First Nations children’s commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter on courage, speaking truth to power and the boy she can’t forget

The Wurundjeri and Ngurai Illum Wurrung woman – who went from high school dropout to Harvard – reveals her ultimate dream for her new role Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sue-Anne Hunter carries the stories of thousands of children with her but one in particular is motivating her to hold Australian governments to account for their treatment of First Nations people. She met the Aboriginal boy as his caseworker, after he was removed from his family through the child protection system, then tracked his name through youth detention, adult prison before he was finally added to the grim list of more than 600 Aboriginal men, women and children who have died in custody since the landmark royal commission of the 1980s. “It drives me … to keep his name alive and know that he did not die in vain,” she says. “If we can get change that will be in his honour.” Hunter was appointed as the inaugural First Nations children’s commissioner in August and spoke to Guardian Australia in Canberra this month as legislation to establish the commission as an independent office passed parliament. The Wurundjeri