Gail Paratz OAM
NCJWA Brisbane Vice President
Personal
Gail was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, migrated with her family at the age of 4 years to Australia and was raised, educated, and worked in Melbourne till she re-located to Brisbane in December 1987.
She completed a Bachelor of Education and was a secondary school teacher in the State system (Ringwood H S) and Catholic system (Presentation College, Windsor) in Victoria and the private system in Brisbane (Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School) and taught for nearly twenty years.
She is married, a mother, an active member of the Queensland Jewish community and member of the Brisbane Hebrew Congregation. She loves music and singing and making art when her spare time permits.
Gail’s aim has always been to help break down barriers and build meaningful, respectful relationships with the wider world through representing her faith as a strong Jewish woman.
Gail received an OAM in the June 2023 King’s Birthday Honours for ‘Services to the Jewish Community in Queensland and to Interfaith.”
Interfaith
Gail has a deep interest in interfaith and has been active in the area since the early 1990’s.
Gail is a Board member and Chair of Interfaith on the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies Inc. (QJBD)
Gail was the Jewish delegate to the Abrahamic Forum of Jews, Christians and Muslims which was formed in the late 1990’s by the three boards of the Abrahamic faiths in Queensland - The QJBD, the Queensland Churches Together and the Islamic Council of Queensland.
This group met formally every month at Griffith University and shared food and developed strong, meaningful relationships that have influenced the cohesiveness of SE Queensland to this day.
The Queensland Faith Communities Council (QFCC) was a natural, more inclusive development from the Forum group and Gail was involved in its formation. The QFCC was formally launched in May 2017 and Gail has chaired this group since its inception.
The QFCC has grown to currently 22 faith bodies as members and includes Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu (Vedanta Society, Kare Krishna), Jewish, Muslim (Sunni, Sufi and Ahmadiyya), Pagan, Sikh and Quakers.
The QFCC has developed important relationships with State and local governments, Queensland Police Service, Hospitals, NGO’s and importantly between a diverse range of faith groups in Queensland.
Jewish Community
Gail is currently, and has been, Vice President of the Brisbane NCJWA since 1999.
Gail was the recipient of the NCJWA Miriam Stein National Interfaith Award in 2019.
Since 2020, NCJWA(Bris) has sponsored a Teaching Bursary in this program in the Office for Women category. It was planned and budgeted to offer this bursary for 10 years, with the possibility of furthering this involvement as part of our work in the wider community.
Gail was the Queensland President and Executive Vice President of the National Board of the Jewish National Fund of Australia from 2007-2014.
Community
Gail is the NCJWA delegate to the National Council of Women Queensland and has been particularly involved in the NCWQ Bursary program since its inception.
In late 2023, the Queensland Police Service finalised the formation of the Police Multicultural Advisory Group (PMAG) to allow feedback from communities and further develop relationships with the Police Service and communities. Gail was nominated by the QJBD as the Jewish Community representative, and was appointed for a period of 2 years. The Queensland Police Service Commissioner chairs the 4 x 4-hour meetings held each year. The other 11 community representatives are from the Pacific Islands, Sikh, Chinese, African, Christian, and Muslim communities.