Patricia Turner is the chief executive officer of National Indigenous Television (NITV) in Australia which was launched in July 2007. An Arrernte woman from Alice Springs, Ms Turner holds a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Canberra, where she was awarded the Prize for Developmental Studies. She was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1990 for her contribution to public service.
Ms Turner was previously the most senior Aboriginal person in the Australian public service and has had an illustrious career in the community and public sectors for more than 28 years. She is a former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet during which time she oversaw the establishment of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Between 1994 and 1998, Ms Turner was chief executive officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission – an organisation with a budget of $1.2 billion and staff of 1200 – and successfully balanced policy development with political demands to achieve the highest standards of accountability. During a four-year stint as deputy chief executive officer of Customer Service, Centrelink, she also achieved significantly improved access to services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas of Australia.
Ms Turner has extensive overseas representation and experience such as the Australian Government representative on an international judging panel to assess and rank innovative programmes in Commonwealth countries. She also received outstanding student evaluations as the Monash Chair of Australian Studies at Georgetown University in Washington DC. Ms Turner was appointed head of Australia’s first national Indigenous television service at the beginning of 2007 and is examining a range of ways to expand the network's audience reach.