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Michael James Dodson is an Aboriginal Australian barrister and academic. He was Australia's first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. His brother is Pat Dodson, also a noted Aboriginal leader and from 2016 to 2024 a senator in the Federal Parliament, representing Western Australia.
Following his parents' death, he boarded at Monivae College, Hamilton, Victoria. He graduated with degrees in jurisprudence and law from Monash University in 1974, as the first Indigenous person to graduate from law in Australia.
In 1988 he was appointed as Counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, remaining in that role until 1990.
He has worked extensively as a legal adviser in native title and human rights.
His efforts for the rights of indigenous people around the world in 2005 made him a member of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
In 2015 he was the Chief Investigator for the Serving Our Country: a history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the defence of Australia project, an Australian Research Council-funded research project based at The Australian National University.
On 10 October 2023, Dodson was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an open letter supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.
Career
Following graduation, Dodson worked as a solicitor for the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service from 1976 until around 1980. He was admitted to the Victorian Bar in 1981, and commenced work as a barrister.
Academia
Dodson has lectured as a visiting academic at the University of Arizona and Harvard University. He was Professor of Law at the Australian National University and director of its National Centre for Indigenous Studies until his retirement in March 2018. The final lecture
Other roles and activities
Dodson has been active in politics of Australian government, justice, and crime prevention. Areas of expertise He has been a prominent advocate of land rights and other issues affecting Indigenous Australians.
Honours
Honorary doctorates
Controversy
It is alleged that Mick Dodson verbally abused a woman at an NTFL game. The incident was investigated by the NT government but the outcome was not disclosed.
External links
Categories: 1950 Births, Living People, Australian Barristers, Lawyers From Melbourne, Australian Legal Scholars, Australian Lobbyists, Australian Indigenous Rights Activists, Australian Of The Year Award Winners, Indigenous Australians From Western Australia, Monash Law School Alumni, Members Of The Order Of Australia, People From Broome, Western Australia, People From The Northern Territory, Fellows Of The Academy Of The Social Sciences In Australia, Academic Staff Of The Australian National University, Indigenous Australian Academics, Australian Republicans
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