Meet the NSW Sentencing Council

The Hon Peter McClellan AM, KC

Retired judicial officer and Chairperson

• Chief Commissioner,  Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, 2013-2017
• Judge of Appeal, NSW Court of Appeal, 2013-2018
• Chief Judge at Common Law, NSW Supreme Court, 2005-2013
• Chief Judge, NSW Land and Environment Court, 2003-2005
• Judge, Supreme Court of NSW, 2001-2003
• Judge, District Court of NSW, 1998-2001.

​​Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook APM

Member with expertise or experience in law enforcement

• Commander - State Intelligence Command, since 2022
  
• Commander - Police Prosecutions and Licensing Enforcement Command, 2019-2022
• Board Member (Alternate Director)  - Crime Stoppers NSW.

Sally Dowling SC

Member with expertise or experience in criminal law or sentencing - prosecution

• Director of Public Prosecutions, since 2021
  
• Deputy Senior Crown Prosecutor, 2016-2020
  
• Crown Prosecutor, 2002-2016
  
• Barrister, since 1997.

Christina Choi

Member with expertise or experience in criminal law or sentencing

• Deputy Director, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, since 2024
• Assistant Director, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, 2019-2024
• Federal Prosecutor, Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, since 2007

Felicity Graham

Member with expertise or experience in criminal law or sentencing

• Barrister at Black Chambers
• Solicitor, Aboriginal Legal Service, 2009-2015.

Wayne Gleeson

Member with expertise or experience in juvenile justice

• Deputy Principal, Woolooware High School (retired 2016)
• Founding member, Legal Studies Association of NSW Inc.

Thea Deakin-Greenwood

Community member – experience in matters associated with victims of crime

• Co-founder and Director of Practice and Advocacy of Transforming Justice Australia, a community-based restorative justice service responding to sexual abuse and child sexual assault. 
• Member of the Victims Advisory Board and the Corrective Services Ethics Committee. 
• Formerly a community lawyer with Elizabeth Evatt Community Legal Centre, knowmore Legal Service and Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women's Legal Service.  

Kerrie Thompson

Community member – experience in matters associated with victims of crime

• Trauma Therapist, and victims of crime counsellor.
• Previous Chief Executive Officer of Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL) Inc NSW
• Board member of VOCAL Inc NSW and founding member of Hunter Restorative Community Inc. 
• Former serving member of the Australian Defence Force (Army)

Timothy Keady

Retired Magistrate

Professor John Anderson

Member with relevant academic or research expertise or experience

• Professor of Law, Newcastle Law School, University of Newcastle.
  
• Deputy Head of Faculty, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Newcastle 2019. 
• Author – Criminal Law Perspectives: From Principles to Practice (2020); Uniform Evidence in Australia (2015, 2018, 2020); Uniform Evidence Law: Text and Essential Cases (2016, 2021); Criminal Law Guidebook (2016).

Mark Follett

Representative of the Department of Communities and Justice

• Executive Director of Policy, Reform and Legislation Branch, Department of Communities and Justice, since 2020
  
• Member of the NSW Victims Advisory Board
• Director Crime Policy, Department of Justice, 2018-2019
  
• Prior to that, various law and legal policy roles in the NSW and Victorian public service.

Craig Hughes-Cashmore

Community member

• Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of Survivors & Mates Support Network (SAMSN).
• Community Member on the NSW Victims Advisory Board.
• Member of the National Memorial Advisory Group, the Expert Advisory Group for the Prevention and Response to Violence, Abuse and Neglect (NSW Health), Transforming Justice Australia’s Expert Advisory Panel and the Suicide Prevention Australia’s Lived Experience Panel.
• Craig is also the Chair of the Australian Centre for Child Protection’s Lived Experience Advisory Panel. 

Adam Hennessy

Community member

• NSW Police officer for 13 years including 9 years facilitating and instructing Detective Training.
• Member of the Black Dog Institute’s National Network Member of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre.
• Member of Victorian Department of Health’s Suicide Prevention and Response Expert Advisory committee.

Melissa Burgess

Member with expertise or experience in Aboriginal justice matters

• Deputy Director, Criminal Law Division Legal Aid NSW, since 2022.
• Solicitor, Criminal Law Division Legal Aid NSW, since 2008.
• Solicitor, Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT), 2006-2008.