Consumer Outcomes Group

Michelle Gibbon is AMP’s Customer Advocate. Michelle’s role is to understand, and help AMP respond to, the challenges which impact its most vulnerable customers and to elevate their voice within the organisation. With over 20 years’ experience advancing fair outcomes, Michelle’s work spans both the banking and superannuation sectors. Across various senior roles, she has led customer advocacy, dispute resolution and regulatory reform programs.

Michelle chairs AMP’s Complex Matter Panel for high-risk cases, where customer stories drive systemic change.

Evelyn Halls OAM was appointed as the Customer Advocate for the Westpac Group in August 2025.

As Customer Advocate, Evelyn’s role is to advise and guide Westpac Group’s complaint teams on the best ways to resolve complaints. She actively listens to customers and recommends changes to bank policies, procedures, and processes based on the feedback received. Evelyn is independent of Westpac Group’s business units.

Evelyn has over 25 years’ experience as a lawyer and dispute resolution specialist. Prior to joining the Westpac Group, Evelyn held a similar role at another large Australian bank and was previously Lead Ombudsman – Banking and Finance at the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Before that Evelyn practised as a lawyer, including as a partner at one of Australia’s leading law firms.

Jean Skeat joined Consumer Action Law Centre in 2025 as Director of Policy and Campaigns. Jean has a background in government and policy development including corporate and financial services law reform, social policy and industrial policy. In her role in Consumer Action Jean works to tackle the systemic consumer issues that make life harder for people experiencing vulnerability. This includes advocating for fair business practices and law reform, informed by the lived experiences of Consumer Action’s clients.

Hayley was appointed as Bendigo and Adelaide Bank’s Group Customer Advocate in December 2023. She brings 17 years of experience in banking and a strong track record in customer strategy and advocacy.

Hayley is committed to influencing meaningful system-level change by building more inclusive and responsive products, services and processes. She champions the voice of customers, with a particular focus on improving outcomes for those experiencing vulnerability.

Bettina Cooper is an Aboriginal woman of the Boandik (Bo-Ann-Dik)  works in Mob Strong Debt Help, a First Nations led program within Financial Rights Legal Centre, as a Financial Counsellor and Strategy Lead. Bettina has a dual role as the Campaign Coordinator for the Save Sorry Business Coalition fighting for the victims of Youpla to receive a fair and culturally appropriate and timely resolution.  Bettina has extensive experience advocating for people who are disadvantaged as a result of language, literacy skills, geographical isolation, low income, disability, trauma or related factors. Bettina also serves as the Chair of the FCAN Yarning Circle as a member of the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) Customer Consultative Group, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Consumer Consultative Panel and on the Australian Banking Association (ABA) Consumer Outcomes Group.

As a descendant of the Wangkumara people of far west NSW, Lynda is a passionate advocate for financial inclusion, fairness and financial resilience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia.
After more than a decade in the finance sector, she joined the consumer advocacy movement as program manager at CentaCare Wilcannia-Forbes, she was involved with projects that delivered financial literacy and awareness and advocated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including in the Do Not Knock campaign and superannuation and funeral insurance products.

Lynda has completed the Diploma of Financial Counselling and has been involved with consultation groups around Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander financial literacy, the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, Indigenous Financial Services Network, Indigenous Financial Resilience Research Project with First Nations Foundation, Australian Council for International Development and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Financial Literacy Forum, which is now in its 10th year

Roberta is the Principal Solicitor at Consumer Credit Legal Service WA. Since joining the team at CCLS she has assisted many vulnerable consumers successfully pursue claims against financial service providers. Roberta takes a lead role in CCLS’ law reform submissions and stakeholder engagements in the belief that it is the role of consumer advocates to speak up for those who do not have the knowledge, resources, or capacity to advocate for themselves.

Roberta sits on a number of national and state consumer advisory committees including the Australian Financial Complaints Authority Consumer Advisory Panel, ASIC’s Consumer Consultative Panel, and the Executive Committee of the Consumers’ Federation of Australia.

Roberta has studied at the University of Sydney, the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the University of Western Australia.  She holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Law Degree. Prior to relocating to Perth, Roberta worked in private practice in Ireland, specialising in property and banking.

Ben was appointed as the BOQ Group Customer Advocate in April 2022. Ben and his team operate independently from BOQ’s business units, representing customers to ensure they are listened to, understood and treated fairly.

