Racquel Austin-Abdullah - No. 1 Victorian Senate

Racquel is a Grandmother living in Melbourne. Racquel is proud off her Barkindji and Afghan Cameleer ancestors. Her father is from Broken Hill and she has lived in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, and South Australia before settling in Naam/Melbourne. Racquel has always been politically minded and a staunch advocate for her people and Indigenous people in general. She was an early member of the IAPA and was instrumental in both the attempts as State registration there and Laylah Al-Saimary’s successful nomination and campaigning as an IAPA backed independent in 2022. That, and her recruiting of many new people, contributed to the fact we have over 720 IAPA members in Victoria. Racquel has also prepared newsletters and other material for the party.

Racquel has a young adult daughter with co-disabilities who is under the guardianship of the ‘Office of the Public Advocate (OPA). She would like to agitate for government reform so that families are not ignored and left out of the system. She feels the OPA is silent, hidden and faceless and needs to be changed.