Louise Nicholas is first and foremost a wife and mother. Louise is married to Ross and together have four children Jess, Kerri, McKaela and Luke and is also a proud grandmother to four beautiful grandchildren.

“My family is my life. Without their love, support and encouragement I would never have walked the rocky path to seek the justice I deserved or been able to take on the role of National Sexual Violence Survivor Advocate.”

Louise is a survivor of child and adult rape, perpetrated against her by rogue members of the New Zealand Police. She is a survivor of a justice system that saw her battle her way through 7 court cases.

“I was slammed around the courtroom like a tennis ball, was told that I was nothing but an uneducated, vindictive, sex crazed, racist liar by defence lawyers, but still I held my head high, I knew the truth, my truth, I knew what had happened to me and nothing they could say or do in that courtroom could hurt me anymore, it was my time to take back the power and control that was stripped from me, this was my justice…”

Louise works as the National Sexual Violence Survivor Advocate within The Louise Nicholas Trust organisation. This is a New Zealand wide role.

Louise’s work has her liaising with survivors, their families, and communities. She represents survivor perspectives in service development and the sexual violence and abuse services sector (networking, providing advocacy and advising).

Louise co-wrote the bestselling book Louise Nicholas – My Story in 2007 and the updated edition in 2014 with Phil Kitchin (the Dominion Post reporter who broke Louise’s story in 2004 that led to a full Police investigation by Operation Austin and a Commission of Inquiry into Police Conduct).

Louise received the NZ Herald of the Year award 2007, was awarded the Governor Generals ANZAC Award in 2015, was made an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit (ONZM) in the 2015 Queens Birthday Honours and received the New Zealander of the Year Local Hero Award 2015 and a finalist in the 2016 New Zealander of the Year Awards, was one of 50 women in NZ who received the Woman of Achievement Award from Zonta International and also received the Human Rights Award with Helen Clarke the only other recipient.