From 2013 to 2015 she served as the co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples and during her tenure pressed for policies that allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to gain the ability for self-determination.
[5] In 2013, Parker was elected to serve a two-year term as co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, along with Les Malezer, a Gubbi Gubbi-Butchulla man from Queensland.
The convention recommended that the Constitution of Australia be amended to grant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people representation in the federal Parliament and the establishment of a commission to supervise negotiations between First Nations and the government.
[3][4] She has served as a director of Reconciliation Australia[5] and co-chair of the Closing the Gap campaign, an initiative which focuses on health issues of Indigenous Australians.
[14] That year, she also joined the Department of Premier and Cabinet in South Australia as the Director of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation,[15] a post she held as of May 2021[update].
Her journalism was recognized in 2008 with the Print Media Award of the Australian Human Rights Commission for her article, National Apology: commemorative lift out.
[19] In 2012, Parker was recognized for her activism on behalf of Indigenous people with the 100 Women of Influence Awards presented by the Australian Financial Review.