Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
About Tom Calma
- Thomas Edwin Calma, (born 27 December 1953) in Darwin, Northern Territory an Australian Aboriginal elder of the Kungarakan people and member of the Iwaidja tribal group whose traditional lands are south west of Darwin and on the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory respectively, a human rights and social justice campaigner.
- He is the sixth Chancellor of the University of Canberra, a post held since January 2014.
- Calma is the second Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to hold the position of Chancellor of any Australian university.
- The first was Pat O'Shane AM who was chancellor of the University of New England (Australia) from 1994 to 2003. Prior to his appointment as University of Canberra Chancellor, Calma served on the University Council from October 2008 and was the Deputy Chancellor from 2012-2014.
- His third term as Chancellor concludes in December 2022.
- Since March 2010 Calma has been the Federal Government appointed National Coordinator, Tackling Indigenous Smoking, leading the fight against tobacco use in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Calma served as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from 2004 to 2010 and as Race Discrimination Commissioner from 2004 until 2009 at the Australian Human Rights Commission.Calma was named as 2013 ACT Australian of the Year and awarded an Order of Australia; Officer of the General Division in 2012 in recognition of his work as an inspirational advocate for human rights and social justice and distinguished service to the Indigenous community. For over 45 years Calma has championed the rights, responsibilities and welfare of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
- He has been involved in Indigenous affairs at a local, community, state, national and international level and worked in the public sector focusing on rural and remote Australia, health, mental health and suicide prevention, education, justice reinvestment, research, reconciliation and economic development.
- Calma’s 2005 Social Justice Report – focusing on Indigenous health equality – was the catalyst for the Close the Gap campaign.
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