Tanya Hosch
Tanya Hosch AM is an Indigenous Australian social activist and business leader. She has led work in sport, the arts, social justice and public policy. From 2012 to 2016 she co-led the Recognise campaign for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In June 2016 she became the AFL’s social inclusion manager, the first Indigenous person and the second woman in an AFL executive role.
She was born to a Welsh birth mother and a Torres Strait Islander birth father and was adopted by a white Australian couple after her older sibling died in a car accident. She faced racism at school but later studied social work part-time at university, encouraged by colleagues. Her advocacy began at the Australian Human Rights Commission after the 1997 Bringing Them Home report, and she helped found several Indigenous organizations, including the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre and the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute. She spoke at the National Press Club in 2013 about why recognition is right, and the Recognise campaign helped raise public support from about 30% to 70%.
Beyond the AFL, Hosch has held board roles with PwC Indigenous Consulting, Bangarra Dance Theatre, Circus Oz, the Indigenous Land Corporation, the Australian Red Cross and other organizations. She served on the Referendum Council for constitutional recognition and on the Act of Recognition Review Panel. She is a member of Chief Executive Women and the NAB Indigenous Advisory Group, and she joined the Coaxial Foundation in 2024. She has a daughter.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:36 (CET).