Dani Linder

Since completing her Ph.D. Dr Linder has published in scholarly journals and edited collections, as well as making submissions for law reform in the field of First Nations justice. Dr. Linder has also served in the Senior Uluru Dialogue Leadership that holds the cultural mandate and authority for the Uluru Statement from the Heart for several years, a role that has seen her travel the country and engage with Indigenous communities and community leaders. Dr. Linder is a leading Indigenous legal advocate for enhancing Indigenous political participation and representation within Australian law and policy decision-making processes within Indigenous, legal, and academic communities as well as in the broader media.

Prior to becoming an Indigenous legal academic, Dr. Linder also previously worked as a lawyer in a number of different areas of law for several Commonwealth and State government agencies. This experience, alongside her grassroots upbringing on Bundjalung land and her connection to her Aboriginal community, and cultural identity, influenced her passion, drive, and commitment to advocating for Indigenous social justice issues and human rights. Dr. Linder has authored on complex constitutional law issues, both alone and in collaboration, numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, an expert analysis report of the consultative process of the government’s co-design process for an Indigenous Voice, op-eds published in national print and online media. Dr. Linder has also presented in a number of webinar series that have discussed the importance of establishing a constitutionally enshrined First Nations Voice to Parliament and she is an experienced commentator in the national media on the Uluru Statement and has presented her scholarship as an expert for the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, various radio and television news broadcasts, at the Sydney Bar Association, before Federal Indigenous Senators and Members of Parliament, the NSW Crown Solicitors Office, multinational corporations and the Cambridge University Decolonizing Criminology Network.

In 2021, when the Morrison government sought to reform the Commonwealth Electoral Law Act 1918 to add further red tape to voter I.D laws which would disproportionately impact Indigenous voter outcomes, Dr. Linder was a prominent Indigenous legal advocate who supported the rejection of that proposal as evidenced through her activism and commentary in The Conversation, The National Indigenous Times, the Western Australian Newspaper, and the Electoral Regulation Research Network. Dr. Linder has also provided expert advice on Indigenous voting and candidacy representation for the UNSW Indigenous Law Centre and Public Interest Advocacy Centre's "Towards Truth" project which is a world first-of-its-kind interactive information database that maps legislation and policies that have impacted upon First Nations’ lives throughout Australian history to enable truth-telling about our history.