Dr Carmen Lawrence
Dr Carmen Lawrence is a retired Australian politician; a former Premier of Western Australia and the first woman to become Premier of a State of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Following her departure from the federal Parliament in 2007, Dr Lawrence returned to an academic position at the University of Western Australia (UWA). She is now a Winthrop Professor in the School of Psychology and Director of the Centre for the Study of Social Change. Research conducted through the Centre is focused on the forces driving significant social change in key areas of contemporary challenges, including climate change and the environment, as well as exploring our reactions to that change.
Dr Lawrence has long been an admirer of Neighbourhood and Community Resource Centres, believing they provide some of the important social glue that hold communities together and that significant individual and community benefits result from participation in Centres' programs. In 2008, Dr Lawrence accepted the invitation to become the patron of Linkwest and to this day continues to be an advocate for the Neighbourhood and Community Resource Centre sector in Western Australia.