Prior to joining BOQ, Ben held senior leadership roles in the financial services industry with a focus on customer advocacy and vulnerability. Ben has also served as independent chairperson and non-executive director of a Queensland community housing organisation and is a regular contributor to community forums that support vulnerable Australians.

More information about the purpose of BOQ’s Office of the Customer Advocate is available here.

Sarah Spencer was appointed as the Customer Advocate for ANZ in October 2025. This appointment builds on Sarah’s seven years at ANZ in which she has held senior leadership roles within the Legal and Customer Resolution teams.

With extensive experience in dispute resolution, Sarah has led teams managing complex and sensitive customer matters including responsible lending, scams, hardship, deceased estates and other complex issues. She has also worked closely with external bodies including AFCA and OAIC – collaborating to achieve better outcomes for customers. Sarah is valued for her ability to build strong, trusted relationships and her commitment to ensuring customer voices are genuinely heard and meaningfully shape organisational decisions.

Prior to joining ANZ, Sarah was a senior commercial lawyer at leading international law firms across Melbourne and London and actively supported community legal centres through her work with clients experiencing family violence.

Paul Holmes is the National Legal Aid Representative on the ABA Consumer Outcomes Group. For the past 16 years, Paul has worked as a Senior Lawyer and Consumer Advocate in the Consumer Protection Unit of Civil Justice Services at Legal Aid Queensland. Paul is currently a Principal Lawyer at Legal Aid Queensland.

Paul’s work focuses on assisting consumers in vulnerable circumstances who have legal problems with their mortgages, personal loans, car loans, credit cards, small amount loans, consumer lease, insurance products, telecommunications and other essential services.

Paul is also passionate about improving consumers’ knowledge of their rights under banking and finance and insurance products through community education and is heavily involved in Legal Aid Queensland’s Community Legal Education program.

Paul is a current member of the ICA Consumer Liaison Forum, the APRA Consumer Liaison Forum, the General Insurance Code Governance Committee Association, the Chair of the Qld Disaster Legal Assistance Working Group and a member of the Qld ASIC Consumer Regulator Forum.

Corey Irlam is the Deputy CEO of COTA Australia, with responsibility for advocacy and government relations, and as policy lead on aged care reform and economic security, including retirement incomes, pensions, superannuation, taxation and financial services.

Corey leads COTA’s policy agenda on the economic wellbeing of older Australians, with a particular focus across the three pillars of retirement incomes to identify issues on how government policies, taxation settings and financial services markets interact. He works closely with banks, superannuation funds, Services Australia, regulators and government to improve consumer outcomes, support sustainable system design and ensure the perspectives of older Australians are reflected in financial services reform.

Corey has been with COTA since April 2013 and has held senior leadership roles spanning aged care reform, retirement income policy and national advocacy. His work has contributed to major policy discussions on superannuation adequacy, retirement income products, taxation policy, consumer protections and the resilience of retirement systems.

Corey holds a Master of Public Policy and a Master of Business Administration. His previous experience spans advocacy, policy, marketing and stakeholder engagement roles across state and national not‑for‑profit organisations and regulated industries, including the energy sector, with a focus on consumer engagement, public interest outcomes and system reform.

Angela has been the Commonwealth Bank Group’s Customer Advocate since September 2019. Supported by the Group Customer Advocacy and Vulnerability team, Angela uses an independent and community-informed voice to help the Group identify, address and prevent poor customer outcomes – particularly in relation to customers in vulnerable circumstances. More information about Angela’s role as the Group Customer Advocate can be found here.

As founding CEO and Director of Thriving Communities Australia, a for-purpose charity, Ciara Sterling convenes over 350 organisations across sectors, together with people with lived experience, to forge deeper understanding of vulnerability and drive ecosystem change through social design innovation.

Ciara is also the Chair on the Board of Consumer Action Law Centre (CALC), a founding member of the Economic Abuse Reference Group (EARG) and sits on various corporate, government and regulatory advisory committees.

She has over 20 years’ experience collaborating across corporate, government, regulators, Ombudsman, community sectors and lived experience to address the root causes of vulnerability, domestic abuse, and inequality.

A key example of this is the development the One Stop One Story Hub a world-first cross-sector digital wrap around support platform enabling frontline workers in corporate, community and government organisations to connect and refer people to a range of supports through a single access point. She believes in the power of cross-sector collaboration to create genuine systemic change.