About

John Livingstone is UNICEF’s lead on digital policy in Australia. He is a change-maker who has worked across the private, public and non-profit sectors in advocacy, research and policy for over 12 years. His career has seen him work throughout Australia and Asia-Pacific across a spectrum of social justice issues, from online safety to mental health, criminal justice, family violence, and refugee and asylum seeker issues. He has worked in settings as diverse as prisons and immigration detention centres in Victoria, to field work in Myanmar building the capacity of local activists to make change in their country. In his role as the lead for digital policy, he has helped UNICEF develop their global strategy for online child protection, contributed to new regulations increasing online protections for children in Australia, and supported young people to take their voices directly to the tech industry to improve their experiences with tech platforms. His professional experience is backed by undergraduate studies in International Relations at the Australian National University, as well as a Masters in Human Rights Law from the University of Melbourne. John is just as comfortable speaking directly with young people as he is fronting a parliamentary inquiry. He is passionate about basing his systems-change work in on-the-ground experience, and bringing the voices of communities facing injustice directly to decision-makers to ultimately bring about change.