Prabha Nandagopal

Award-winning Human Rights and Discrimination lawyer and advocate

Prabha Nandagopal is an award-winning human rights and discrimination lawyer and advocate, having worked over 18 years in a variety of areas from business and human rights to asylum seeker and refugee policy.

Prabha is an innovative changemaker renowned for her ability to challenge the status quo and develop achievable solutions to complex systemic problems. Prabha has led the development of groundbreaking recommendations on numerous high-profile workplace cultural reviews, including the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces and the National Music Industry Review into sexual harm, sexual harassment and systemic discrimination. In 2020, she was a senior legal advisor to the Respect@Work National Inquiry and helped shape the positive duty regulatory scheme and in 2023, she worked alongside Elizabeth Broderick on the Independent Review into Workplace Culture at EY Oceania.

Prabha spent many years at the forefront of human rights in Australia, tirelessly protecting the rights of asylum seekers and refugees through advocacy, strategic litigation, and policy reform. As one of Australia’s foremost experts on immigration detention law and policy, she led the landmark National Inquiry into Children in Detention in 2014.

She is the founder of Elevate Consulting Partners and SafeSpace@elevate, which she established to support and strengthen the work of organisations committed to positive social change. Prabha has a proven track record of leading high-performance teams in sensitive and complex environments. She combines her fiercely sharp intellect, empathy, and courage to create positive workplace cultures and drive successful business outcomes.

Prabha wants to empower organisations with the leadership mindset and strategies to create safe, respectful, diverse and inclusive workplaces where every individual can thrive. Drawing from her tremendous career at the forefront of the country’s most complex human rights issues, she is a vibrant and compelling speaker, leaving audiences inspired to take action.

In 2024, Prabha won the India Australia Business & Community Award for Business Leader of the Year and was a finalist in the Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards.

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