HRVic BOARD
2026
"The speed of decision making
is the essence of good governance.
-Piyush Goyal
Board President
PENNY HILL
Penny Hill is the current Deputy Secretary of the Vienna NGO Committee on Drugs, Oceania Representative to the International Drug Policy Consortium’s Members Advisory Council, Board Member of Harm Reduction Australia, Vice President of Harm Reduction Victoria, and co-founder of Students for Sensible Drug Policy Australia. Penny's PhD thesis focussed on opioid overdose through the Burnet Institute, and currently works as an Emerging Drugs Research Fellow at UNSW. Penny started working in the harm reduction sector as an NSP worker, and has substantial experience working and volunteering in various harm reduction services, including peer-led supervised consumption sites, festival spaces and drug checking services in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Board Vice President
GABY BRUNING
Gaby has been working primarily with Aboriginal clients in the AOD sector for the last 8 years as an AOD Clinician and Harm Reduction Practitioner. I wish to run for the Board because I believe in HRVic, and I believe in advocating for the human rights of people who use drugs.
Board Secretary
KATIA LALLO
Katia is a community lawyer and advocate for the rights of criminalised people and communities. Her work is informed by de-carceration and grassroots organising, especially in the space of community legal education. Katia is interested in the way the law impacts on the lives of people who consume drugs, and its implications for individual and community safety and self-determination. Katia is a community lawyer and advocate for the rights of criminalised people and communities. Her work is informed by de-carceration and grassroots organising, especially in the space of community legal education. Katia is interested in the way the law impacts on the lives of people who consume drugs, and its implications for individual and community safety and self-determination.
Board Treasurer
PETER HIGGS
Studying social work in mid-1980s Sydney before the introduction of NSPs gave me an early, vital understanding of drug use and harm reduction. My paid working career began in 1988 on Melbourne’s North Melbourne high-rise estate amongst the heroin street markets driving a commitment to understanding and navigating these complex issues.
Over the past 30 years, my work has focused heavily on the Footscray street scene, alongside extended periods developing peer-based HIV prevention programs in Vietnam. More recently, my research has been focused on hepatitis C and shifting drug trends.
Board Member
ROBYN DWYER
(Coming Soon)
Board Member
LUCIEN KEENE
(Coming Soon)
Board
Ex-officio
Staff Member
Board
Ex-officio CEO
SIONE CRAWFORD
Sione Crawford has been working in peer-based organisations of people who use drugs since 2004. He has worked as a peer-educator, in community development and in policy and leadership positions. Sione has lived and living experience of hepatitis C treatment, injecting drug use, opioid agonist programs and the stigma and discrimination that attaches to these experiences. Sione is currently the CEO of Harm Reduction Victoria: the organisation representing people who use drugs in Victoria, Australia.