Dianne Hiles

Dianne Marian Hiles AM is an Australian accountant and human rights and refugee activist who co-founded ChilOut,^[1][2] which has advocated for the release of children and families from immigration detention centres since 2001.^[3] In recognition of her work with this organisation, as well as with Amnesty International, board of A Just Australia,^[4] and the Evatt Foundation, Hiles was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010.^[5]

Career[]

Hiles has been a qualified accountant for over 30 years. She holds a Masters in Human Rights from the University of Sydney. She was the mother of a four-year-old^[4] when she viewed the ABC TV Four Corners program about six-year-old refugee child Shayan Badraie, who had been held in immigration detention for two years. In response, Hiles co-founded the organisation ChilOut, an abbreviation of "Children Out of Detention", in 2001.^[6] She became known as its spokesperson,^[4] and as its representative, she visited detention centres on Christmas Island^[7] and in the Northern Territory, and publicised conditions of children and families held there.^[8][9] She has been critical of the bipartisan agreement of the ALP and LNP to off-shore processing of asylum seekers, and the detention of children.^[1][2]

Hiles was the Australian Greens candidate for the Division of Sydney at the 2013 federal election.^[1]

References[]