HRVic BOARD
2026
"The speed of decision making
is the essence of good governance.
-Piyush Goyal
Board President
DR. PENNY HILL
pennyh@hrvic.org.au
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 has recently submitted her 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
gabylb@hrvic.org.au
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
Katial@hrvic.org.au
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
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PETER HIGGS
peterh@hrvic.org.au
‘Growing up’ in the inner suburbs of Sydney while studying a social work degree pre NSP in the mid-1980s meant learning lots about drugs and the people who use them. My first job in Melbourne in 1988 was on the North Melbourne high-rise housing estate which was ‘awash with heroin’. This led me to work with families who were greatly impacted and very confused about harm reduction. Much of my work over the past 25 years has been in and around the Footscray ‘street scene’ through a range of different iterations - with a couple of long stints in Vietnam doing HIV peer-based prevention work. Most of my recent work has a focus on hep C and changes in drug use patterns. I’m keen to give what knowledge and support I can to HRVic as I step back in my paid research work roles and look forward to the opportunities available.