Kidsafe NSW Council

Chair - Ms Kate Craig 

Kate is a partner in a banking, finance and corporate practice, and is national co-head of the commercial and dispute resolution group.

Kate was admitted as a solicitor in NSW in 2006, and is admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of NSW and High Court of Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in addition to her law degree.

In addition to her practice in banking, finance and corporate work, Kate advises NGO's and not for profit entities on corporate, commercial, financing and dispute issues.

Kate also has a background in regulatory work in the health sector including working with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and working with a variety of regulatory health issues.

Deputy Chair - Ms Kerri-Lynn Peachey

Kerri-Lynn is a farm health and safety researcher, and advocate with over 10 years’ experience investigating non‐intentional fatal and non‐fatal incidents occurring on farms across Australia.  She has extensive translation into policy and practice experience within the agricultural and horticultural sectors.  

Furthermore, as demonstrated by her extensive range of publications and presentations, has a proven track record of using excellent personal, communication and organisation skills to improve the health and safety of farmers, farm workers, farming families and farming communities.

Currently, Kerri-Lynn is a Farm Safety Research Manager with AgHealth Australia, The University of Sydney. She manages the National Farm Injury Database and reports on farm deaths and injury across Australia. In terms of her practical work with communities, Kerri-Lynn provides farm occupational health and safety information and safety guidance material. 

Treasurer - Ms Anita Kariappa, Partner - Financial Services EY

Qualifications: Bcomm (Accounting and Finance) UNSW; Masters in International Finance UNSW 

Anita has more than 19 years' experience working in Sydney, New York and Tokyo as a qualified Chartered Accountant. She is also a mother of two young children, which certainly enhances her skill set.

Anita's experience across a variety of domestic and international accounts has resulted in broad experience across regulatory, accounting, transaction and funding initiatives.

Through her time domestically and internationally, Anita has developed an extensive global network providing her access to emerging industry challenges and best practices from the regulators across a number of locations.

Anita's clients value her for her strong project management, ability to work with quality service delivery and pragmatic insight and advice. She develops strong relationships with management and those charged with governance.

Member - Dr Kate Hunter

Dr Kate Hunter is a Senior Research Fellow with the Injury Division at The George Institute for Global Health, and conjoint Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales. She has over fifteen years’ experience in injury prevention research and has produced several reports and guidelines currently in use by Australian government and non-government organisations.Dr Hunter is leading a collaboration to facilitate and write the National Injury Prevention Strategy appointed by the Australian Government Department of Health.

At The George Institute, Dr Hunter leads a body of work in injury prevention research focussing on addressing inequities experienced by families and children across the injury prevention spectrum. Her research expertise includes the conduct and evaluation of community-based programs, translational research, and assessing equitable access to health services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Dr Hunter is elected Chair of Kidsafe NSW and is an executive member of the Australasian Injury Prevention Network.

Member - Dr Blessy John-Denny, MBBS DCH FRACP (PEM) FRACP (Paediatrics) MPH MHM (UNSW)

Dr Blessy John-Denny is a Paediatric Emergency physician and General Paediatrician. She is Staff Specialist at the Children's Hospital at Westmead (CHW), serves on the Trauma Committee and is the Incident Management lead in ED with a key interest in patient safety and improvement in a child’s journey through hospital systems. She is the CHW Principal Investigator for the PREDICT (Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative) network’s Study of Neck Injury Imaging in Children (SONIC), aiming to improve the diagnosis of spinal cord injuries in paediatric trauma. She has spearheaded initiatives such as the introduction of the Code Brain system to adeptly manage children with severe traumatic brain injuries.

A fervent advocate for education, she is the convenor of the CHW Paediatric Emergency Update and is a supervisor for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) trainees. She is also a medical instructor for various programs, including APLS, MIMMS, HMIMMS, and Trauma. Consolidating her expertise in Disaster Management, she was deployed by the Australian government as an AUSMAT clinician to assist during the measles epidemic in Samoa in 2019.

Member - Ms Sally McLean 

Sally has more than two decades of experience in marketing and is a seasoned professional who has worked extensively in the finance and retail sectors. She has held senior positions in Australia, the UK, and the Middle East.

Currently, Sally is responsible for crafting and implementing strategic, integrated marketing campaigns for a major retail group across all channels.

Driven by a passion for creating impactful brand and marketing initiatives, Sally is dedicated to positively influencing the lives of everyday Australians. In addition to her marketing experience, Sally is well-versed in the agile methodology of working and has successfully completed high level professional development in brand management and marketing.

Member - Mr Sam Wood 

Sam is a CEO and company director with extensive experience leading growing organisations in rapidly changing environments. He is a skilled communicator and problem solver, having had 12 years in the marketing and digital industries. He has formal qualifications in Law and Business, and from the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

He has a strong interest in governance and strategy and believes he can make a valuable contribution to Kidsafe NSW and its important work preventing the unintentional death and serious injury of some of society’s most vulnerable – our children.  He is very enthusiastic about the opportunity to contribute to the continued success of Kidsafe NSW, as part of a national network across Australia.

Member - Mr Tariq Islam 

Tariq is the Managing Director of a data, analytics and AI consultancy that he established in 2023. Prior to this, he held executive manager roles at CBA and Westpac, where he specialised in data analytics.

Tariq holds a double degree in Engineering (Computer Systems) and Computer Science and has nearly 20 years corporate experience across data analytics roles in financial and professional services, and engineering roles in the Defence sector. In addition to his data analytics expertise, Tariq also has significant risk management and governance experience across diverse organisations including large corporates, state and local government and not-for-profits.

Complementing his corporate experience, he has dedicated a considerable amount of time volunteering in the not-for-profit sector which has instilled in him the importance of community service. His community service included home visits to recently arrived migrants to provide food and advice on settlement issues and organising and participating in Bangladeshi cultural events, including being an MC and a dance performer.