Committee

Pat Hanna is a consulting geologist and has worked for over 40 years in Australia, USA, Canada, Alaska, South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania, India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, China, Mongolia, Thailand, Japan, Philippines and New Zealand. Pat’s first trip to Indonesia was in 1989 and he has worked extensively in the jungles of Kalimantan and Sumatra. He has travelled through Java and Timur for sightseeing. Pat served on the committee of the NSW Branch of the AIBC in 2019 – 2020.

Isla Winarto is Eurasian, with an Australian mother, and Indonesian father, who was one of the founding members of the AIA in Sydney in 1945. Born and raised in Sydney, for the past 38 years Isla has lived and worked in Jakarta, Indonesia.

After graduating from the University of Sydney, Isla worked as a Senior Teaching Fellow in Indonesian language and literature at Sydney University and Griffith University, Australia.

In Jakarta, Isla worked for 12 years at USAID, American Embassy Jakarta, in Indonesian language training, education and project management. Until her retirement, she was also the Country Director, Indonesia, of an Australian company, managing ten offices, focusing on international education and aid projects.

In her spare time, Isla is an active member and Advisor to the Board of the Indonesian Heritage Society in Jakarta, as well as the Jakarta representative of the Australia Indonesia Association of NSW. Currently she is also the Club Program/UN Liaison Officer for the Jakarta chapter of Soroptimist International, a global organization advancing the status of women. Through Soroptimist International, Isla has managed major donor funded projects in Indonesia, mainly in Aceh, Palu and Lombok.

Steve was born in Jakarta, Indonesia of Chinese ancestry, and is a grateful Aussie migrant. His entire life revolves around the practicality of engineering in the discipline of mining, building and sustainability. Steve has a background in entrepreneurship, established many business ventures both in Australia and pan-Asia centred in Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. His current passion is in politics, driven by the many contemporary social justice issues such as environmental stewardship, men’s health and wellbeing focusing on preventing male suicide, combating racism and multicultural advocacy are just a few.

Steve is a Committee and Board member for a diversity of NGOs such as the Chinese Australian Forum, Delivery Riders Association and more. He loves adventure activities, from remote bushwalking to canyoning, kayaking, rock climbing and caving.

Eric is a former Chartered Accountant and a Certified Internal Auditor. After working in the accounting profession in Australia and the Netherlands he moved to Indonesia in 1980, working in the accounting profession before diversifying to mining consultancy in Indonesia for almost 10 years. He worked with Price Waterhouse Consultants in Indonesia for 2 years and then spent four years as Corporate Internal Auditor for PT Bakrie and Brothers, a large Indonesian public company with diverse interests.

Since his return to Australia in 1998, Eric has continued to work in the Internal Audit and Risk Management area, and has maintained his interest in Indonesia completing three terms as National President of the Australia Indonesia Business Council (AIBC). Eric was then President of the Australia Indonesia Association for 10 years.

Whilst living in Indonesia, Eric was active in the Jakarta Youth Soccer organization, firstly as a Coach, then a Commissioner and finally Chief Commissioner. He was on the Board of Governors of the Institute of Internal Auditors. Here in Sydney, Eric was a director of the Institute of Internal Auditors and is Director and Company Secretary of the Juliana Village, a retirement and aged care facility in Miranda.

Helen Fraser is a Sydney based commercial lawyer with a long executive career in technology businesses. Introduced to Indonesia at a young age, she studied Indonesian language through her school years and as part of a Bachelor of Arts (Asian Studies) at ANU and Sydney University, traveling periodically and maintaining a long personal interest in the country. Helen is keen to foster closer engagement and understanding among Australians and Indonesians and in particular to help revive Indonesian language teaching and learning at all education levels.

Pat Mahony was a high school teacher, then a teacher of English as a foreign language (to short term visitors) and English as a Second Language (to migrants and refugees). In between, he taught English in several South East Asian countries, and also India. He has travelled extensively in Indonesia.

Pat taught in a pesantren school in Singosari, near Malang (SMP, lower high school) for two years. He has also taught in other places in Java, as well as Manado and Dili. He has a special interest in addressing the decline in the teaching and learning of Bahasa Indonesia in Australia. He believes that action to address this by Federal and State governments is essential to our vital relationship with the growing economically and strategically important neighbour to our north.