DVConnect is governed by a Board of Directors whose primary purpose is to provide strong governance and strategic framework. This governance guides and supports the Executive Leadership Team in the development and financing of the organisation’s activities.
The Directors also act as a reference point for specific issues that require expertise beyond the core capability of the organisation’s professionals.
As a company limited by guarantee and not-for-profit, the Directors must also comply with the duties and obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (Cth), the Service Agreements and other applicable government policies and guidelines issued by our funding bodies. Our Constitution is available on the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission website. This document governs the relationship between the organisation, the Directors and company secretary, and members.
For previous Directors, please view the Annual Reports.
Carly Jacobitz AHPRA GAICD, CHAIR
Appointed Director 2022
Carly is a registered psychologist and graduate of the AICD who brings 15 years of operational and executive experience in human services. She is the Executive Director at Life Without Barriers and is a non-executive Director of PeakCare, the child protection peak body in Queensland. Her extensive experience in child protection and disability within government and for-purpose organisations led her to be appointed to the Queensland Government’s Truth, Healing and Reconciliation Taskforce. Carly remains strongly committed to vulnerable children, young people, and families and is an advocate for financial agility and innovation within the organisations that serve them.
Christine Castley, DEPUTY CHAIR
Christine Castley is a values-driven leader whose career has spanned the government and the community for-purpose sector. A Malaysian-born Southeast Asian migrant, she brings a rich multicultural perspective to her leadership, working at the intersection of policy, people and purpose to shape inclusion and belonging.
Christine is Chair of the Australian Multicultural Council, an independent advisory body to the Australian Government, and serves on several boards including the Residential Tenancies Authority, Queensland Theatre, and the Advisory Board of the University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research.
From 2020 to 2025, Christine was Chief Executive Officer of Multicultural Australia, following a 25-year career in the Queensland Government where she held Deputy Director-General roles in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet and the Department of Housing and Public Works.
An experienced executive, Christine has led major reform and innovation projects across housing, criminal justice, integrity and ethics and disaster response and recovery. Her notable achievements include leading the Secretariat for the Review of Domestic and Family Violence, resulting in the landmark Not Now, Not Ever Report to the Queensland Government, and as a member of the national Multicultural Framework Review Panel, which delivered the Towards Fairness report to the Australian Government.
Christine holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Queensland.
Ben Bjarnesen, DIRECTOR
Appointed Director 19 August 2019
Ben is a passionate educator and campaigner who advocates for improved services for LGBTQ+ victims and survivors of Domestic and Family Violence.
Ben is a ChurchillFellow and has travelled internationally to explore best practice solutions for Police Departments to enhance the way in which they respond to DFV in LGBTQ+ communities. He has since been actively involved in advising government and non-government organisations internationally on a range of initiatives designed to improve service delivery to LGBTQ+ communities.
Ben is a former Police officer with the Queensland Police Service and in 2020 he founded the LGBTQ Domestic Violence Awareness Foundation. In 2023 he was appointed by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to the Queensland Government Domestic & Family Violence Prevention Council. Ben is an awarded educator and campaigner and has previously been named as a ‘Human Rights Hero’ by the Australian Human Rights Commission and as one of Australia’sOutstanding 50 LGBTI+ Leaders by Deloitte & Google.
Ben holds a Diploma of Leadership & Management, Diploma of Public Safety (Policing), as well as Diploma of Security Risk Management.
Professor Patrick O’Leary PhD, DIRECTOR
Appointed Director 2022
Patrick is an internationally recognised researcher currently based at Griffith University with significant expertise in domestic violence/gender-based violence (with a focus on perpetrator intervention, integrated, differential, and intersectional responses), child protection, long-term impact of child sexual abuse (especially for men), social work, hope, and socially excluded young people. He is Co-lead of the University’s Disrupting Violence Beacon and Director of Violence Research and Prevention Program (VRPP) which operates the bystander intervention project, MATE. Patrick was a member of the Queensland Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce examining coercive control and women’s experience of the justice system. He was also an Expert Academic Advisor to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Patrick Chairs the Clinical Advisory Committee for SAMSN, supporting male survivors of child sexual abuse.
Murray Benton, DIRECTOR
Appointed Director 25 November 2024
Murray is a proud Aboriginal Barkindji Koori man from Central West New South Wales. He is the Deputy CEO of Youth Justice with Queensland’s Youth Justice Peak Body, QATSICPP, and an appointed member of the Child Death Review Board with the Queensland Family and Child Commission.
Murray brings extensive experience in the not-for-profit sector, specialising in housing, homelessness, and child, youth and family services. His background spans regional crisis response and specialist homelessness services, intensive case management, state and federal emergency relief, primary health and antenatal care, sexual and reproductive health, natural disaster recovery, domestic sexual and family violence support including refuge settings, multicultural migrant services, community housing and the development of Queensland’s first local housing action plan. Murray is a strong advocate for early intervention to prevent male violence against women and children, drawing on his own lived experience as a survivor to promote accountability and tailored support for men.
In 2018, he gained international exposure for his youth mental health and suicide prevention campaign, The Good Fight Australia. This aimed to raise awareness and advocate for greater government support for Australian families enduring the harsh effects of bullying, assault, and self-harm in school environments.
Murray holds a Graduate Diploma of Business Administration and is completing his Master of Business Administration, Management and Leadership.
Simone Moffat-Lane, DIRECTOR
Appointed Director 25 November 2024
Simone is a Chartered Accountant who brings with her over 15 years’ experience across a variety of financial disciplines, including internal and external audit, budgetary management and financial governance. Currently an Chief Finance Officer in the Queensland State Government, she also has extensive experience in the private sector, having worked in a number of varied roles within professional audit services, large listed companies and private equity health.
Simone holds an LLB Law (Honours) from the University of Edinburgh and has served as Treasurer and Board Director for a national not-for-profit organisation providing homelessness services and support.
