Tara Ward
Tara studied law in the 1990s at Sydney University. In 2006 Tara enrolled in the University of NSW’s postgraduate animal law course, which was the first course in animal law offered by a university in Australia. Tara went on to teach the course in 2008 and has regularly convened it since then. In 2014 with the generous assistance of a Voiceless Grant Tara co-founded Australia’s first Animal Defenders Office, a national community legal centre dealing with legal matters affecting animals and their defenders. In 2017 the Animal Defenders Office was accredited by the National Association of Community Legal Centres, which is the peak industry body for community legal centres in Australia.
Tara is a member of the statutory Animal Welfare Advisory Committee advising the ACT Minister responsible for animal welfare, and an animal welfare category member on a university Animal Ethics Committee.
Finally, in a labour of love, Tara is a co-founder of and volunteer event manager for the Living Green Festival (ACT) Inc., which has been bringing cruelty-free eco events to the Nation’s capital since 2011.