Reclaim the Night

Friday 31st October

• 5:30pm |Gather at the top of Rymill Park (corner of Rundle St & East Tce) |Kaurna Yarta (Adelaide)
• Marching to Parliament House, via Rundle Street & Rundle Mall
• 6:15pm > Rally & speakers at Parliament House, North Tce

You can join the Reclaim the Night march at any time if you prefer to travel a shorter distance – or arrive at Parliament House at 6:15pm.  

Khatija Thomas – speaker

(she/her)

Khatija is a proud Kokatha woman. She is an activist and lawyer, who uses the law to create social change. Khatija is a long-term member of the Australian Services Union and was elected Vice President Women in 2023. Khatija has worked as a Solicitor in community legal centres, including Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement and the Women’s Legal Service, providing legal representation and advocacy for women, Aboriginal people and native title groups. Khatija spent four years as the State’s Commissioner for Aboriginal Engagement from 2011 to 2015, the youngest Commissioner appointed to this role. Khatija now runs Kuddiya, a company that provides cultural training, education, engagement and brokerage for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal communities.

Mary Leaker, CEO, Embolden – speaker

(she/her)

Mary Leaker is CEO of Embolden, South Australia’s peak body for domestic, family and sexual violence services. She represents South Australia on the National Alliance of Domestic and Family Violence Specialist Services and the Board of WESNET, the national peak body for domestic and family violence services. Her professional experience includes leading whole-of-government work to improve public sector responses to violence against women, and a Churchill Fellowship in the UK to gain insights into the operation of coercive control laws and emerging impacts for victim-survivors. Mary has a longstanding commitment to social justice and gender equality.

Shai Wittles, Trans Justice Adelaide – speaker

(they/he)

Shai Wittles (They/He) is a 21-year-old student, survivor and trans activist. They are an organiser for Trans Justice Adelaide – Tarntanya, where they advocate for justice, equality and safety for the trans community, and increased access to healthcare. Shai is the 2025 Flinders University Queer Officer, where they worked on campaigns to address gender-based violence, and raise awareness of experiences of sexual assault and harassment on university campus. They use their lived experiences as a survivor to advocate for LGBTQIA+ appropriate, trauma-informed resources. Shai is passionate about building community and building safe spaces for Queer youth.

Brass Brown, Project Manager, Sex Industry Network SA

(she/her)

Brass Brown is the Project Manager at SIN, the peer-based sex worker organisation in South Australia. Brass is a proud sex worker activist, and a full-service sex worker of over 10 years. She has been with SIN campaigning for the decriminalisation of sex work for over 5 years and lives and breathes being a staunch advocate for sex workers, both at home in South Australia and broadly across so-called Australia.

Aira Firdaus, Advocacy and Policy Officer, Working Women’s Centre Australia

(she/her)

Aira is an organiser, campaigner and is a proud trade unionist and activist. At the Working Women’s Centre Australia, she has been leading the national campaign to end the use of Non-Disclosure Agreement to silence victim survivors of workplace sexual harassment. Aira has held pivotal roles within the union movement in Australia and internationally and she has led national advocacy to improve the living and working conditions of migrants and refugees in the horticulture industry with the United Workers Union. Aira’s passion is understanding culture, structure and practice to drive collectivism and progressive change in societies and communities.