Media Release Monday September 2017
Play Australia is delighted to announce the election of Robyn Monro Miller as the President of the International Play Association (IPA).
In being elected to the role of President, Robyn will be the first Australian to hold that position in the 56 year history of the International Play Association.
At the triennial meeting of the IPA in Calgary, Canada today, Robyn was elected unanimously by the delegates representing more than 30 countries from around the world.
Robyn is the Chief Executive Officer of Network of Community Activities in NSW and current Chairperson of the NSW Children’s Week Committee.
Robyn's has 25 years experience working with children and families across Education, the community sector, and local government. With qualifications in education, children’s services, community management, and training and workplace assessment she is a frequent guest speaker at conferences and seminars across Australia and internationally as well as a spokesperson on children's issues in the National media. As Editor of the quarterly newspaper “Network News” her advocacy work extends to the written word and she is a regular contributor to newsletters and websites on the topic of middle childhood, children’s services, leadership, and the importance of play.Robyn has represented the School age care sector at a State and National level for the past 20 years as Chair of the National Out of School Hours Services Association (NOSHSA), delegate to the National Children’s Services Forum (NCSF), NSW Children's Services Forum, NSW Industry Liaison forum, Vice President of Contact Inc. for Remote and Isolated Families and a member of the Executive of the NSW Children’s Week Committee. Her bi-partisan advocacy has included presentations at a number of Government inquiries and her commitment to children recognized through representation on key Australian Ministerial and Government Advisory Councils since 1996. Highlights of this advocacy being her work on the development of the first National Quality Assurance system for Out of School Hours Services in Australia and Chairing the Inclusion Sub-Committee for the Commonwealth Child Care Advisory Council and it’s report to the Commonwealth Government ‘Child Care beyond 2001’. Robyn was one of the champions for the development of the first Australian school age care framework and on the steering committee for the development of “My Time, Our Place.”A member of the International Play Association since attending her first IPA conference in Melbourne in 1993, Robyn was formally co-opted to the position of Vice President of the International Play Association in 2012. Prior to this time Robyn had served in the role of Regional Vice President. In 2012 Robyn was part of the international delegation to the United Nations in Geneva to progress the development of the UN General Comment on Article 31 “The child’s right to play”. In 2013, Robyn facilitated an International World Café on Article 31 at the official launch in Geneva of the General Comment. Most recently in 2016 she was in Geneva for the International Day of Discussion on children and the natural environment and worked on the IPA project “Under the same sky”.
Robyn’s work has been recognised at a number of levels with the presentation of a South Sydney Council Community Achievement Award, a NSW Children’s Week Award for services to children and the awarding of a Commonwealth Government Centenary Medal for services to Australian Children’s Services. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Community Practice and Governance and the Australian College of Educators. In 2012 Robyn was awarded The Allan Laughlin Perpetual Award for excellence in leadership from the Australian College of Educators. This was followed by the awarding an “Outstanding Educator” award from the Australian College of Educators in 2014.
An Alumni of the NSW Benevolent Society's "Sydney Leadership" program Robyn remains passionately committed to social inclusion and the development of communities that nurture and support children and offer opportunities for them to engage with their local community.
For further information or interviewTel: 0403 028781 Email: President@ipaworld.org.au