Our People

Our Purpose

Anti-Poverty Week supports the Australian community to have an increased understanding of poverty and to take action collectively to end it.

Governance and Structure

The Week is coordinated through a National Facilitating Group, with two honorary National Co-Chairs and two part-time staff. Our finances have been kindly managed by Uniting Communities SA for many years. Key organisational roles are played by honorary Co-Chairs and Facilitating Groups in each State and Territory. Our National and State Facilitating Groups represent a large range of community organisations working to fight poverty all around Australia.  Many of these have been our long term financial sponsors and we have also been joined by some philanthropic funds, a number of unions and the University of New South Wales.

National Facilitating Group 2023:

National Co-Chairs:

Eileen Baldry AO,  Professor of Criminology, UNSW Sydney

Eileen Baldry (BA, DipEd, MWP, PhD, FASSA) is a former Deputy Vice-Chancellor Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and current Professor of Criminology at UNSW Sydney. Professor Baldry has held senior positions in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and is the first female Deputy Vice-Chancellor at UNSW. Professor Baldry has taught social policy, social development and criminology over the past 30 years. Her research and publications focus on social justice particularly in relation to the criminal justice system. She is currently a Director on the Board of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre as well as the UNSW lead for their Poverty and Inequality Partnership with the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and joined APW as National Co-Chair in May 2018. Professor Baldry was awarded the NSW Justice Medal in 2009 and in 2016 was named in the AFR/Westpac 100 most influential women in Australia.

Simon Schrapel AM, CEO, Uniting Communities

Simon joined Uniting Communities as Chief Executive in mid-2010. His aim was to build on the organisation’s history and reputation as a progressive agency for social change, reconciliation, and fostering compassionate, resilient communities.  Originally trained in Social Work, he has spent more than 30 years in social services practice, management and policy development and advocacy. He has worked in both the Government and not-for-profit sectors in Australia and abroad.

In 2017, Simon was awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia which recognised his commitment to supporting children and families.

National Facilitating Group Members:

Kasy Chambers, CEO, Anglicare Australia

Chris Black, Head of Communications Brotherhood of St Laurence

Claerwen Little, National Director UnitingCare Australia

Anne Hampshire, Head of Research & Advocacy, The Smith Family

2023 State/Territory Co-Chairs:

National Staff:

Mark Jeffery, National Director

Mark Jeffery joined as the National Director of Anti-Poverty Week in May 2024. Mark has worked as a Media and Communications Manager across the not-for-profit sector, including at PeakCare Queensland (2019-2024) and QCOSS (2005-2012). He brings to the role his experience as a journalist and producer with the ABC and commercial media outlets (2012-2019) and before. Mark has organised APW activities in Queensland and worked on the state facilitating group over many years while at PeakCare and QCOSS. He builds on this experience and his connections across Queensland and Australia to lead APW in 2024.
Mark’s focus in 2024 will be to facilitate coordination across all APW participating organisations nationally, to support APW events in each state and territory and to maximise public engagement and media coverage.
Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts (Communications) from the University of South Australia.

Carolin Wenzel, Communication Adviser

Carolin has worked as a consultant to Anti-Poverty Week since 2021. She has more than 30 years of experience in Not-for-profit communications, and began her career as a producer with ABC Radio National.  She was the Campaigns and Media Manager for Early Childhood Australia (2015-2019); Public Affairs Manager for The Benevolent Society (2010-2015) and Communications Manager with Greenpeace Australia Pacific (2008-2010). See here for more about Carolin.