a wealth of knowledge to the QFCC, having worked in child and youth services and the education sector for more than two decades.
Penny has extensive experience working in Indigenous education, setting up early childhood programs in remote areas of Queensland including Cape York, Torres Strait Islands and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Further to this work, Penny led the implementation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and family centres across 10 Queensland communities.
Working both internationally and here in Queensland, Penny has led a variety of policy and programs, including her work setting up the partnership agreement between child safety and education departments to improve educational outcomes for children in out-of-home care and the Bullying. No Way! campaign which provides information and ideas for students, parents and teachers to combat bullying.