UNSW alumnus Daniel Joinbee is setting his sights on the stars - and Mars - while inspiring the next generation of Indigenous Australians.
For aerospace entrepreneur Daniel Joinbee, the future of Australia's aviation and space industries should include more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people - and he is working to make that happen.
The UNSW Canberra alumnus and former Royal Australian Air Force air traffic controller is the founder and managing director of Gunggandji Aerospace , Australia's first and only Aboriginal-owned aerospace consultancy.
At 36, Mr Joinbee has already done more than most, from directing traffic on an aircraft carrier to diving beneath Navy ships to starting his own company, championing Indigenous businesses and global First Nations collaboration in Washington DC, and now forging pathways for young Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders in aviation, defence and aerospace.
"The underpinning skill (of air traffic control) is decisiveness," Mr Joinbee said. "You have to make a decision. It's not something that you can sit and watch indefinitely. We make judgment calls on the fly.
"I think these are some of the same characteristics of a good entrepreneur - being decisive and fixing mistakes when you see them."
Mr Joinbee was speaking at UNSW Sydney's Centre for Ideas event just one night after winning Certified Supplier of the Year at Supply Nation's annual diversity awards.
The ABC's Science Editor, Jonathan Webb, in conversation with Mr Joinbee, discussed how he advocates for practical, culturally aware approaches to workforce participation and to leadership, and builds stronger relationships between industry and community.
Mr Joinbee's journey started almost by accident, when he joined ADFA after seeing an advertisement about joining the military and getting a free laptop. He chose air traffic control because he thought it would be less competitive than trying to be a pilot.
"I fell into a career that I had a real gift for, and the rest is history," he said.
"I think there was a point at which I think the military system made it safe for me to say yes," he said. He took the opportunities that came his way - parachuting, diving and demolition - because they were there.
"One of my best friends always encouraged me to get around the Defence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander network, to get around all of these certain programs, to bring Aboriginal youth onto bases and work with them, and I always thought I never had a story that would resonate with these young kids," he said. "That's when I started getting back into touch with my Aboriginal heritage."
Getting to know the father who left when he was six months old, having a son of his own and learning the often painful stories of his family's past and its connection to Gunggandji country in Far North Queensland, brought him closer to his roots.
He left the Air Force and went into construction before seeing the opportunity to create a unique aerospace consultancy drawing on his experience across military, government, and industry while also pushing for positive change for Indigenous peoples.
Gunggandji Aerospace consults to the aviation, defence and aerospace sectors. The organisation is opening a helicopter operations room in South Australia in November, working with Toll Helicopters and South Australian Police.
Supporting the next generation
Alongside the commercial contract work, Gunggandji also runs a program called Raising Horizons, which is providing young Indigenous people, particularly from the Top End and Torres Strait, with a chance to see and experience industries they may never have thought about.
"I'm really deliberate in saying that I don't think that I can solve a lot of the systemic issues, but I can create meaningful change where I'm applying my focus and effort," he said.
"We're not shying away from it, and we're not getting away from the fact that there is a history there, but there is hope and there is opportunity for Aboriginal people across the country. And I really want to get around these young minds, and I want to inspire them, and I want to nurture that ambition and that fire and create different trajectories, just like the opportunities that I've seized and I've taken advantage of."
He said it is all about setting people up for success and providing real experiences to excite young people This year Raising Horizons arranged for a helicopter to land on the oval at one of the boarding schools in Cairns, AFL Cape York House , which provides a home for students from remote Top End communities so they can go to school.
"We had over 10 industry players come and support that particular event that day, and they brought robots, they brought deconstructed parts of airplanes, they brought all sorts of things to let the kids feel it, smell it, touch it, play with it, have fun with it," he said.
"[I want to] let kids be kids and not stifle them. But if we don't nurture that fire that we've just lit, then it doesn't go anywhere."
Last year Daniel Joinbee received the UNSW Young Alumni Award for his contribution to Australia's aerospace sector and Indigenous leadership.
He describes himself as an outlier and he said outliers needed to be nurtured. His language and ideas are consistently aspirational.
"The first person to walk on Mars is a student in high school right now, and to say that could be an Aboriginal person is deliberately radical. But why shouldn't we be aiming for that? Why shouldn't Aboriginal people [aim for that]?" he said.
"We're going to have a hard enough time getting [the first Australian-trained astronaut] Katherine Bennell Pegg into space. Let alone getting an Aboriginal person through the training system and having support and then getting on a NASA mission to go there. But if we're not aiming for Mars, then we're going to keep having the same results that we're seeing in our young kids today."
He hopes his programs will light a spark in the young people who join them so they may consider a career in aviation or defence, or at least, have a chance to make their own choices.
