Monash Partners Council is pleased to welcome Vicky Peters as its inaugural First Nations Advisor to Council.
A proud Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman, Vicky brings more than 20 years of experience across Aboriginal health, higher education and system reform.
We spoke with Vicky about her journey, her priorities in the role, and her vision for strengthening First Nations voices in healthcare leadership and decision-making.
Can you tell us a little about your background and what has shaped your journey to this role?
I’m a proud Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman, and my journey has been shaped by my community, my culture and a deep sense of responsibility to create better outcomes for our people. I’ve spent more than two decades working across Aboriginal health, higher education and systemic reform, and throughout that time my focus has always been on creating pathways, embedding First Nations perspectives and driving meaningful change.
I started my career in Oral Health roles, including working in rural and remote communities, which gave me first-hand insight into the barriers our people face in accessing safe and equitable care. From there, I moved into leadership roles across universities and now health, where I’ve worked to influence systems, not just outcomes—because lasting change comes from how organisations think, operate and make decisions.
What has shaped me most is that balance between lived experience and professional responsibility. I carry my community with me in everything I do, and that grounds my leadership in both purpose and accountability. I’ve learned to navigate systems that weren’t designed with us in mind, while staying connected to the voices and realities at the grassroots. That’s what has led me to this role.
What are your key priorities as First Nations Advisor to Council?
My key priorities centre on ensuring that First Nations perspectives are not only heard, but genuinely embedded in decision-making at all levels.
Firstly, it’s about strengthening governance—making sure that cultural safety, equity and accountability are built into the structures, not treated as an add-on or compliance exercise. This includes supporting Council to understand its responsibilities in relation to Closing the Gap and broader reform agendas.
Secondly, I’m focused on building capability—supporting leadership and the workforce to deepen their understanding of cultural safety and what it means in practice. This is about moving beyond awareness to real behavioural and systemic change.
Thirdly, I see partnership as critical. My role is to ensure there is strong, respectful engagement with First Nations communities, Elders and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, and that these relationships inform strategy, service design and delivery.
Ultimately, my priority is to help shift the mindset from seeing First Nations health as a small or separate issue, to recognising it as a core responsibility and a marker of a high-quality, safe health system for everyone.
What does meaningful partnership with First Nations communities look like to you?
Meaningful partnership is built on trust, respect, and shared decision-making—it’s not transactional, and it’s not symbolic.
To me, it means engaging early, not after decisions are already made. It means listening deeply to community voices, respecting cultural authority and recognising that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations and Elders bring expertise that is just as critical as clinical or organisational knowledge.
It also requires a genuine shift in power—being willing to share decision-making, to be guided by community priorities and to invest in relationships over time. Partnership can’t be rushed, and it can’t be driven purely by organisational timelines.
Importantly, meaningful partnership is also about accountability. It’s about being transparent, following through on commitments and ensuring that engagement leads to tangible outcomes for community—not just conversation.
At its core, it’s about working together in a way that honours culture, strengthens trust and ultimately improves outcomes for our people.
What impact do you hope to have through this role?
The impact I hope to have is both systemic and deeply human.
At a systems level, I want to see genuine cultural safety embedded across organisations, where it’s understood as fundamental to safe, high-quality care, not an optional extra. That means influencing governance, workforce capability and models of care so that equity is built into how the system operates every day.
But just as importantly, I want to see change in the lived experiences of our people. I don’t want Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients walking into healthcare settings feeling unsafe, unseen or judged. I want them to feel respected, understood and confident in the care they receive.
I also want to strengthen the experience of our workforce—to ensure they feel supported, valued and not carrying the cultural load alone.
Ultimately, I see my role as helping to open and hold those doors open—so that those who come after me don’t just enter the system, but thrive within it, shape it and lead it.
