
Ballina Gee

Story Behind Ballina Gee
With over a decade of experience, Ballina Gee (High Chief Tau'ili'ili), renowned internationally as the Pacific Diva, has leveraged her award-winning profile to champion restorative justice, safeguarding, and impactful mentorship.
Her campaigns have transformed socio-economic frameworks and statutory regulations, demonstrating her unwavering commitment to social change. Known for her candid approach and fearless engagement with influential entities, Ballina has consistently highlighted the moral shortcomings within the financial services and insurance sectors. She firmly believes, "Financial services and insurance behaviors morally injure people through structural violence and it doesn’t need to be this way," and has been a leading force in advocating for a more compassionate human centred financial sector.
Ballina says, "What you will read about me is really just as a result of doing life. It is the same for everywoman and that is the point. It is about time business work up to the abuses women are subjected to. Professional women too. Imagine what we could achieve if we were able to live in a safe society. Violence against women is everybody's business."
Ballina’s personal experiences have profoundly shaped her advocacy. Her first court case, spanning seven years, served as a pivotal study in expanding working-with-children checks to include tutors, coaches, and mentors beyond traditional educational settings. Her efforts were instrumental in reshaping national policies in Australia, ensuring that anyone working or volunteering around children must undergo these essential checks.
Her subsequent eight-year court case tested her resilience and commitment to restorative justice and holistic healing. This case, which involved both criminal and family courts, highlighted the limitations of punitive approaches in dealing with domestic and family violence. Ballina advocated for health-led restorative justice strategies, inspired by proven methods from Nordic countries, aiming to facilitate better long-term recovery for victims. Her approach emphasized comprehensive harm disclosure and offender accountability, challenging the conventional reliance on strict evidence and punitive measures.
Drawing on her experiences, Ballina has become a sought-after speaker and leader in reforming domestic and family violence and child protection frameworks. Her advocacy has placed her in influential circles, engaging with Governors, Commissioners, Judges, Mayors, parliamentary members, journalists, academic leaders, and international figures such as those from the United Nations and the International Criminal Court.


Her advocacy journey also intersects with personal struggle. After being struck by a motor vehicle, Ballina’s earnings fell by 81% annually, exposing her to systemic economic abuse and structural violence within the insurance and legal systems. Her ongoing nine-year claim with Suncorp (GIO) has been littered with misogyny and economic abuse despite record billion dollar profits of the insurer. Her ordeal remains unresolved and untreated. At a time of acute vulnerability due to the financial stress of injury the insurer bullied her into accepting their token financial compensation. No medical treatment was again offered. She declined.
Ballina's campaign, #2FingerIME, emerged in response to an 'unorthodox' gynecological medico-legal assessment organized by the Personal Injury Commission and is currently being investigated. Ballina says "I feel as though I opened my legs for a lawyer, not a doctor. It was invasive and lacked medical due process. Any woman who was subjected to a two-finger internal examination has the right to be afforded dignity and respect."
Ballina's advocacy continues to focus on transforming the insurance and compensation systems to be more patient-centered, rather than driven by insurer biases. "The financial services industry should not control patient health. They should do what they do best, and that is manage money, not get involved with people's health with such devastating consequences. This system needs to change to become truly patient-centered, with independent medical examiners adhering to a medical code of conduct that prioritizes patient health and rehabilitation, not insurer interests," she asserts.
Through her tireless work and personal experiences, Ballina Gee remains a powerful advocate for justice and systemic reform, dedicated to creating a more equitable and compassionate world.