- Inducted:
- 2025
- Category:
- Change Agent
The Honourable Jennifer Coate AO has a lifelong commitment to legal and social justice.
She became the first woman President of the Children’s Court of Victoria in 2000. She oversaw the establishment of a Children's Koori Court in Victoria for young Indigenous offenders.
She became the first woman Coroner of Victoria in 2007.
In 2013 she was appointed as one of only two women Commissioners on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
She spent five years sitting in public hearings to receive formal evidence, and holding private hearings to record the stories of those who had been affected by child sexual abuse in institutions.
In the 2019 Australia Day Honours, Jennifer was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for 'distinguished service to the law, and to the judiciary, to legal administration, and to child and youth justice'.
She is a Fellow of Monash University and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2022. In 2023 Jennifer was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by Monash University, her alma mater.
Jennifer has been a true role model for women, lawyers, and the wider community, proving that genuine commitment to change and the improvement of people's lives can live beyond one's working life.
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